Jim Munroe is a Canadian

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author, independent game developer, filmmaker, and cultural organizer. Munroe was managing editor at the magazine ''

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'' in the 1990s, before publishing his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

''Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask'' in 1999. The novel was put out by HarperCollins, a major publishing company owned by

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, and though the book was successful, Munroe so disliked the experience that he launched No Media Kings as a venue for publishing and promoting his own works independently, and a guide to self-publishing for other prospective writers. The book was shortlisted for the

Books in Canada First Novel Award The Amazon Canada First Novel Award, formerly the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian literary award, co-presented by Amazon.ca and ''The Walrus'' to the best first novel in English published the p ...

in 2000. In 2000, Munroe released ''Angry Young Spaceman'' through No Media Kings. He followed up with '' Everyone in Silico'' in 2002, which was promoted partly by Munroe's attempt to invoice corporations mentioned in the novel for

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. ''An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil'', a novel written in the form of

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entries, followed in 2004. Munroe wrote the

graphic novels A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and ...

'' Therefore Repent!'', published in 2007, and '' Sword of My Mouth'', published in 2010, both set in post-

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Chicago and Detroit. In 2022, he released '' We Are Raccoons'', a science fiction novel about independent video game designers who accidentally create a

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Bibliography

*''Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask'' (1999) *''Angry Young Spaceman'' (2000) *'' Everyone in Silico'' (2002) *''An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil'' (2004) *'' Therefore Repent!'' (2007) *''Sword of My Mouth'' (2010) *''We Are Raccoons'' (2022) *Zeroed Out (2025)

Video games

Munroe wrote the game ''Unmanned'' (2012), which places the player in the role of a drone bomber pilot, which was featured in the

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New Frontier section and which won the Grand Jury Award at

IndieCade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. Game types include video games, live-action games, and tabletop games. Independent game developers are selected to demo, screen, and promote their work at the annual IndieCade fe ...

and two

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awards. ''Guilded Youth'' (2012), one of his interactive fiction works, came in third place in the 2012

Interactive Fiction Competition The Interactive Fiction Competition (also known as IFComp) is one of several annual competitions for works of interactive fiction. It has been held since 1995. It is intended for fairly short games, as judges are only allowed to spend two hours pla ...

and won the Best NPC Award at the 2012

XYZZY Awards The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film. The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of ''XYZZYnews''. Any game released during the y ...

. In 2009, Munroe co-founded the Toronto-based

Hand Eye Society The Hand Eye Society is a Non-profit organization, not-for-profit coalition of projects and people in support of Toronto's video game communities. The Hand Eye Society Organizes socials, unconferences, presentations, Display case, showcases and es ...

, which supports the creation and appreciation of video games as an artistic medium. He currently runs the Game Arts International Network, a registered not-for-profit focused on interconnecting existing game arts organizations and nurturing new structures in emerging regions. GAIN’s projects include Toronto Games Week and Game Arts International Assembly (GAIA). Munroe was the Artist-in-Residence at the

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in 2014, where he introduced interactive installations such as the Torontrons, classic arcade cabinets modified to showcase locally developed video games.

Honors and awards

: ** ''Everybody Dies'' (2008) – 3rd Place, Miss Congeniality Award (2nd Place) ** ''Guilded Youth'' (2012) – 3rd Place, Miss Congeniality Award Winner *

: ''Unmanned'' (2012) – Grand Jury Award *

Awards: ''Unmanned'' (2012) – Two awards * Joe Shuster Award: Nominated for ''Therefore Repent!'' (2008)

References

External links

jimmunroe.net
* *
Unmanned
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Munroe, Jim Canadian science fiction writers Living people Novelists from Toronto Canadian graphic novelists Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian columnists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)