It’s difficult thinking in terms of “best of the year” in a year that felt like it stopped at March. For a truncated year, this one also seemed to go on for about 12 years more than usual. Our “Best Of” this time out might be a little different. Captain Cerece, Science Officer Leo, Helmsman George, and Red Shirt Clarence have pulled together a few selections that shined light into a challenging year, plus the crew pauses to reflect on what brought joy inside the many ups and downs of what will for ages be known as The Year of Dumpster Fires.
We invite you to reflect as well. What, to paraphrase Conan’s gruff trainer, was best in your life? What helped you triumph? What, despite everything, did you create?
Peace and be well in the New Year.
Best Always!
Team Narazu
All Indie. All Awesome.
Film
by Leo Faierman
Best Film of 2020, Sci-Fi or Otherwise, Period – La Platforma
I cannot currently think of a movie this year that provoked, disgusted, enraged, inspired, and discombobulated me as much as La Platforma, the Spanish film which debuted on Netflix in January. Squarely positioned in the sci-fi genre and distressingly intense and gutsy (in a good way), it details the story of a very unusual vertical prison in some indiscernible future, with prisoner pairs trapped in a room surrounding a large rectangular hole. The prison stretches above and below past visibility, an almost inverse panopticon, where a platform filled with a masterfully prepared feast is lowered down its floors on a timer. This perfectly placed smorgasbord is ruthlessly devoured by upper-level floors as the platform makes its way down, soon becoming a devastated relic of a feast. Lower floors may only partake in its barest scraps, and so it goes. No perceivable rhyme or reason dictates where prisoners are positioned, and their randomized placement and developing intrigues with those in earshot creates a social microcosm, one which the main character feels obliged to interfere with, to unpredictable ends. La Platforma is outstanding from first minute to last, it crawls into your skull and kicks the furniture to pieces in there. Brace yourself and let its tenacious, revolutionary allegory inside.
Best Proof That Jesse Eisenberg Needs to Learn How to Start Saying “No” of 2020 – Vivarium
Compare La Platforma to something like, say, Vivarium, also released this year. Both films leverage absurd premises – the former is structured around a capitalist dissection, the latter a slow boil surreal horror movie twisting the nuclear family mechanism – but La Platforma’s symmetrically beautiful script allows it to excel regardless of the approached angle, taken at its face value as a sci-fi thriller or spelunked for a wealthy parable of, well, wealth. Vivarium quickly shoves romantic partners Eisenberg and Imogen Poots in a bizarre suburban trap, with houses all made of ticky-tacky that all look just the same. A demonically smiling realtor offers them the chance to see what a starter (or was that a finishing?) home looks like, then vanishes and leaves them trapped in a cul-de-sac labyrinth. A baby eventually appears who they care for and detest in quick order, who might be, I don’t know. An alien? Some supernatural manifestation of parental responsibility? A really nasty troll punishing indecisive white couples? Vivarium’s misguided dream logic peaks in a decent denouement that perverts the house into an Escher nightmare, but the film’s themes are eventually so overbearing they muddle whatever message it’s mouthing through a creepy grin.
Best 2020 American Debut Hinting at A Future Masterpiece to Come – The Vast of Night
There are so many other directions that The Vast of Night could have traveled. It could have been a quaint narcissistic period piece, a nostalgic romance plastered over an alien menace potboiler, or even a radio play in pure audio; the latter genuinely could have worked, but the final article is much, much better than that. No, this maverick 50s character-driven sci-fi drama is a wonderfully shot and razor-sharp-scripted low-key sci-fi delight, the kind of debut that critics will echo in listicles for the predictably bright future of director Andrew Patterson and cinematographer M. I. Litten-Menz; the former spins each of the film’s plates with deft precision and complete absence of condescension to the audience, the latter dances to each story beat and adds sufficiently controlled flourish to make the work larger and palpable to the hypnotized viewer. It’s a story of radio and mysterious signals, military secrets, and even some racial commentary. The Vast of Night is available on Amazon Prime and needs to be viewed by any and everyone, even those who tend to shy away from gab-filled tone pieces, which this certainly is, because its quick conversations sweep attention when viewers aren’t marveling at each carefully composed frame. I’m beyond impressed with this.
Best Indie-as-F**k Sci-Fi Film of 2020 – Cargo
How did I miss Cargo on release? Arati Kadav’s stunner Hindi-language debut hit Netflix in September, introducing the curious spaceship Pushpak 634A, operating under the guidance of Post Death Transition Services. More than a warship or a research vessel, the Pushpak helps transition the dead for reincarnation, led by Prahastha, a Hindu demon or “Homo-rakshasas.” There’s an officious, almost banal process demonstrated therein, where the recently dead suddenly find themselves on the Pushpak, where they are healed, cleansed, processed and prepared for their new life; yes, the entire film sometimes inescapably feels like a musing on immigration. While the subject matter is somewhat dour, the tone of Cargo is anything but, invoking strong comic timing and an occasional lightness; for instance, Prahastha’s new assistant Yuvishka is herself a demon as well, and her perceptive pluck and predilection for social media awakens a new light and energy to the dismal interior of the ship. Cargo is marvelously inventive, and I recommend a terrific interview with Kadav courtesy of India’s Film Companion where she gamely details a few of the corners cut in making this low-as-hell-budgeted sci-fi story. The film is completely submerged in that scrappy glow, none of which makes any of it ever appear cheap in the least, and somehow emphasizes the blend of magical realism, practical set design, and spirited worldbuilding that makes Cargo such a delight.
Comics & Graphic Novels
When history looks back at this dumpster fire of a year, with social protesting, wildfires, and hopefully a once in a century global pandemic, they will also see that in 2020 the comic creators still put out great, meaningful work that helped fill the time in our collective isolations. If you’re late to the party for both of the following titles, don’t worry, as they have been collected into trade paperbacks.
My two picks are about the future. Yes, one takes place in the past, but it’s about ensuring that there will be a future, and in 2020 we all needed to know that we’re not alone in wanting to make a better 2021 and beyond. Here’s to seeing everyone in person again at a convention or some other nerdy event.
Creators/Writers: David F. Walker and Chuck Brown
Creator/Artist: Sanford Greene
Color Artists: Sofie Dodgson and Sanford Greene
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
This family drama, disguised as a steampunk adventure, is the tale of the Sangerye family’s multi-generational battle against demons from another dimension. Set in the ’20s, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, our family of monster hunters struggle to put aside internal conflicts as the barriers between dimensions have become weaker, the threat of evil spirits taking over more innocent souls escalating as further levels and nuances of the demons are discovered. Walker and Brown do way more than put words together, their characters sing with a distinctiveness that makes you care and want more. The world of Bitter Root starts in Harlem but quickly expands to the South. More family members are incorporated into the story, as well as other clans of demon hunters. Greene’s art is a forceful punch to the eye, in a good way. With a visceral gritty and textured feel, Bitter Root pops as the adventures of the Sangerye family are fully visualized in a unique style. In addition to earning itself a place on my Best Of list, this title has garnered an Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series and has been optioned for a major motion picture with Director Ryan Coogler attached to it.
Creator/Writer: Brandon Thomas
Creator/Artist: Khary Randolph
Colorist: Emilio Lopez
Letterer: Deron Bennett
If you can still go into your local comic shop and someone pitches this book as a Black Harry Potter, stop them. Excellence is a book that takes the magical negro trope and flips it on its head by creating a layered and complex story about a secret society of magic users, the Aegis, and centering around one of its powerful families, the Dales. It’s a touch simplistic to say this book is about Black magicians, as Thomas and Randolph explore what Excellence means for the Dales and its youngest son, Spencer. It’s through Spencer that we explore race, societal systems and constructs, gender roles in positions of power, and to layer it even more, it’s about family, specifically the legacies of fathers and sons. You can feel the very personal nature of this book. Thomas puts intense emotion into the dynamic of Spencer and his father’s rocky relationship. The drama of this story is enhanced by the action and adventure as artists Randolph and Lopez do their thing, from over-the-top mystical battles to less action-oriented moments like getting a haircut, because our protagonist has to look sharp, the look of this book is a step away from being an animated feature with hyper-energetic line work that is sleek, clean and vibrant. This book lives up to its title, exploring and showcasing what the journey of reaching and becoming Excellence means.
Books
By Clarence Young aka Zig Zag Claybourne
Not gonna lie, it was hard reading anything this year. The mind wandered, sometimes went full stop, or tended to be impatient. Sound familiar to your experience?
I wasn’t sure I could reliably come up with a Best Of. Then I subtly altered my sense of “best”. What was best was whatever got me moving from month to month like a moth toward a leading light.
So here you go. Four clear, bright lights that led the way.
I would never in a million years have thought a non-fiction business book would make it to one of my Best lists, but this has been a year of What you think is irrelevant. Why this book? Because we’ve seen how vital it is for us creatives to line our ducks up; there’s no safety net beneath the indie life unless it’s one we–individually–weave for ourselves. This book is all about that. Michael W. Lucas, a writer whom I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in action at cons, knows the creative and business sides of MAKING STUFF UP top to bottom. Cash Flow for Creators isn’t a SECRETS TO PILES OF CASH book in any way. It’s about putting in the work–in a way that is logical and beneficial to your life–to help your art help you. The goal of all creators is simply to have more time to create, right? The system we live in attaches money to that, as in, creator gotta eat. Creator got bills. This book also approaches what (not just could be but) is a dry subject with the kind of snarky humor an industry veteran would deliver, and that’s where its Best charm comes into play. It’s a barcon conversation for two, but one that, if you pay attention and actually IMPLEMENT STUFF, you’ll benefit as surely as two adds to two.
Another one that’s not entirely genre, but reading it made me feel in my head like a stranger in a strange land. It made me challenge interior and exterior perceptions, assumptions, and a few outright falsehoods about life, love, and identity. 2020 was a good year for hunkering down and whittling away bits of us that served no purpose or did us ill. Like The Honey Month, the book is a series of poems, musings, and passages; a book of moods designed to alchemize the reader’s thoughts. It does a great job of that. Highly recommended as we head into January’s cold, long nights.
The Night Sun, currently at Tor (which, yes, isn’t an indie but you need it), takes so much of life that is horrendous–and so much in fantasy/horror that we think should be horrendous–and merges it all into one of the best stories of–well, if I tell you, I’m cheating you; you need to read it for yourself. Let me say this: she’s one of those writers who gets inside things. If you can’t handle visceral, read at a distance. If your abs are a little soft, plank; the gut punches are real and plentiful.
I fully expect to see mentions of novels sold, movie rights, comic adaptations and lunches with Clive Barker in various trade publications as her output increases. I’ll scoop up every project, because when, as a writer, you find a writer of whom you think ‘I wish I’d written that’, you break out your little propane heater and you camp out for as long as it takes to nab the next fresh batch of words.
Not a book, but definitely something that counts as a best toward 2021, because it’s about hope. This year Narazu launched the inaugural Virtuous Con, a virtual experience complete with actual attendee-to-vendor interaction. It was a huge success, where we kicked tires, saw what worked, what didn’t, and listened to what you said you needed to make yet another virtual experience in lieu of a face-to-face con worth your time.
For February 21, expect Virtuous Con to emerge like a refitted Enterprise from drydock…minus a 35-minute panning shot.
Join us in next year for Virtuous Con! 2 Days. 75+ indie artists and creators celebrating the excellence of Black artists and creators of color in speculative fiction. Coming Sat & Sun, February 20-21, 2021 from 12noon-5pm EST each day. Mark your calendars (and hope to see you there)! There are LOTS more details to come, but for now, if you’d like to come, it’s FREE! Register at: