Everybody’s Talking

On May 20, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

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:

https://socialecologies.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/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.

https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/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

On May 15, 2020May 15, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet DestinationsLeave a comment

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.

Reddit AMA Now Active

On May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

My AMA is now active on WeirdLit reddit… here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdLit/comments/gij4ay/im_michael_griffin_author_of_armageddon_house_ama/

I’ll keep answering questions until the questions stop. Hope to see you!

A Collection of Armageddon House Links

On May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

As I get ready to start the Reddit Weird Lit AMA soon, I thought it might be useful to assemble a page of links relevant to the book.

PLACES TO ORDER THE BOOK:

Direct from Undertow (paperback)
Barnes & Noble paperback
Amazon paperback
Amazon Kindle Unlimited ebook
Bookshop.org paperback
Powells.com paperback

LISTING ON GOODREADS:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53287687-armageddon-house

I’ll start compiling links to reviews and interviews soon. Hope to see you over on Reddit… Happy release day to Armageddon House!

Armageddon Now

On May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

Today’s the day, Armageddon House release day!

This may be a strange time to release a book about people confined together, going slightly crazy. But these are the times we’ve got, like it or not.

Today I’ll try to find ways to raise awareness of the book, so you may see more photos, links to reviews, and that sort of thing. The main activity for the day will be the AMA over on the WeirdLit subreddit at 1PM Pacific, 4PM Eastern. I hope plenty of people will stop by and ask questions, even if (or especially if) the questions aren’t about this book, or even about my writing at all. That’s the fun of an AMA, finding out whether the guitar player in your favorite band thinks Lebron could beat Wilt Chamberlain in his prime, one-on-one, or which Mario Kart game is the best.

On release day, I want to thank the Undertow Publications team that made this happen, especially Michael Kelly who oversaw and directed the whole project, and Vince Haig who did an amazing job on the cover art and layout.

Here you go, my little book, it’s time. No longer coming soon, now ready to leave the nest and venture into the world! I hope if you pick up the book and enjoy it, you might consider letting me know, but even better than that would be telling other readers.

Armageddon Tomorrow

On May 11, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

The official release day for Armageddon House is tomorrow, May 12.

I’ll be doing an AMA or “Ask Me Anything” event on Reddit’s WeirdLit subreddit, as mentioned here:

https://griffinwords.com/2020/05/06/reddit-ama-on-release-day/

I gave the time as 1PM but that’s Pacific time — so it’s 4PM if you’re in the Eastern time zone, and if you’re in Central or Mountain, you’re probably accustomed to having to do the math to figure out what time to tune in to things.

I hope to have plenty of people drop by and ask all sorts of questions. The most interesting AMAs to me are the ones where the questions fall outside the zone of the usual interview questions. As I mentioned in the pre-announcement page…

We can discuss writers and writing, publishers and publishing, whether or not it’s about me.

You can ask me to list my favorite 80s music, the best weird movies, my favorite single malt, or to justify which track and field event I think is the hardest. But not until May 12th!

I’ve taken a day off from work, and I’ll try to come up with other ideas to draw attention to the book, such as maybe a live video reading, or possibly posting audio of reading the first few chapters.

It’ll be very exciting to have the book out there in the world!

Armageddon House as Penguin Classic

On May 9, 2020May 10, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

There’s a “Penguin Classics Cover Generator” web site here, the output of which has been taking over Twitter & Facebook this morning. Though I usually don’t jump aboard with internet viral/meme kind of stuff, I thought it might be fun to make an alternative version of Armageddon House as part of the Penguin Classic series.

This uses an old photo of mine, part of a series of decaying industrial structures, and I think it actually works pretty well.

I also did one for Hieroglyphs of Blood and Bone, which uses a public domain image of the planet Mars obtained from NASA’s image archive. To me, it looks like human skin that’s been tattooed and scarred.

I’m extremely happy with the covers my books already have — I’ve been unusually lucky in this regard, I think — but it’s still fun to play around with different presentations for the same texts.

Armageddon House Reviewed on The Outer Dark

On May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet Destinations, Words OutLeave a comment

Just weeks ago, I took part in The Outer Dark’s Quarantine Reading Series, along with Molly Tanzer, which you can listen to here if you missed it. This week’s installment of the Quarantine Readings series features Christina Sng and Mike Allen.

What’s more, this episode also includes a lengthy, detailed and quite enthusiastic review by Gordon B. White of Armageddon House. Wow, thanks, Gordon! I really appreciate all the time and attention that went into this.

The episode starts off with a nice salute to our friend, writer and editor Joe Pulver, by Gordon and Anya Martin. Joe is very much missed around here.

If you’re interested, you can check out the latest installment of The Outer Dark here. And special thanks once again to Gordon B. White, as well as Anya!

TOD 069 Quarantine Readings: Christina Sng and Mike Allen

Lovecraft eZine Chat After-Report

On May 7, 2020 By griffinwordsIn Internet DestinationsLeave a comment

I thought the Lovecraft eZine chat last Sunday went very well, and it’s available to view on YouTube if you missed watching it live.

During the livestream, a few people complained about choppiness, but I watched it later on YouTube and it was smooth. I mean, the video stream was smooth, not me! Check it out:

John Langan made an appearance, and asked me lots of questions, along with host Mike Davis and the other panelists. We talked about Armageddon House, movie soundtracks, ambient music, Marvel versus DC comics, the goal John Langan and I shared of becoming a comic book artist, The Grimscribe’s Puppets, the influence of Laird Barron over absolutely everything, my own writing process, and especially about our great friend Joe Pulver.

I had a great time, and sincerely want to thank Mike and John and the regular panelists, as well as everyone who watched the chat live or viewed it later.