Friday Reads: Done Is Better Than Perfect

I’ve got a much longer essay I’ve been working on about The Ministry for the Future and climate change, but it keeps getting interrupted by actual climate disasters, like the unprecedented tropical storm that hit California and Mexico last week.

So I’m taking some advice I once read from Neil Gaiman and just doing a quick newsletter this week, because done is better than perfect. Sometimes you just write what you’ve got and send it into the world.

This week I stopped by a bookstore in the Valley for the first time: The Open Book in Topanga Village. It’s a delight. I picked up a ton of stuff, including this rare find, a hardcover of Elliot S. Maggin’s Superman: Last Son of Krypton, the novel tie-in that Warner Books released for the 1978 Superman movie. It’s still one of the best takes on the Man of Steel ever done. I also picked up a copy of Iain M. Banks’ Transition, a truly inventive and well-crafted take on the multiverse which I’ve only read in ebook format before. The rest of the store is full of other great books, both used and new, and rewards the treasure hunter. Highly recommended.

FRIENDS AND WELL-WISHERS

My buddy Duane Swierczynski has had a monster week. His book with mega-bestseller James Patterson, Lion & Lamb, debuted at number five on the NYT bestseller list. It’s about two rival investigators trying to solve the same crime. Duane describes it as an update on the Thin Man mysteries, but with more murder. He also released Zero Tolerance, an original Audible drama he co-wrote with Patterson which stars Hilary Swank. And if you want to get this information from Duane directly, his newsletter is right here.

The great American writer Joe R. Lansdale has a new book out: Things Get Ugly, a collection of his short crime fiction. I’ve said before that I’m consistently blown away by everything Joe writes. From horror to science fiction to crime to Westerns, there’s no genre he cannot master. If you’re looking for a good introduction to his crime work, this is the place to start.

Alex Segura is going to write a Daredevil novel. This is good news.

That’s it for this week. As always, reviews and recommendations are welcome in the comments.