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My Top 12 Reads of 2020!

Admittedly not one of my more prolific reading years.  When all is said and done, I’ll have read a little over 190 books, a good two-thirds of them graphic novels.  “Not bad,”you may think but, in comparison to other years, this one was a bit of a letdown.  Still, I did manage to discover a few gems.  And so here is a rundown of my Top 12 Reads of 2020 – Novel Edition.  General fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and humor – there’s something here for everyone.

#12. Hi-Five by Joe Ide (Published January 28th, 2020)

Cristiana is the daughter of the biggest arms dealer on the West Coast, Angus Byrne. She’s also the sole witness and number one suspect in the murder of her boyfriend, found dead in her Newport Beach boutique. Isaiah Quintabe is coerced into taking the case to prove her innocence. If he can’t, Angus will harm the brilliant PI’s new girlfriend, ending her career.

The catch: Christiana has multiple personalities. Among them, a naïve, beautiful shopkeeper, an obnoxious drummer in a rock band, and a wanton seductress.

Isaiah’s dilemma: no one personality saw the entire incident. To find out what really happened the night of the murder, Isaiah must piece together clues from each of the personalities . . . before the cops close in on him.

#11. Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Published May 28th, 2019)

My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut.

I got lucky; when a probe sent out to explore the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw.

I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived.

Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here.

Lucky me.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

#10. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen (Published September 3rd, 1996)

Americans have lost touch with their history, and in Lies My Teacher Told Me Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying eighteen leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past.

In this revised edition, packed with updated material, Loewen explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated in today’s climate and adds an eye-opening chapter on the lies surrounding 9/11 and the Iraq War. From the truth about Columbus’s historic voyages to an honest evaluation of our national leaders, Loewen revives our history, restoring the vitality and relevance it truly possesses.

#9. Petra’s Ghost by C.S. O’Cinneide (Published July 20th, 2019)

A woman has vanished on the Camino de Santiago, the ancient five-hundred-mile pilgrimage that crosses northern Spain. Daniel, an Irish expat, walks the lonely trail carrying his wife, Petra’s, ashes, along with the damning secret of how she really died.

When he teams up to walk with sporty California girl Ginny, she seems like the perfect antidote for his grieving heart. But a nightmare figure begins to stalk them, and his mind starts to unravel from the horror of things he cannot explain.

#8. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix (Published April 7th, 2020)

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the ’90s about a women’s book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia’s life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they’re more likely to discuss the FBI’s recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club’s meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he’s a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she–and her book club–are the only people standing between the monster they’ve invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

#7. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (Published February 26th, 2019)

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep

#6. Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Published June 18th, 2019)

Recently separated Toby Fleishman is suddenly, somehow–and at age forty-one, short as ever–surrounded by women who want him: women who are self-actualized, women who are smart and interesting, women who don’t mind his height, women who are eager to take him for a test drive with just the swipe of an app. Toby doesn’t mind being used in this way; it’s a welcome change from the thirteen years he spent as a married man, the thirteen years of emotional neglect and contempt he’s just endured. Anthropologically speaking, it’s like nothing he ever experienced before, particularly back in the 1990s, when he first began dating and became used to swimming in the murky waters of rejection.

But Toby’s new life–liver specialist by day, kids every other weekend, rabid somewhat anonymous sex at night–is interrupted when his ex-wife suddenly disappears. Either on a vision quest or a nervous breakdown, Toby doesn’t know–she won’t answer his texts or calls.

Is Toby’s ex just angry, like always? Is she punishing him, yet again, for not being the bread winner she was? As he desperately searches for her while juggling his job and parenting their two unraveling children, Toby is forced to reckon with the real reasons his marriage fell apart, and to ask if the story he has been telling himself all this time is true.

#5. Long Man by Amy Greene (Published February 25th, 2014)

A river called Long Man has coursed through East Tennessee from time immemorial, bringing sustenance to the people who farm along its banks and who trade between its small towns. But as Long Man opens, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to dam the river and flood the town of Yuneetah for the sake of progress-to bring electricity and jobs to the hardscrabble region-are about to take effect. Just one day remains before the river will rise, and most of the town has been evacuated. Among the holdouts is a young mother, Annie Clyde Dodson, whose ancestors have lived for generations on her mountaintop farm; she’ll do anything to ensure that her three-year-old daughter, Gracie, will inherit the family’s land. But her husband wants to make a fresh start in Michigan, where he has found work that will secure the family’s future. As the deadline looms, a storm as powerful as the emotions between them rages outside their door. Suddenly, they realize that Gracie has gone missing. Has she simply wandered off into the rain? Or has she been taken by Amos, the mysterious drifter who has come back to town, perhaps to save it in a last, desperate act of violence? Suspenseful, visceral, gorgeously told, Long Man is a searing portrait of a tight-knit community brought together by change and crisis, and of one family facing a terrifying ticking clock. It is a dazzling and unforgettable tour de force.

#4. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips (Published May 14th, 2019)

One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the north-eastern edge of Russia, two sisters are abducted. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Set on the remote Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth draws us into the world of an astonishing cast of characters, all connected by an unfathomable crime. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty – densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska – and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

#3. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (Published February 26th, 2019)

In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville’s children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress–with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.

Patrick Radden Keefe’s mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders.

#2. Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer (Published December 3, 2019)

Under the watchful eye of The Company, three characters — Grayson, Moss and Chen — shapeshifters, amorphous, part human, part extensions of the landscape, make their way through forces that would consume them. A blue fox, a giant fish and language stretched to the limit.

A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own. Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden.

 

#1. Biloxi by Mary Miller (Published May 21st, 2019)

Building on her critically acclaimed novel, The Last Days of California, and her biting collection, Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports readers to her unapologetic corner of the South—this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald Jr. His wife of thirty-seven years left him, his father has passed—and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. In the meantime, he watches reality television, sips beer, and avoids his ex-wife and daughter. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla. Unexpectedly, Louis takes her, and, newly invigorated, begins investigating local dog parks and buying extra bologna.

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December 25, 2020: Merry Christmas!

Months deep into this pandemic, I decided to effectively adopt a local small business to help it weather the tough times.  Beast is a great Toronto restaurant, known for its fantastic brunches.  Given the staggered lockdowns however, it has had to shut down indoor dining and shifted to a bodega-style set-up that has seen it offering bottle and artisan grocery shop service in addition to a take-out menu.  I’m a huge fan of its cheeseburgers, fried chicken sandwiches, and bone barrow french toast and always make it a point to drop by for everything from tinned octopus to spicy Liuzhou noodles.   Beast also offers “whole animal” meals reminiscent of the dinners served up by Chef Robert Belcham back when I was a regular at Vancouver’s (much missed) Fuel ad ReFuel restaurants.  Just choose your meat and place your order a week in advance.  Then, on the appointed day, pick up your order and prepare to be wowed.

We elected to do a duck dinner for Christmas Eve.  Our order came with a handy menu and an easy to follow instruction sheet for heating the various courses.

The liver parfait was spectacular and the duck gizzards, served in a kaffir lime sauce, were the best I’ve ever had.

Speaking of best ever, I’ve had duck wings before but never like this.  Outstanding – and Akemi’s favorite course.

On the other hand, the crispy confit legs with the rosemary roasted potatoes were my favorite course.

The seared duck breast a l’orange was also excellent and reminded me of one of my father’s preferred preparations.

The flourless chocolate cake was the perfect end to the meal – decadent and delicious.  In fact, every course was a home run and so impressed that Akemi wondered whether the chef had actually researched my blog to find out exactly what we loved.

Another small local business we’ve been supporting throughout this pandemic has been SOMA Chocolates.  Another tremendous flourless chocolate cake, this one served with Akemi’s vanilla and bourbon cream.

A more sedate Christmas all in all.  In addition to some amazing pistachio and almond desserts sent my way via sis, Daisy, and mom….

A couple of Evangelion (Asuka and Rei!) t-shirts from Inked in Culture.

And some of my favorite chicken ramen –

Akemi scored chocolate, a two-weeks’ supply of seaweed, and this flashy little number she’d had her eye on –

When she wears this in Japan, the locals will refer to her as “yankii”.

Hope everyone else is having a good holiday even if you weren’t able to spend it with family.

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December 24, 2020: Beware Santa!

If comics have taught us anything, it is to be wary of sleigh-riding stranger bearing gifts.  Especially if they gain access to your home in the dead of night.

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December 23, 2020: Amazing Comic Book Covers!

Here are a few that caught my eye…

Marvel #3 – cover art by Alex Ross

Batman Beyond #50 – cover art by Francis Manapul

Detective Comics #1033 – cover art by Lee Bermejo

Black Adam: Endless Winter Special #1 – cover art by Bosslogic

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? – cover art by Andy Kubert

An Unkindness of Ravens #4 – cover art by Dan Pendergast

The Department of Truth #4 – cover art by Martin Simmonds

And which were your favorites?

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December 22, 2020: A busy end of 2020!

Well, it was touch and go there for a while as it seemed that my Snow Monkeys were poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, but Big Ben, Diontae, and the Steelers D did just enough to help us eke out a nailbiting triumph.  But it doesn’t get any easier for my Snow Monkeys as, next week, we play for all the marbles in the League of Our Own final.  Who do I start?  And who do I sit?  These are just a few of the questions I’ll be throwing your way in the days to come as I attempt to secure my first championship in years.  We got this!

YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

Meanwhile, slow if not quite steady progress on the Project F pilot.  I aim to forge ahead this week with the aim of delivering a first draft mid-January.  I really need to pick up the pace to stay ahead of a looming perfect storm.  February is going to be crazy.

I’m compiling a list of my favorite things across various categories (reads, shows, etc.) for 2020 and, honestly, having a hard time.  Have I really become that much more selective?  Or maybe cranky?

Did you miss yesterday’s Dark Matter Episode 12 chat with the gang at Orville Nation and special guest Ivon Bartok?  Well, fear not.  We have you covered!

Tonight, I’ll be joining the Legion of Substitute Podcasters to talk sci-fi, Stargate, Dark Matter and, of course, The Legion of Super-Heroes!

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December 21, 2020: Snow Monkeys poised! Chatting Dark Matter with Ivon Bartok! Robbie David channels George McFly!

Yeah!  Sweet, sweet almost victory.  My Snow Monkey are poised to wrap up a semifinal win tonight and move on to next week’s League of Our Own fantasy football championship final against the #2 ranked Alvin Mack.  Down about 13 points heading into this evening’s game, my hopes rest with Ben Rothlisberger, his #1 receiver Diontae Johnson, and the #1 ranked Pittsburg Steelers defense.  I am cautiously optimistic…

Hey, what are you doing later today?  Here’s your answer…

DARK MATTER MONDAY

December 20, 2020: Suji Sunday!

Defiant!

Old Yeller.

Top Gun back in action.

Snack time.

Zonked.

Napping.

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December 19, 2020: The Saturday Update!

This afternoon, I sat down with Gateworld’s David Read to talk about Stargate SG-1’s sixth season.  Ended up unearthing some stories I’d completely forgotten until today…

A little Yes/No…

Cannabis Ice Cream? Yes/Nohttps://t.co/pUlx2ur4lz

— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) December 19, 2020

Today –

Akemi: Alexa, set timer for thirty seconds.

Alexa: Turkey seitan added to shopping list.

From the Stargate vault courtesy of Lawren Bancroft-Wilson…

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December 18, 2020: You Never Know!

When people ask me what I’m working on, I will always list at least a half-dozen projects in various stages of development.  At present, it’s actually eight.  It may seem like a lot but the truth is, in this business, you never know: what’s going to move forward, what will be delayed, what will get killed, and what will get picked up.  Especially the latter.  Some seven years ago, I was 99% certain a drama series I had developed was about to get the green light while a sci-fi series I had pitched was D.O.A.  In the span of 24 hours, that drama series was dead and the sci-fi series got picked up.  Hello, Dark Matter.

There’s absolutely no way to know what a given buyer will take a shine to.  Often, it all comes down to timing.  And that’s why it’s always a good idea to have multiple projects on the go.  Of course you’ll always have your personal favorites, or the ones you deem most likely to spark interest, but best not to get too attached because if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you should always expect the unexpected. Such was the case yesterday morning when I received an email by a buyer expressing interest in a pilot I wrote a while ago, a script that I had assumed would never get produced.  Well, surprise surprise.  Needless to say, nothing is a given.  It could all amount to nothing.  But, for now, that supernatural small town mystery has vaulted into first place like Lollopop overtaking Black Knight in the windy part of Jelle’s Sand Marble Rally:

A little Yes/No for you…

Spam and Oreos Burger? Yes/No
McDonald's China Has A Spam and Oreos Burger, It Seems https://t.co/pE2mB6Pm1i via @kotaku

— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) December 18, 2020

As someone rightly pointed out on twitter, the biggest concern isn’t the spam-oreo combination but that layer of mysterious white substance.

I did a fun interview this morning with the Midnight’s Edge broadcast.  We touch on Stargate and Dark Matter but mostly focus on writing and the t.v. industry.  Check out if you’re interested:

Set your alarms for tomorrow, at 4 pm ET, when I rejoin the incredible David Read for another in-depth Stargate discussion as part of the Dial the Gate video series.  Tomorrow, we’ll be talking about SG-1’s fifth season and such episodes as The Fifth Man, The Tomb, Desperate Measures, Summit, Last Stand, Fail Safe, Revelations, and, of course, Wormhole X-Treme!  I suspect we may also touch on using a toaster to power a stargate, the Aschen and their suspect vaccine, and the death of Daniel Jackson (his first but certainly not his last!).

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December 17, 2020: Remembering Steve DiMarco

Saddened to hear of the sudden passing of director Steve DiMarco who I worked with over two seasons of Dark Matter.  A unique individual with a sense of style all his own, Steve was one of this industry’s quickest and most efficient shooters, never failing to make his days, often wrapping early (to the delight of the crew).  He was also a thoughtful and kind-hearted individual who would, over lunch and between set-ups, swing on by my office for a casual chat.

I honestly didn’t know quite what to make of him on first meeting, this rebel punk in combat boots (and, if I remember correctly on that first day, a kilt), but we ended up forming an unlikely connection over a shared appreciation for The Prodigy, Ministry and, of course, good storytelling.

Steve’s first episode of Dark Matter was Season 2, Episode 3 “I’ve Seen the Other Side of You” that kicks off with one of the show’s most suspenseful openings: FIVE on the run from some unknown pursuers who, in the Tease’s closing seconds, are revealed to be her fellow crew members.  I remember watching the director’s cut of the that scene – the CLOSE SHOTS, the QUICK CUTS, the unbearable escalating tension as she evades capture, seemingly escapes, only to be snagged at the very last moment.  It’s a terrific scene, one that puts Steve’s skills on full display – and simply blew me away in the editing suite.

He came back to direct two episodes in the show’s third season, Episode 3 “Welcome to the Revolution”, and Episode 11 “The Dwarf Star Conspiracy”.  The latter included a shot he pitched during prep week that I was, admittedly, dubious could be pulled off – a shot of an expanding blood pool whose widening compass captures the reflection of  our main baddie (played by actress Kate Drummond).  I was skeptical it would work, but Steve proved me wrong.  Proved me wrong AND wrapped before lunch.

Sure, he was fast.  But he was also very good.

We kept in touch via email after Dark Matter ended, meeting up for a sushi lunch back in January over which we discussed the state of the industry.  He was finding it increasingly difficult to land steady work despite his great body of work.  The pandemic only exacerbated the situation, but Steve remained upbeat in his messages, always checking in to see how I was doing.  The last time I heard from Steve was back in November when we exchanged emails and he told me about some writing he was doing.  It’s a shame he never got the opportunity to realize that work.

Steve DiMarco was one-of-a-kind.  And he will be missed.

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