New book won’t lift Karl’s air of mystery

Tweets and Instagram posts can be as ephemeral as passing clouds.

Books, on the other hand, are meant for the ages.

And so it comes as a pleasant surprise that Karl the Fog, the social media presence whose sardonic musings have made him a popular personality in the City by the Bay, is shooting for literary immortality.

Naturally, Karl shared the news on Twitter; his account is @KarlTheFog.

“After 8.5 years of throwing shade on Twitter, I’m taking my drama to paper,” he wrote.

“Karl the Fog: San Francisco’s Most Mysterious Resident” will be published by Chronicle Books of San Francisco on May 7.

“In this, Karl’s very first book,” Chronicle Books says, “he details his family’s history and shares more than 50 scenic selfies along with brandnew, entertaining appreciations of the city, lifting his veil of mist-ery and celebrating San Francisco as only he can.”

In his years of reveling in blocking sunlight in San Francisco, Karl the Fog — named after Karl the Giant in Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” — has attracted 355,000 followers on Twitter.

“I just ate San Francisco,” he posted in a recent, typically chilly pronouncement. “It tastes like delayed flights and everyone rushing to finish every project they ever started before they leave work for the holidays.”

The person who posts as Karl has chosen to remain anonymous. Somewhat helpfully, however, Karl’s author bio states that he “lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.”