Paradise Road is a narrative depicting the author and his long time friends as they retrace the five major trips Jack Kerouac took with his beloved pals in the iconic novel, On the Road. Writing with a novelist’s eye and ear, Atkinson paints a compelling portrait of North America: its roaring blues bars and nightclubs, empty country roads, remote prairie towns and byways, as well as the enduring worth, warmth, and humor of its citizenry.

Atkinson has created a compelling story of Lawrence, Massachusetts, a planned industrial city built around the cloth and garment industry, moving from the city’s founding before the American Civil War to the sporadic conflagrations that plagued it in the 1990’s.

For one year, writer Jay Atkinson worked as a private eye for the storied firm McCain Investigations, founded by the late Joe McCain, one of the most decorated police officers in Boston history. In this colorful narrative, Atkinson describes the cases he worked that year, chasing down an assortment of felons, thieves, and con artists, as well as the ghost of a real American hero, legendary cop Joe McCain.

A rugby novel and a thriller, Caveman Politics is a tragicomic look at the lowdown politics of a small Florida town. Joe Dolan is a reporter who plays rugby in his spare time, and hangs out with the strangest athletes ever to grace the pages of a novel. When their black teammate is accused of raping a white woman, all hell breaks loose. The D.A. is out for his head, and Joe and a few rugby players set out on a quest to exonerate him. Along the way they encounter an Elvis impersonator who may truly be the King himself, and a life insurance salesman with a death wish.

Twenty-five years after he played for the Rangers, Atkinson returns to his high school team as a volunteer assistant. Ice Time tells the team’s story as he follows the temperamental star, the fiery but troubled winger, the lovesick goalie, the rookie whose father is battling cancer, and the “old school” coach as the Rangers make a desperate charge into the state tournament. In emotionally vivid detail, Ice Time travels into the rinks, schools, and living rooms of small-town America, where friendships are forged, the rewards of loyalty and perseverance are earned, and boys and girls are transformed into young men and women. Along the way, we also meet his five-year-old son, Liam, who is just now learning the game his father loves.

In this collection of lively essays, local historian Dan Gagnon captures the spirit of Methuen, Massachusetts as he traces its colorful history. Founded in 1726 and the only community in the United States called Methuen, its citizens’ stories are as singular as its name. Readers will be engaged by characters as diverse as native sons Robert Rogers, 18th century founder of Rogers’ Rangers; Edward F. Searles, fabulously wealthy recluse with a passion for castle-building; and Clarence Munroe Walton, chronicler of life on a sugar plantation in 19th century Hawaii. Gagnon draws word portraits of Methuenites who shaped the world in ways large and small, from sports writer and war correspondent Edward J. Neil, Jr., whose compelling words reached millions; to inventor Frank Wardwell, whose adjustable hat shade spared hundreds from sun glare. Lifelong residents, recent transplants, and visitors alike will find enjoyment in these entertaining and enlightening vignettes that illustrate the life and times of a New England town.

handy guide for booksellers and book collectors offering practical advice on how to improve the quality and look of your books and ephemera. Finally a book on book repair for the rest of us. Clear, easy to follow directions for repairing books at home or in the shop. Includes torn pages, shaken spines, library pockets, bookplates, stickers, crayon, writing, insects, leather care and much more.