The Seattle Hot List 2010: five names you should know

Novelist Jonathan Evison tops our Hot List for 2010.

This week Rolling Stone published their 2010 Hot List, so we figured we’d follow suit and share our own thoughts on the year’s up-and-coming Seattle stars.

As always, some will disagree with our selections, while others will be shocked by our omissions – but here’s what’s floating our boat in 2010. Feel free to add your own tips and personal favorites in the comments section at the end of the article.

Hot Writer: Jonathan Evison. We could have picked someone more familiar, but despite not having had a book out for two years there’s no one hotter than Evison right now. The advance buzz for his sophomore novel, West of Here (to be published by Algonquin in February 2011), is already reaching fever pitch, and if it matches up to All About Lulu then we might just have the next John Irving on our hands.

Hot Actress: Elizabeth Mitchell. She may not be a household name quite yet, but she should be. Mitchell is best known for playing on-off love interest Juliet in now-expired drama Lost, but she popped up again this year as the lead in the ABC remake of V. With the series returning in November, and an Emmy nomination under her belt, you’d better get used to seeing Mitchell on your screens.

Seattle band Hey Marseilles at Bumbershoot 2010.

Hot Band: Hey Marseilles. Sure, the Seattle 7-piece have only released a remastered edition of their 2008 album To Travels & Trunks this year, but there’s been a growing buzz around them that promises big things for the coming twelve months. Their Broad Street Stage set at Bumbershoot was one of the most attended shows at the festival, and their multi-instrumental sound blew the cobwebs off most of the other acts. Watch this space.

Hot Director: Lynn Shelton. Anyone who saw Shelton’s 2009 movie Humpday will already know that she has a very off-center sense of humor. But what you may not know is that she just made her TV directorial debut, behind the helm of nothing other than TV superhit Mad Men. With a little Don Draper in her past, Shelton’s future is already looking assured.

Hot Exhibition: Battlestar Galactica at the EMP/SFM. For several years now the EMP has been the funky jewel in Seattle’s musical crown, but now it’s the SFM’s turn to shine. The museum’s Battlestar Galactica exhibition (video trailer below) opens on October 23, and runs until March 2011, promising to draw crowds of sci-fi geeks for many months to come. Featuring costumes, three full-size prop spaceships, and a variety of other memorabilia from the original and the re-imagined shows, this is one exhibition that you won’t want to miss. See if you can spot the Cylon among the museum staff.

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FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above might be “affiliate links," meaning if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission. We may have also received a free copy of the book, CD or DVD or product that's being reviewed. Finally, promoters may have have given the writer free admission to the play, concert or other event that was previewed or reviewed (duh!).