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Genrenauts #0
The Data Disruption
When Stories Break, You Send in the Genrenauts!
The Genrenauts are a group of story experts who travel to parallel worlds. Each is the home of a narrative genre—Science Fiction or Romance, Fantasy or Western—populated by archetypal characters and constantly playing out familiar stories.
The Genrenauts’ mission: find and fix broken stories. If they fail, the ripples from the story worlds will cause havoc and devastation on their home world.
In the world of Cyberpunk, D-Source, a noted hacker, has disappeared, leaving his team's storyline to grind to a halt. Angstrom King leads the Genrenauts on a mission to find out what happened to D-Source and how to get the cyberpunks back in the action.
World-spanning megacorporations...suspicious mercenaries living on the edge...lethal computer programs designed to tear your mind to shreds...the Genrenauts will face all these and more to get the story back on track—before it's too late.
A short story in the world of Genrenauts (a finalist for the r/Fantasy "Stabby" Award for Best Serialized Fiction.)
The Genrenauts are a group of story experts who travel to parallel worlds. Each is the home of a narrative genre—Science Fiction or Romance, Fantasy or Western—populated by archetypal characters and constantly playing out familiar stories.
The Genrenauts’ mission: find and fix broken stories. If they fail, the ripples from the story worlds will cause havoc and devastation on their home world.
In the world of Cyberpunk, D-Source, a noted hacker, has disappeared, leaving his team's storyline to grind to a halt. Angstrom King leads the Genrenauts on a mission to find out what happened to D-Source and how to get the cyberpunks back in the action.
World-spanning megacorporations...suspicious mercenaries living on the edge...lethal computer programs designed to tear your mind to shreds...the Genrenauts will face all these and more to get the story back on track—before it's too late.
A short story in the world of Genrenauts (a finalist for the r/Fantasy "Stabby" Award for Best Serialized Fiction.)
67 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 12, 2017
21 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Michael R. Underwood
35 books263 followersSupport Mike's writing at https://www.patreon.com/michaelrunder...
Mike's books include:
Genrenauts - a r/Fantasy Stabby Award-finalist science fiction adventure series in novellas. A group of storytellers travel between dimensions to the worlds where genres live to fix broken stories. Starts with The Shootout Solution. Collections available: Genrenauts - The Complete Season One
The Ree Reyes urban fantasy series (Geekomancy, Celebromancy, Attack the Geek, Hexomancy) about magicians who channel the power of popular culture. Starts with Geekomancy.
Born to the Blade, a political action fantasy about duelist diplomats vying for their nation's interests in a world on the brink of war. Co-written with Marie Brennan, Malka Older, and Cassandra Khaw for Serial Box Publishing. Collections available: Born to the Blade Season One.
Shield and Crocus, a superheroes-meets-epic fantasy novel where an aging revolutionary makes a deal with his most deadly foe to turn the tide of a fifty-year-long fight to free his city.
The Younger Gods, a supernatural thriller starring the white-sheep member of a family of demon-worshippers as he tries to stop his big sister from ending the world.
Mike started telling stories when he learned to talk and hasn't seen a reason to stop yet. He grew up playing video games, CCGs, RPGs, and many other delightful games with acronyms. As a teenager, the friendly local game store was his home away from home, and the site of his apprenticeship in geekdom.
Mike earned a B.A. in Creative Mythology and in East Asian Studies from Indiana University, and a M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon. Basically, destined to be a novelist. He is also a graduate of the 2007 Clarion West Writers Workshop.
Properly equipped with lots of ways to develop story ideas, Mike has been a barista, a bear builder, a sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books.
Mike lives with his wife and their dog in Baltimore, MD.
Mike's books include:
Genrenauts - a r/Fantasy Stabby Award-finalist science fiction adventure series in novellas. A group of storytellers travel between dimensions to the worlds where genres live to fix broken stories. Starts with The Shootout Solution. Collections available: Genrenauts - The Complete Season One
The Ree Reyes urban fantasy series (Geekomancy, Celebromancy, Attack the Geek, Hexomancy) about magicians who channel the power of popular culture. Starts with Geekomancy.
Born to the Blade, a political action fantasy about duelist diplomats vying for their nation's interests in a world on the brink of war. Co-written with Marie Brennan, Malka Older, and Cassandra Khaw for Serial Box Publishing. Collections available: Born to the Blade Season One.
Shield and Crocus, a superheroes-meets-epic fantasy novel where an aging revolutionary makes a deal with his most deadly foe to turn the tide of a fifty-year-long fight to free his city.
The Younger Gods, a supernatural thriller starring the white-sheep member of a family of demon-worshippers as he tries to stop his big sister from ending the world.
Mike started telling stories when he learned to talk and hasn't seen a reason to stop yet. He grew up playing video games, CCGs, RPGs, and many other delightful games with acronyms. As a teenager, the friendly local game store was his home away from home, and the site of his apprenticeship in geekdom.
Mike earned a B.A. in Creative Mythology and in East Asian Studies from Indiana University, and a M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon. Basically, destined to be a novelist. He is also a graduate of the 2007 Clarion West Writers Workshop.
Properly equipped with lots of ways to develop story ideas, Mike has been a barista, a bear builder, a sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books.
Mike lives with his wife and their dog in Baltimore, MD.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 24, 2017
This story is a fun prequel romp through the Genrenauts universe and an unabashed homage to cyberpunk. This is an adventure that takes place right before Leah joins the team, and though I missed her presence, it was interesting to see how the team dynamics worked without her.
August 15, 2020
Light, fun and fast-moving. King, Shirin and Roman head to a cyberpunk world to break into a megacorp’s network to locate information on a missing person in the genre world.
I liked seeing the team in action pre-Leah Tang, and finding out why a new member was necessary for the team.
I liked seeing the team in action pre-Leah Tang, and finding out why a new member was necessary for the team.
June 29, 2017
A very good backstory if you are already a Genrenauts fan, and a decent place to start if you are new to the series. I loved finding out more about characters I've grown to care about. This deepens my affection for the team going forward.
July 22, 2017
As much as I enjoyed this prequel, I really hope we get a season 2
June 20, 2017
★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
It'll come to no surprise to any of my longer-term readers that I liked this -- it's pretty established that I'm a Genrenauts fan. I dig the characters, the world(s), the type of stories Underwood's telling -- the whole kit and caboodle. This story is no exception -- I liked it. This takes place just before Leah is recruited, so the team is functioning very smoothly -- no growing pains needed -- just King, Shireen and Roman doing their thing like seasoned pros.
It's a pretty straight-forward, classic cyberpunk story (yeah, I'm old enough that cyberpunk can be called "classic") -- notorious hacker, D-Source, has gone missing. Which is causing all sorts of problems for the rest of his crew, and (by extension) all of Cyberpunk world as well as ours. So King and his team (minus Mallery, off in Western world) head out to save the day. They've worked with D-Source in the past and therefore have an easier time getting an "in" to the story in-progress. What results is a solid heist story with all the cyberpunk bells and whistles.
Underwood has been modeling this series after TV shows, and wrote this as a "lost pilot" to "serve as an introduction to the series, which I’ll use to invite more people into the worlds of Genrenauts." Here's my problem with that -- no one watches a lost pilot until the show's been around for a while, and usually only fans see it. No one sits down to watch "The Cage" (or the two-part version, "The Menagerie") as an introduction to Star Trek, and for good reason. Similarly, Leah Tang is our point-of-entry character, and to remove her from the equation takes something away from the overall story. Also, there's something that's slowly revealed over the course of the first few books that's just blatantly stated. I just think that works better the way that Underwood originally wrote it.
Still, Underwood knows what he's doing, and if he thinks this will work to bring in new readers, I hope he's right.
Putting that aside, I'm supposed to be talking about the story, not Underwood's plans. The story worked really well. It was a little too short for me -- but it's supposed to be short, so I shouldn't complain. Besides, I almost always complain about short story length -- even I'm tired of that. While the story was told in its fullness, I just would've liked to see everything fleshed out a little more -- also, I wouldn't mind spending more time with my friends. Fast, fun, with good action -- celebrating what makes a cyberpunk story work -- and winking at the genre at the same time.
Still, any time with the 'Nauts works for me. Good story, decent intro to this series that I can't stop recommending -- and a great price (free). Still, reading this after the sixth book would be my recommendation after starting with The Shootout Solution.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
It'll come to no surprise to any of my longer-term readers that I liked this -- it's pretty established that I'm a Genrenauts fan. I dig the characters, the world(s), the type of stories Underwood's telling -- the whole kit and caboodle. This story is no exception -- I liked it. This takes place just before Leah is recruited, so the team is functioning very smoothly -- no growing pains needed -- just King, Shireen and Roman doing their thing like seasoned pros.
It's a pretty straight-forward, classic cyberpunk story (yeah, I'm old enough that cyberpunk can be called "classic") -- notorious hacker, D-Source, has gone missing. Which is causing all sorts of problems for the rest of his crew, and (by extension) all of Cyberpunk world as well as ours. So King and his team (minus Mallery, off in Western world) head out to save the day. They've worked with D-Source in the past and therefore have an easier time getting an "in" to the story in-progress. What results is a solid heist story with all the cyberpunk bells and whistles.
Underwood has been modeling this series after TV shows, and wrote this as a "lost pilot" to "serve as an introduction to the series, which I’ll use to invite more people into the worlds of Genrenauts." Here's my problem with that -- no one watches a lost pilot until the show's been around for a while, and usually only fans see it. No one sits down to watch "The Cage" (or the two-part version, "The Menagerie") as an introduction to Star Trek, and for good reason. Similarly, Leah Tang is our point-of-entry character, and to remove her from the equation takes something away from the overall story. Also, there's something that's slowly revealed over the course of the first few books that's just blatantly stated. I just think that works better the way that Underwood originally wrote it.
Still, Underwood knows what he's doing, and if he thinks this will work to bring in new readers, I hope he's right.
Putting that aside, I'm supposed to be talking about the story, not Underwood's plans. The story worked really well. It was a little too short for me -- but it's supposed to be short, so I shouldn't complain. Besides, I almost always complain about short story length -- even I'm tired of that. While the story was told in its fullness, I just would've liked to see everything fleshed out a little more -- also, I wouldn't mind spending more time with my friends. Fast, fun, with good action -- celebrating what makes a cyberpunk story work -- and winking at the genre at the same time.
Still, any time with the 'Nauts works for me. Good story, decent intro to this series that I can't stop recommending -- and a great price (free). Still, reading this after the sixth book would be my recommendation after starting with The Shootout Solution.
December 13, 2017
finished 12/12/17. this was a very fast read and probably one of my favorite in the series. it was clever and interesting, describing a genre (cyberpunk) that i'm not too familiar with. Just long enough for me to see how the story was changed and to have hoped that I could've "finished the story!" all in all, an exciting story that rounded up the first season of the Genrenauts. if season 2 is anything like this book, I will really enjoy them!!
February 5, 2019
I liked the idea of this more than the excecution. It might also be that I'm not quite in the right headspace for reading, as it took me way longer than it should have for me to realize it was genre nauts and not gen re nauts. Yes, I'm that out of it.
August 7, 2024
I know this is a prequel but I enjoyed this one way more than episode 1, probably because it was a genre I would naturally prefer. Great pacing and intro to the series, great way to get people in with the free book then paid second installment
June 18, 2017
An enjoyable prequel to the Genrenauts series if a little insubstantial. This time the story was a cyberpunk story with all the tropes we are used to with this type of story.
September 24, 2021
An interesting premise with this short introduction mainly used for world building.
November 28, 2018
This was a fun little adventure.
The writing style was a little weird and somewhat ... disjointed?
Well, apparently I'm reading on to find out what's next.
Note: Available for free on Amazon
The writing style was a little weird and somewhat ... disjointed?
Well, apparently I'm reading on to find out what's next.
Note: Available for free on Amazon
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews