Gaillardia Press Releases ‘Barf Table III: Diamonds and Stone’

BOONE, N.C. (Nov. 17, 2025) – Local authors Rahn and Timberley Adams have released the third book in their series of young adult novels focusing on teen living and high school sports.

Published by Gaillardia Press, this third installment is entitled Tales of the Barf Table, Book Three: Diamonds and Stone. The 365-page book deals primarily with boys’ baseball, but also with girls’ softball and year-ending school events. It also explores a mystery of life-and-death proportions that has been building throughout the series.

“Actually, the devastation of Hurricane Helene inspired this book,” said Timberley Adams. “We started on it late last year as storm recovery here was underway. We also remembered our experiences in Hugo and other hurricanes from when we lived on the N.C. coast in the 1980s and ‘90s.”

The release of Diamonds and Stone follows the January 2024 publication of From the Gridiron to the Fire, about high school football, and the November 2024 publication of Trouble Shooters, about girls’ basketball and boys’ wrestling. All three novels feature a group of misfits who sit together in the school cafeteria at what others call the Barf Table.

From the new book’s back cover: “A devastating tornado on Good Friday strikes Arbor High and forces teenagers Artie Bauer and Ty Green—both Arbor Bruins baseball stars—to take shelter in the team’s indoor batting cage. When the two friends emerge after the storm, they see that their ballpark has been severely damaged . . . but they soon learn that a rival school in the next town has been destroyed. Baseball season comes to an exciting end, prom time arrives, and graduation approaches. Through it all, [the Barf Table gang learns] the value of teamwork by helping friends and neighbors cope with the aftermath of the storm and with the unearthing of skeletons from the past.”

Rahn Adams noted, “We’re really pleased with this story. It offers positive alternatives for dealing with tough situations that many young people face. That’s what we want readers to see in all these books—good role models.”

Diamonds and Stone also features cover and text illustrations by Timberley Adams, as well as a manga-inspired drawing by 14-year-old Amelia Dowdle of Sylva, N.C.

Amelia, a ninth grader at Smoky Mountain High School, is the daughter of Jerry and Ashley Dowdle of Sylva.

“I had seen some of Amelia’s work that her mother posted on social media,” said Timberley Adams, “and we thought a drawing by her would tie in really well with our story. One character is a high school student from Japan who enjoys drawing manga-styled pictures.”

The Tales of the Barf Table series and two other children’s titles written solely by Timberley Adams are all published by the couple’s imprint, Gaillardia Press. Timberley’s two children’s books are Turtle Beach (2019) and Henry Heron Finds His Home (2022). She plans to produce another illustrated children’s book in the near future.

The Adamses also are working on a 25th-anniversary edition of their first novel, Night Lights; or, Golf, the Blues, and the Brown Mountain Light, first published in December 2004 by Parkway Publishers, Inc.

Both Rahn and Timberley Adams retired as teachers in Watauga County, after also teaching in Brunswick County. They also coached athletics in both counties. Rahn won tennis coach-of-the-year honors in both the Northwestern and Waccamaw Conferences. Timberley is currently an adjunct instructor at Appalachian State University.

In addition, the Adamses have experience in radio and newspaper journalism, having won awards from the North Carolina Press Association, Radio-Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas, and the North Carolina Association of Educators for outstanding education coverage.

The entire Tales of the Barf Table series is available from online booksellers and by request from local bookstores. For more information, contact the authors at P.O. Box 1382, Boone, NC 28607.