Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
For more than twenty years, Bill Heavey has staked a claim as one of America's best sportsmen writers. In long features for Field & Stream, and in his column "A Sportsman's Life," Heavey has taken readers across the country and beyond to experience his triumphs and failures in hunting, fishing, as well as in his personal life. This new collection gathers together a wide range of his best work, presenting Heavey's most memorable adventures (and mishaps) through every season.
From a five-day hunt on Anticosti Island in Canada to discovering the hidden wilderness back home in suburban D.C., from trying--and failing--to hunt down an Ohio bighead to crashing a houseboat on a family fishing trip in Florida, Heavey's tales are an ode to the maladjusted modern man and a testament to the enduring power of the natural world. In these stories, Heavey recounts his first lessons in butchering, demonstrates how to stalk deer, and introduces readers to a colorful cast of outdoor guides and professionals, as well as his own friends and family. Along the way, he examines his obsessive addiction to the outdoors and the mental focus, physical awareness, and "sheer predatory determination" it takes to grapple with nature--and make it out alive. Whether he's hunting mule deer in Montana, draining cash on an overpriced pistol, or ruminating on the joys and agonies of outdoor gear, Heavey always entertains and enlightens with honesty and wit.
Synopsis
-Bill Heavey is one of the best magazine writers in America. No, he doesn't work for the New Yorker. He writes for Field & Stream, the popular journal for hunters and fishermen.---Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal
-Bill Heavey is my favorite writer. When I die, I want him to gut me, stuff me, and deliver my eulogy for one good last laugh.---Ted Nugent
Maybe the best way to explain Bill Heavey's writing is to note that both Ted Nugent and the Wall Street Journal--two entities rarely seen in the same sentence--like it. For more than twenty years, Heavey has staked a claim as one of America's best sportsmen writers. In feature stories and his Field & Stream column -A Sportsman's Life, - among other publications, he has taken readers across the country and beyond to experience his triumphs and failures as a suburban dad who happens to love hunting and fishing. This new collection gathers together a wide range of his best work. He nearly drowns attempting to fish the pond inside the cloverleaf off an Interstate Highway four miles from the White House. He rents and crashes a 44-foot houseboat on a river in Florida. On a manic weeklong deer archery hunt in Ohio, he finds it necessary to practice by shooting arrows into his motel room's phonebook (The blunt penetrates all the way to page 358, -KITCHEN CABINET--REFACING & REFINISHING.-) Accompanying a shaggy steelhead fanatic--Mikey, who has no job or fixed address but owns four boats--on a thousand-mile odyssey up and down the California coast in search of fishable water, he realizes that Mikey is a purer soul than almost anyone he has ever met. Whatever the subject, Heavey's tales are odes to the maladjusted modern man and a testament to the enduring power of the natural world. Whether he's hunting mule deer in Montana, draining cash on an overpriced pistol, or ruminating on the joys and agonies of outdoor gear, Heavey always entertains and enlightens with honesty and wit.
Synopsis
For more than twenty years, Bill Heavey--a three-time National Magazine Award finalist--has staked a claim as one of America's best writers. In feature stories and his
Field & Stream column "A Sportsman's Life," as well as other publications, he has taken readers across the country and beyond to experience his triumphs and failures as a suburban dad who happens to love hunting and fishing.
Should the Tent Be Burning Like That? gathers together a wide range of Heavey's best work. He nearly drowns attempting to fish the pond inside the cloverleaf off an Interstate Highway four miles from the White House. He rents and crashes a forty-four-foot houseboat on a river in Florida. On a manic weeklong deer archery hunt in Ohio, he finds it necessary to practice by shooting arrows into his motel room's phonebook (the blunt penetrates all the way to page 358, "KITCHEN CABINET--REFACING & REFINISHING"). Accompanying a shaggy steelhead fanatic--Mikey, who has no job or fixed address but owns four boats--on a thousand-mile odyssey up and down the California coast in search of fishable water, he comes to see Mikey as a purer soul than almost anyone he has ever met.
Whatever the subject, Heavey's tales are odes to the notion that enthusiasm is more important than skill, and a testament to the enduring power of the natural world. Whether he's hunting mule deer in Montana, draining cash on an overpriced pistol, or ruminating on the joys and agonies of outdoor gear, Heavey always entertains and enlightens with honesty and wit.