Daniel’s Eye
Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Photography by Dan Stone
It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see.
—Henry David Thoreau
Imagination is the eye of the soul.—Joseph Joubert
Dan Stone
Author/Poet/ Photographer/
Educator
“I’ve spent the better part of my life telling stories and making poems—creating images through words—and now also creating images accompanied by my words. It’s all about seeing . . .”
My Books
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The Rest of Our Lives
In this Lambda Literary Awards-nominated debut novel, Colm McKenna has led a guarded life. Gifted with a wintry soul and a photographer’s eye, he can stop time as easily as he freezes water or call down cold north winds. He thinks he is alone and unique in the world. Then, seemingly by accident, he meets handsome writer Aidan Gallagher, his opposite, a young man who raises temperatures as easily as he quickens Colm’s heart . . .
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Ice on Fire
In this sequel to the Lambda Award finalist The Rest of Our Lives, author Dan Stone returns to the enchanting romance between Colm McKenna and Aidan Gallagher, both elemental witches who have been falling in love throughout the course of history thanks to the magic of reincarnation. Aidan begins having visions of an odd woman with a child who may have answers to the missing pieces of their pasts . . . Life for these two lovers is about to get even more interesting . . .
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Tricky Serum
As suggested by the title, this first collection of published poems addresses the tricky prospect of elixirs–the quest for the substance of our dreams, the magic potion for fulfilling what we hold to be our fondest and often most elusive desires. The poems are intended to read as a progression, a journey through the process of seeking, finding, and relinquishing our convictions about what we need or want–from an “other” and from ourselves—about waking up or not, from some of the dreams we dream about the only life we can save . . .
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Frozen
This collection of original verse and 'iMagery' (created entirely using the iPhone camera and apps) invites the reader to slow down, find a quiet space without and within, and appreciate the beauty, the stillness, the challenges, and the wonder of the winter season.
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Present Perfect
This joyous collaboration between painter and poet began as a meeting of minds and spirits that quickly flowered into both a rich friendship and a richly rewarding creative partnership. "Present Perfect" blends word and image in an effort to inspire and evoke awareness and personal power and possibility—and fun . . .
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It All Rises
This collection of original verse and 'iMagery' (created entirely using the iPhone camera and apps) invites the viewer to suspend disbelief, step away from the doubts and disappointments of 'the real world' and step into a world where magic is real and where dreams do come true.
Testimonials
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About "The Rest of Our Lives"
“The best word to describe Dan Stone’s first novel is “fun”. I usually don’t read a book in one sitting, but this novel was so engrossingly entertaining and fun that I could not put it down until I finished . . . This is an exceptional first novel that had me literally laughing out loud. The love Colm and Aidan have for each other is palpable and heartwarming.”
—Beth Kormit, author of Darkness Descending
“The Rest of Our Lives” is a compelling, original story that is sure to touch you with its humanity and universal wisdom. Enchanting, entrancing and always entertaining.”
—Mark David Gerson, author of The Q'ntana series of fantasy novels and films and more than a dozen other books
“This is a light-hearted romance. It has a refreshing storyline that is extremely well written and genuinely funny. Five pages into it and I was hooked. And once hooked I was carried along on a breeze watching this somewhat screwball pair negotiate the enchanting territory of love.”
—Alan Chin, Queer Magazine Online
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About "Ice on Fire"
“Ice on Fire” is an exuberant, sensual and touching adventure that is always a spirited and spirit-filled read. Whether you are a returning reader, impatient for this sequel, or are new to Dan Stone, pick a copy of Ice on Fire. If you’re like me, you’ll finish it in record time, eager for a third installment in Colm and Aidan’s magical journey.”
—Mark David Gerson, author of The Q'ntana Trilogy of fantasy novels and films and more than a dozen other books.
“The follow-up to Dan Stone’s 2009 “The Rest of our Lives” . . . is clever and funny, not to mention literate. What Stone is doing is exploring the issues of any long-term gay relationship, while placing those issues in the context of destiny versus free will. How does one choose to live one’s life? Whose expectations and wishes are to be honored? How do you deal with the inevitable compromises and pitfalls of sharing a life with someone else?”
—Ulysses Grant Dietz, author of Desmond, Vampire in Suburbia, and Growing Up Grant
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About "Tricky Serum"
“In his collection, Tricky Serum: An Elixir of Poems,” Dan Stone sometimes manages to capture an insight so perfectly in an unexpected turn of phrase that the reader cannot help but pause to adjust to the new vision made possible. . . . Stone has a genuine capacity for restating and reimagining what we think we know in new terms, he has the ability to say what we have only been inchoately thinking and revealing us to ourselves.”
—Kent Brintnall for Out in Print“
“The Tricky Serum’ of the title is the intoxication we get from reading the beautiful words of the poet . . . The intoxicants are the elixirs that Stone writes about. They include our dreams and our hopes—those things in life that make us feel euphoric, they are those magic potions “for fulfilling what we hold to be our fondest and often elusive dreams”. Each poem is dependent on the one that comes before it and in reading them we move through life and as we do we look or whatever, we find “it” and decide what we want to do with “it”. We come to terms with what we want as opposed to what we need and here is where Stone excels. His poems talk about not only what we want from others but also what we want from ourselves.”
—Amos Lassen, Reviews By Amos Lassen
Fine Art Photography
These and many more images available as prints in multiple sizes/formats, greeting cards, merchandise!
A Daniel’sEye View:
News and notes on romantasy, poetry, photography, creativity, and spirituality
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