RADIM KAUFMANN · AUTHOR & PUBLISHER Newsletter | ||||||||
Dear reader, September’s letter begins on the coast of Maine, where a lighthouse keeps watch over more than passing ships. The first volume of Elias Thorne: The Last Lighthouse Keeper is available now, and its continuation is taking shape. Elsewhere on the workbench, a small robot is getting ready to step out into the world—and a growing collection of travel guides is finding its form. These projects share a question that keeps drawing me back: what do we inherit from the people and places that make us, and what do we choose to carry forward? I hope you will find a new story to enter here. | ||||||||
New book · Available now Elias Thorne: | ||||||||
From the writing desk · Book Two in development The Last Light: a life beyond the first volumeThe second volume returns to Blackstone Point, but the horizon is widening. Under the working title The Last Light, the continuation follows Elias from childhood toward an adult life shaped by service, marriage, fatherhood, and a world changing beyond the water. Eleanor and their daughter Maggie bring new demands into a life organized around the lighthouse. The question is no longer simply how a boy learns to keep the light burning. It is how a man makes room for other people while carrying a responsibility that does not observe holidays, grief, or the need to leave. The planned arc also reaches toward the end of an era: the approach of automation, and the uneasy prospect that work once requiring a lifetime of attention might continue without its keeper. Against that change, the family’s written records acquire a different weight. A logbook can preserve the weather and still leave out the thing that mattered most. I am keeping the central discoveries for the book itself. For now, this is an invitation to look ahead: the second volume is in development, and a publication date has not yet been announced. | ||||||||
Forthcoming illustrated book Hugh. A little robot.Hugh was built by William Harper, an old repairman who taught him that fixing things begins with paying attention. After the loss of his grandfather, the little service robot must take those lessons beyond the workshop and discover what it means to belong somewhere. The story brings together practical ingenuity and an emotional problem no toolbox can solve. Hugh can repair a broken mechanism. Learning to live with absence, accept help, and find friends is a different kind of work. Here is a first look at four characters from his world.
There is a playful side to this world, too. Visit hugh.games to explore Hugh’s games, and return to the character gallery for more of the people and robots he meets. The illustrated book and animated film project remain in development. | ||||||||
Also on the workbench Books for curious readers—and travelersThe Kaufmann Traveler’s Guides. A country-by-country series combining history, cities, monuments, landscapes, food, and practical travel. The United States is among the first volumes in preparation, alongside a wider list of destinations. The ambition is to offer the context that makes a journey more rewarding, as well as the information needed to make it happen. The History of Death. A forthcoming illustrated exploration of mortality, ritual, and the afterlife: how societies have understood death, and how that understanding has helped shape civilization. How Sex Made the World. A history of desire, power, and culture, examining the ways intimate life and social institutions have shaped one another across time. These are works in progress. I will share further news as manuscripts and editions are ready, rather than promise dates before the work is complete. Discover the Traveler’s Guides → Explore the World Travel Factbook → | ||||||||
Thank you for reading—and for making room in your day for stories, questions, and places you have not yet visited. Warm regards, | ||||||||
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