Tuesday evening’s Hillsboro Public Library event went quite well, and was a lot of fun. Of course, these “live” events, even online, can be hard to coordinate with one’s schedule, so if you wanted to watch it and missed out, you’ll be pleased to know it’s been uploaded to YouTube.
Here’s the address, in case the embed feature below doesn’t work in your browser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46BQIzqzQuE
Non-Amazon Armageddon House Ebooks
Armageddon House has been available on Kindle ebook format from Amazon since day one, but we now have it available in other ebook formats and from other sellers at the same low price, currently $3.
It’s available now direct from Undertow Publications (MOBI or EPUB):
https://undertowpublications.com/ebooks
It’s available now from Smashwords (many formats):
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1038024
Smashwords also acts as an aggregator, gradually spreading the ebook out to other resellers such as Apple, Kobo, Overdrive and more, so it will soon be available pretty much everywhere ebooks are sold.
It’s available now direct from Undertow Publications (MOBI or EPUB):
https://undertowpublications.com/ebooks
It’s available now from Smashwords (many formats):
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1038024
Smashwords also acts as an aggregator, gradually spreading the ebook out to other resellers such as Apple, Kobo, Overdrive and more, so it will soon be available pretty much everywhere ebooks are sold.
Armageddon House Review on HorrorBound
Armageddon House just received a great review by Joe Scipione on HorrorBound.
I don’t want to excerpt too much, but here’s a little something Joe had to say about it:
To check out the rest, follow the link:“One of the top novellas of the year!”
https://www.horrorbound.net/blog/2020/7/15/armageddon-house-a-top-novella-of-the-year
Online Lovecraftian Horror Panel
This coming Tuesday, August 18 at 7PM Pacific time, I’ll be participating in an online panel on Lovecraftian Horror sponsored by Hillsboro Public Library, and organized by Mary Kelly.
The panel moderator is Gwen Callahan, known to many of you as the co-director of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and my fellow panelists include Wendy Wagner, Cody Goodfellow and Christine Morgan.
You can register free of charge at the following link:
https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/events/5f17429e0fec712f00149c7c
Here’s the flier with a bit more information:
LovecraftianHorrorPanel.PDF
In this time without literary and film conventions, it will be nice to chat with my fellow Portland horror writers, and answer questions from readers, writers and anyone else interested in taking part. Obviously because this is online, there’s no reason this should be restricted to people in the Portland metro area, so I hope we’ll see some of our non-local friends at the event!
The panel moderator is Gwen Callahan, known to many of you as the co-director of the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and my fellow panelists include Wendy Wagner, Cody Goodfellow and Christine Morgan.
You can register free of charge at the following link:
https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/events/5f17429e0fec712f00149c7c
Here’s the flier with a bit more information:
LovecraftianHorrorPanel.PDF
In this time without literary and film conventions, it will be nice to chat with my fellow Portland horror writers, and answer questions from readers, writers and anyone else interested in taking part. Obviously because this is online, there’s no reason this should be restricted to people in the Portland metro area, so I hope we’ll see some of our non-local friends at the event!
Up Close With the Armageddon House Limited Hardcover
My author’s copies of the Armageddon House limited hardcover edition arrived a few weeks ago. It happened to be the same afternoon my wife and I had to say goodbye to our beloved 17-year-old cat, so I was too distracted and sad to post anything about it at the time.
Now that a little time has passed… hey, check out this beautiful book! I would love to take credit for this thing, but all the credit goes to Publisher Michael Kelly and Designer Vince Haig of Undertow Publications. Thanks, guys!
This limited hardcover edition sold out right away, but if you’re really determined to grab one of the hardcovers, as of right now you can grab one on Ziesings.com at a slight markup HERE.
The ebook and paperback editions can be had inexpensively, and of course, the story is the important thing, right? Having said that, if you find an opportunity to get on the list to obtain these limited hardcovers from Undertow, you’ll then be in an advantaged position to get copies of this publisher’s always-excellent future output. Check out their Limited Editions page here.
A YouTube Review by Well-Read Beard
Well-Read Beard is another reviewer who does YouTube reviews, similar to Jason White who also reviewed Armageddon House not long ago.
If you’d asked me a year ago, do I want to read book reviews or watch them on YouTube, I would’ve said I’d rather read them. Having said that, I now find that I enjoy watching and listening to a reviewer show and talk about a book in their own voice. I’m sold on this format for a review, and not just because Well-Read Beard and Jason White both said nice things about the book!
Because it’s a video review, you should probably just watch it rather than reading me talking about it. My thanks to Well-Read Beard!
Oh, and if you prefer to read reviews rather than watch them on YouTube, you can find what Well-Read Beard said on Goodreads here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3387840951?book_show_action=true
Polish Translation of Armageddon House Coming From Wydawnictwo IX
I’m pleased to announce that publisher Wydawnictwo IX out of Poland will be undertaking a Polish-language translation of Armageddon House to be published this year. In addition to paperback and e-book versions, there will also be a limited edition hardcover.
Web site:
https://wydawnictwoix.pl
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/wydawnictwoix/
In addition to publishing fiction by Polish writers, they also publish translations of writers like Robert Aickman, August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft… and me.
The English-to-Polish translation will be done by Tomasz Chyrzyński. This will will be the first instance (at least to my knowledge) of my work being translated into any foreign language, so it’s exciting news. I realize most existing readers of my work do not read Polish, but I love the idea of people in another part of the world encountering my work for the firs time. My thanks to Wydawnictwo IX and Tomasz Chyrzyński for making this happen.
Web site:
https://wydawnictwoix.pl
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/wydawnictwoix/
In addition to publishing fiction by Polish writers, they also publish translations of writers like Robert Aickman, August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft… and me.
The English-to-Polish translation will be done by Tomasz Chyrzyński. This will will be the first instance (at least to my knowledge) of my work being translated into any foreign language, so it’s exciting news. I realize most existing readers of my work do not read Polish, but I love the idea of people in another part of the world encountering my work for the firs time. My thanks to Wydawnictwo IX and Tomasz Chyrzyński for making this happen.
Armageddon House Review on Jason’s Weird Reads
Jason White just reviewed Armageddon House on his YouTube book reviews channel, Jason’s Weird Reads.
I don’t want to spoil the review by quoting too much of it here, but I’ll just say that Jason used the phrase, “Bloody brilliant.”
Here’s a link, and I’ll embed the video below that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOz12RGpHQ
If you enjoy this kind of writing, you might subscribe to Jason’s Weird Reads, or at least check out some of the other videos. My thanks to Jason for the great review!
Everybody’s Talking
It seems like a lot of people are talking about the new book in the week since it came out. Here’s a quick rundown, in no particular order:
S.C. Hickman wrote a quite detailed and analytical review — contains spoilers, so beware if you haven’t read Armageddon House yet:
Michael Griffin: Armageddon House
Jason White, YouTube reviewer, shows off his copy of Armageddon House and mentions enjoying the book, as far as he’s gotten.
Another YouTube book reviewer, Well Read Beard, mentions Armageddon House around the 3:30 mark. He says he’s excited to read it and it’s his first experience with Undertow or my writing.
The book has racked up some very nice Goodreads ratings and reviews already:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53287687-armageddon-house
Des Lewis is doing one of his always-enjoyable Real-Time Reviews of the book. If you haven’t seen these before, Des posts regularly as he reads through the book, often posting once per story or per chapter. He just started Armageddon House two days ago, so I look forward to seeing this unfold.
Armageddon House – Michael Griffin
The most in-depth review has come from Gordon B. White on The Outer Dark podcast — but you have to listen, rather than read it!
TOD 069 Quarantine Readings: Christina Sng and Mike Allen
Here are a few other bloggers whose reviews of Armageddon House I’ve already mentioned here, but I’ll include them again for the sake of having everything together.
Lou Pendergrast at More2Read blog
https://more2read.com/review/armageddon-house-by-michael-griffin/
Schizanthus Nerd
https://schizanthusnerd.com/2020/05/13/armageddon-house/
Micah Castle
https://micahcastle.com/2020/04/30/book-spotlight-armageddon-house-by-michael-griffin/
I’ve also seen lots of comments here and there around the internet, so lots of people reading it and commenting informally, which is fantastic. Further, I’ve heard from several people who are preparing to give the book some attention, one way or another, so my hope is that the momentum will continue to build!
If I’ve missed any reviews, let me know. My thanks to everyone who has given Armageddon House their attention, especially those who have taken the time to help spread the word.
Audio Podcast Edition of Lovecraft eZine Chat
Here is the audio podcast edition of my interview with the Lovecraft eZine panel, with special guest John Langan, who is as skilled as a smart-ass interviewer as he is as a writer.
Along with host Mike Davis, the full panel included: John Langan, Bridgette Brenmark, Benjamin Handelman, Matthew Carpenter, Melissa Walsh, Peter Rawlik, and Rick Lai.
Listen here: https://bit.ly/podcast-5-3-2020
Of course, the video chat version remains available on YouTube here as well.
Also, speaking of recent past events, the Reddit AMA in the WeirdLit subreddit went well, and was a lot of fun. Even if you missed it while it was happening, there are lots of questions and answers you can still check out here.
GriffinWords 