Steve Raymond – författare

The Artful Sport is a guide for fly-fishing writers and readers, those who want to write a book or magazine article, and those who enjoy reading in the subject. The book goes far beyond the basics of a simple writer’s manual. Its authoritative and sympathetic instruction delivered in lively style, an insider’s take on how fly-fishing books, magazines, and journals happen. The book is filled with the practical rules and guidelines good writers need and good readers appreciate plus well-told stories, many amusing or appalling war stories of the writer’s life, lots of writing and reading advice, and any number of perspective-altering revelations about the sport. The book will appeal to those attracted to the sport’s solid literary roots and to the budding Waltons with aspirations to publish.

Steelhead Country is not just a collection of random fishing stories. It is a personal and lovingly crafted account of a life spent immersed in a tradition that stretches back generations. Acclaimed flyfisherman and author Steve Raymond paints a picture of the world of steelhead trout that is “a realm of vast landscapes, of cold mountain rivers flowing down through silent, shadowed forests . . . , of ragged coastlines honeycombed with hidden harbors and secret bays where bright rivers mingle with the sea.”Raymond traces not just the journey of steelhead along the icy gray rivers of the Pacific Northwest but also his own development as a flyfisherman, recalling following in his father’s footsteps and joining him on quiet waterways. Then, steelhead were more a myth than reality—something he only knew from stories. He began to look anywhere he could for information on how to catch this unique, elusive fish, until finally, in a moment of adrenalin-filled excitement, he caught his first steelhead.Steelhead Country tells the story of a life in fishing in the same vein as Roderick Haig-Brown’s A River Never Sleeps. Through the joys and challenges of fly fishing for steelhead, Raymond describes and pays tribute to his connection with nature and a great fishing tradition.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

This is a new book from the Pacific Northwest’s finest angling writer.There is an abundance of literature on the pleasure and wonder of fly fishing. The themes are familiar and well traveled: ruminations on aging and the passage of time; musings on marriage and balancing the love of friends and families with that of fishing; reflections on the need for companionship versus the quiet beauty and solitude of fly fishing.Now, Steve Raymond takes these well-explored subjects and views them through the lens of fiction. With flowing prose, the five stories in Trout Quintet touch on some of the more salient topics that the flyfisherman faces, from the problem of overfishing to the sometimes nonsensical rules that anglers must contend with. From the story of a dying man who comes back to life as a rainbow trout to the tale of a young boy and his lucky hat, Trout Quintet is a refreshing evocation of the sport that so many women and men love.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Witty and heartfelt, Sixty Seasons looks back over more than half a century of fly fishing and writing about fly fishing. Steve Raymond returns with an informative and delightful collection of memories, stretching over his sixty seasons spent fishing. Raymond takes the opportunity to write passionately about the full cast of his life, as well as how fly-fishing interacts with his life as a journalist, and vice versa. He offers sage advice about books, writers, rods, methods, and guides. He deftly ranges from joyful topics to bittersweet moments to a tongue-in-cheek quiz designed to test your fly-fishing sophistication. Other contemplations include:Essays on fishing for trout, steelhead, bonefish, and carp Surviving a career in journalism Fishing for Atlantic salmon vs. Pacific salmon The impending future of outdoor sports It is with good humor, precision, and thoughtful insight that Raymond reels you in. Sixty Seasons is a must-have for anyone who loves fly-fishing or the natural world.

This collection of six fly-fishing tales, from the best fly-fishing writer in the Pacific Northwest, includes:  The Bonefisherman’s Dilemma: Freddie Woodson planned to write a story about his trip to Sugar Cay Bonefish Resort, sell it to a fishing magazine and use the money to help pay trip expenses. But he didn’t count on drinking too much rum, falling asleep in a hot tub, meeting a cute native girl or losing the only bonefish he managed to hook, so there was no story and no money. Now he’s engaged in an increasing-ly acrimonious debate with his tax accountant. Freddie maintains the expenses for his trip should be tax-deductible even without income; his accountant disagrees. With the tax deadline rapidly approaching, Freddie hatches a legally questionable but highly innovative way of deriving some income from the trip. Don’t try this on your tax return. .2. Welcome to the Stub Mountain Fly Shop: Vicki Brightman has inherited her father’s financially struggling fly shop, now her sole means of support. Searching desperately for a way to restore the shop’s financial health, she eventually decides that what works on fish—catching them on artificial flies—also might work on fishermen. With that in mind she concocts a longshot scheme that even she realizes has little chance of working, but with nothing else to do she goes ahead anyway—and the scheme succeeds beyond her wildest dreams. That is, as long as she doesn’t dream about ethics. 3. The Fishlexic: World-renowned geneticist Timothy Hardhorn dreams of having a son who will grow up to become his lifelong fly-fishing partner, so when his wife becomes pregnant he manipulates the genes in the embryo to assure just such an outcome. When his son, Rodney, is born he soon surpasses his father’s greatest expectations, but as the boy grows older Timothy notices some things about him that aren’t, well, quite normal. Eventually he concludes that because of his genetic tinkering, his son has a peculiar form of dyslexia that afflicts only male fly fishers: He believes all the fish he catches are much bigger than they really are. 4. Diary of an Unknown Angler: Andrew Royster, dealer in rare and classic angling books, discovers an old diary containing the answer to one of fly fishing’s greatest mysteries: the lost identity of the young woman fishing companion of Theodore Gordon, regarded by many asthe patron saint of American fly fishing. Was there something besides fishing going on between those two? Royster can’t wait to publish the answer, hoping that by doing so he might obtain his own small slice of angling immortality. Then he discovers that once history is made and literature is written, it’s very hard to change either. 5. The Man in Black Waders (novella): Clint Steele, the world’s most famous fly fisher, is about to go on trial. He’s being sued for plagiarism by Mickey Cutter, obscure author of a single angling book, who alleges Steele stole his words and used them in a book of his own. For Steele, the stakes couldn’t be higher; he could lose lots of money, his reputation, maybe even his livelihood. When the jury returns its verdict Steele does something highly unexpected, apparently uphold-ing the jury’s verdict. 6. The First Words Ever Written about Fly Fishing: “I have heard of a Macedonian way of catching fish and it is this.” Those words, attributed to the Roman scribe Claudius Aelianus, are believed the first ever written about fly fishing. But where did Aelianus hear about the Macedonian way of fishing? Where else but at a meeting of his local fishing club? OK, so it probably didn’t really happen that way, but who knows? Maybe it did.

According to Steve Raymond, tying flies requires “imagination and skill, creativity and discipline, patience and vision.” But for the fly fisher, tying flies is more than that—it is the creation of a living insect from fur, feathers, or synthetic materials and is an art and a passion.Blue Upright discusses the fly patterns that have served Steve Raymond most faithfully over the years. There are well-known and famous flies, such as the Crazy Charlie; there are flies that wouldn’t be recognized outside of the Pacific Northwest; and, more interestingly, there are flies of his own creation, which he uses alone or shares with only a few close friends. Here, he shares not only the flies but also the stories that go along with some of those flies, which include the Carey Special, Thompson’s Delectable Chronomoid, the Green Machine, and the Blue Upright.Each of Steve Raymond’s favorite flies call to mind memories of landscapes, anglers, and fish that have passed through his life, and each of his stories will appeal to beginners and experienced fly tyers alike.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Nervous water has a meaning: while the fleeting crease or subtle wrinkle on the surface of a lake or stream could be nothing, wise anglers known that these small surface movements are nearly always signs of fish stirring below—as it is with the sport of fly fishing. With a reputation of tranquility and contemplation, it is sometimes hard to believe that, beneath the surface, fly fishing has a constant current of new thoughts and theories, is always in pursuit of new technologies, and entertains ongoing debates among prominent fly-fishing thinkers.Acclaimed fly fisher and author Steve Raymond has contemplated these issues in numerous articles and essays published in many magazines. Nervous Water is the collection of many of these reflections, detailing thirty-four variations on the theme of fly fishing. Tackling such topics as the very definition of fly fishing itself and how to dress for fishing, these variations form a selective opinionated chronicle of the trends, developments, and changes in fly fishing from the 1960s to the present. Steve Raymond also discusses some of the pioneers of the sport and the fish that make it all possible.Nervous Water is a book for everyone who loves fly fishing and all those who enjoy looking beneath the surface.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Stories are what keep history alive, and Rivers of the Heart is the perfect book to keep the history of fly fishing alive. Steve Raymond shares some of the best and brightest moments from his nearly fifty years of fly-fishing experiences, a long fly-fishing life that contains ecstasy, agony, and passion for trout, salmon, and saltwater gamefish in waters from Canada to the Caribbean, northern Scotland to the South Pacific.The heart-warming stories and funny moments within will delight and charm you to no end. Memorable fly-fishing partners, famous pioneer fly tyers, and old fishing friends are only a few of the charming characters you’ll meet.How did fly patterns get their names? What would the perfect river be like? What would Dame Juliana Berners be doing if she were alive today? Discover the answers to all of these questions and more in this warmly written memoir of the people, places, things, realities, and fantasies encountered by the author in his lifetime of fishing he now remembers as his “rivers of the heart.”Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

The 78th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment took the field under command of a lackadaisical colonel who was frequently absent and feuded with his own officers and superiors. Distrusted by senior officers, the 78th became a regiment that was always left behind—until its own officers forced their reluctant colonel to resign. His replacement was a forceful leader who turned the regiment into a crack fighting outfit that performed heroically in the battle of Chickamauga and many of the great battles of the Atlanta campaign. It later joined Sherman's March to the Sea and fought its way out of the tangled swamps of Bentonville in one of the war's last battles. Its story is told here mostly in the words of its soldiers through letters, diaries and other sources, many never before accessed by historians. This book sheds new light on many important incidents and battles in the Civil War's Western Theater.