Where's the way the shades are walking? Where's the feet that crushed the cleavestones? Are you asking What's that thunder Rolling in the caves and caverns? I am urged, yes forced to tell you Of the rivers and the grottos Of the fierce-proud jackalopes They are in the deep of cosmos Under borderworld Xibalba They are skull-flames in the darkness Lighters of the smoke and builders Of the pylons and the great roads That leads from here into hereafter By the shores of river Lethe In the mountains, near the forest Betwixt the dream cave and the danger Of the deep-steep walls of fire In the house of shades and ladies Horns of fire, ears of heart-smoke Steps held windward, will-hearts flaring Teeth to cut the ancient demons The sound of thunder all beneath us Is the stomping of their laughter Rebounding from shaman to scrivener Of the fierce-proud jackalopes Hear me sing the song of legends And the hope of the departed

Enter the world of Iris Mai. She can be considered a bit peculiar... Odd, different, puzzling. No one quite understands her, not even Robot Boy, and especially not Moth. She doesn't ask for much, only happiness, but she has that. She doesn't have a doubt in her mind that she can maintain that without anyone's help. Suddenly, obstacles are thrown at Iris that she never expected. Iris is forced to face- or ignore- life, death, love, and hate in ways almost as unique as herself.

Wayward: Fetching Tales from a Year on the Road is a hilarious and heartfelt ride around the world, wherein the author eats dog, obsesses about chewing gum, gets stranded on an island, does dirty things, reveres rock n roll and muses about everything from death to Star Trek to the President Obama to jail time. Now available on Wattpad, Wayward has been a surprise hit at both iTunes and Amazon, reaching #1 on both retailers' travel charts. It chronicles a year in the life of the author, who lived in 12 countries over 12 months, one month at a time. It's kind of funny, kind of sad and kind of weird. Forbes describes the book: "Wayward isn’t strictly a travelogue or a guide by any means. The book reads like a diary, with chapters dedicated to everything from watching Obama’s inauguration in an Argentinian bar, to viewing a dubbed version of the newest Star Trek film in France and trying to understand the plot despite not speaking French, to remembering the ecstasy and pain of his first love just before breaking up with his then-boyfriend in Berlin, to eating dog in Vietnam, to his experience working with Patti Smith in New York. Gates’ lively, conversational writing style bring all the disparate pieces together for an engaging, enjoyable read."