Cory Doctorow praises Monte Schulz's new novel, THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, on BoingBoing this morning. "Did I mention how good the writing is? The writing is excellent... The setting is so vivid I felt like I could fall into the book and lose myself there, landing on some dusty road in a tourist camp where the hicks waited to be fleeced or killed by Chester," he writes.

Monte's tour takes a few days off and reconvenes next Tuesday in San Francisco:

Tues., Oct. 20, 7PM • Modern Times Books, San Francisco, CA
Wed., Oct. 21, 7PM • Copperfield's Books, Santa Rosa, CA
Thurs., Oct. 22, 7PM • Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
Sat., Oct. 24, 2PM • The Bookseller, Mill Valley, CA
Wed., Oct. 28, 7PM • Time Tested Books, Sacramento, CA 

Your latest batch of Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "Sometimes... an issue [of Mome] manages to hit perfectly, striking the ideal balance between new blood and Fantagraphics mainstays. It’s a standard that Volume 16 meets and exceeds, making for the best addition to the quarterly series in recent memory. ... Taken together, it’s a vital and vibrant sign of life for both the series and the indie comics community at large." – Brian Heater, The Daily Cross Hatch

• Review: "The aptly titled From Wonderland With Love features the best of contemporary Danish comics––and with weather like they have up there, you can bet that a lot of drawing gets done. If we had to generalize, we’d say that Danish comics specialize in a clean visual style, deadpan humor and a fidelity to revealing strange truths." – Molly Young, We Love You So

• Review: "The tenor of the dialogue and the methodical pacing are evidence of the story's early 20th century origins, yet Jason still makes the story entirely his own. As with other comics of his that I've read, Jason's The Iron Wagon moves very quickly, remains slightly absurd in even the most dire of situations — largely due to Jason's peculiar anthropomorphic characters and deadpan delivery — and simply doesn't take itself so damn seriously." – Michael C. Lorah, Newsarama

• Interview: At Newsarama, Michael C. Lorah has an in-depth chat with This Side of Jordan author Monte Schulz: "Dad exposed me to books and movies, comics ... I was thinking about this the other day; I think he pushed me into books and away from his work. One, of course, I can’t draw. Two, he actually felt that book writing was a higher art form than cartooning, and he thought that he couldn’t really do that. And he thought that maybe I could."

• Reviewer: Alexander Theroux reviews Jonathan Lethem's Chronic City for The Wall Street Journal

• Things to see: Johnny Ryan visits 1994 in his newest strip for Vice

Monte Schulz appears on Shokus Internet Radio today from 4-6 PM Pacific Time for a 2-hour chat about his new novel This Side of Jordan. (And if you can't tune in, the program will be rebroadcast daily at the same time through Tuesday, October 20.)

Saturday, Oct. 3, 5PM

Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tel: 323.660.1175

Thursday, Oct. 1, 6PM

Laguna Beach Books
1200 South Coast Highway, Suite 105
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Tel: 949.494.4779

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 7PM

Mysterious Galaxy Books
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
Suite #302

San Diego, CA 92111

Tel: 858.268.4747


Get your questions ready for Monte Schulz -- the This Side of Jordan author will be appearing on Bob Andelman's live "Mr. Media" internet radio call-in interview program this coming Monday, Sept. 22, at 2 PM (though I'm not sure what time zone that is). Tune in here; once the broadcast is archived we'll post the streaming audio player.

New comics arrive in comics shops on Thursday this week due to the U.S. holiday. That gives you an extra day to count up your nickels because HOO BOY do we have a ton of stuff scheduled to land in shops this week! Such as:

All and Sundry: Uncollected Work 2004-2009 by Paul Hornschemeier

Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock 'n' Roll Life by Bruce Paley & Carol Swain

Love and Rockets: New Stories #2 by the Hernandez Brothers

The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book by Joe Daly

Rock Candy: The Artwork of Femke Hiemstra

The Squirrel Machine by Hans Rickheit

This Side of Jordan by Monte Schulz (cover by Al Columbia)

West Coast Blues by Jacques Tardi & Jean-Patrick Manchette