Catch Release

I should have died quick. But I didn't. I'm a miracle of modern medicine, only the medicine doesn't get much credit, I notice. People say I'm lucky, or I'm blessed, and then they turn away. I'm not the only miracle. There's Odd too. Polly Furnas had The Plan for the future. Get married to Bridger Morgan, for one. College, career, babies. Etc. All the important choices were made. It was all happily-ever-after as a diamond-ring commercial. But The Plan did not include a lethal drug-resistant infection. It did not include “some more reconstruction and scar revision in the future." And it certainly did not include Odd Estes, a trip to Portland in an ancient Cadillac to "tear Bridger a new one," fly fishing, marshmallows, Crisco, or a loaded gun. But plans change. Stories get revised and new choices must be made. Polly and Odd have choices. Surviving or not. Catch or release.

” With Catch, Release, Harun upends the world once more.

CAROL ERICSON BRINGS HER BROTHERS IN ARMS: FULLY ENGAGED MINISERIES TO A GRIPPING CONCLUSION WITH A MISSING CHILD AND THE UNDERCOVER AGENT WHO NEVER KNEW HE HAD A SON! Beau Slater once enjoyed an unforgettable night with a woman who matched him in brains, passion and black ops skills. Three years later he's gone rogue to help the sexy Prospero agent find top secret weaponry plans—and rescue her kidnapped toddler from a vengeful arms dealer. What Beau doesn’t know is that Deb Sinclair's son is his. But for this mission, the freedom-loving bachelor will lay his life on the line for a child in danger and the woman he's never forgotten. Yet how can he trust the cunning spy who's already deceived him?

A novel set here in the Emerald Triangle's most exciting outback venues, mostly along the Mina Road running between Covelo and Alderpoint, Catch/Release begins, "We still pick up hitchhikers in Mendocino County...." Yeah, lots of us do, but only because we know them and there might be social consequences if we don t stop. But if you're deep in the outback, somewhere south of Zenia, basic human solidarity will make you to stop for someone who appears to be in need, which is what Ollier's nifty little novel is pegged to, a humanitarian impulse that nearly gets the humanitarian killed. The author has clearly spent a lot of time around low-lifes because the low life he gives a lift to is perfectly portrayed right down to the creative grammar of his vocabulary of curses. The book's a page turner. I picked it up during the serial rounds of gluttony that mark the birth of Our Savior at my house and didn't put it down until I was confident the narrator would survive. Ollier manages to capture both the more comfortable Mendo vibe reflected by the flesh pots of Mendocino Village and the ominous one you can get in the Northeast sector of the county even without a demented hitchhiker. In this tale, which is definitely an essential addition to the Mendo ouevre, you not only get deftly drawn suspense but a nice set piece on fishing, funny encounters with a surly Klamath store clerk and a female Fox News zombie who picks up our hero on Highway 36 when he becomes the hitchhiker. Ollier's a guy who knows his Mendo, from the Pacific to the Yolly Bollys. If your local bookstore doesn't have it, pester them until they do. --Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser

For readers of H Is for Hawk and Wild, a lyrical memoir and passionate ode to the art of fly fishing and how it can shape a life—by renowned female angler and conservationist Marina Gibson. As her twenty-first birthday approached, Marina Gibson received a unique gift suggestion from her parents, who offered her a choice between fishing rods or jewelry. In an unconventional decision, she opted for fishing rods. Her intention was to rekindle a childhood passion and carry on a family tradition initiated by her mother, who had dedicated years to pursuing salmon in the rivers of the Scottish Highlands. As fishing overtook Marina’s life and evolved into a full-time career, she became enraptured by the silent mysteries of the river and the quiet magic of angling. The complexity of fly fishing and the rituals of casting provided her refuge from a failing marriage, giving her a reliable source of comfort that benefited both her mind and soul. It also revealed the barriers that exist for women trying to make it in a tradition-bound and male-dominated world. Tracing the epic, migratory journey of the Atlantic salmon alongside the ups and downs of her personal story, Cast, Catch, Release brings to life the joys of fishing, the spirited quest of the angler, and how these two paths meet on lakes and riverbanks around the world. A love letter to this exhilarating yet serene sport, Gibson shows what it means to find peace and purpose amidst the majesty of the great outdoors.

In Catch and Release, philosopher Mark Kingwell has written a book about fishing, or more accurately, about thinking about fishing that is unlike any book ever penned about this most unique and challenging of sports. This vibrant blend of memoir, travelogue, reflection, and discussion of the finer points of the art is framed around an annual fishing trip that he and his father and two brothers take each year to British Columbia. Between the drinking, cigars, and the piloting of a small dingy, Kingwell, previously of the belief that “fishing is stupid,” finds that the sport does allow for one important thing—quite a bit of time to just think, allowing thoughts to wander and new vistas to open up. This realization—a kind of felicitous meandering and suspension in the delights of the moment—leads Kingwell through everything from falconry, male bonding, and procrastination to golf, cooking, and the relationship between reflection and action—not to mention the relative benefits of wet versus dry flies, the cast, and the ethics of fishing. Ultimately, and as this book engagingly shows, fishing is worth thinking about because of the thinking that fishing allows. Especially when the trout aren’t biting.

The graphic novel anthology Murder Book collects gritty and unrelenting crime comics by Ed Brisson (Sheltered, The Field, Sons of Anarchy) that chronicle the demise of the immoral and the innocent alike. Featuring art from Michael Walsh (Secret Avengers), Simon Roy (The Field), Johnnie Christmas (Sheltered), Declan Shalvey (Moon Knight), and many more, this collection is an essential for crime and noir fans.

"The author considers interactions between horseshoe crabs and humans, through fieldwork conducted between 2012 and 2016 at urban beaches near New York City, nature preserves in Japan, and marine research sites in Florida, and interviews with conservationists, field biologists, ecologists, and paleontologists. She explores the interspecies relationship between humans and horseshoe crabs, and how they are meaningful to one another in specific ways as humans interpret them for understanding geologic time, use them for biomedical applications, collect them for agricultural fertilizer, eat them, and capture them as bait, and crabs make humans matter by revealing humans' vulnerability to endotoxins and fertilizing soil for human food. She examines how humans exploit crabs, depend on them, and consider their welfare, discussing issues related to the species health of the horseshoe crab, their sexual reproduction, the use of their endotoxins, and global warming, site fidelity, and reclamation projects."--Provided by publisher.