Tod Goldberg is a much-lauded novelist with a wicked sense of humor. He returns to wrap up Eduardo Santiago’s fifth-annual Idyllwild Authors Series on Sunday, June 28. If you can’t decide whether to laugh or cry at life’s absurdities and enjoy a well-crafted piece of fiction — dark, zany and touching — Goldberg’s discussion of…

At its apex, ancient Rome is believed to have had 1,000,000 inhabitants, monumental architecture and advanced infrastructure. It was also, according to Ron Singerton’s novel “Villa of Deceit” (Penmore Press, 2015), a dangerous labyrinth reeking of arrogance, corruption, abuse of power, and an environment where the fittest survived and others were trampled upon — a…

His technique is shared by no others What would it be like to be internationally known as a painter who paints in total darkness? Whose work is invisible during the day but only visible at night? Whose detailed depictions of the cosmos are unique one-of-a-kind creations, numbering over 1,200 projects found in 13 countries? Fourteen…