Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a pastime more emblematic of the western spirit than fly-fishing. Liberating, poetic, wild, soothing and inspiring, it pushes the boundaries of the mind. In essays ranging from introspective to ironic, angler authors Chadd VanZanten and Russ Beck distill the purest truths of fly-fishing into essential, often humorous rules of thumb. With kernels like "always tell the truth sometimes" and "all the fish are underwater," wade into the blue ribbon waters of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah to reflect metaphysically on these lines of practical wisdom.
Join local authors, Chadd Vanzanten and Russ Beck, for a reading and signing of their new book at King's English, Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:00 pm.
Chadd VanZanten's essays on fly-fishing appear in the online fly-fishing journal Eat Sleep Fish and in The History Press anthology Utah Reflections. His short fiction can be found in Between Places, an anthology of poetry and prose by LUW Press. Chadd lives in Logan, where he works as a professional editor. When he is not writing, he is fishing. The opposite is also true.
Russ Beck received the Frederick Mannford Award for creative writing from the Western Literature Association. He edits and contributes to both howsmallatrout.wordpress.com and Braidedbrook.com. He teaches writing at Utah State University. This is his first book.
Tim King is a friend joining the authors on their "Hooks and Books" book tour - as they discuss passages and advice, he ties flies and livens conversation. King was raised on a farm in Pennsylvania and has been a fly fisher and fly tier since the age of twelve. For him, fly tying is a form of therapy, where he can lose himself, disconnecting from the daily struggles of life. A contract tier for Rainy's Flies and a father of twin girls, he lives with his wife Pam in Providence, Utah.
