Thomas Crandle's life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a magical contraption in his eccentric Uncle Ted's garage. Against his uncle's warnings, Thomas decides to try it out and embarks on an amazing adventure that takes him to the end of the road and beyond. Along the way he befriends many odd and remarkable characters and journeys to a fantastical kingdom. When the kingdom is threatened by an unspeakable terror, Thomas joins in the struggle to save the land from ruin with the help of his new found friends.

"A place is not a thing, " writes Paul Gruchow in the foreword to Vioces for the Land, "it is a relationship. A location becomes a place only in the content of time, of histotry." In this extraordinary tribute to the importance of the ordinary places in our lives, fifty-two Minnesotans write about the special, sometimes secret, places that give their lives meaning. For some it is their home or cabin or lake. For others, it's a family farm or neighborhood park, a backyard garden or north woods trail: all places where we find a personal and spiritual connection to the land. Voices for the Land explores this complex relationship by linking these personal essays with striking images captured by award-winning photographer Brian Peterson. This marriage of words, images, and landscape provides a powerful reminder of our deep and abiding connection to the land. The writers share the experience of these favorite places through their senses, from the aching tingle of a cold winter night and the sound of ice "singing" to the buzz of mosquitoes and the acrid smell of burning peat. The Voices for the Land project, organized by the nonprofit group 1000 Friends of Minnesota, encouraged Minnesotans to write about the land they love and to fight for its preservation. The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a selection of these essays, pared with Brian Peterson's photos, in an award-winning series. Voices for the Land brings these essays and photos together in book form for the first time. "Ordinary places, " writes Paul Gruchow, "are as necessary to a good community as are ordinary people." Voices for the Land speaks to the power of these ordinary places and the value of preserving them for the simplereason that they are special to someone. Acelebration of the special bond Minnesotans have with the land expressed through compelling essays and beautiful photographs. The essays and photos from Voices for the Land can also be seen on the Star Tribune's website at http: //www.startribune.com/voices/.

Established in March of 2012 and closed their doors on April 2014, New Queer on the Block Magazine was an avant-garde online magazine based in Seattle, Washington under the leadership of publisher and editor-in-chief, Brian Peterson. The writers (Paul Torres, Danielle Campoamor and Michael Carosone) worked daily in providing coverage in the arts, entertainment and culture that surrounded within the city of Seattle and beyond. The Bulk of this magazine was exclusive interviews with artists of all walks of life, including: David Drake, Travis Matthews, Alan Brown, Seth Tankus, Tess Berry-Hart, Vesa Kuosmanen, Henri Huttunmen, Jaxen Brown, Steven Reigns, Stephan Mills, Annie Rachele Lanzillotto, Oliver Covington and Bryan Borland. Some opinion-editorial titles include, "Has the Trans Community Gone Too Far?" and "The Space Needle are Republicans and The City Hall or Democrats." Paul Torres and Brian Peterson reviewed a coule of dozen theater productions in the Seattle area. Only a handful of those reviews are in this book.

Thomas Crandle's life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers a magical contraption in his eccentric Uncle Ted's garage. Against his uncle's warnings, Thomas decides to try it out and embarks on an amazing adventure that takes him to the end of the road and beyond. Along the way he befriends many odd and remarkable characters and journeys to a fantastical kingdom. When the kingdom is threatened by an unspeakable terror, Thomas joins in the struggle to save the land from ruin with the help of his new found friends.