So, I'm no longer just a guy: I'm an author! No longer am I just someone who, if you saw him on the street, would be spat on or kicked or called names. No more am I a little bug you might crush under your shoe. I am something completely different and cooler: an artist, a cosmopolitan man of literary tastes, and most importantly interesting. I have written a book and you can read it, today, and I sincerely hope you do. All you have to do is click one of the big blue buttons:
For the last time: Paint Dries as a Train Goes Off The Rails is a novel about the demise of a fictional music scene. A group of friends navigate the aftermath of a train derailment and massive fire that destroys much of their neighborhood. When they find out that the neighborhood is set to be turned into a park, they hatch a plot to stop it.
It's a good book, and you're probably sick of me talking about it. I'm sick of talking about it. The only thing left is for you to go read it.
I discovered my images were taking up a lot of bandwidth, so to save my hosting provider some money, I'm providing this image of me and the boys in extra-low size: 62kB!
how we got here
The first chapter (which is now the second chapter) I wrote on June 21, 2023, and then the draft was not touched until fall 2024. I finished the first draft March 1, 2025, and finished revising around July 1, 2025. I write every day.
I wrote the book because I have always wanted to write books. I wrote this specific book because I wanted to write about the way I think about the world, and because that's just where the characters led me.
There is a funny acknowledgements page in the book which you should read, but I will also take a sentence here to thank Ember Nevins, the cover artist, Lesley Hocking and Helena Gill, editors, Sara A. Holm, Madelyn Margaret Battcock-Emerson, Amelia Sundman, Anastasia Marchuk, and Hannah Martuscello, for marketing and advice.
party time
Boston people: My book release party is officially September 13th, 7-11pm at 72 Joy St., Somerville. My band (the Dirty Water Brass Band) will be playing. There will be food and live music and dancing. More info is contained inside this blue button:
how you can help
Tell everyone about the book! Repost my stuff! Follow me on Instagram Tiktok and YouTube. You can also request that your local library orders my paperback.
what else?
I did another rambling YouTube video, this time on a philosophical topic: Do you need other people?
I am almost done with a mini anthology of short stories that I'll be sharing soon. I have four stories written for it. Highlights include an alien working in a slime mine on Venus, and a man who thinks he may have melted his landlord. These stories will be 100% free to my newsletter, and I plan to add more whenever I'm not working on a book.