40 Rivers To Freedom

I just finished reading “The Alaska Chronicles,” by Miles Nolte.  I’m just sitting here with a big smile across my face, like a teenage boy who just got a glimpse of his first naked girl.  Quite frankly, this is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read.  This is more than just the tale of a guide’s journey through an Alaskan fishing season.  This is literary poetry.

Not only did I find myself repeatedly laughing out loud, I found myself drawn back by the words I was reading.  Words on a page just like these, but put together so eloquently that they could provoke an average joe fly fisherman into pondering deep, philosophical thoughts.  Thoughts he has no business pondering.

From the moment I picked this book up, to the disapointment of having to turn the final page, I was there in the wilds of southwest Alaska; braving the mock charges of colossal Brown Bears, jockeying for hierarchy among a group of unlaundered fishing guides, racing a jet boat through boulder strewn rapids, and being annoyed by narcissistic “sports”.  I was there inhaling fresh blueberries at the edge of a remote pond filled with voracious northern pike.  I could feel the warm beer flowing down my throat while I sat stranded on the river bank after my boat died on a Bristol Bay tributary.  As I sit here typing, wide eyed, unable to hold back this big shit-eating grin across my face- I’m still there.

The Alaska Chronicles will be available in March ’09 via Departure Publishing.  One of this budding publisher’s goals is to seek out accomplished writers who seek to challenge the traditional boundaries of sporting and expedition publishing.  Instead of releasing the carbon copy volumes you’re used to reading, they aim to publish something truly unique.  And that they have with The Alaska Chronicles- 216 pages, and 40 beautiful b&w photos of novel awesomeness.

It’s like Gierach, just better.

Click Here for your chance to win a free signed copy, other reviews, an excerpt, as well as a free wallpaper download.