As a journalist, Williams has written for Variety, Los Angeles Times online, Los Angeles Business Journal, Moving Pictures Magazine and others. He was formerly an executive editor for Digital Coast Reporter. Currently, Williams is a columnist for the Hollywood trade paper Below the Line covering film industry politics and entertainment.

Williams has also written short fiction and comic books. He worked as a video game script doctor, and has had several plays produced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.

He currently co-writes (with Rick Klaw) the bi-weekly graphic novel column "Nexus Graphica" for SF Site.

He lives in Los Angeles.

Starting in 2019, the series follows the time spanning adventures of twelve year old Eli Sands, the eponymous protagonist, and his companions: Clyne, a good-natured dinosaur from another planet who gathers information for a school assignment, and Thea, last librarian in Alexandria. In 2001, the first two books were initially published as trade paperbacks (Book I simultaneously in hardcover) by Tricycle Press with covers by J.H. Williams III, Mick Gray, and Jeromy Cox. Starting in 2004, Candlewick Press re-issued the partially re-written first two books and produced the successive new volumes in uniform hardback editions all with covers by Michael Koelsch. The first two books of the Candlewick editions were re-issued as trade paperbacks with the hardback covers. The first Danger Boy adventure Ancient Fire was nominated for The Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction: Hal Clement Award for Young Adults.

Danger Boy series

*Ancient Fire

**Tricycle editions

***(2001) Hardcover (ISBN 1-58246-033-7)

***(2001) Paperback (ISBN 1-58246-032-9)

**Candlewick editions

*** (2004) Hardcover (ISBN 0-7636-2152-8)

*** (2006) Paperback (ISBN 0-76363-092-6)

*Dragon Sword (Dino Sword)

**Tricycle edition (as Dino Sword)

***(2001) Paperback (ISBN 1-58246-035-3)

**Candlewick editions

*** (2004) Hardcover (ISBN 0-7636-5153-6)

*** (2007) Paperback (ISBN 0-76363-290-2)

*Trail of Bones Candlewick, 2005 Hardcover (ISBN 0-7636-2154-4)

**(2007) Paperback (ISBN 0-76363-410-7)

*City of Ruins Candlewick, 2007 Hardcover (ISBN 0-7636-2871-9)

**(2008) Paperback

*Fortune's Fool (forthcoming)

Comic Book Work

*"Zoo" art by John LeCour (Omnibus: Modern Perversity, Blackbird Comics 1991)

*"Stockman" credited as "Douglas Williams" art by Brian Stelfreeze (Fast Forward #2 Family, Piranha Press 1992)

*"Bigfoot Vs. Donkey Kong" art by Phil Hester with Marc Erickson and Fredd Gorham (The Big Bigfoot Book (ISBN 1-885418-07-8), Mojo Press 1996)

Other Works

*Curious George Tadpole Trouble Houghton Mifflin, 2007 (credited as adapter of the television episode based on characters created by H.A. and Margret Rey) (ISBN 0-6187-7712-1)

*"Escape Map" (Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, Candlewick, 2009) (ISBN 0-7636-2067-x)