January 26, 2011: Another Opportunity Beckons! March's Book of the Month Club Pick! Doc gives me the all clear! - Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

“I’m enjoying the time off,”said Carl, sitting on my left, behind his desk, which used to be Robert Cooper’s desk, and Jonathan Glassner’s desk before his.  “But I’m starting to feel like I want to get back to work.”

“Me too,”said Paul, sitting on my right on what may or may not have been the couch where John Lenic’s dog once peed on Ron Wilkerson’s outline for Between Two Fires.  ‘I’m tired of being at home.”

I said nothing, conspicuous in my silence, and wondered whether they were crazy.  Or, maybe, if I was the one who was crazy because, two months into my extended hiatus, I wasn’t missing work in the least.  Sure, I missed the people, but I didn’t miss waking up early, having to be somewhere, or sitting in a room all day breaking stories.  And I certainly didn’t miss being parked in front of a laptop, agonizing over dialogue.  After 11-some years of writing and producing Stargate, I think I’d be perfectly happy NOT writing anything for a long, LOOONG time.  Of course Brad points out that I write every day here on this blog (although Ashleigh and Ivon are of a different opinion given that they view my mailbag-dedicated entries as cheating.  Come on.  Those clever and insightful answers don’t write themselves!).  Still, there’s a big difference between writing whatever the hell I want whenever the hell I want, and scripting a produceable Tease and Five Acts.

I’d love to see how long I COULD go just staying at home, doing my two-a-day work-outs, reading, cooking, and spending quality time with the dogs – but, alas, it doesn’t look like I’ll get to find out as another opportunity beckons.  I’m not enamored of the idea of uprooting myself, saying goodbye to everyone I know on this coast, and moving to the other side of the country but, in all fairness, this is exactly how I felt eleven years ago when we were offered a staff position on Stargate.  Back then, I was making a comfortable living freelancing from home and leaving Montreal was at the bottom of the list of Things I Wanted To Do, right between “learn to play the accordion” and “move to Toronto”, but the opportunity that presented itself was simply too good to pass up.  And, in retrospect, I’ve gotta say it turned out okay.

This opportunity is equally interesting.  It’s a great project, based on an established franchise, and, if all goes well, Paul and I will be on board for its first season.  But first, there’s that second conference call, scheduled for tomorrow morning, followed by a week in Toronto getting to know everyone and their take on the series, then making sure we’re all on the same page, creatively and professionally compatible.  It’s not unlike a blind date, I suppose, with our agent as matchmaker.  I’ll make sure to dress nicely and hold the door open for everyone.

So, what about you guys?  How long do you think you could go living a life of leisure?

While Marjorie M. Liu, the author of January’s Book of the Month Club pick, The Iron Hunt, considers your questions, I’d just like to remind everyone that February’s Book of the Month Club discussion fast approaches.  The week of February 14th, we’ll be discussing Lady of Mazes and author Karl Schroeder will be dropping by to field your queries and check out pictures of my dogs.

And, while we’re talking Book of the Month Club, allow me to give you the heads up on March’s selection:

Ghosts of Manhattan, by George Mann

“INTRODUCING THE WORLD’S FIRST STEAMPUNK SUPERHERO

1926. New York. The Roaring Twenties. Jazz. Flappers. Prohibition. Coal-powered cars. A cold war with a British Empire that still covers half of the globe. Yet things have developed differently to established history. America is in the midst of a cold war with a British Empire that has only just buried Queen Victoria, her life artificially preserved to the age of 107. Coal-powered cars roar along roads thick with pedestrians, biplanes take off from standing with primitive rocket boosters and monsters lurk behind closed doors and around every corner. This is a time in need of heroes. It is a time for The Ghost. A series of targeted murders are occurring all over the city, the victims found with ancient Roman coins placed on their eyelids after death. The trail appears to lead to a group of Italian-American gangsters and their boss, who the mobsters have dubbed ‘The Roman’. However, as The Ghost soon discovers, there is more to The Roman than at first appears, and more bizarre happenings that he soon links to the man, including moss-golems posing as mobsters and a plot to bring an ancient pagan god into the physical world in a cavern beneath the city. As The Ghost draws nearer to The Roman and the center of his dangerous web, he must battle with foes both physical and supernatural and call on help from the most unexpected of quarters if he is to stop The Roman and halt the imminent destruction of the city.”

“Atmospheric and pleasingly enigmatic, the novel pulls us into world of pure pulp.”
—io9.com

“I lost sleep wanting to read this book… it was just huge amounts of fun.” —SF Signal

Sounds intriguing and I love the cover!

Discussion the week of March 14th with author George Mann.

Went in for my full physical today.  I’m relieved to report that I’ve been cleared to resume my wanton ways.  All normal.  Blood sugar levels fantastic.  I celebrated with double desserts tonight!