AMBER LOVE 30-DEC-2013 Let’s take a look back on the good times and the controversies of the year. For VODKA O’CLOCK’s Year in Review, I was joined by author DENNIS TAFOYA and multi-media star MEREDITH PLACKO.

I’ve posted 42 episodes of the Vodka O’Clock podcast in 2013. I am grateful for every single guest. I’ve been fortunate to have some return guests like Ande Parks, Jeremy Holt and Paul Allor who don’t mind coming back for updates or special occasions. As you know VOC is not only about comics. My favorite episode of the year was with Ande when we did an impromptu Father’s Day episode. Then there was the surreal time I chatted at length with the one and only Shannon Wheeler who I practically worship. I managed to talk about such a diverse range of topics from entertainment to the harsh world of harassment and rape culture we try to battle. That’s been my goal for the show all along. It’s not a “comics” show. It’s about talking to people that I find fascinating whether they’re writers, artists, musicians, literary agents, or lobbyists.

Download the Year in Review episode on iTunes, Stitcher or listen here.

My first guest for the Year in Review is DENNIS TAFOYA (dennistafoya.com). His books include THE WOLVES OF FAIRMOUNT PARK, DOPE THIEF, and THE POOR BOY’S GAME (coming in April 2014). We chat about how much fun research is but how it’s also a sneaky way to procrastinate instead of writing.

Dennis’ favorite books:

• * Come Closer by Sara Gran
• * Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
• * Shoot the Woman First (Crissa Stone novels) by Wallace Stroby
• * Dare Me by Megan Abbott
• * The End of Vandalism and Pacific by Tom Drury
• * The Great War by Joe Sacco
• * The Best Horror of the Year Volume 5 edited by Ellen Datlow

Other authors to watch:

• * Hilary Davidson
• * Duane Swierczynski
• * Laird Barron
• * Jonathan Maberry

Dennis’ favorite music for the year:

• * Phosphorescent
• * The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski
• * Jóhann Jóhannson

Dennis’ favorite movies for the year:

• * Mud
• * Take Shelter
• * American Hustle
• * All is Lost

Amber’s Reading: A fair amount of my “reading” was actually audio books because of my long drives. I enjoyed ten really good audio books in 2013. A couple stand out: Aisha Tyler’s SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS, Carrie Fisher’s SHOCKAHOLIC, and Jennie Lawson’s LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED. What’s significant for me is that these three books that stood out are memoirs by some brilliant and funny women. It’s not a conscious common denominator but I enjoyed them more than any of the others I got. I felt connected to each of these women as I listened to funny and tragic stories about their lives.

I’m a rather slow reader so I only finished seven books. That’s actually a really huge accomplishment for me but I know I have a exceptionally literary friends that read that much each month. I love books! I happen to be slow in enjoying them and I don’t always finish them either. That’s true of novels and comic omnibuses. My room is a tomb of books I may never get to. I can’t stop buying them and I love getting them as presents. When someone gives you a book, that’s a pretty special token.

I didn’t get to view many movies this year. I really prefer marathoning shows over feature films. Of the few I watched, LOVELACE, stood out to me the most. It’s the memoir of 1970’s porn star Linda Lovelace notorious for the movie DEEP THROAT. She didn’t spend much time in the porn industry yet she and that movie made such a monumental impact for that day. She went on to leave her terribly abusive marriage and start a new life which included writing the memoir, ORDEAL.

As far as music for the year, I wasn’t very experimental. I loop contemporary standards like Lana Del Rey, Florence + the Machine, and Mumford & Sons. For the sultry rockabilly style, check out Beth Hart. I also got hooked on The Samantha Fish Blues Band which I saw perform in New Jersey at the Blues Bash.

PART TWO of the Year in Review episode is a fabulous chat with MEREDITH PLACKO (meredithplacko.com) known for her news coverage and cosplay. We kicked off the recap with a discussion on the issues of harassment in the comics community which is not exclusive to cosplay. We moved the conversation along to recap our best moments of our cosplay this year, plus some of our memorable charity events; for Meredith it was even more personal because she needed to raise money for her cat Angel’s vet bills. She even took the extra and donated it to a local adoption center. For me, I not only helped host another successful Superhero Weekend at Comic Fusion but I also accompanied the 501st and other superheroes to a playground dedication honoring a victim of the Sandy Hook Connecticut school shooting.

My personal cosplay highlight was when I attended was Virginia Comic Con where I tagged along with Jim Kuhoric, his friends and special effects artist Brody Williams. I was able to be Jim’s character Annie Belle from DEAD IRONS for about half of a day after a three-hour makeup session with Brody. I partnered up with Bryan Treakle who played Annie’s brother Silas, the protagonist of the story. I continuously messed up at the photoshoot. It wasn’t like anything I had ever done. I’m used to having a photographer snap off hundreds of shots in order to get a couple dozen that are great. This was very limited. Every shot needed to count. It was also my first time doing cosplay work against a green screen. I feel like I was able to add the unique components of special effects and green screen to my modeling resume now. I’ve heard some really exciting news about where these photos will appear and I can’t wait to share it when the time comes.

Meredith’s favorite comics for the year:

• * East of West (Image)
• * Saga (Image)
• * All New X-Men (Marvel)
• * Trese (Alamat)

I’m pretty sure there’s no way I logged every single comic that I read but I tried to remember to jot down titles when I could think of it and get to my Google Drive. IDW’s MY LITTLE PONY comics are still tops for me as they were last year but I put reading them on the back burner in order to spend time exploring new things like Image’s LAZARUS, Action Lab’s JACK HAMMER, Boom’s IMAGINE AGENTS, Monkeybrain’s AMELIA COLE and STRANGE NATION, and Fabian Rangel’s independent creation DOC UNKNOWN which is one of my favorite comics of the year. I’m one of the few die hard readers of Dynamite’s LONE RANGER series; the recent single-issue stories are perfectly suited for any new reader to jump on and enjoy one issue at a time.

I can’t forget to mention the comic that stood out for me a lot, DEATH SENTENCE by Monty Nero and Mike Dowling published through Titan Comics out of the U.K. Not only is the comic itself composed of quality elements for storytelling but the staff is wonderful. Titan Comics has some of the best press relations I’ve ever experienced. They’re receptive and engaging when I write to them through email or Twitter; and they were friendly when I finally met them at New York Comic Con even giving me signed copies of DEATH SENTENCE #1 for a contest. DEATH SENTENCE follows three carefree, punk rock, wild and spontaneous characters who have contracted the sexually transmitted “G” virus. When you’re G+ you only have six months to live but you get superpowered abilities that can cause a ton of trouble. There’s Weasel the washed up punk singer; Verity the painter who seems to be the lost soul of the bunch; and Monty, a vulgar stand-up comedian who uses sexual exploits as a personal challenge eventually landing him to shag a nun and the Queen of England.

The books I enjoyed, I definitely made note of and compiled this helpful spreadsheet:

Like Titan Comics, I have had wonderful press relations with other smaller press publishers including Action Lab Entertainment, IDW, and 215ink. The publishers and creators are always willing to consider when I need prizes for the show or for the annual charity fundraiser at Comic Fusion. I don’t simply promote everything that comes through my inbox. When I truly love a product, you’ll know it. This happened with Action Lab’s original graphic novel for the toy line VAMPLETS which is one of my favorite things ever. And 215ink has been responsible for most of my favorite titles in 2012 and giving me even more in 2013 with books like Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey’s FLUTTER and the Perkins Brothers’ sci-fi comics BEWARE.

In all honesty, I took a taste of some new series but don’t have any desire to follow them through. Such was the case with Image’s THREE, a story of the Spartans. There’s nothing wrong with the story; it just isn’t my cup o’ tea and I felt no compelling desire to see what’s happens next. For other people, they might really dig that sort of story. The same thing happened with only one audio book, THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY, a legendary book for comic fans that I simply could not get into at all.

As far as original graphic novels, I highly recommend MARCH: BOOK ONE by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, a memoir of the American Civil Rights movement published by Top Shelf; also Ande Parks and Chris Samnee’s CAPOTE IN KANSAS, a dramatization of Truman Capote’s life during the time he was writing his famous book IN COLD BLOOD; and also unforgettable was Ellen Forney’s MARBLES: MANIA, DEPRESSION, MICHELANGELO AND ME: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR.

Meredith’s favorite blogs:

• * I Like Comics Too
• * Korean Indie
• * The Kitchen Paper

Amber’s favorite blogs of the year:

• * Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds
• * Jennie Lawson’s The Bloggess
• * CBLDF.org
• * ToplessPulp

THANK YOU!

I wanted take this time to recap more personal moments in my year. There’s nothing unique about it as I’m sure most people will post on their blogs or Facebook what they look back. Since I’ve returned to life as a full-time employee again and not a temp or freelancer, my life instantly changed. Paychecks now come in regularly but I’ve had to give up some of my favorite modeling jobs that were during daytime hours like the Kubert School, duCret and Montclair Museum. I had a rather unfortunate experience getting to a great night modeling in Newark. I didn’t have the energy to make a full blog post at the time but I typed it up quickly on Facebook:

The new job means I have better finances to get to conventions but I don’t necessarily have the vacation days to actually get to the shows. What I’m doing might be the same number of shows as before but often hitting them on only Saturdays. I also had the opportunity to fly to a con for the first time which was Detroit Fanfare. I had an inordinate amount of stress and anxiety surrounding that trip but it was special for personal reasons. I met several great folks that I have stayed in touch with but I doubt it’s in my cards to return in 2014. My goal is to see new cons as often as possible. Even though Baltimore seems to steadily be my favorite and one I hate to miss, I’ll check out what other ones I can drive to reasonably. Because of the job, I spend a lot of time in my car so I’m not exactly thrilled for road trips anymore.

There were three projects that I’m quite proud to be part of that were supposed to come out in 2013 and haven’t. They are not dead in the water, thankfully. They are delayed but I’m anxious to see the work come out whenever that happens. For 2014, I’ve already begun talking to a new creative partner about projects. It’s exciting work but leaves me scared to death thinking of the potential of screwing up something other people have worked so hard on already. I have tons of trepidation but they are projects I wouldn’t pass up unless I had a really good excuse for not trying.

VODKA O’CLOCK IN 2013:

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.