Jaysen Baker returns to Rose River expecting a weekend of raised glasses and well-worn laughter. Instead, he finds nightmares stirring beneath the surface-echoes of a past he nearly forgot begin to seep back into the fabric of everyday life. As death moves through the valley, long-silenced secrets rise and strip away the town's facade, pulling Jaysen between three lives: the one he left behind, the one he promised to build, and the one his heart still aches for. Meanwhile, an ancient power-older than the riverbed itself-has returned to test his will and carve its name into his story. In a town where memory takes shape and the dark bends with intention, Jaysen must choose what he's willing to fight for, what he refuses to lose, and what part of himself he's finally ready to claim. Adam Colden Welch is a novelist, storyteller, and singer-songwriter whose work blends atmospheric Southern Gothic sensibilities with a sharp, contemporary voice. Born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains, he grew up surrounded by stories, family lore, church-spoken myths, and the quiet hauntings of small-town life. Those early shadows shaped a writer who understands both the tenderness and the terror of being human.Adam's fiction spans adult fantasy, horror, and mid-grade dark adventure, unified by his signature style, character-driven narratives, vivid emotional landscapes, and a commitment to truth-telling through imaginative worlds. His stories explore identity, trauma, resilience, and the hidden histories beneath ordinary lives. With a storyteller's instinct for tension and a poet's eye for detail, Adam crafts novels that feel achingly intimate even when the stakes turn otherworldly.An independent artist, he put himself through college and built his career through empathy, curiosity, and the belief that stories can carve light into the darkest rooms. His books invite readers into places where magic and memory collide, where every character fights for belonging, and where courage often looks like choosing to keep going.Adam lives in the D.C. area with his husband and their three beloved pets, Osiris, Onyx, and Jaxon, writing late into the night and shaping worlds that echo long after the final page.