Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 304

July 10, 2017: Behind the scenes of a Suji photo shoot!

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Suji, our twelve year old special needs senior pug, is inching towards 10k followers on instagram .  Her surprising popularity is a testament to both the little lady herself AND my girlfriend Akemi who is constantly posing and photographing her anywhere and everywhere in search of the just the perfect pic.  Like –

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And –

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And –

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But the truth is there are unsung heroes who work behind the scenes of these photo shoots, sacrificing time and comfort to help secure that one-of-a-kind picture. Not to make this all about me, but I’m referring to me.  I’m usually the guy walking her toward camera or in the background trying to get Suji’s attention so she can face the proper direction or footing the bill for those cappuccinos so she can wear the lid like a hat.

Or locking my elbows so that I can holding her straight up in the air for thirty seconds at a time as the sun beats down on my face…

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Awww.  What a great picture of Suji in the garden.

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Perfectly edited to crop out visual distractions.

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Can we just take a moment here?  FYI, that grimace is a response to a combination of weary shoulders and burning retinas.

And to top it all off her, contract includes a clause that requires her to be hand-fed at all meals!  Just like Anthony Lemke!!!

Tagged: Dogs, pug, pugs, Suji

July 9, 2017: More Dark Matter season 3 sneak peeks!

So, what lies ahead in season 3?  Well, check out these top secret screenshots for a few hints at what’s to come…

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Hmmm.  That guy looks familiar.

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Coming or going?  Hard to say.

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I’m sure that’ll just buff out.

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Space pandemonium!

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Awww, looks like Ryo Ishida and the Android have made up.

BIG things coming your way in the back half of season 3!

 

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter

July 8, 2017: Dark Matter Episode 306, “One Last Card To Play”- Reactions, Reviews, Responses!

Last night’s episode, “One Last Card To Play”, was one of my third season Top 3 Favorites along with Episode 304, “All The Time In The World”.  So, what did you all think?

I talk “One Last Card To Play” with Kelly Townsend of TheTVJunkies:

“Anthony and Melissa and all the cast will come by the office and discuss things like character arcs and specific episodic beats. Frankly, Zoie and I exchange more texts than I do with my girlfriend because she’s asking if she can try this or that. It’s one of those things where you’ve just got to trust them. These characters are as much theirs as they are mine. I’ve created them, but they’ve given them life. You’ve got to give them a certain amount of leeway and then you’re always incredibly rewarded.”

SYFYWire’s Tricia Ennis:

“I’m honestly kinda worried about where Ryo is headed. I think he’s officially reached the point of no return.”

Aimee Hicks at SpoilerTV:

” This season certainly seems like a big payoff for some of the bigger plot points that have been left hanging from the prior two seasons. There is no telling what other plot points they’ll address, but if the back half of the season can keep hitting on point like the first half then this will easily go down as the best season of the series to date.”

Michelle Harvey at ThreeIfBySpace:

“Alright my fellow Raza Crew fans, tonight’s episode was wonderfully intense. Though “One Last Card To Play” has seriously has me concerned for the future of our crew.”

C.R. Sparrow at BlackGirlNerds:

“Dark Matter excels at misdirection. This was evident from the end of the Pilot when my mouth fell open at the reveal of the Raza crew. Maybe I’m just an easy mark, but I had a similar reaction at the 8 minute and 45-second mark of “One Last Card to Play”.”

Ian Cullen at SciFi Pulse:

“Dark Matter returns to form with a fantastic episode, which once again features the multiverse characters from season two.”

Michael Ahr at DenOfGeek:

“The master stroke of the episode, however, was in having the Android take out Portia before she could take the Raza and witness the exact scene from her future vision in “All the Time in the World” two episodes back: Portia pacing in a storeroom and Marcus shooting the Android. When Five arrives on the bridge and announces, “We did see it coming,” it’s a real moment of triumph, making us wonder if other future glimpses will play out in similar fashion.”

BladeOfTheSashurai:

“Dark Matter never forgets its many plot threads and once again introduces us to the mayhem of Portia and her alternate team. This was a bit of a surprise as I had cornered Corso as the sole escapee from their last encounter.”

PureFandom:

“One amazing thing about this show is how the writers can yank on a loose thread from season’s past. A thread that most of us had given up on ever seeing paid off.”

Christopher Hart at TheNerdRecites:

“This was an excellent episode – one of the most powerful weapons in this show’s armoury is the dark Raza crew and any episode that they appear in is always SF gold.”

Kathleen Weidel at TVFanatic:

“Having not even seen so much as a preview trailer, I entered Dark Matter Season 3 Episode 6 with no expectations. So the return of the alternate-universe crew of the Raza proved rather a surprise.”

Hillary Esquina at TellTaleTV:

“Can we just take a second to praise Melissa O’Neil? She once again proves her extraordinary talent with her portrayal of Two and Portia.”

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Finally – Anthony Lemke (Dark Matter’s THREE) talks about his charity work for Handicap International with SciFiAndTVTalk’s Steve Eramo:

“So it was a real privilege for me to go there, and probably the most worthwhile thing I did during the off-season, especially being able to bring their story back to Canada as well as America and talk about the long-lasting effects of dropping bombs on countries. Handicap International takes a neutral position with regard to warfare, but we should be cognizant of the fact that a number of any bombs dropped on a country are going to remain unexploded and will be around for a while, so we should help clean up when a conflict is over.”

 

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter

July 7, 2017: All new episode of Dark Matter tonight! 8 pm on SYFY and Space!

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Drop everything you’re doing and tune in – tonight at 9:00 p.m. on SYFY and Space for an all-new episode of Dark Matter: “One Last Card To Play”.  Better yet, tune in at 8:00 p.m. for an all-new episode of Killjoys and make it a double-feature.  Maybe even a triple feature since Wynonna Earp starts at 10:00 p.m.

Yes, cancel your plans.  THIS is more important.

That movie you were planning to see?  It’ll be in theaters for another month at least.  Avoid the crowds and the loud-talkers and catch a matinee instead.

That dinner party you were going to attend?  They’ll serve your meal an hour late and then gossip about you after you leave.

That surgery you have to perform? That gallbladder aint going anywhere.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, your support over the next month will be crucial to the show’s future.  We need to finish strong and get that fourth season green light!

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter

July 6, 2017: Rallying the Dark Matter fans!

It’s time to rally the troops!  Once this Friday’s episode of Dark Matter is behind us, we’ll be nearing the halfway mark of the show’s third season.  Unbelievably, you’ll only have 7 more episodes left until…

Well, that’s up to you.  To ensure that fourth season pick-up, we need to keep getting the word out, continue getting new viewers on board and, of course, keep supporting the show by watching it on SYFY and SpaceChannel (and Netflix!).

The truth is, it’s all in YOUR hands now and, by YOUR, I refer to our legion of dedicated Dark Matter fans.  The fate of the series rests with you!

In many ways, Dark Matter is reminiscent of my time on Stargate, another show that didn’t have a ton of money, or much press or support from the bigger online sites, but succeeded beyond expectations on the strength of its fandom – 3 shows, 17 seasons, 354 episodes!  In the case of Dark Matter, it’s  five year plan.  Five seasons in which to tell the story of The Raza and its crew – a beginning, middle, and end already laid out, and answers to all of the show’s mysteries.

But, first things first.  Let’s get that fourth season pick-up!

Tune in Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. on SYFY and Space Channel.  Even better, tune into the entire SYFY Friday block starting with Killjoys at 8:00, followed by Dark Matter at 9:00, and concluding with Wynonna Earp at 10:00.

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TV, Eh?’s Greg David previews the next of Dark Matter:

We were mighty confused by some of the decisions made by our heroes until midway through the episode. The payoff is worth it.

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An exclusive first look at a clip from our next episode: “One Last Card To Play” at Parade.com:

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SciFiAndTVTalks’ Steve Eramo Catches Up With Jodelle Ferland

“Five is a strong person, but I worry about her, because she has her limits and can only handle so much. For me, it’s been a wonderful acting challenge to play that balance and show that my character is vulnerable, but at the same time I don’t want her to look weak. Five can take care of herself, but things are definitely getting more and more difficult as well as dangerous for her along with the rest of the Raza crew this season.”

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Brush up on your french and read Lubie en series’ interview with Natalie Brown:

« Je pense qu’il est très indépendant et qu’il a un instinct de survie bas donc je ne suis pas inquiète pour lui physiquement. Mais, émotionnellement oui. Je crois qu’il a plus besoin de Sarah que ce qu’il peut admettre ou réaliser. Je crois qu’elle est son sens moral. J’aime penser qu’elle a été capable de lui permettre d’accéder à ses propres émotions. Donc, s’il vit sans elle, elle espère qu’il les utilisera à bon escient ».

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter

July 5, 2017: Dark Matter sneak peek and SDCC news!

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This Friday, July 7th, Dark Matter returns with an all-new episode – and one of my season 3 favorites: “One Last Card To Play”!

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SpoilerTV’s Aimee Hicks offers an advance preview: “Twists and Turns” –

Things take a very interesting and confusing turn in the next episode which is full of wild and unexpected twists. A plot point from last season is finally answered and the answer is quite unexpected. Friends become enemies and enemies become allies. It’s a twisted and sordid back and forth battle that draws lines and sets up some pretty big future plot points. By the end of the hour, the crew will undergo some changes and the fate of one will be left unknown.

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The promo:

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I talk about season 3 with The National’s Chris Newbould

“Viewers tuned in to spend time with O’Neill, Carter, Daniel and Teal’c because they were almost like a second family to them. I think it’s much the same way with the Dark Matter crew. They are mercenaries, this galaxy’s most wanted, but when all’s said and done, they’re family.”

And here is last episode’s (“Give It Up, Princess”) After Dark installment:

And, hey, we’ve got San Diego Comic Con news!

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Thursday, July 20th

8:15-9:15 p.m.: Dark Matter (Room 6DE)

And now, you’re up to date!

Tagged: #DarkMatter, Dark Matter

July 4, 2017: Time dilation fields! Shout-outs! And more!

Remember that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Picard ends up living out his entire life on some alien world and then, at episode’s end, after decades have passed and he’s a very old man, he discovers it was all a temporal ruse?  Well, that happened to me today.  Sort of.  Except instead of an alien world, it was the FedEx office on the corner of West Broadway and Cypress.  There’s no such thing as a quick stop to send a package.  Whenever I go, it’s like entering some sort of chrono dilation field where time and customer service no longer adhere to the rules of physics.  It seems like a lifetime passes for me in that slow moving line and yet, whenever I exit, I’m surprised to discover it’s only been half an hour or so.

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Summer is upon us and that means afternoons spent out in the backyard with the dogs (Lulu, Suji, and frequent houseguest Petunia), reading, while Akemi sits inside watching Japanese television on youtube or researching interior design ideas for our new place in Toronto.  Akemi’s not big on getting sun and insists 21 seconds is the cut off for safe daily exposure.  Whenever we go out, she wears a hat, enormous sunglasses, and a light jacket to cover her arms.  As a result, when passersby stare, I inevitably wonder whether they think she’s some incognito celebrity or an escaped mental patient.

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Hey, is that one of the Kardashians?

So the plan is to have everything packed up and shipped off (including ourselves) to August 31st.  We’ve got the boxes, the tape, the movers in mind.  The only piece missing in our masterful plan is somewhere to move TO – like, say, a place in Toronto.  To forestall the possibility of our having to live out of my office, I’m going to fly to Toronto next week for a day of condo shopping and tacos with Ivon.  My checklist includes: pet-friend, patio, AC, open concept, regular-sized oven, proximity to a dog park, and home made guacamole.  If I can find all of those things on my visit, I’ll be greatly pleased.

A few quick shout-outs before I wrap up today’s entry…

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A shout-out to Chef Curtis Luk whose Mission Kitsilano restaurant has become my favorite go-to place for brunch and/or dinner. The crazy thing is I’m not a brunch person – and yet I’ll go once, sometimes twice a weekend because it’s that good.  And crazier still, I’m not a vegetarian yet always get the vegetarian dishes whenever I go because they’re that good.  There are dedicated vegetarian restaurants in Vancouver, and none can equal the brilliance of Chef Curtis’s creations…

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He’s that good.

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A shout-out to hot young Vancouver director – and comic writer/artist Kaare Andrews.  Sat down with him a couple of weeks ago to talk genre television, and his comic Renato Jones, available on comixology and where all fine graphic novels are sold.

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And a final shout-out to the Earl Grey/Lavender donut I had at Lucky’s Donuts.  I know, I know.  Earl Grey?!  And Lavender???  But unquestionably the best donut I’ve eaten this year.

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Tomorrow, it’s all about this Friday night’s episode of Dark Matter, “One Last Card To Play” (alternately titled “One More Card To Play” on various sites).

Happy 4th of July!!!

“Kid’s sketchy.  Back to you guys.”

July 3, 2017: Dark Matter-like book recommendations!

If you enjoy Dark Matter and are looking for a book that is similar in spirit, might I suggest the following ten scifi novels.

Whether it’s kickass characters, a shipboard setting, an anti-villain premise, or a sense of humor, Dark Matter shares a little something with each of these amazing titles…

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The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, #1) by Jason M. Hough

In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.

Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse. But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped—along with the brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma—to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity.

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Fortune’s Pawn (Paradox, #1) by Rachel Bach

Devi Morris isn’t your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It’s a combination that’s going to get her killed one day – but not just yet.

That is, until she just gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn’t misnamed: it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she’s found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn’t give up its secrets without a fight, and one year on this ship might be more than even Devi can handle.

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Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1) by Yoon Ha Lee

The first installment of the trilogy, Ninefox Gambit, centers on disgraced captain Kel Cheris, who must recapture the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles in order to redeem herself in front of the Hexarchate.

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim.

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Dark Run (Keiko, #1) by Mike Brooks

The Keiko is a ship of smugglers, soldiers of fortune and adventurers, travelling Earth’s colony planets searching for the next job. And nobody talks about their past.

But when a face from Captain Ichabod Drift’s former life send them on a run to Old Earth, all the rules change.

Trust will be broken, and blood will be spilled.

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Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce– and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine–and what he will become is far stranger.

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Revenger (Revenger, #1) by Alastair Reynolds

The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilizations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives.

And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them.

Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It’s their business to find the tiny, enigmatic worlds which have been hidden away, booby-trapped, surrounded by layers of protection–and to crack them open for the ancient relics and barely-remembered technologies inside. But while they ply their risky trade with integrity, not everyone is so scrupulous.

Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest members of Rackamore’s crew, signed on to save their family from bankruptcy. Only Rackamore has enemies, and there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen in particular.

Revenger is a science fiction adventure story set in the rubble of our solar system in the dark, distant future–a tale of space pirates, buried treasure, and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism and of vengeance…

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Diving into the Wreck (Diving Universe, #1) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she s an active historian. She wants to know about the past to experience it firsthand. Once she s dived the ship, she ll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It s a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.

Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It s impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn t be here. It can t be here. And yet, it is. Boss s curiosity is up, and she s determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won t give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.”

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The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn

This is a story of the glory that was. In the days of the great sailing ships in the mid-21st century, when magnetic sails drew cargo and passengers alike to every corner of the Solar System, sailors had the highest status of all spacemen, and the crew of the luxury liner The River of Stars, the highest among all sailors.

But development of the Farnsworth fusion drive doomed the sailing ships and now The River of Stars is the last of its kind, retrofitted with engines, her mast vestigial, her sails unraised for years. An ungainly hybrid, she operates in the late years of the century as a mere tramp freighter among the outer planets, and her crew is a motley group of misfits. Stepan Gorgas is the escapist executive officer who becomes captain. Ramakrishnan Bhatterji is the chief engineer who disdains him. Eugenie Satterwaithe, once a captain herself, is third officer and, for form’s sake, sailing master.

When an unlikely and catastrophic engine failure strikes The River, Bhatterji is confident he can effect repairs with heroic engineering, but Satterwaithe and the other sailors among the crew plot to save her with a glorious last gasp for the old ways, mesmerized by a vision of arriving at Jupiter proudly under sail. The story of their doom has the power, the poetry, and the inevitability of a Greek tragedy.

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The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson

For two thousand years, the starship Astron has searched the galaxy for alien life–without success. Now, just as the ship is falling apart, the only direction left to explore is across the Dark, a one-hundred-generation journey through empty space.

The ship’s captain–immortal, obsessed–refuses to abandon the quest. He will cross the Dark, or destroy the ship trying.

Only Sparrow, a young crewman uncertain of his own past, can stand against the captain, and against the lure and challenge of the dark beyond the stars…

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Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz

There is one final choice for the hopeless the terminally ill, the condemned criminals, the victims who cannot be saved: becoming cyborg soldiers in the Legion. Their human bodies are destroyed and they are reborn as living weapons. But when aliens attack the Empire, the Legion must choose sides.”

 

Tagged: Alastair Reynolds, Dark Run, Diving into the Wreck, Fortune's Pawn, Frank M. Robinson, Jason M. Hough, John Scalzi, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Legion of the Damned, Michael Flynn, Mike Brooks, NineFox Gambit, Old Man's War, Rachel Bach, Revenger, The Dark Beyond the Stars, The Darwin Elevator, The Wreck of the River of Stars, William C. Dietz, Yoon Ha Lee

July 2, 2017: Mom, a mini Stargate reunion, and your last chance to get your questions in for our upcoming Q&A with actress Ayisha Issa!

Like me, my mother is a fairly prolific reader.  Unlike me, she prefers books with soft conflicts and happy endings.  You know, the ones that inevitably get adapted for television by the Hallmark Channel.  So, apparently, last week she started to read a book so upsetting that she couldn’t get the images out of her mind.  Not upsetting like that time I recommended Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” and all she could think of was post-apocalyptic scenarios for days, but horrifyingly distressing to the extent that she wanted to throw the book away after those first few pages!  To my mother, throwing out a book is tantamount to sacrilege but she was compelled to act out of fear someone else might come across the book and read it.

“What’s the book?”I asked my sister who informed me of the bizarre reading experience.

My sister texted back…

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My sis suspects mom might have inadvertently picked it up during her last hospital visit or had someone gift it to her amongst a pile of less startling titles.

“Definitely not from me,”I assured my sister.

On the bright side, mom’s experience expanded her vocabulary.  She learned a new word.  It starts with “C”.

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Hey, look who’s manning the grill.  If it isn’t BBQ King and Pizza Maestro (also Executive Producer Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Stargate: Universe, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: SG-1) Robert C. Cooper.  Rob kindly hosted a Stargate reunion of sorts on Carl Binder and Ivon Bartok’s final night in town.  On the menu…

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Six types of sausage, wood-fire-smoked burrata, two types of pie (blueberry and rhubarb), chocolate-coffee cake, and seven types of ice cream.  Not pictured = the salad.

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This is it!  Your last chance to post a comment for actress Ayisha Issa, Dark Matter’s Solara Shockley, in advance of her coming fan Q&A.  If you got ’em, post ’em in the comments section!

July 1, 2017: I feel like it was only three weeks ago…

Another writers’ room has come to an end.  And, as we all go our separate ways, I take a moment to reflect on the time we spent together…

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The story discussions.

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The morning, mid and late afternoon coffees.

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The meals.

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The post-meal malaise.

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And, of course, that Alaskan cruise.

Good times.  Good times.

Tagged: #DarkMatter