The Shootout Solution

This is SF. Well, actually, it's Western, but since I don't want to bother making a shelf for that and it really is SF without being Westworld, I'll leave it as SF.Except. It's also a writing manual, giving us all the insides of How To Write A Story as the means to live while being inside one. Or three. Or eighteen stories. Or however many Tau-Heinleinesque The Number of the Beast alternate universes there are when genres spin into umbrella universes that split even further into sub-genres that [...]

Our world is surrounded by genre worlds only slightly removed from us in the dimension of narrative, and they have an effect on us via a thematic-semiotic (lol!) resonance. And there's a group of people whose job it is to keep the genres stable. That's where Leah Tang comes in. She's just been recruited to help out and her first job is to help out a team with a routine Western story.This is a light, fun read with a focus on diversity and a massive awareness of tropes and the problems with tropes [...]

A preposterously creative idea, with the writing talent and humor to back it up. Light-hearted, and very rewarding. I'm looking forward to the the future 'episodes'.As a side note, the wonderful Mary Robinette Kowal *crushes* the audiobook narration of this one, continuing to win at life as she always has.

The premise is simple, yet somehow ended up hitting me really hard- there's our regular everyday world, and there are "story worlds" that exist in another dimension in space "orbiting" Earth, impacting Earth based on which story world that's at issue. Problems in the story worlds cause problems on Earth, so if you can fix problems on the story worlds, you can solve Earth's problems. For me, someone who is pretty damn worried about Earth's problems on a pretty regular basis, this simple solution [...]

The first Genrenauts novella - aka "The Pilot Episode." Meet struggling stand-up comic Leah Tang as she is invited to join The Genrenauts.When a story breaks on one of the other worlds (based on a genre, like Western, Romance, Science Fiction, etc.), the Genrenauts deploy to find and fix the broken story to protect our so-called 'real world.'I listened to a ton of Westerns as books-on-tape as a kid, and I love thinking about how formative the Western is for American storytelling. We see its infl [...]

“You never choose to be the Chosen One. You just are.”First, do not read the blurb on this book; read the book. Especially of you like books or writing. As the name Genrenauts implies, this story is as much about story telling as it is about the story. If I explain why, it’ll spoil your delight. Trust me.Imagine a semi-normal person is enlisted to help keep the genre worlds--and ours--safe. What are the genre worlds? What do you think? That’s all I’m telling.The relatively short novel [...]

I received an early copy of this novella through NetGalley.I confess right from the start: I'm biased. I read this as an early draft and loved it, and I was overjoyed when Genrenauts was announced as part of a new novella series at Tor. The concept is a delightful and original mash-up of Quantum Leap and Sliders and so many other fun shows: Earth has parallel worlds that echo tropes of literary genres, and if a story on such a world goes off kilter, it impacts people on Earth. Leah is recruited [...]

WHERE'S EPISODE II?

Because he didn't have enough series/irons in the fire already, here's a new series from Michael R. Underwood -- the man behind the Ree Ree/Geekomancy series, Shield and Crocus and The Younger Gods (which may be a series or may be a stand alone). This one is sort of familiar territory, but differs enough that it doesn't feel tired.So, Leah is trying to make it as a stand-up comic in Baltimore. I didn't realize that Baltimore was a good place for this, but sure, why not? So, the stand-up isn't wo [...]

Come check out my Book Blog for more fun stuff and reviews!A Copy of this Novella was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an Honest ReviewFirst up, as always, we have the blurb: "Leah Tang just died on stage. Not literally. Not yet.Leah's stand-up career isn't going well. But she understands the power of fiction, and when she's offered employment with the mysterious Genrenauts Foundation, she soon discovers that literally dying on stage is a hazard of the job!Her first job takes her to a [...]

The genrenauts are the literary equivalent of The A-Team by way of Star Trek, Quantum Leaping their way through alternate dimensions defined entirely by genre tropes. There’s our Earth, Earth Prime, and in the vast dimensions beyond there are strange worlds of stories constantly in motion – Romance World, Sci-Fi, World, and, in this initial episode, Western World. When things awry in the story worlds, they cause ripple effects that bleed over into our own world. It’s the job of the genrena [...]

One of the best things I can say about this story is that there is great potential for serialization. Now, normally, I find serialization to be a weak attempt to grab more money from the reader, The Shootout Solution wrapped the story up nicely. I didn’t feel cheated, and I hope TOR puts more of the “genrenauts” stories up on NetGalley, because I’m game for reading more.This story happened to be an old west genre, but it was encapsulated in sci-fi in such a way, that it reminds me of the [...]

This is the second Tor novella I’ve read and Mike Underwood has written one of the most entertaining explorations of genre in his exposively fun Shootout Solution. It’s somewhat metafiction, but at the same time, seamlessly integrated into the writing where the self-awareness becomes part of its charm. The novella asks the question: What if the genre worlds were real, teeming, and even dangerous? Storytelling with fangs and real life repercussions, the way they were meant to be.tieryas.wordp [...]

Exciting idea. Imagine being headhunted to go and adventure in a genre; fantasy world here I come!!

Originally posted at: thebookplank/2015There are a few themes in book that really work wonders. Stories that focus on alternate dimensions of fiction, or that deal with librarian with supernatural powers. I read the works of Jasper Fforde, Genevieve Cogman, I started with the Bookburners led by Max Gladstone and there is plenty more. Michael R. Underwood also made the first step into this theme, though people have made this step before him, Michael R. Underwood has given the multidimensional tra [...]

A geek-tastic premise marred by plodding pace and lackluster writing. This is the first time I've read anything by Michael R. Underwood, and I've been meaning to read Geekomancy and his other titles which all have some geek and genre heavy premise and crazy combinations. This serial's premise is that there is a secret government that oversees parallel worlds that built on a genre and its subgenre, and agents sometimes have to go correct a story to stay within its genre tropes and prevent it from [...]

Aprovechando que mañana sale a la venta, hoy toca hablar de The Shootout Solution de Michael R. Underwood, otra de las novelas cortas de la nueva colección de la editorial Tor. Por ahora esta colección está siendo todo un acierto, y aunque esta novella que nos ocupa no llega al nivel excelente de The Builders y The Last Witness, sí que es un libro más que entretenido y que gracias a su planteamiento contará con cinco novelas cortas en total.Y es que en The Shootout Solution nos encontrare [...]

Leah Tang is a stand-up comedienne and part-time administrative assistant trying to get a full-time gig on the stage. One night, a strange man attended her act and then offered her a job, a job joining his team in keeping alternative universes with storylines in check. Because when the genre universes go off-course in their genres, strange ripples occur in our world, making it a dangerous place. And, they are willing to show her one of their missions before she decides. Will she decide that this [...]

A fun, fast-paced piece of meta-sf, it's knowledge and critique of genres, specifically Westerns, is clever and interesting. The central premise, that specially trained operatives have to travel into genre-specific worlds to fix stories, is neat as heck, and the characters are good company, if a little bland.There are problems, but they're primarily nitpicky. Our main character, Leah, is an aspiring stand-up, and I'll tell you now, her material is awful. The author may know it, and I hope so, be [...]

Even though it's missing the wordplay and madcap humor, I think this is the type of book that could appeal to fans of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. It's got the same insider's love of books and reading, as well as the slightly science fiction-y premise, but in the Genrenauts series the focus is not on books in general, but specifically on genre fiction. Book one takes place in Western world, but future books promise Science Fiction world, Fantasy world, Romance world, Pulp Fiction world, [...]

Shootout Solution is a different take on a core component of MIke's Ree Reyes series. In that series, genre knowledge is used as a source of magical power. In this one, genre's are their own separate world and genre knowledge allows you to navigate those worlds, and fix them when they get off track.It's an interesting concept, and Mike definitely has the broad swath of knowledge to pull it off. First up is the Western genre, and there are a lot of little things that pop out to me, and I'm not ev [...]

Mike's lively dialogue and sense of humor which are so winning in the REE REYES series are again evident in this genre mashup of Westerns and Science Fiction. The genius conceit of the series is that balance in the world is determined by various genre-convention-governed parallel dimensions. This makes for lots of meta-awareness of the themes, stereotypes, memes, and tropes of iconic stories --for this novella, it's the stories of the American West. Whether you are a fan of classic cowboy novels [...]

Just finished reading "The Shootout Solution" and I was not disappointed! Michael is fast becoming one of my favorite authors; joining my all time faves; Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Piers Anthony, Stephen King, Mark Twain and Dave Barry - to name a few. I fell in love with Ree Reyes from the first chapter and now Leah has joined my list of folks I can't wait to travel with again. Great job mixing humor and narrative and making us care about the characters. I hope Michael continues to write [...]

Leah cuts loose on stage and ends up with a job offer - travel to different genres and help fix stories gone wrong. How could a wanna-be comedian and nerdest refuse, besides, there was the offer of getting her a standing comedy gig. So off Leah went in a rocketship to Western world to help find a marshal that could stand-up to the outlaws. Michael R. Underwood manages to produce another interesting heroine who is not a copycat of Reye from Geekomancy, but engages the reader with her own brand of [...]

An ambitiously fun concept, this book will appease long time fans of westerns, while delighting my fellow pop culture junkies with a welcome onslaught of references. Personally I'll forever support the author because of our mutual love for The Last Action Hero.

Okay - I really found the story fun and interesting. I hate talking crap about narrators, but this one really wasn't the right fit at all. If you can't do male voices, you are better off not attempting them.

The start of a wonderful new series of novellas. I found the whole concept fascinating and great fun. I am always reluctant to call a concept unique but it certainly seems unique to me. Also very well written with many LOL moments.I cannot wait for future novellas in this series!

3,5 stars and I am picking up the next one right away

I hadn’t heard of this series at all before I stumbled upon this book at the library. The Shootout Solution, Episode 1 in the Genrenauts series, by Michael R. Underwood is a fantastic novella that combines science fiction and western genres and is just plain fun.The Shootout Solution by Michael R. Underwood is a novella, the first in the Genrenauts series. Leah Tang is a standup comedian. She doesn’t have any sort of following, and if the last gig was anything to go by, her career isn't goin [...]

Sly FunThis is the first Genrenaut "episode". There are now four more. The fifth and currently latest one, the High Fantasy title "Failed Fellowship", is a two parter. All of the books are great fun, but you should probably start with this one, a Western, because it sets up the characters and the premise. And what a premise it is - in the author's words: " a team of story specialists travels to worlds based on Westerns, Science Fiction, Romance, and other genres. Their mission is to find and fix [...]