Thursday, June 21, 2018

Steal This Book


     Back in 2010 Amato Books published something I wrote about my home water, namely the book pictured on the left, a collection of essays & short memoirs with a section on fly patterns that pretty much reflects what I was thinking, tying & fishing twenty years ago.  Recent evidence indicates the book is still in print & available from Amato or Amazon.

I know the book is still in print because, a few days ago, curious, I checked. I was curious because in accord with my contract with the publisher I’d received a modest royalty check about six months after publication, but have never received one since. Hey, proof I’m not in it for the money.

Have you ever googled yourself? I never had until curiosity about the book got me searching for reviews of it &, surprised, I found a few.  Also surprising, the reviews are pretty good. I’ve never heard of any of the reviewers, & wondered if the publishers had actually paid these people to write these things. One reviewer found the prose “cinematic” & “immersive” & wondered out loud if the author wrote that way intentionally (as if the writing is unintentional & accidently affecting). Most interesting & mysterious though, was the latest review, which wasn’t really a review but a mention in a piece about cult fly fishing books. Apparently, at least according to the writer, my book has achieved ‘cult’ status.

That all got me thinking. Is ‘cult’ a label we give to obscure movies or books that do not sell very well though a few people like them, or are there actual fly fishing book cults who are privy to a secret network known only to initiates of the cult?

Jack Mitchell, owner of the Evening Hatch guide service, bought a copy of the book & added it to the library at Black Bear Lodge on the upper Columbia. The book occupied a wee niche on the lodge’s bookshelf for six or seven years & was read then returned by numerous guests. Then, last season, the book disappeared. Jack informed me of the book’s mysterious disappearance. He suspected it had been stolen. I let the news sink in for a few moments, grimaced, put on a shocked & disappointed expression & shook my head, all the while secretly delighted & proud that somebody would like my book enough to put virtue, fear of getting caught & fear of hellfire aside to steal it.

Maybe the person who took the book was a member of The Cult. Perhaps entry into the cult requires one to steal the book. A pact sealed with a crime. Who knows. Maybe everybody but me is in on it ~