Michael Muntisov's Blog, page 6

How to write a novel in six easy steps

OR how to run a book launch during COVID.

Mike and I had always planned to have some sort of book launch event where we invited people we knew…and celebrated, but COVID made that impossible, so we took a different path.

We had worked together for many years at the same professional services firm: GHD.  That’s where we started writing Court of the Grandchildren.  As a result, a lot of the people who work at GHD knew about the book and were very interested in it’s progress.  So what better w...

The best thing you can do to tackle global warming

Is going vegan or driving an electric car the best thing you can do to mitigate climate change? How about voting out climate deniers? According to author Grant Ennis it’s not. But there is a single best thing you can do to help tackle global warming.

In his upcoming book (https://www.deviousframes.com/), Grant starts by outlining some of the industry and government tactics which misdirect citizen efforts. Some are obvious like outright denialism or even arguing that climate change is good for...

Bloggers and Spoilers

Did you know that some people love spoilers? Which camp do you belong to? Does knowing the climax or plot twists in advance make reading a book more or less enjoyable for you?

The subject of spoilers surfaced for me this week as I participated in a book tour of Court of the Grandchildren run by Blackthorn Book Tours. A virtual book or blog tour is the successor to the old fashioned bookshop tours. Instead of going round book shops, a buzz is created over a long-weekend during which your book...

In the company of authors

Author Marissa Slaven and I are both members of the Climate Fiction Writers League. The League asked us to interview each other about our respective books for their blog. I gather that’s because we both wrote about a near-future world setting. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Here’s part of our conversation.

MARISSA: You know, as I read your book, I had to smile whenever I came across some of the same details in your climate-changed world as mine.

MIKE: Me too! It felt like we had wri...

Act 1 Scene 1

What a treat it was to watch The Magnetic Theatre perform a virtual reading of the stage adaptation of Court of the Grandchildren on an inspired date: Earth Day April 22nd. Hosted by artistic director Katie Jones and under the stewardship of the play’s director Jason Williams, ten actors all gave wonderful performances.

The Magnetic Theatre is based in Asheville, North Carolina. With a regional population of nearly half a million people, it is nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains o...

Break a Leg!

I am excited to announce the details of a performance of the stage adaptation of Court of the Grandchildren by The Magnetic Theatre in North Carolina. As mentioned at the book release, The Magnetic Theatre has selected the play for performance on stage in their 2022 season. 

In the meantime, they will perform the play via Zoom on-line at 7.30pm 22 April (US Eastern Time) 2021, which is 9.30am 23 April (Australian Eastern Time). This will be somewhat akin to a radio play except you will be abl...

Climate “Fiction”

I am old enough to remember the novels of the 70’s and 80’s which depicted averted nuclear holocausts. Nuclear obliteration was avoided through the heroic actions of a central character, striving against the forces of communist evil (or the military-industrial complex of the west).

Why mention this? Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel, The Ministry for the Future, is in so many ways a better book than any of those thrillers.  But, they do share a feature.  In the 70’s and 80’s, the cold war was very...

#1 on Amazon!

Is the headline misleading? Well sort of. But the screenshot image is accurate. Court of the Grandchildren launched on March 23rd and by the 25th we were climbing up the rankings of the Legal Thrillers category. When I clicked on the New Hot Releases tab on my iphone, this is what I found: Court of the Grandchildren at #1.

So let me make this clear: Court of the Grandchildren was ranked #1 in New Hot Releases in Legal Thrillers on Amazon Australia on that day. Okay not a world beater (yet) bu...

Release announcement

Greg and I are thrilled to announce that Court of the Grandchildren was officially released on March 23rd, 2021.

It is available both in print and as an e-book and can be purchased through any of your favourite online booksellers (see list elsewhere on this page), including Amazon(Aus), Amazon(USA), Google Play or through the publisher Odyssey Books.

Its been quite a wait for publication because of the COVID-induced delay. But there was an upside: I took the opportunity to write a stage a...

How to cope with climate anxiety

Robert Reich was fourteen when he was forced by a cruel stepfather to leave the 1956 foment in Budapest. Stuck with an ambivalent uncle and his girlfriend, he accompanied them on their passage to the unknown. It turned out to be Australia.

There followed citizenship, a name change and a Ph.D. in psychology. The now Dr Bob Rich pursued an accomplished career as a psychotherapist and after five retirements is a self-proclaimed professional grandfather. And he sure has plenty of wisdom and expe...