book stuff – Maureen Ryan

Roundup! A book event, a cool podcast, gardening tips, TV and fiction recs and much more!

Hello! I hope you are doing OK and taking care of yourself. That’s a pretty tall order at the moment and if you are taking on even more — i.e., trying to help others and your communities — I’m grateful to you.

I’ve got a roster of good or potentially interesting things I want to mention, but before I get to that, I want to say this: If you are going to be protesting this weekend or at any other time, I’d strongly urge you to turn off biometric access to your phone (if you bring a smartphone at all, that is), and also check out this list of other tips from EFF and from veteran organizers.

So, here are 10 good or potentially interesting things:

1. On Saturday, June 14 at 3 p.m. in Chicago, I’ll talk with Kevin Smokler, author of the excellent new book Break the Frame, an array of conversations with female directors. I can’t wait to talk to Kevin about his book, about the entertainment industry in general, and about my book Burn It Down (which this month celebrates its two-year book birthday, and I must once again thank everyone who supported my book in any way). Huge thanks to Jarvis Square Books, which will be hosting the event in an outdoor spot near the store in Rogers Park. If you want to register in advance, that’ll help the organizers get an idea of the head count.

2. I went on the Tilly’s Trans Tuesdays podcast to talk about the excellent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode Ad Astra Per Aspera. I love chatting with Tilly and Susan Bridges, and the conversation about this episode in particular was meaningful on so many fronts. It’s a three-part podcast, and the final installment comes out next week. Thanks for having me on, Tilly and Susan! You continue to be the best, and our chats are always a wonderful experience. (Side note: ST: SNW, which I enjoy a lot, returns on Paramount+ July 17, and I highly recommend watching the Season 2 finale before diving into the new season.)

3. There aren’t a ton of new scripted shows this month, aside from the BritBox offering Outrageous, a six-episode saga of the Mitford family in the 1930s. Six episodes, of course, isn’t nearly enough to convey everything there is to know about the infamous Mitfords, but it’s a start! And I’ve now seen the first two episodes of Outrageous, a smartly paced, intriguing drama that definitely has an outrageously good cast. I dug into Mitford lore and interviewed the star and writer of Outrageous for Vanity Fair last fall, and a lot of the ideas in the show — and in those conversations — are still very relevant. Side notes: BritBox TV has a lot of very good films and TV programs (including my beloved Line of Duty and the Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero). Other TV I’ve enjoyed lately: Lots of shows on this list, plus Dept. Q, Andor and my first watch of OG Roswell, which is bringing me face to face with a lot of semi-traumatizing late ‘90s/early aughts fashion trends.

4. Would you like soothing fare that celebrates kindness and creativity in front of your eyeballs? Probably yes?? Great news, then: The Great Canadian Baking Show — which is so, so good — and a couple of later seasons of the Great Pottery Throw Down are coming to the Roku Channel. Hooray! Longtime readers will know of my deep love for GCBS and will be familiar with my assertion that the Great Pottery Throw Down is even better than its pastry-driven peers (and the first couple seasons of GPTD should still be on HBO Max, or whatever they decide to call it next month).

5. A couple of notable new books I want to mention: Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company, a chronicle of the destruction wreaked by private equity, which is evil. I’m so glad the super-smart Greenwell took on this important topic. And Maris Kreizman’s essay collection I Want to Burn This Place Down (great book title for this tome, which is out July 1). Both of these excellent authors are doing tours, and Maris’ newsletter The Maris Review is gold if you want to keep up with things worth reading. (Speaking of this topic, Bookshop now has a way to buy ebooks! An excellent development.)

6. I read a LOT and I always get stuck trying to make lists of recommendations, because it’s easy for them to end up way too long! But I will mention a few books that I really loved lately: Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (I simply think you cannot go wrong with anything by Lippman, Denise Mina or Tana French in this particular realm of fiction); Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum; Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell (she’s got two books set in the same universe, but they’re not sequential and I’d read this one first); Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky was typically fascinating (though my faves by him are the Final Architecture and Children of Time series); Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite; the Mossa and Pleiti mysteries by Malka Older; The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal, the latest in her Lady Astronaut series (which is super great); and I’m a bit late to this, but I positively devoured The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. History buff? For the moment we’re living through, I highly recommend every book by Adam Hochschild, and also the one-volume version of Emma Goldman’s autobiography, Living My Life.

7. Just a reminder that there’s going to be another Battlestar Galactica convention in September, most of the cast and creative team is going to be there again, and I personally can’t wait for this Creation event. I’ll be hosting and moderating again, and last year’s con was truly life affirming in the best possible ways.

8. I came across this Star Wars intro/crawl generator and this was a very, very fun way to waste some time.

A hawk moth extends its long thin probiscus to a white flower in a garden with greenery in the background. — A hawk moth in our garden. They do really look like something out of Star Wars!

9. I’m on the board of the survivor advocacy organization Callisto, which I wrote about here. Things are more stable financially than they were last fall, which is great (but nonprofits like Callisto can always use money, of course, if you know of anyone with some spare cash. Side note: Thanks to everyone who participated in my eBay charity auction this spring, which partly benefited Callisto — I’m so grateful!). The organization is looking for board members, and if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, there’s more information here.

10. Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to go on the JoCo Cruise and meet a bunch of great people and participate in some talks and generally engage in delightful activities. They asked me if I wanted to talk about something other than books or journalism or the entertainment industry as we JoCo-ed, and I said heck yeah! I love, love, love gardening, and I wrote this Google doc with a few tips and ideas (I post pics of my garden on Instagram main and stories, if that’s of any interest). What I had to say really involves — I hope — demystifying gardening for newbies, but the document also might be of use to folks who already garden. It’s not a comprehensive array of advice, of course; it’s just meant as some ideas or questions to think about, with a few bits of well-intentioned input from yours truly. Hope you dig it!

An arrangement of colorful flowers in a clear vase on white steps.

And finally: Fuck ICE. Abolish it.

A Burn It Down video extravaganza, and thoughts on Neil Gaiman, creative gods, American Gods and rotten pedestals

Hello! (This is cross-posted to my free newsletter, Burner Account.)

Chicago folks, on Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., I’ll be in conversation with my friend Steve Darnall at The Book Cellar in Chicago. The occasion is the reissue of Uncle Sam, a brilliant graphic novel by Steve and Alex Ross. It’s about a lot of things, including the idea of America and the necessity of fighting the urge toward fascism and empty populism. Pretty relevant, I’d say!

It’s also the first Chicago event I’ve done since the paperback of Burn It Down came out, so that’s exciting. Steve and I will have a conversation about our books — and maybe we’ll talk a bit about working together at a very bananas magazine company a million years ago — and then we’ll sign things. Hope you can make it if you’re in Chicago!

Another really fun thing coming up: Because the universe decided to smile upon me, the convention celebrating the 20th anniversary of Battlestar Galactica will take place in Chicago in October. That’s pretty cool, and even cooler (again, for me personally, which is what matters): I’m going to host the convention and moderate some panels. Is this real life? I hope so! If you can come out for part or all of this multi-day shindig, that would be swell, because it’s going to be a blast. So say we all!

Now for the main event: In Los Angeles in June, there was a celebratory event for the paperback release of Burn It Down, which came out a year ago.

A panel discussion of Burn It Down and Hollywood reform efforts, featuring Mo Ryan, Shernold Edwards, Melinda Hsu, Kether Donohue and Maikiko James. — Baller time: A panel discussion of Burn It Down and Hollywood reform, with Mo Ryan, Shernold Edwards, Melinda Hsu, Kether Donohue & Maikiko James. Photos by Jerry Jerome.

For the event, which was sponsored by the great folks at Women in Film LA, we assembled a panel of illustrious industry veterans: showrunner and creator Melinda Hsu and creator and producer Shernold Edwards (both of whom were interviewed for my book), as well as actor, producer and musician Kether Donohue (she’s been in You’re the Worst, B Positive and many other productions, and perhaps most notably [to me], plays a flying robot called Peanuthamper in Star Trek: Lower Decks).

A photo of a woman seated and another woman standing over her. both are smiling. seated woman is Kether Donohue, standing woman is Mo Ryan — Don’t know what was going on here, but it likely involves Kether Donohue being awesome.

Rounding out the panel was the amazing Maikiko James, Women in Films’ senior director of programs.

There are five women on a panel and this photo focuses more on one woman on the end of the row, Maikiko James of Women in Film LA — Maikiko James of Women in Film LA says something very smart! All photos by Jerry Jerome.

They are all so insightful, so funny and so thoughtful, and I got to converse with them for an hour about matters of Hollywood misconduct, abuse, leadership and reform. We joked and we laughed, and we held space for each other when hard truths were said. We took questions from the audience, and they were terrific. I’m thrilled with how it all went, because it was one the most enjoyable and illuminating panels I’ve ever been part of.

The five women on the Burn It Down panel all laugh and smile in a black and white photo. — Did You Know? Black and white photos make the people in them look even smarter. All photos by Jerry Jerome.

The YouTube video of the event is below. (It’s also on my YouTube page. Hey, could I ask a favor? Could you subscribe to my YouTube channel? If I can get above a certain subscriber count, that would make some things easier for me on the YT front. Thank you in advance!)

What do you think is one of my favorite moments in this video? I BET YOU CAN GUESS!

It fills my heart with joy to inform you that Richard Manning, executive producer of one of my all-time favorite shows, Farscape, came to the event with his lovely wife, Cheryl (hi Ricky and Cheryl!). Ricky filmed the panel and then edited it; that video exists because of him. Thank you so much is not adequate to express my gratitude, especially since Ricky also gave me unbelievably precious pieces of the Moya set as keepsakes. (I keep them near me at all times!) Later, he pointed out that you can’t spell Mo Ryan without Moya (mind * blown). Frelling incredible. (And I will point you once again to my most recent writing about Farscape, a beginner’s guide to the show and its awesomeness.)

Writer producer Richard Manning in conversation with a tattooed woman, Mo Ryan — Having written about Farscape for more than 20 years, I finally got to meet executive producer Ricky Manning in person! What joy. About frelling time! All photos by Jerry Jerome.

Jerry Jerome, an excellent photographer (who took a lot of great pictures of the Hollywood strikes of 2023), volunteered to take photos of the event, which took place at the very nice co-working space Groundfloor LA. He really captured the event in an organic and lovely way. Thanks, Jerry!

A seated woman looks at a man in front of her, and another standing man looks at the first man as well. — All situations are improved once you add Joe Mwamba (center) to them.

Shoutout to Liz Alper, who worked a lot of behind the scenes magic; to Joseph Mwamba, who brings great vibes wherever he goes; to my former Tribune pal Amy Guth; and to showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson, whom I’d never had the good fortune to meet before, but who was among the industry folks and civilians who turned up on a Thursday night to listen to the conversation and have me sign books.

When a certain kind of awesome thing happens, like Sheryl J. Anderson saying nice things to me in person, my face legit does not know what to do. Anyway! Thanks, Sheryl!

Good times! Truly, my thanks go out to every person who came out to the event. I really enjoyed talking to folks after the panel, and I’m so grateful for the turnout and for the delightful vibes.

A man holds a microphone and asks a question. — Drew asked a great question. Thanks for coming, Drew!

The discussion we had is, of course, eternally timely, because, as Jenny Holzer put it, abuse of power comes as no surprise.

Back in early June, the allegations about Neil Gaiman had not yet surfaced. When they did come out the following month, journalist Annabel Ross had a good analysis of the the first round of reporting (and the problematic issues surrounding it). Another woman came forward on the Am I Broken podcast, in an episode titled “I Ignored It and Believed Him Because He’s the Storyteller.”

The number of times I’ve heard similar assertions fills my soul with sadness. As Ross noted in a subsequent post, the “allegations detailed in the initial Tortoise investigation were extremely disturbing, but I found Claire’s account on Am I Broken even harder to listen to.”

Not long after that, two more women spoke to the Tortoise Media reporters. These allegations were also horrific. All in all, what’s alleged is truly heinous and I am so profoundly sorry about what these women have gone through, and are no doubt still going through.

(Important note: These allegations have been used as a battering ram by some deeply transphobic people, and I want to make it clear that I completely condemn transphobia, TERF-iness and all forms of bigotry against trans people, now and forever.)

It sounds like some of these women approached the media before and didn’t get anyone to take on their stories. If you’ve wondered, I’ve never been approached by anyone with allegations like the ones that recently came to light. And while I would be very surprised if there is not further coverage of this matter, I know from extensive experience that these kinds of investigations take time. A lot of time.

Time, care and attention are required to do this kind of reporting properly, in ways that show compassion and consideration to the survivors, and in ways that pass muster with fact-checkers, editors and lawyers. (Legal review of my book, for example, took about a year, and some stories I’ve done have gone through several months of legal review, especially when the subject of a story has the resources to hire a lot of lawyers, spin doctors and crisis PR firms. Having to engage for months with all those hired guns is about as pleasant as you’d think.)

Because folks have asked, I am not working on any kind of Gaiman followup. In part because I have other commitments that take precedence. In part because what I have to say about these kinds of behaviors, patterns, dynamics and abuses is in my book (and in my previous decades’ worth of in-depth reporting on Hollywood).

And in part because I have already reported on Gaiman, somewhat indirectly, and I did not enjoy a significant aspect of the fallout of that experience.

One year of Burn It Down (plus an LA event!)

Hello! First up, a couple of interviews (and an event) I’d like to draw your attention to. Then I’m going to share a few thoughts on one year of Burn It Down (now out in paperback!) existing in the world.

A number of folks asked me during the past year when I’d have a book event in Los Angeles. The stars did not align to make that happen until this week — and it’s happening!

The great people at Women In Film LA put together an event to celebrate the paperback publication of Burn It Down: Power, Complicity and a Call for Change in Hollywood. This free shindig will take place 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13, and it’ll consist of two things: a panel conversation and a book signing.

I feel enormously fortunate to be sharing the stage at Groundfloor LA on Thursday with these industry folks:

Kether Donohue: Actor, producer, singer/songwriter, voice actor; You’re the Worst, Grease Live, B Positive, Star Trek: Lower Decks, among other credits.

Melinda Hsu: Showrunner, creator, director, writer, producer; Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, Lost, Medium and The Vampire Diaries, among other credits; creator of the Lead With Kindness podcast and management training seminar.

Shernold Edwards: Former executive, creator, writer, producer; Station 19, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, All Rise, Anne with an E, Haven and Sleepy Hollow, among other credits.

Maikiko James: Senior Director of Programs, Women In Film LA; Maikiko oversees WIF LA’s member programs including Fellowships, Emerging Careers, and the WIF/Black List Episodic Lab. She co-founded INSIGHT, a WIF community for women of color in entertainment, in 2018.

After the panel, I’ll sign books (books will be for sale on site, but if you want to bring a book you already own, I’ll sign those too). As noted, the event at Groundfloor LA in Downtown LA is free, and you can register to reserve your spot at this link.

The interviews I’d like to draw your attention to: This long chat with Cole Haddon of the excellent newsletter 5AM StoryTalk, in which I talk about a lot of things related to the writing of and the reception to the book. I also lay out my Grand Unified Theory of the Art vs. the Artist — and this is one excerpt from that section of the talk (the type in green is me expanding on that part of the chat on my Instagram Stories):

I also recently did this fun podcast with Danielle Turchiano of Made Possible by Pop Culture. It’s available on all podcast platforms and on Youtube as well. (If you crave more conversations that feature me talking about entertainment industry issues and/or my book, there are lots more listed here.)

So! One year ago this month, my first book came out. I am the first person to discover that writing a book is hard. Probably you’ve never seen any author complain at any point in time ever, because writing a book is easy.

Hahahaha nope. It’s hard. It’s like having a kid or getting hitched — whatever you think it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be different than that, in good ways and less good ways, in unpredictable and incredible ways. As in those other life situations, you can’t be prepared for a lot of the things that happen, but as you try your best, you usually learn a great deal along the way.

Anyway, yeah, it wasn’t easy (though there were some high points, mainly involving getting to interview many, many badass humans, and there was also some surreal/weirdly funny shit that happened during those 2-3 years). But by the end of the process, I was in thousand-yard-stare mode, focused on pulling the dang thing over the finish line. By the end, these were the two hopes I had the energy left to carry: I wanted to not get sued, and I wanted to be proud of my first book. Anything else was gravy.

Looking good on both of fronts. And also… my friends, in the past year, there has been So. Much. Gravy.