Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 248

January 11, 2019: Comic books, Vietnamese egg coffee, and Suji art!

Today was an extremely big reading day.  Still, I did find time to get out for some fresh (incredibly cold) air.  Akemi and I grabbed some delicious lunch bao’s at Banh Mi Boys – tofu for her and, of course, fried chicken for me – then walked up to College Street and checked out a coffee shop that specializes in Vietnamese coffee and snacks.  Dak Lak not only offers traditional Vietnamese sandwiches and coffees, but also do something called a Vietnamese Egg Coffee, a regional specialty originating near Hanoi.

They also do a Vietnamese Egg Matcha as well.  On this day, I couldn’t decide, so I elected to get both and share with Akemi who usually isn’t a big fan of the sweeter coffee preparations.  Unfortunately for me on this day, she WAS a fan.  Of both drinks.  And so was I.

It was while we were posting our photos on instagram that Akemi noticed ANOTHER interesting coffee shop located just one block over.  Since we were full, we were decided we’d just stop in and take a peek at the recently opened Answer Tea.  Just looking.  That was the plan.  Until we noticed they do custom photo realistic art on their drinks.  Then, we HAD to have one of their milk teas topped with Suji’s face.

Neither Akemi nor I could bring ourselves to sip her face.  Finally, I caved –

Apparently, the reason the place is called Answer Tea is because, with every order, you get to write a question on your cup that will magically answered by the shop’s computer once your order has been filled.  Next time!

Dak Lak profiled on BlogTO

Answer Tea

Despite the outing, I’m bleary-eyed and exhausted.  I’m going to take a break from all that comic book reading by reading one of the half dozen books on digital loan from my local library.  Decisions, decision.

Speaking of which – major decisions coming down the pipe next week.  Will be interesting to see how things pan out.

 

 

January 10, 2019: Back in my old stomping grounds!

A bittersweet trip back to the site of my previous series, Dark Matter, today as we start early prep on this new show.  I have, to the best of my ability, sought to reassemble the same behind-the-scenes team that made DM such a great experience.  If all goes as planned, I’ll be moving back into my old office and those 65+ bottles of whiskey will be adorning the shelves once again.  But FIRST – we have a lot of work to do.  9 of the first season’s 10 scripts are in play (Yours truly will be doing the honors on the finale, but only after those first nine are in solid shape), and all of the pieces of the production puzzle are slowly coming together.

On this day, we did a walk-thru of the stages with Production Designer Ian Brock and Rick Fernandez, Construction…

 Awww.   I missed these three: Production Manager Kathy Lang, Rick, and Ian.

These phone and lamp collections have coming along nicely since we vacated the offices.

Happy memories.

Hard to believe this space once held the infirmary, mess hall, and training room.

Production Designer Ian Brock has a plan.

This area feels so cavernous and empty without The Raza.

I had very mixed feelings about this visit.  It’ll be nice to be back in production with familiar faces and on familiar ground, but I won’t be satisfied until we return to shoot that proper Dark Matter finale.

January 9, 2019: Week’s Best Comic Book Covers!

These were my favorites…

Blackbird #4 (cover art by Jen Bartel)

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2 (cover art by Marco D’Alfonso)

Self/Made #2 (cover art by Marcelo Costa, Eduardo Ferigato)

Star Wars: Age of the Republic – Jango Fett #1 (cover art by Paolo Rivera)

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, vol. 4 – The Catastrophe Con (cover art by Ashley Witter)

The Dreaming #5 (cover art by June Chung, Jae Lee)

So, which were YOUR favorites?

Finally, check out the premiere of Robert C. Cooper’s Unspeakable (starring Michael Shanks) tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC –

https://www.tv-eh.com/2019/01/08/unspeakable-cbc-miniseries-revisits-canadas-tainted-blood-scandal/

 

January Recommended Read: The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

A mysterious outbreak strikes a college community, its victims falling into a deep, unyielding slumber. The contagion spreads, the town is quarantined, and those still awake scramble for answers – and survival.

My first great read of 2019!

Beautifully written with a style that embodies an almost dreamlike quality, The Dreamers is part suspense thriller, part contemporary sci-fi, but overwhelmingly a character-driven exploration of how our experiences may or may not shape us, and our reality. Walker tackles some lofty philosophical themes in a provocative, compelling, and incredibly entertaining manner. The spread of the contagion and struggles of the various survivors makes for a fast-paced, mesmeric read, but its when the story shifts to the victims, their bizarre dreams, and what they portend that this novel really transcends expectations.

What happened to these dreamers? What was the meaning behind their varied dreams? I have a theory but, in the interests of keeping this review spoiler free, I’ll hold off on discussing for now.

Lots of wonderful little surprises throughout, with more than a few narrative twists and authorial sleights of hand I never saw coming.

Highly recommended.

Release Date: January 15, 2019.

If you and when you do pick up a copy and read it, swing back here and post your thoughts in the comments section.  Would love to discuss.

January 7, 2019: Suji Sunday – one day late!

Playing catch-up…

Frequent flyer.

Chillin’ with mom.

Relaxing with/on sis.

Well?  Aren’t we going?

Bushed!

Separation Anxiety.  I’m feeling it!

The Suji 2019 limited edition pins are shipping now from Etsy!

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/672487577/suji-lucky-pin-2019?ref=listing_published_alert

 

14 Ridiculous Plot Twists That Hurt Syfy Shows – Or Were They?

I came across this interesting Screen Rant article today by Toby Symonds which offers up his take on what he felt were ridiculous plot twists (and a few that weren’t) on shows that aired on syfy.  Among the culprits was the decision NOT to kill of Ronon Dex in the Atlantis finale and the decision to reveal SIX as the mole at the conclusion of Dark Matter’s first season.

https://screenrant.com/syfy-shows-plot-twists-hurt-saved/#leave-comment

I love nothing more than a discussion or heated debate about the creative decisions made on a production I was a part of.  And, while I appreciate Toby taking the time write the article and point out what didn’t work for him, I can’t help but disagree with a few of his points and weighed in –

My response –

First off, thanks for taking the time to feature the series. We didn’t have a lot of money to make the show, nor did we receive a lot of support from TPTB while we were making it, but we had a great cast and crew, and an even greater fanbase that’s still very active online.

Second, I wanted to respond to your take that: a) SIX lacked motivation and b) was an illogical choice to be the traitor.

I started developing Dark Matter way back when I was working on Stargate: Atlantis. The plan was to complete the final season of Atlantis and segue smoothly into the first season of Dark Matter. As it turned out, however, we had two seasons of Stargate: Universe and about a year of development work before Dark Matter finally saw the light of a t.v. screen. Between that gap and the years I spent developing DM while working on SGA, I had a good five years to develop the show. As a result, going into the writers’ room for that first season, I had all of the character and major story arcs mapped out, along with a five-year plan. I approached each season like an installment in a book series, with a beginning, middle, and end. And so, season 1 kicks off with the revelation that our characters are wanted criminals and ends, appropriately enough, with them being hauled off to prison (In season 2, our character come together, finally united, in common purpose – to redeem themselves and do the right thing…only to have it blow up in their faces – quite literally – with the destruction of EOS-7 which ignites a galaxy-wide corporate war).

Before I even sat down to write the pilot, I already knew how season 1 would end – with their capture and the reveal that one of them was a traitor and former mole/agent for the Galactic Authority. And I also knew that character would have to be SIX. It really couldn’t be anyone else given their respective backstories. More importantly, one of the central themes of the series was the nature vs. nurture debate. Are you born bad or are you a product of your environment? Dark Matter, like much of the research that has been done on the subject (check out the excellent Three Strangers) posits the answer is: a little of both. SIX is the crew’s moral center (although you could argue FIVE parallels these values). He is/was a principled law enforcement officer tasked with bringing in this galaxy’s most wanted and, despite the mind wipe, demonstrates these honest and right-minded outlooks throughout the show’s first season. Although he possesses no memories of his past, aspects of who he was inform who he is post-mindwipe (In the same way we see these post-mindwipe characteristics bleed through in, say, TWO’s brutal takedown of the casino staff in Episode 4, and execution of Wexler at the end of Episode 11).

One of the great things about having a detailed game plan going in is the opportunities it affords you to seed in clues that pay off later on down the line. Like the Android’s strange but seemingly innocuous comment to TWO prior to her space walk in Episode 3, a comment that hints at TWO’s reveal as a bio-engineered construct (hinted at in more obvious fashion, two episodes later, when her wound miraculously heals). In Episode 8, SIX flashes back to his past and receives the truth about who he is via an undercover Lieutenant Anders. In one of the episode’s final moments, an overwhelmed SIX sits alone amidst the destruction only to have Anders get the drop on him. In the next scene, ONE and FOUR arrive on the scene – but Anders is long gone. Why did he leave and let SIX go? What happened off-screen? It’s a huge red flag.

In the ensuing episodes, we see a sudden shift in SIX’s character, culminating in his emotional plea to FIVE to leave the ship. At this point, he knows that it’s going to end badly. And, after the delivery of the white hole bomb that ends up destroying the Mikkei facility and the planet, claiming thousands of lives, he finally makes the call on the decision he has been mulling over since Episode 8. These people are dangerous and he has to bring them in. And so he sets his plan in motion…

A second important theme in this series was the notion of redemption. Throughout the show’s first season, we peel the onion on the crews’ histories and they must come to terms with their past lives, their past actions, and look to start fresh, be better. In season 2, this theme is studied in another light, through the prism of SIX who seeks redemption for his betrayal. While the rest of the crew is looking to turn over a new leaf and “do the right thing” (spearheaded by TWO), SIX seeks to regain the trust of his former friends. And it’s not something that happens overnight. It takes theentirety of the show’s second season for the crew to accept SIX back into the fold. In short, like most of the character developments and reveals on Dark Matter, I wanted it to feel earned.

Anyway, all this to say that, perhaps despite appearances, we were never making it up as we went along. There was always a good reason (at least so far as I was concerned) that we did what we did. Every narrative decision was tied to character or thematically linked. As for that Ronon decision on Stargate: Atlantis…

My response –

The only thing I can say to this is that Enemy at the Gate was never intended as a series finale. In retrospect, yes, we could have killed off Ronon, perhaps even destroyed Atlantis itself, but the plan had always been to come back for a sixth season. Had we done so, AND killed off the Ronon character, the show would have been poorer for it.

Just a few nitpicks –

Regarding SG-1 – The plan was not to have the show bow out after two seasons. The show had a two season order but the plan was always to go the full five. When Paul and I joined the show’s writing staff in season 4, it was with the understanding that the show would go one more year and conclude with its fifth and final season.

Also, the creative dream was not to end the show after season 7 either. We were simply under the assumption that season 7 would be SG-1’s last – but, in all fairness, we made the same assumption for season 4, 6, 8, and 9. The show’s tenth season, ironically, was the only one I felt confident would NOT be its last – so, of course, it was.

And finally, on a show I never worked on – but watched the hell out of and loved…

Could let this one go without putting in my two cents –

Regarding the critique of the final moments of the Farscape finale (a show on this list that I was not a part of but I watched and loved) – in all fairness, I’m sure it didn’t seem like such a gamble at the time because, from what I understand, they had already been informed they’d been picked up for another season…only to have the pick-up rescinded.

Check out the article.  There are takes on other productions as well: SGU, Wynonna Earp, and BSG to name a few.

Thoughts?

January 5, 2019: 2018 Reading Year in Review! January Reads on my Radar!

My final reading tally for 2018:

Fantasy – 25

Horror – 26

Non-Fiction – 49

Sci-Fi – 54

Crime/Mystery/Suspense/Thrillers – 75

General Fiction – 87

Graphic Novels – 89

2018 Releases – 242

It’s unlikely that I’ll equal last year’s impressive count in 2019, but I’m sure as hell going to try.

THESE are the upcoming January releases that have piqued my interest:

How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment – The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life by Sophie Hannah (Release Date: January 1st)

Practical, compassionate, and downright funny, How to Hold a Grudge reveals everything we need to know about the many different forms of grudge, the difference between a grudge and not-a-grudge (not as obvious as it seems), when we should let a grudge go, and how to honor a grudge and distill lessons from it that will turn us into better, happier people—for our own benefit and for the sake of spreading good and limiting harm in the world.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (Release Date: January 8th)

In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age.

For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. They are surrounded by forests of birch and rowan; they make stew from foraged roots and hunted rabbit. The students are fulfilling their coursework; Silvie’s father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. He has raised her on stories of early man, taken her to witness rare artifacts, recounted time and again their rituals and beliefs–particularly their sacrifices to the bog. Mixing with the students, Silvie begins to see, hear, and imagine another kind of life, one that might include going to university, traveling beyond England, choosing her own clothes and food, speaking her mind.

The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders, rude barricades of stakes topped with ancestral skulls. When the group builds one of their own, they find a spiritual connection to the past. What comes next but human sacrifice?

The Sopranos Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwell – with an introduction by David Chase (Release Date: January 8th)

On January 10, 1999, a mobster walked into a psychiatrist’s office and changed TV history. By shattering preconceptions about the kinds of stories the medium should tell, The Sopranos launched our current age of prestige television, paving the way for such giants as Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. As TV critics for Tony Soprano’s hometown paper, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz were among the first to write about the series before it became a cultural phenomenon. 

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show’s debut, Sepinwall and Seitz have reunited to produce The Sopranos Sessions, a collection of recaps, conversations, and critical essays covering every episode. Featuring a series of new long-form interviews with series creator David Chase, as well as selections from the authors’ archival writing on the series, The Sopranos Sessions explores the show’s artistry, themes, and legacy, examining its portrayal of Italian Americans, its graphic depictions of violence, and its deep connections to other cinematic and television classics. 

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh (Release Date: January 8th)

King has tenderly staked out a territory for his wife and three daughters, Grace, Lia, and Sky. He has lain the barbed wire; he has anchored the buoys in the water; he has marked out a clear message: Do not enter. Or viewed from another angle: Not safe to leave. Here women are protected from the chaos and violence of men on the mainland. The cult-like rituals and therapies they endure fortify them from the spreading toxicity of a degrading world.

But when their father, the only man they’ve ever seen, disappears, they retreat further inward until the day three strange men wash ashore. Over the span of one blistering hot week, a psychological cat-and-mouse game plays out. Sexual tensions and sibling rivalries flare as the sisters confront the amorphous threat the strangers represent. Can they survive the men?

Looker by Laura Sims (Release Date: January 8th)

In this taut and thrilling debut, an unraveling woman, unhappily childless and recently separated, becomes fixated on her neighbor—the actress. The unnamed narrator can’t help noticing with wry irony that, though she and the actress live just a few doors apart, a chasm of professional success and personal fulfillment lies between them. The actress, a celebrity with her face on the side of every bus, shares a gleaming brownstone with her handsome husband and their three adorable children, while the narrator, working in a dead-end job, lives in a run-down, three-story walk-up with her ex-husband’s cat.

When an interaction with the actress at the annual block party takes a disastrous turn, what began as an innocent preoccupation spirals quickly, and lethally, into a frightening and irretrievable madness. Searing and darkly witty, Looker is enormously entertaining—at once a propulsive Hitchcockian thriller and a fearlessly original portrait of the perils of envy.

Burned: A Story of a Murder and the Crime that Wasn’t by Edward Humes (Release Date: January 8th)

On an April night in 1989, three young children perished in a tragic Los Angeles house fire. Their mother, Joann Parks, couldn’t save them but did manage to escape with her own life. She was of course bereft. With emotions exploding her husband accused her of abandoning the children at the scene of the fire when he arrived. It was soon determined that a worn extension cord was the cause of the tragedy. But then doubts arose. As firefighters investigated further, they came to believe that the fire was the result of arson, a heinous crime committed by a wicked young woman who, they argued, had never really wanted to be a mother. Joann Parks was tried and convicted and has languished in prison for the last twenty-five years. But now, as certain investigative methods from that era have been debunked, a pair of young lawyers from the Innocence Project have come to believe that Joann was wrongfully convicted, and that the fire might not have even been caused by arson at all.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (Release Date: January 8th)

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

Dry Hard by Nick Spalding (Release Date: January 8th)

Kate and Scott’s marriage has always been a lot of fun, with alcohol at the heart of it. After all, what’s more entertaining than a good laugh and a large drink… or six?

But recently, those relaxing drinks have become more crutch than comfort—and the couple have almost forgotten how to talk to each other sober.

Then their teenage daughter Holly uploads a video of their humiliating drunken escapades, which gets picked up by YouTube superstar PinkyPud—and goes horrifyingly viral.

In a last-ditch attempt to prove to the world they’re more than just boozy idiots, Kate and Scott quit alcohol completely. But with Holly’s… er… ‘help’, what begins as a family promise soon escalates into a social media phenomenon: #DryHard!

With the eyes of the Internet upon them, can Kate and Scott stay teetotal—and save their marriage in the process?

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (Release Date: January 15th)

In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.

Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her—even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

Hark by Sam Lipsyte (Release Date: January 15th)

In an America convulsed by political upheaval, cultural discord, environmental collapse, and spiritual confusion, many folks are searching for peace, salvation, and—perhaps most immediately—just a little damn focus. Enter Hark Morner, an unwitting guru whose technique of “Mental Archery”—a combination of mindfulness, mythology, fake history, yoga, and, well, archery—is set to captivate the masses and raise him to near-messiah status. It’s a role he never asked for, and one he is woefully underprepared to take on. But his inner-circle of modern pilgrims have other plans, as do some suddenly powerful fringe players, including a renegade Ivy League ethicist, a gentle Swedish kidnapper, a crossbow-hunting veteran of jungle drug wars, a social media tycoon with an empire on the skids, and a mysteriously influential (but undeniably slimy) catfish.

Adele by Leila Slimani (Release Date: January 15th)

Adèle appears to have the perfect life: She is a successful journalist in Paris who lives in a beautiful apartment with her surgeon husband and their young son. But underneath the surface, she is bored–and consumed by an insatiable need for sex.

Driven less by pleasure than compulsion, Adèle organizes her day around her extramarital affairs, arriving late to work and lying to her husband about where she’s been, until she becomes ensnared in a trap of her own making.

Golden State by Ben H. Winters (Release Date: January 22nd)

Lazlo Ratesic is 54, a 19-year veteran of the Speculative Service, from a family of law enforcement and in a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else. This is how Laz must, by law, introduce himself, lest he fail to disclose his true purpose or nature, and by doing so, be guilty of a lie.

Laz is a resident of The Golden State, a nation resembling California, where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life, and governance, increasingly impossible. There, surrounded by the high walls of compulsory truth-telling, knowingly contradicting the truth–the Objectively So–is the greatest possible crime. Stopping those crimes, punishing them, is Laz’s job. In its service, he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths–to “speculate” on what might have happened in the commission of a crime.

But the Golden State is far less a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the Objectively So requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance, recording, and record-keeping. And when those in control of the truth twist it for nefarious means, the Speculators may be the only ones with the power to fight back.

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land (Release Date: January 22nd)

“My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.”

While the gap between upper middle-class Americans and the working poor widens, grueling low-wage domestic and service work–primarily done by women–fuels the economic success of the wealthy. Stephanie Land worked for years as a maid, pulling long hours while struggling as a single mom to keep a roof over her daughter’s head. In Maid, she reveals the dark truth of what it takes to survive and thrive in today’s inequitable society.

While she worked hard to scratch her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigating domestic labor jobs, higher education, assisted housing, and a tangled web of government assistance, Stephanie wrote. She wrote the true stories that weren’t being told. The stories of overworked and underpaid Americans.

The Current by Tim Johnson (Release Date: January 22nd)

When two young women leave their college campus in the dead of winter for a 700-mile drive north to Minnesota, they suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives in the icy waters of the Black Root River, just miles from home. One girl’s survival, and the other’s death—murder, actually—stun the citizens of a small Minnesota town, thawing memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river ten years earlier, and whose killer may yet live among them. One father is forced to relive his agony while another’s greatest desire—to bring a killer to justice—is revitalized . . . and the girl who survived the icy plunge cannot escape the sense that she is connected to that earlier unsolved case by more than a river. Soon enough she’s caught up in an investigation of her own that will unearth long-hidden secrets, and stoke the violence that has long simmered just below the surface of the town. Souls frozen in time, ghosts and demons, the accused and the guilty, all stir to life in this cold northern place where memories, like treachery, run just beneath the ice, and where a young woman can come home but still not be safe.

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (Release Date: January 29th)

How far would you go to protect your child?

Our narrator faces an impossible decision. Like any father, he just wants the best for his son Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is growing larger by the day. In this near-future society plagued by resurgent racism, segregation, and expanding private prisons, our narrator knows Nigel might not survive. Having watched the world take away his own father, he is determined to stop history from repeating itself.

There is one potential solution: a new experimental medical procedure that promises to save lives by turning people white. But in order to afford Nigel’s whiteness operation, our narrator must make partner as one of the few Black associates at his law firm, jumping through a series of increasingly surreal hoops–from diversity committees to plantation tours to equality activist groups–in an urgent quest to protect his son.

Golden Child by Claire Adam (Release Date: January 29th)

Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons, thirteen years old, wake early every morning to travel to the capital, Port of Spain, for school. They are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness.

When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn’t come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who has caused him endless trouble already, and who he has never really understood. And as the hours turn to days, and Clyde begins to understand Paul’s fate, his world shatters–leaving him faced with a decision no parent should ever have to make.

The Plotters by Un-su Kim (Release Date: January 29th)

The important thing is not who pulls the trigger but who’s behind the person who pulls the trigger—the plotters, the masterminds working in the shadows. Raised by Old Raccoon in The Library of Dogs, Reseng has always been surrounded by plots to kill—and by books that no one ever reads. In Seoul’s corrupt underworld, he was destined to be an assassin.

Until he breaks the rules. That’s when he meets a trio of young women—a convenience store worker, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed obsessive knitter—with an extraordinary plot of their own.

Will the women save the day? Or will Reseng be next on the kill list? Who will look after his cats, Reading Lamp and Book Stand? Who planted the bomb in his toilet? How much beer can he drink before he forgets it all?

The Last by Hanna Jameson (Release Date: January 31st)

Breaking: Nuclear weapon detonates over Washington

Breaking: London hit, thousands feared dead

Breaking: Munich and Scotland hit. World leaders call for calm

Historian Jon Keller is on a trip to Switzerland when the world ends. As the lights go out on civilization, he wishes he had a way of knowing whether his wife, Nadia and their two daughters are still alive. More than anything, Jon wishes he hadn’t ignored Nadia’s last message.

Twenty people remain in Jon’s hotel. Far from the nearest city and walled in by towering trees, they wait, they survive.

Then one day, the body of a young girl is found. It’s clear she has been murdered. Which means that someone in the hotel is a killer.

As paranoia descends, Jon decides to investigate. But how far is he willing to go in pursuit of justice? And what kind of justice can he hope for, when society as he knows it no longer exists?

What did I miss?

So, which titles are YOU looking forward to checking out?

On Home Ownership!

Growing up, I always knew I wanted a house.  Yes, sir.  Nothing would be better than owning your own home with a basement, a backyard, and a kitchen island for setting stuff down on when you get back from doing groceries.  I looked forward to having a garage and a front yard and sump pump (whatever the hell that was).  And years later, after much hard work, I was finally able to afford my own home.  One in Montreal and then, later and for many years, in Vancouver.  And in time I came to realize – I didn’t want a house.

I didn’t want to mow the lawn or tend to a garden or change the damn battery in a sump pump every year.  I didn’t like the fact that, if I wanted to go out, I’d have to get in my car and drive somewhere.  I grew quickly weary of the upkeep and the little expenses.  So when we moved to Toronto, we bought a condo.  And in time I came to realize that everything I thought I would hate about apartment life – being downtown, being so close to your neighbors, not having a backyard – were things I truly loved about my new place.

Ever since I was a kid, my parents instilled in me the importance of home ownership (and the sad existence that awaited those unfortunate enough to have to settle for an apartment).  My mother, like most Italians, viewed it as one of life’s greatest achievements, and loved the hell out of my homes, first the one in Montreal, then the one in Vancouver.  Especially the one in Vancouver.  Every few weeks, she asks me if I miss it, like it’s some ex-girlfriend I dated for 17 years.  I tell her – honestly, no.  I think the only thing I truly miss about that place is the basement gym (because, frankly, walking down two flights of stairs is MUCH easier than taking the elevator down to the third floor) but, aside from that, not really.  But I honestly don’t think she believes me.

It’s like she didn’t believe me when I told her that, when traveling, I’d prefer to stay at a hotel rather than with friends or family and that the reason I don’t want to go to Italy is because I’ll be expected to stay with relatives.  She found this altogether crazy.  Given the choice, who wouldn’t rather stay with relatives?  Or with their mom for the full  thirteen day duration of their holiday visit?

Well…

I don’t know.  Maybe someday I’ll change my mind.  I’ll grow tired of socializing and being in the heart of it all and I’ll prefer to be in my own home, a little more isolated, with a basement and a backyard and a kitchen island for putting stuff down on when I get back from doing groceries.  And I’ll look to tending a garden, replacing that sump pump battery, and hiring someone to fix and repaint the water damaged ceiling after the central air conditioning unit in the attic overflows.

But I doubt it.

 

 

January 3, 2019: Back Home!

We’re finally back to the comfy confines of home.  As much as I love going away, there’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed, drinking your own tea, and forgetting your own keys and having to ask the concierge to buzz you up to your own apartment.

Our last full day in Montreal was a double dumpling day!

The first place had only been in business two days and, clearly, still has some kinks to iron out on its menu and service.  We did the hunan (peanut butter) dumplings, har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork dumplings), sweet pork dumplings, “vegetarian” dumplings, and beef curry dumplings.

A mixed batch.  The sauce on the peanut butter dumplings was too weak, the shrimp dumplings cold and fishy.  There was no discernible pork flavor in the sweet pork dumplings that were veggie heavy.  Ironically, the “veggie” dumplings, though good, were  not, exactly vegetarian.  And by not exactly, I mean not at all.  As our waitress served us our order, she informed us: “By the way, the vegetarian dumplings have shrimp in them.”  Oh.  Okay.  The beef curry dumplings were pretty good however – though not good enough to convince me to come back.  The service was clunky but touchingly earnest.  You could tell she was really trying, even going so far as to ask all of our names and asking if we’d be back soon.

I’m not one to put much stock in fortune tellers and the like but the fortune cookie I received at the end of the meal really gave me pause.  So uncannily accurate was it that I experienced a frisson of terror.  HOW could this cookie know me so well?

The second dumpling place was our dinner stopover where we enjoyed another dumpling medley: peanut butter, pan-fried beef curry, pan-fried lamb and coriander, steamed veggie, steamed pork and leek, and steamed chicken and coriander.

The service was terrible.  There was only one server and she didn’t seem in much of a rush, fielding take-out orders for a full ten minutes while we waited at the door.  We finally got fed up and bused our own table, seated ourselves.  She finally came over, gave the table a casual once-over with a rag – prompting my sister to do a proper cleaning with hand sanitizer and some bathroom paper towels.  She took our order in a perfunctory manner but, thankfully, didn’t screw it up or otherwise delay us.  Halfway through our meal, one of the two women at our neighboring table asked: “What’s good?”  “Dumplings,”was her curt response.

The peanut butter dumplings were good, but still not great.  Better quality dumplings overall with steamed pork and leek and the beef curry being the true standouts.  Here, the vegetarian dumplings truly WERE vegetarian dumplings, so they were mostly ignored by everyone except Akemi who ordered them.

We concluded our evening with a visit to that place that does dipped soft serve cones.  My last indulgent before my last indulgent before I’m back on the program.

We concluded our Montreal trip with a visit to Smoke Meat Pete (It’s a holiday tradition!).    Surprisingly, one of the only times I’ve come away disappointed in the sandwich.  I asked for medium-fat but the meat in my sandwich was far too lean for my liking.  Those double fried fries are always a winner though.

A fond farewell to mom, sis, and Daisy until next time!

January 2, 2019: Best Comic Book Covers of the Week!

Returning to our regularly scheduling programming with this week’s best comic book covers!

Michael Turners Fathom: Swimsuit 1999 (cover art by Michael Turner)

Immortal Hulk #11 (cover art by Alex Ross)

Iron Fist: Phantom Limb (cover art by Khoi Pham)

Killmonger #3 (cover art by Juan E. Ferreyra)

Project Superpowers vol. 2 #5 (cover art by Francesco Mattina)

So, which were your favorites?