HAPPY YULE, MERRY JOSHMAS EPISODE!

VODKA O’CLOCK 1625
JOSH NEFF & AMBER LOVE’S FAVORITE THINGS OF 2016

AMBER LOVE 21-DEC-2016 News: The first two FARRAH WETHERS MYSTERIES are available through sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can get Cardiac Arrest and Full Body Manslaughter right now. Both are available on Kindle and for a limited time, Full Body Manslaughter is free on Kindle Unlimited. Please go to patreon.com/amberunmasked to sponsor the show, the site, and my work.

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A TWO-HOUR YEAR END SPECIAL!

Since 2016 has been a black hole of awfulness leaving some of us feeling like the oozing boils on the ass of a cave troll, Josh and I decided to talk about things we appreciated this year and good things that have happened. The first hour we got into mental health and how it affected our writing/creative productivity, Twitter, and TV shows; the second hour we got into books, good news, and comics.

“I’m still here. I’m still in the fight.” – Josh Neff

TWITTER OF THE YEAR:

@MerriamWebster Dictionary

Leverage Hardison gif

WRITING, MENTAL HEALTH, & PRODUCTIVITY:

  • Amber’s first two mystery novels came out in 2016.
  • Amber completed another NaNoWriMo; wrote the first draft of Miscarriage of Justice; began the early stages of a non-fiction book on modern witchcraft and paganism.
  • Josh started NaNoWriMo and dropped out because of being shocked and depressed by the election; he maintains two different blogs, goblin-cartoons (writing) and mercurial-comics (for personal insight) and of course tweets.

TV:

Amber’s Faves:

Lucifer, Gotham, Republic of Doyle, Murdoch Mysteries, Miss Fisher Mysteries, Supergirl, Grace & Frankie, Beyonce’s Lemonade

Penguin and Riddler

Josh’s Faves:

The Flash, Supergirl, the Invasion crossover, rewatching Leverage because it feels even more relevant now.

Supergirl gif

BOOKS:

Amber’s Recs:

Josh’s Recs:

“Depression is the evangelist for emptiness.”
― Hannah Hart, Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded

AMBER’S FAVORITE 2016 COMICS:

Favorite publisher of 2016 is Black Mask Studios which puts out several of the comics I’ve recommended most this year.

Black Mask logo

The SkepticsMore Details in Previous Posted (for fans of Psych) alt history during Pres Rockefeller’s era of the Cold War, starring Mary, a woman of color, and Maxwell, a British college student in the US who are pretending to be psychic for research since the Russians claim to have psychics of their own. For this year, it’s Amber’s favorite storyline, art, coloring, and lettering, so hands down, The Skeptics is the Comic of the Year.

Black Mask Studios has been excellent in presenting full functioning non-male characters in other titles. They kept the pace by taking on THE SKEPTICS in their catalog. Mary Selwar is an African-American psychology student during a time when school integration was being forced in jurisdictions. Few women even had the opportunity for college, but Mary is clearly bright with just enough of a sly fox quality to be chosen for Dr. Santaclara’s project.

skeptics comic cover

Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Written by: Tini Howard
Art by: Devaki Neogi
Colored by: Jen Hickman
Lettered by: Aditya Bidika

  • FaithFaith Election Special – Valiant Comics; Jody Houser, Louise Simonson, Rafer Roberts (writers), Meghan Hetrick, Maugerite Savage (artists), Andrew Dalhouse (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Tom Brennan (editor)
  • 4 Kids Walk Into a BankCharity Covers Hit Dec 21st – Black Mask Studios; Matthew Rosenberg (writer), Tyler Boss (art), Thomas Mauer (colors), Courtney Menard (cover), Clare Dezutti (flats)
  • Black – Black Mask Studios; Kwanza Osajyefo (writer), Tim Smith 3 (designs), Jamal Igle (illustrator), Khary Randolph (cover), Steven Walker (art assist), Robin Riggs (some inks), Sarah Stern (tones), Dave Sharpe (letters), Ashley A. Woods (variant), Sarah Litt (editor)
  • Bitch PlanetReview of Issue 1 – Image Comics;  Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer), Valentine De Landro (art/covers), Cris Peter (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters), Rian Hughes (cover design/logo), Laurenn McCubbin (back matter design), Lauren Sankovitch (editor)
  • Raven the Pirate Princess – Action Lab Entertainment; Jeremy Whitley (writer), Sorah Suhng (pencils), Nicki Andrews (inks), Rosy Higgins (pencils), Ted Brandt (inks), William Blankenship (colors), Justin Birch (letters), Nicole D’andria (editor)
  • Hero Cats – Action Lab Entertainment; Kyle Puttkammer (writer & creator), Omaka Schulz (pencils), Ryan Sellers (inks), Julie Barclay (colors), Shannon Butt (letters), Keek Stewart (editor)
  • Action Lab: Dog of Wonder – Action Lab Entertainment; Vito Delsante and Scott Fogg (writers), Ted Brandt and Rosy Higgins (art), Full Court Press (letters), Nicole D’andria (editor)
  • Safe House: Voices from the Cutting Season about female genital mutilation (online: http://marcellison.com/safehouse/en/#1 hardcopy: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/7443491-safe-house) by Marc Ellison, Daniel LaFrance, comic with real photos
  • Valiant comics cat cosplay variants were a fun gimmick this year
FAITH comic
FAITH #5 ELECTION SPECIAL

GOOD NEWS (around 1:30 mark):

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot

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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.