Instant reviews

With my inability to type getting to the point where I have to hire a stenographer to do my next two books, don't expect blogging to be too regular or too long.

Nevertheless, I still keep getting good books from my friends and friendly publishers and I must notice them. This is especially true when they are among the best books that their writer has ever written, or the only one of their kind.

Tommy McIntyre's August in Africa is such a book. I'm confident when I say it is his best book. Despite my love for that little Asian gem, A Snow Leopard's Tale, it is one of the two or three best books written about Africa by an American. Maybe in time, its autumnal tone will make it the best. If you have any interest in Africa at all, try this book and read his prologue. If you don't like that, I'll give you your money back.

John Barsness and Eileen Clarke, are our foremost practical hunting and writing team, and they write well too. That John was a poet before he was a professional shooting writer, and Eileen was a vegetarian grad student from New York, may or may not be relevant. For thirty-odd years, they have not only made a good living from outdoor writing, they've eaten virtually nothing but game. John's most recent book is The Big Book of Gun Gack: The Hunter's Guide to Handloading Smokeless Rifle Cartridges. Suffice it to say that my local friend John Besse, the best gunsmith that I know and a lifelong handloader, told it me it was the only readable book on handloading he had ever read in his life.

Eileen's is Tenderize the Wild: Marinades, Brines, and Rubs for Wild Game. Eileen's books are the only absoilutely essential wild cookbooks I know. She is still the only person that puts enough fat in game sausage. I love Hank Shaw and the west coast foodie hunting writers,but there is something a little nuevo about them. I recently referred to rare, wild duck as "Russell Chatham duck" in honor of Russell's famous "The Great Duck Misunderstanding." Hank said "You mean "Hank Shaw Duck". Turns out he had never heard of Russell, never mind the story. Back then, Eileen was already acting out her crawl after pronghorn, complete with toughing out cactus spines crawling across our living room floor. I've only had this book a week and have already used it. Both are available from their site "Rifles and Recipes".

Also, check out Brave and Loyal, Cat Urbigkit's book about flock protection dogs. I've written about it here, but it's a good one to visit again.

And don't expect photos for a while. My camera was stolen.