PhishStones
Jagger resting on a stack of PhishStones books by an Adirondack lake at sunset

Independent books from the Adirondacks

Stories for the second half of the trail.

Campfire humor, rock-and-roll memoirs, Adirondack adventures, and honest novels about starting over after fifty. Written by a boomer who's still here.

32books & counting
46High Peaks of inspiration
17genres, zero apologies
1very stubborn Chihuahua

The Catalog

Find your next read

From Buffalo in 1964 to Lake Mercy, Maine — pick a shelf or search by title.

More places to buy

Buy wherever you read

One tap on “Every store” under a book shows every bookstore and library app carrying that book — pick the one you already use.

  • Kobo
  • Apple Books
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Kindle
  • Everand (Scribd)
  • Tolino
  • Smashwords
  • Vivlio
  • OverDrive/Libby
  • Hoopla
  • Bibliotheca
  • Baker & Taylor
  • BorrowBox
  • Palace

Library apps where available.

Smooth stones stacked into a cairn beside a calm lake

Zen Stones

Why the name has stones in it.

Every Adirondack trail is marked by cairns — little stacks of stones left by someone who came before, telling you you're still on the path. That's what these books are meant to be.

“You don't have to have it figured out. You just have to stack the next stone.”
  • Honest, not polished. Profanity, grief, and laughter all sit at the same campfire.
  • Rooted in place. Lake Pleasant, Boonville, Twin Sisters Lake — real places, real dirt.
  • Built for the second act. Stories about who you become after the job, the marriage, the band.

Audiobooks for Boomers

Ears blown out by Van Halen, AC/DC and NASCAR? Listen instead.

PhishStones audiobooks are on the way.

Our ears took a beating in the '70s and '80s. Our vanity won't wear readers. So we listen.

Clear narration, a sensible pace, and stories worth the porch time. Start with three minutes of Mick Chihuahua & the 39-Peso Dream — two tiny brothers, thirty-nine pesos, and one impossible road north.

Mick Chihuahua & the 39-Peso DreamFree sample · about 3 minutes
Big, clear narrationNo squintingPorch-friendly

Coming soon to

  • Apple BooksSoon
  • SpotifySoon
  • AudibleSoon
  • KoboSoon
  • Google Play BooksSoon
  • Libro.fmSoon
  • ChirpSoon
  • StorytelSoon
  • EverandSoon
  • Audiobooks.comSoon
  • HooplaSoon
  • Libby/OverDriveSoon

None of these audiobook editions are available yet. The free sample above is the only PhishStones audio you can hear today.

A rocking chair and headphones on a sunny cabin porch

About PhishStones

Punk kid. Concert lifer. Still here.

David “PhishStones” Salmon writes the kind of books he wanted to find on the shelf: loud when they need to be, quiet when it counts, and always honest about what it takes to get your life back after fifty.

A storyteller by the campfire with a table of PhishStones books, an Airstream, a husky, and northern lights over an Adirondack lake
PhishStones outlaw hippie badge

Raw & Unfiltered

  • Outlaw. Hippie. Still free.
  • No rules. No masters. No apologies.
  • Camp like a savage.
  • Same. Weirder. Wiser.

Stories with humor, heart, and an unfiltered soul.

Find your next story