Tag Archive
Charisma: A Mike Gold Mystery
We were first introduced to Mike Gold, a successful Silicon Valley software entrepreneur in Opium, a Phil Bookman novel. Charisma: A Mike Gold Mystery finds Mike working on his latest challenge. As the newly hired CEO of a biotech company he must first tackle the technology, and then take the company public. After the... »
Dr. Donald Shoup: The High Cost of Free Parking
Parking Cash Out (AB2109) – State law requiring employers of fifty or more employees, who lease their parking and subsidize any part of their employee parking, to offer their employees the opportunity to give up their parking space. In return for giving up their parking space, the employer pays the employee the cost of... »
Dave McKean Signing and Gallery exhibit!
Amazing mixed media Artist Dave McKean is doing a signing this Friday, followed by a display of new work, opening Saturday. He’s responsible for all of the covers of the comic book Sandman, as well as The Vertigo Tarot. A long time collaborator with author Neil Gaimen, and the director of Mirrormask. He’s seriously one... »
“The Miracle” Bookmobile Is On the Streets…and at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
Bookmobiles are a venerated American tradition–and, like lots of venerated American traditions, are foundering on lack of funding. The D.I.Y. spirit behind “The Miracle” bookmobile, which ranges between LA and Oakland, is propelling this little Jeep even when funding gets scarce. You’ll be able to catch up with it at the “Actions, Conversations and Intersections”... »
L.A. River Reading
After reading Zach Behrens’ post on LAist last week about the man seen fishing in the L.A. River, I began to consider how little I know about the often hidden natural habitat of our city. Living in such urban surroundings, dwarfed by skyscrapers and barricaded by strip malls, it’s easy to forget that the... »
Silicon Valley Reads In Defense of Food
The book selection for the annual “Silicon Valley Reads” program is Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Silicon Valley Reads selects a book for local readers to read and discuss every February. This year’s program begins with a live interview of author Michael Pollan by Mercury News columnist Mike Cassidy,... »
Romance on a Rainy Day
While waiting in the proverbial long line at the Meridian Ave. post office, I struck up a conversation with Jenny, the woman standing behind me. After the usual musing about long lines we got down to the business of talking about our personal lives. Women do that. We talked of children, jobs, and interests.... »
I Am T•Pain
Mark Thompson, local South Bay renaissance man, is a bestselling author, speaker, and an advisor to world leaders. All very impressive, but I was blown away when he told me that he was with Smule, and the cool I Am T•Pain - one of the top iPnone Apps of 2009. I Am T•Pain is on... »
The LA That Was and the LA That Will Never Be
I think LA would pretty much be a perfect city if it weren’t for the cars and the air quality (I work in Chatsworth–cough, cough). So Matt Logue’s Empty LA (via Urban Daddy) comes across like porn to me–something approaching post-apocalyptic porn, admittedly, but I am pretty sympathetic to the “hell is other people”... »
Beat poet Lenore Kandel, recalled by Stephanie Salter
When hallowed beat goddess Lenore Kandel died six weeks ago, the Chronicle published a nice memorial, with quotes from fellow travelers Peter Coyote, Gerard Nicosia, and others. I just became aware of another piece, by former SF Examiner columnist Stephanie Salter, now writing for the Terre Haute, Ind. Tribune-Star. In the essay Salter, a... »
Literary things to do this Saturday
San Franciscans have a choice this Saturday: Apollo or Dionysus? In Apollo’s corner, publishers and writers from two experimental presses, Sidebrow of San Francisco and Les Figues of Los Angeles, will appear Saturday at 7:30 pm at The Green Arcade, 1680 Market St. at Gough (map). Both presses publish poetry and experimental prose in small,... »
Eclipse Three Features Local Authors
Among my take-aways from the recent World Fantasy Convention in San Jose is this excellent fantasy and science fiction story collection from San Francisco publisher Night Shade Books. Not only is the publisher more-or-less local, there are also a few Northern California authors featured among the 15 stories in the anthology. Karen Joy Fowler (Santa... »
Local authors at the World Fantasy Convention
The World Fantasy Convention coming to San Jose could have been an opportunity to meet authors from around the world; but since this is the “hyper-local” Metblogs, I used it instead to meet a few local fantasy authors. San Francisco-based Malinda Lo has just published her first novel, Ash. It’s a lesbian retelling of... »
Fantasists convene in San Jose
The 2009 World Fantasy Convention kicked off today at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose. This isn’t the kind of fantasy convention where you can dress up like a hobbit or chase your friends around with a styrofoam pole-axe. It’s more a gathering of industry insiders, like authors, artists, and publishers, getting together... »
A “Luann” Trick-or-Treat in San Jose
Open the San Jose Mercury News Thursday morning and go straight to the comics. Greg Evans has created a special “Luann” about “Books For Treats“. 10/29/09 San Jose Mercury New Comics – “Luann” »