My novel Master of Space and Time is back in print from Thunder’s Mouth Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing being edited by John Oakes, formerly of Four Walls Eight Windows.

This is the book that Michel Gondry is interested in filming with Jack Black in a starring role. At least that was the news in Variety in May, 2004. I haven’t heard anything new on this front, other than that Midi Minuit recently renewed the option with me, which is of course a favorable sign.

Yesterday I went into San Jose and saw Ishmael Reed give a presentation at the King Library (the new joint library of San Jose State University and the city of San Jose). It’s always exciting to meet a legend of literature. Lately he’s mostly been writing non-fiction, the latest being Blues City, a book about Oakland. I picked up a reprint copy of his funny, wild Mumbo Jumbo of 1974, which I haven’t reread in a long time.

I was talking to him and he said he’d been reading about parallel universes and “spring theory,” which is a great twist on the usual term. I told him he should write a science-fiction story. He was a little concerned about getting the science right. I was like, “Just pick up some buzz words and use mumbo jumbo!” By the way, Mumbo Jumbo explains that this phrase comes from the African language Mandingo (ma-ma + gyo + mbo) = (grandmother + trouble + depart) = magician who makes the troubled spirits of ancestors go away.