Valley News Article, A War of Words

Honored to be among the excellent writers and thinkers included in the May 17, 2025 Valley News article, “A War of Words: Upper Valley authors wade into battle of ideas and morality.”

The article touches on the state of reading and writing in our moment, with book bans, decreasing readership, training AI in violation of copyright, the publishing industry, and more.

Worth your time. Plus, peep me and one of our chickens in the photo! Always gotta be a little silly 🙂

Signed Copies of And It All Makes Sense in the End Are at the Norwich Bookstore

I’m delighted to share that SIGNED COPIES of And It All Makes Sense in the End are now available at the Norwich Bookstore.

If you’re local and you’re able, please make a trip to the Norwich Bookstore. It’s a lovely shop, the people are amazing, they host inspired events, and as a pillar of the local book-loving community, they’re willing to give indie authors a chance.

It’s a special place! Let’s support it!

Thank you, Norwich Bookstore, for seeing something special in something weird.

 

Whitefish Review Issue #29 Wins the 2025 American Society of Magazine Editors Readers Choice Award for Best Illustrated Cover

More lovely and exciting news to share:

 

Whitefish Review Issue #29 (The Music Issue) won the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) 2025 Readers’ Choice Award for the Best Illustrated Cover. Isn’t it fabulous to see WFR next to the Atlantic – wow!

 

Congratulations to everyone involved, especially Mike Tallman and Add Noise Studio — whose gorgeous 4-color print graces the cover.

 

It’s such a pleasure so serve as Art Director for WFR. This high-spirited literary and art journal keeps surprising everyone — including us! 🙂

 

If you aren’t familiar with Whitefish Review, tap here to learn more. Issue #30, Crossroads, releases this week!

My Inner Child Loved this Book

Aww, geee! I feel seen! Please allow me to share the following review of And It All Makes Sense in the End by @paulette.m.k on Instagram:

A unique, charming and intriguing fable as twins visiting their grandfather are transported into a magical world where logic and reality take a back seat to imagination.

 

It’s a hard book to describe, but it’s a melting pot of Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and Dr. Seuss via expressionist paintings and folklore. The events are presented in a unique way, with no chapters breaking the third party narration and you are compelled to get lost in its whimsy. The characters are likable and the story has absolutely no fat on it (the book can be read in a couple of hours) but it is the visual storytelling that really stands out, as a fantastical world is beautifully described and we meet a menagerie of wild characters. A book bursting with ideas. Does it make sense in the end? Well, I’ll leave that to you to decide.

 

Thank you to Adam Blue and Love Book Tours for allowing me to be part of this charming tour, my inner child loved this book.

A Wonderful, Whimsical, Wholesome Adventure

When an artist like me takes a risk and defies contemporary conventions, it’s an act of trust. Trust that somewhere out there, there’s a perfect stranger who’s brave enough to venture into that unknown territory with you, it’s so WOW! when the connection breaks through.

I’m delighted to share the following Instagram review by @readabookandlearnanewword. Enjoy!

 

📚Book Review📚 And It All Makes Sense In The End by Adam Blue

Thank you to @lovebookstours and @blueberryjams9000 for a #gifted copy of this book to read and review.

REVIEW
Teenage twins Mariah and Zooey visit their Grandpa in his weird and wonderful cabin in the woods. On a hike in amongst the trees they meet many talking animals including bespectacled Lutwidge, the talking rhino! With blueberry pancakes and maple syrup in abundance this is a wonderful, whimsical, wholesome adventure book where nonsense becomes the new normal and timeless morals are understood. This is a book for any age of reader who has a large heart, endless imagination and a huge sense of adventure. I loved it, it made me warm and made me smile.

The Rewarding Feeling of a Review that Gets It

Here’s a review from @ash_reads24 on Instagram. CLICK HERE to check out her TikTok. It’s fantastic!

 

On a personal note — before posting the review below — getting concise feedback from readers who intuitively understood what I hoped to craft is such a rewarding and profound feeling. I hoped for this project to be a short and compelling escape, an abundance of creativity and whimsy and then done. Our world is nuts. Our attention spans are stressed. Isn’t a moment enough? Anyway, I’m so happy this book is finally in the world and I’m able to share it with you!!

 

 <<>>

My tour stop for @lovebookstours And It All Makes Sense in the End by Adam Blue

MY REVIEW: Now this was a surprise read for me, the blurb didn’t give much away but the cover drew me in.

With a great character cast of Mariah, Zooey, Arshile, Dahl and Matta. It was a nice quick and easy read to follow which is rare for a fantasy book. A journey home & a whimsical rollercoaster in a short book what a genius the author is.

If you’re looking for a book that’s easy to follow where you can escape in and read in a short time then this is for you.

Well done to the author for creating such a unique book that’s easy to follow but hits that fantasy spot.

A Lovely Review to Share 🙂

This review from @gailforcereads gets it! Writing is such an extended act of solitude, it feels amazing when the work connects, like you can finally breathe out. Enjoy her writing — and the lovely photo of her cat (like Arshile).

This book was wonderful. I flew through it in 2 sittings & couldn’t get enough as I was always wondering what crazy thing was coming next!

The visuals that this book gave me were insane! 😍

The characters are larger than life, some literally 👀🤭 My fav was always going to be Arshile (for obvious reasons) 👀🐱 but Lutwidges little rhymes made me smile throughout!

Also, can we get a Kippenbergers Kanteen is real life because I’d be the first in line! if they can’t make it you don’t need it!

The social element around the CC & the magician was very well done & almost feels a little hidden at times but it does make you stop & think, especially during current times!

Overall it was a crazy whimsical journey & I’m not sure I have the words to explain it because it really was a wild ride! Even though it did all make sense in the end 👀

If you need a fun little escape (literally) then please pick this up!

Incredible Book Review to Share

I love this review for And It All Makes Sense in the End by @bookwormwhitlock86 on Instagram!! Enjoy the thoughtful feedback.

I must admit that this is not the type of book that I would normally read being more of a crime, thriller or horror reader but when it mentioned ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ in the synopsis and with the extremely eye catching cover I just had to give it a try and I am glad that I did as I really enjoyed it!!! If this isn’t the sort of book you would pick up then don’t let that out you off, expand your literature genres and grab your copy today!!! It is definitely unique and most definitely whimsical!!! With this book being just 176 pages I would probably class it as more of a novella personally and I ended up reading it in a few short hours. Adam has split the book in to 3 acts which is a bit of a mixed bad really. I personally don’t mind when books are split like this but I also like to have chapters where you can read up to if you need to take a break but there is not any in this book just the three acts. The first two are quite short with the first being just 29 pages long and the second being a bit longer and 48 pages but the third act is then 87 pages long. In this book Adam transports his readers next to twins Mariah and Zooey who go for a hike with their Grandfather not long after discovering a strange book in his attic. On the hike their Grandad recalls his past to them. When their Grandad takes a rest the twins go ahead for a while and discover a cave. When they exit the other side they are transported into a whole new world where they discover animals behaving, walking, talking and walking like humans as well as several strange creatures. They meet new friends and head to Crescent City but when they get there they don’t get the welcome they were hoping for and are treated more like terrorists. With dogs hunting them and a reward for their capture what will happen to Mariah, Zooey and their new friends Lutwidge, Arshile, Dahl and Matta? Well to find out more you will just have to grab your copy of this vibrant, unique and chaotic book today.

With a storyline packed with fantasy, creatures, chaos, drama, action and more what are you waiting for? If you love ‘The Wizard Of Oz’, ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’, fantasy and anything strange and unique you will thoroughly enjoy this!! Adam must have an extremely artistic, imaginative and vivid imagination to come up with something this fantastically whimsical and I am very pleased that he did! I am definitely looking forward to seeing what other wonders he has created in his other books. I enjoyed the ending which I was not expecting the little twist at the end which is nice to come across after reading hundreds of other books and losing the ease of which I used to be surprised with twists. i wont say any more about the storyline as I do not want to give anything away but i will say that Adam’s vivid, chaotic and evocative descriptions really does put you in the storyline where it will all come to life at each turn of the page. Grab your copy today and it will all make sense in the end!

Overall a perfect read for fans of fantasy, strangeness, the whimsical and the unique!

 

 

Ahh, Youth

I’ve been playing so much guitar of late, and chipping away a my larger writing project, that it’s been pushing drawing off my plate. Funny how real opportunity cost feels as I get older. Time feels abundant as a youth.

 

Anywho, here’s an old drawing I found in my files. It’s good to be young!

 

Back soon.