Writing Rooted in the Same Places as the Photography.
John Bulmer is the founder of Restoration Obscura Press, an independent imprint dedicated to publishing work that uncovers overlooked histories, forgotten places, and the stories hiding in plain sight across New York and New England.
Restoration Obscura's Field Guide to the Night
A guided journey into the cultural, environmental, and psychological impact of losing darkness. Weaving together history, documentary photography, and storytelling, the Field Guide to the Night moves from Cold War surveillance towers to forgotten starlore, exploring what remains in the spaces we stopped paying attention to after the lights came on. For anyone who has ever looked up and wondered what we are losing.
Available in print and Kindle on Amazon.
Restoration Obscura Press | 2025
The Albany Protocol: A Story of Espionage and Deception at the Edge of Nuclear War
October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis is at its peak. A taut, technically precise espionage thriller grounded in real history, set across a single relentless day in New York's Capital Region. The geography is real. The historical record is documented. The pressure placed on its characters is drawn directly from the pressure that October actually placed on the people who lived inside it. A novel about the thirteen most dangerous days in American history, and about the role this particular corner of New York played in events the public was not meant to know about.
Available in print and Kindle on Amazon.
Restoration Obscura Press | 2026