profile

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Newsletter No. 38 (January/February 2025)

Published 10 months ago • 1 min read

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Newsletter #38 - January / February 2025

Farewell to a Hopeful

​

On February 23, word came that Hopefuls bassist Heath Henjum had passed away at the age of 55.

​

While working on The Hopefuls, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heath at a coffee shop in St. Louis Park. He was frank and funny and super informative. I'm really bummed he's gone.

​

Please take a moment to read the tribute I wrote here.

Hello Hello, Sun!

The newest Beginner Book marks a fascinating - and familiar - new era for the series. I've added a write-up to my ongoing Beginner Books Encyclopedia (make sure to scroll to the bottom).

Billy Joel

Over on my music blog, 3 Minutes, 49 Seconds (now in its 21st year of existence) I've finally finished writing reviews of every single Billy Joel album. We've traveled all the way back to the 1970s with reviews of Turnstiles and Streetlife Serenade. Reviews of Piano Man and Cold Spring Harbor will be published in March.

New Job, Who This?

After spending the last four years as an instructional coach - a position that gave me some of the highest highs and lowest lows of my career - I am taking a new (old) direction. For my first eight years of teaching (and parts of the following five) I worked with multilingual learners. This spring I'm going to finally start taking classes to get my ESL endorsment, and this fall I'm going to be an teacher at Bent Elementary.

Bent has both monolingual and Spanish bilingual programs, and I will be working with students that primarily speak a language other than English at home.

What I'm Reading

I was blown away by Percival Everett's James, and have followed that with two memoirs: John Denver's Take Me Home and Michael J. Fox's Always Looking Up. Next I'm planning to dive into My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. No one can accuse my reading choices of being predictible.

​
Meanwhile, Theo and I are currently enjoying Peter Brown's The Wild Robot together.

And Finally, a Brain Cloud

Peace, love, and thank you for reading.

paul.allen@gmail.com
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

Paul V. Allen

Sign up if you haven't already!

Read more from Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds

The Beginner Books Encyclopedia As new Beginner Books continue to hit the market, I've realized that the format for continuing the Beginner Books Encyclopedia I began in I Can Read It All By Myself is no longer ideal. So I created a Google Site instead. Check it out, and read about the latest Beginner Book, Gertrude Gish On a Fish On a Dish. Check out the new Beginner Books Encyclopedia The Most Discounted Time of the Year Both of my publishers are holding sales, so if you want to complete...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Mark Gruenwald! It's literally been years in coming, but my biography of Marvel Comics writer and editor Mark Gruenwald finally has a publication date! It'll be out March 16, 2026, and you can preorder it at the link below. https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/M/Mark-Gruenwald The Karate Kid Part III Reimagined I've been a huge Karate Kid fan since the 1984 film, but I've always loathed The Karate Kid Part III. This summer I finally decided to do something about it and write my own version....

5 months ago • 1 min read

Books, Blogs, and Brain Clouds Newsletter #39 (March-May 2025) Mark Gruenwald Update My biography of Marvel editor and writer Mark Gruenwald (1953-1996) is closer than ever to publication! I recently filled out a "marketing questionnaire" for the publisher, which is a sure sign that we're nearing the final stages of production. Keep your eyes glued here for the cover reveal and publication date! My Berenstain Project I can finally reveal the project I've been working on with Mike Berenstain!...

7 months ago • 1 min read