Time again for my Sunday San Francisco Chronicle column. In the latest installment, I cover three books by new writers: “Pandemonium” by Daryl Gregory, Andrew Davidson’s “The Gargoyle” and “The Gone-Away World” by Nick Harkaway.
Gregory’s book seemed the most successful of the bunch. Great concept, solid execution. I especially appreciated the alternate-world Phil Dick and [...]

San Francisco Chronicle books editor (and champion thumb-wrestler) Oscar Villalon is taking a buyout from the company, and his last day in the office will be tomorrow. I won’t be there to wish him bon voyage in person, but I at least want to note his departure here.
I’ve worked with Oscar for 10 years, and [...]

I don’t buy many comics anymore, but I’ll be on the lookout next year for Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of the early Parker novels by Richard Stark, a.k.a. Donald Westlake.
Cooke, creator of the acclaimed DC mini-series “The New Frontier” says, “It is my hope to keep every word of Westlake/Stark’s dialogue intact, making minor changes only [...]

Nick Mamatas, former Clarkesworld Magazine editor and author of “Move Under Ground,” rubs some people the wrong way with his candid opinions, mainly because he never suffers fools gladly. But he often dispenses really worthwhile advice on his livejournal page, and today’s entry, “This Is How You Freelance,” is a keeper. His system boils down [...]

I haven’t been in the mood to blog for quite a while. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been writing.
In July, I contributed to the Barnes & Noble Review for the first time, with a spotlight review of “Saturn’s Children” by Charles Stross.
I’m a big fan of Stross, so I wanted to like this [...]