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Michael R Underwood
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The Shootout Solution: Genrenauts Episode 1 Kindle Edition

by Michael R. Underwood (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 133 ratings
When Stories Break, You Send in the Genrenauts.
Struggling stand-up comic Leah Tang is offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to join the Genrenauts, a secret organization of dimensional travelers. Leah learns that our world is just one of many, and every other world is the home of a story 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.
Leah joins the team as they travel to Western World to stop a bandit posse on the rampage. But the Western's hero isn't interested in winning, and the safety of Earth hangs in the balance...
The first episode of the exciting science fiction novella series. If you like Leverage, Redshirts, or Quantum Leap, check out Genrenauts for a brand-new adventure!
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  1. Print length
    164 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tordotcom
  4. Publication date
    November 17, 2015
  5. File size
    5.1 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

  • "My favorite new TV show of 2015 isn't on TV, it's in the pages of Mike Underwood's Genrenauts. Deeply funny and creative, shrewdly insightful, and thrillingly paced, every pop culture diehard will want to keep living vicariously through the characters in this series."
    -    Matt Wallace, author of the Slingers Saga and Envy of Angels
  • "Who hasn't wanted to imagine themselves parachuting into a story gone wrong and putting it back on track? It's storytelling as heroism, genre savviness as power. Endless fun. Catnip for genre geeks."
    -    Marie Brennan, World Fantasy nominated author of A Natural History of Dragons
  • "A clever, exciting, and seriously fun twist on portal fantasy that sends a geeky stand-up comedian into the Wild West. Sign me up to be a Genrenaut, too!"
    -    Delilah S. Dawson, author of the Blud series. Hit, and Wake of Vultures (as Lila Bowen)
  • "A wonderfully executed idea that uses the strengths and background of the writer to great effect... An excellent start to an exciting series, and another highlight of Tor's novella program."
    -    Paul Weimer, SF Signal
  • "A Tardis of a novella, The Shootout Solution is packed full of ideas... The possibilities are endless... Tor.com continues to blaze a bookish trail in terms of both originality and diversity. More like this, please."
    -    Geek Syndicate
  • "This is fun...Readers will be looking forward to Leah and company's next trip to a story world."
    -    Library Journal
  • "The diverse cast of characters is a nice change of pace."
    -    Publishers Weekly
  • "Snappy dialogue, twisting plot turns, and efficiently written action scenes combine with a strongly realized protagonist that reminds me of a old friend from my art school days, not a cardboard cut-out of the "strong female character" trope."
    -    Polychromantium
  • "The entire book is just FUN"
    -    Page Turners Inc.
  • "The concept of Genrenauts is awesome."
    -    The Book Plank
  • "The Genrenauts are the literary equivalent of The A-Team by way of Star Trek, Quantum Leap-ing their way through alternate dimensions defined entirely by genre tropes."
    -    Michael Patrick Hicks
  • "There's a good deal of literary/narrative theory under-girding this whole project ― it's not as frivolous as it may seem."
    -    Irresponsible Reader
  • "It's got a clever, rather cool central idea. It has a plot built around that which keeps up suspense, whilst giving you a protagonist to care about, portrayed well."
    -    SF & F reviews
  • "The Shootout Solution is Genre blending fun."
    -    Fangirl Nation

From the Author

This book is the start of the Genrenauts series, where a team of story specialists travels to worlds based on Westerns, Science Fiction, Romance, and other genres. Their mission is to find and fix broken stories. Because if they fail, the ripples from the story worlds will cause havoc and devastation on their home world.
For fans of Westworld, Leverage, and Redshirts!
Complete Genrenauts series order:#1 - The Shootout Solution - amzn.com/B00WDVSMFE
#2 - The Absconded Ambassador - amzn.com/B0166PX1VM
#3 - The Cupid Reconciliation - amzn.com/B01G45CFRA
#4 - The Substitute Sleuth - amzn.com/B01GDD5W5K
#5 - The Failed Fellowship - amzn.com/B01IL488GY


Genrenauts Bundles:Books #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 - amzn.com/B01L9W8GHG

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00WDVSMFE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tordotcom (November 17, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 17, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.1 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0765385325
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 133 ratings

About the author

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Michael R Underwood

Michael R Underwood

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Mike grew up reading comics, playing games, and trying to figure out how to make being a geek into a job. Now he's living the dream telling stories for a living.

Mike's books are known for their fun action/adventure vibes with inclusive casting and inventive worldbuilding. He is the author of over a dozen books, including found-family space opera ANNIHILATION ARIA, the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series (GEEKOMANCY, CELEBROMANCY, ATTACK THE GEEK, HEXOMANCY), collaboratively-written epic fantasy serial BORN TO THE BLADE, and the r/Fantasy "Stabby" Award-finalist GENRENAUTS series.

Currently, Mike is working as a game designer on the forthcoming Daggerheart RPG and developing a ttrpg based on Generenauts.

Mike has been a game store clerk, a bookseller/barista, a sales representative, and the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. Mike lives in Baltimore with his wife, their dog, and an ever-growing library.

Previously, Mike was a co-host of actual play show Speculate and a guest host on the Hugo Award-finalist The Skiffy and Fanty Show.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
133 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers enjoy this book as a fun romp through literary and cinematic genres, with a fast-paced narrative that moves at a good pace. They appreciate its unique concept, with one customer highlighting its multiple worlds as literary genres, and another noting its broad swath of knowledge. While customers find the characters interesting, one review points out that the novella length limits detailed character development.

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11 customers mention "Fun read"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, describing it as a fun romp through literary and cinematic genres.

"...There's some fun with tropes, character types, a shootout, bad whiskey -- pretty much everything you'd want sans a squinty-Eastwood character...." Read more

"The Shootout Solution is a fun adventure that reminded me of Quantum Leap and Sliders, except instead of time travel or alternate dimensions, it is..." Read more

"...I found it more ironic than funny, but still entertaining." Read more

"...episode of The Genrenauts was everything I hoped it would be, fast and fun and a choosing the classic western set up was a great platform to..." Read more

6 customers mention "Pace"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pace, describing it as fast and well-maintained throughout.

"...She's smart, savvy, quick on her feet, a pop culture junkie. Unlike, Ree, Leah's a professional smart aleck -- or aspires to be one, anyway...." Read more

"...The story moves at a very good pace. The characters are interesting and definitely made me want to learn more about them...." Read more

"...Once past that, the story flowed smoothly...." Read more

"The first episode of The Genrenauts was everything I hoped it would be, fast and fun and a choosing the classic western set up was a great platform..." Read more

5 customers mention "Concept"5 positive0 negative

Customers like the concept of the book, finding it unique and great.

"...be, fast and fun and a choosing the classic western set up was a great platform to introduce us to the plot and characters...." Read more

"...It's an interesting concept, and Mike definitely has the broad swath of knowledge to pull it off...." Read more

"...Its unique or at least I have never seen anything like it before. This is unfortunately where the positive ends...." Read more

"Fantastic concept, deftly sketched characters and lots of fun, I hope this is the first in a very long running series." Read more

5 customers mention "Knowledge level"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's knowledge level, with one review noting its literary references and self-awareness, while another mentions its good ideas.

"...She's smart, savvy, quick on her feet, a pop culture junkie. Unlike, Ree, Leah's a professional smart aleck -- or aspires to be one, anyway...." Read more

"...Once past that, the story flowed smoothly. It's very self-aware and makes the best use of every genre trope out there along with pop culture and..." Read more

"...It's an interesting concept, and Mike definitely has the broad swath of knowledge to pull it off...." Read more

"A very good start to the series, with a lot of potential for the other books. Finished in a few hours so not much to say, but I do reccomend...." Read more

5 customers mention "Narrative quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the narrative quality of the book, with one customer highlighting its interesting world concept and another noting its depth of literary knowledge.

"...instead of time travel or alternate dimensions, it is travel into different genres of stories. The story moves at a very good pace...." Read more

"I love the concept of the series-- multiple worlds as literary genres that influence our world and the people who have to fix the stories when they..." Read more

"...The narrative world concept is an interesting one, and one that has been done very well be Jasper Fforde...." Read more

"...A fun romp through literary and cinematic genres, with enough adventure and likable-enough characters to keep one interested...." Read more

4 customers mention "Story quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, describing it as a very good start to the series.

"...a bit of the self-insertion fantasy we all feel when reading a good story with a clever setting that comments both on tropes and story structure,..." Read more

"A very good start to the series, with a lot of potential for the other books. Finished in a few hours so not much to say, but I do reccomend...." Read more

"This is a pretty great start to the Genrenauts series, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the rest...." Read more

"Great Origin Story..." Read more

7 customers mention "Character development"4 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the character development in the book, with some finding them interesting, while one customer notes that the limitations of the novella format prevent detailed character development.

"...There's some fun with tropes, character types, a shootout, bad whiskey -- pretty much everything you'd want sans a squinty-Eastwood character...." Read more

"...it has a lot of potential, but the limitations of the novella length prevents detailed character development or world exploration in a single book...." Read more

"...The story moves at a very good pace. The characters are interesting and definitely made me want to learn more about them...." Read more

"...The main character wasn't very believable, and the setting had way too much handwaving...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • The Irresponsible Reader
    4.0 out of 5 stars It's Like he Designed Something just for Me
    Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This originally appeared at my blog the Irresponsible Reader:

    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/<b>Geekomancy</b> series, <b>Shield and Crocus</b> and <b>The Younger Gods</b> (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 working for her, her day job is as a receptionist and isn't the basis for a future. So she can't help but be interested when some mysterious man who seems to appreciate her act approaches her and says:<blockquote>I’m Dr. Angstrom King, Department of Comparative Literature. I run a narrative immersion laboratory, and I’m looking for new staff. I think you might be an excellent fit.</blockquote>

    The reality behind that gobbledygook is tough to explain in a paragraph, but I'll try -- there are several parallel universes to ours ("Earth Prime"), and each of these correlates to a genre in fiction (not just books), so there's a Science Fiction World, a Romance World, A Horror World, and so on. Each of these universes impacts ours in the narratives we tell each other. And when something goes wrong the World's narrative, it spills over in our reality. So there's a group of people like <b>Quantum Leap</b> or <b>Voyagers!</b> who pop in, fix the problem, and pop out once stability to the narrative returns. The people that are aware of these worlds and that travel between are called Genrenauts -- catchy, eh?

    So, Leah tries it out, traveling to Western World to clean up a sticky situation. While there, she meets some more of King's team, helps some people out, and get a real baptism by fire into this strange new world. There's some fun with tropes, character types, a shootout, bad whiskey -- pretty much everything you'd want sans a squinty-Eastwood character.

    It's told with a light touch -- the debt to <b>Leverage</b> and <b>The Librarians</b> is obvious (and readily acknowledged), with a good dose of action, a hint of a looming catastrophe/conspiracy. There's a good deal of literary/narrative theory under-girding this whole project -- it's not as frivolous as it may seem.

    There's so much emphasis on the premise of this series, and with the adventure in Western World, that we didn't get a good introduction to the characters. In addition to Leah, there was King and 2 teammates, some references to a couple of others, 2 people from the Western world. But Leah's the only one that I could say has more than 1 dimension to them. I'm confident when I say that'll be taken care of in short order in the future, though. But for now, the team is full of types, not people.

    Leah is further on her way to being a fully developed character, primarily a collection of characteristics and tics at the moment -- but close. She's smart, savvy, quick on her feet, a pop culture junkie. Unlike, Ree, Leah's a professional smart aleck -- or aspires to be one, anyway. Not that anyone needs a justification to be quippy and snarky in the face of danger in SF, but it's nice that she has one. I enjoyed meeting her, and want to get to know her better while watching these collection of characteristics congeal into a character.

    I'm giving this 4 Stars, I think it earns a 3 -- it's so pilot episode-y that it's hard to tell. I really enjoyed it and I'm in for at least a handful of books, so I'll give it a one-star bump for the premise. I'm eager, really eager, to get the next one.
    One person found this helpful
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  • M. Bentley
    5.0 out of 5 stars Travel to Strange New Stories....
    Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    The Shootout Solution is a fun adventure that reminded me of Quantum Leap and Sliders, except instead of time travel or alternate dimensions, it is travel into different genres of stories. The story moves at a very good pace. The characters are interesting and definitely made me want to learn more about them. Anxiously awaiting the second episode.
    One person found this helpful
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  • SilverGray
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad start
    Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I love the concept of the series-- multiple worlds as literary genres that influence our world and the people who have to fix the stories when they go wrong. I think it has a lot of potential, but the limitations of the novella length prevents detailed character development or world exploration in a single book. I'm going to wait until I've read the second book before passing judgment on how he's doing in those respects.

    The biggest criticism I have is the beginning. It felt like he was trying to shoehorn an entire checklist of diversity and feminism into too little space. While I fully support the intention, it was far too heavy-handed and obvious.

    Once past that, the story flowed smoothly. It's very self-aware and makes the best use of every genre trope out there along with pop culture and literary references. I found it more ironic than funny, but still entertaining.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Bob
    4.0 out of 5 stars Episode 1
    Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    The first episode of The Genrenauts was everything I hoped it would be, fast and fun and a choosing the classic western set up was a great platform to introduce us to the plot and characters. I love how Underwood embraced the tropes in the story within the story but subtle subverted them in the overall premise. This mix of sci-fi and everything else will be a great world to play in. I’ll be visiting it again soon.
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  • Alexander von der Linden
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Origin Story
    Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    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 even really a Western fan. I'm super looking forward to later books in the series where I'm better able to see the sly nods to genre.

    This is the fourth of the Tor.Com novellas that I've read. It's very close in tone to Matt Wallace's Envy of Angels (another book I highly recommend) and both authors have a lot of the same strengths. The humor in Shootout is a little lighter than the more sardonic Envy, but both were great fast reads I thoroughly enjoy.

    Highly recommended for fans of genre based works like Mark Fabi's Wyrm, Jim Hines Libriomancer series, and Terry Pratchett.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jonathan CR
    4.0 out of 5 stars ... the self-insertion fantasy we all feel when reading a good story with a clever setting that comments both on ...
    Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Underwoood has written something combining a bit of the self-insertion fantasy we all feel when reading a good story with a clever setting that comments both on tropes and story structure, and in fact, relys on knowledge of same to move the story forward. It's quite good, especially if you are a writer yourself, or merely interested in story structure.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Beth L. Cato
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fluffy and fun in the best way
    Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    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 straight out of her stand-up show and dropped into a bucketful of weird and unbelievable. It's a fun ride as they jaunt off to western world, where troublesome tropes do exist but are delightfully subverted by Underwood's deft plotting. I can't wait for the next installment!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Tyler
    4.0 out of 5 stars A very good start to the series
    Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    A very good start to the series, with a lot of potential for the other books. Finished in a few hours so not much to say, but I do reccomend. The "diversity in fiction" message was a little on the nose, but it didn't take away from the story too much.
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  • Martin O
    2.0 out of 5 stars Wenig aus einem guten Konzept gemacht
    Reviewed in Germany on January 11, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Die Grundidee ist gut und verspricht viel: neben der "realen" Welt gibt es eine Reihe von Welten, in denen bestimmte (Literatur-?) Genres und deren Erzählstrukturen dominant sind. Die Aufgabe einer Sondereinheit ist es, Störungen in der Erzählstruktur, die Auswirkungen auf die reale Welt haben, zu beseitigen, in dem sie - innerhalb der jeweiligen Strukturen - undercover die Story in die richtige Bahn lenken. Eine Newcomerin (gescheiterte Stand-Up-Comedian) wird auf ihre erste Mission in eine Wild-West-Welt mitgenommen.
    Das Problem: Es ist schlicht weder lustig, noch spannend noch bloß interessant. Weder ergibt sich irgend eine Spannung aus der Konfrontation der Newcomerin, die innerhalb eines Tages von der Bühne im Wilden Westen landet und dabei alles akzeptiert, was da so passiert, noch irgend etwas spielerisches aus der Konfrontation der Klischees mit der Erwartungshaltung eines "normalen" Menschen.
    Und ja, einer der Charaktere ist transsexuell, und ja, der Held der Western-Story ist eine Heldin, und ja, es ist genauso peinlich aufgesetzt und vorhersehbar wie es klingt.
    Ich habe dunkel eine SF-Reihe aus den 70ern (damals bei Heyne erschienen), in denen in ähnlicher Manier von einer Wikingerwelt angefangen alle möglichen Story-Konventionen durch den Kakao gezogen wurden. Daran hätte sich das Buch orientieren sollen, dann würde ich mich nicht bei knappen 150 seiten schon vier Tage abmühen, um mich zu motivieren, endlich fertig zu lesen.
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  • Ancient Mariner
    4.0 out of 5 stars Sly Fun
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This 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 broken stories." In each book we visit a different story world, so we have both an overarching storyline that pulls everything together, and book by book storylines that relate to a particular genre. The opportunity for sly, witty fun are endless, and our author takes full advantage.

    Because the series is set up as a bookish version of a "Quantum Leap" style TV show the emphasis is on the action and plot of each episode, not necessarily on deep character development. That said, though, we get more than stick figure characters, and Underwood fits in a lot more depth and character interest than you might suspect. The upshot is that you get clever writing, snappy dialogue, deadpan observations about different genres, some action and adventure, and continuing character storylines. For an episodic serial that's a wonderful and entertaining package.

    For what it's worth I finally remembered that Underwood is also the author of the Ree Reyes urban fantasies. There, characters practice "Geekomancy", which is magic powered by geek culture artifacts. The series plays with Sc-fi, Fantasy and Geek Gamer genres. I mention this only to further confirm Underwood's bona fides as a seriously creative genre bender, and as a writer with deep affection for his craft.

    Anyway, bottom line, you can insert a "meta" joke here, (I never meta book by Underwood that wasn't entertaining), but the truth is that these are both fun and good for you. A nice find.

    (Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
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  • Nikki Tysoe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Huge fun!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Being a HUGE fan of Michael R Underwood's other books I was enormously excited to see he'd started a new series, and this didn't disappoint. It's a wonderful, fun read that certainly leaves you wanting more.

    While this didn't have the laughs and puns of Jasper Ffordes literary detective books, the adventure and fun more than makes up for it.

    If you're wondering whether to read this. Do! You won't regret it for a second.
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  • Chris Cunliffe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Great storytelling.
    Great cast.
    Great story.
    Proper page turner. And just the right length for the tale it wanted to tell - well paced.
    Already looking forward to the next one.
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  • Alasdair Stuart
    5.0 out of 5 stars clever, funny, subtle and fun
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    an excellent pilot episode for a metafictional procedural that takes the postmodern idea of stories that are aware of themselves and turns it on its end. Leverage with added lit jokes, NCIS with added rocketships. Brilliant fun.
    Report

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