Paul Guernsey

A few months back, my publisher, Stackpole Books, entered Rolling Back the River in the annual National Outdoor Book Awards competition, Outdoor Literature category. The image above is a group photo of all of this years competitiors for the category; look carefully and youll see RBtR in the lower right corner. The field includes about 40 books in all . . . but I believe in my book and I'm cautiously optimistic. Winner will be announced in mid-November. Wish me luck! 

California Trout has just published a review of Rolling Back the River. Have a Read!

This past weekend, I traveled upcountry to meet with a group of my fellow Maine fly fishermen and three journalists from National Public Radio (NPR). While we were getting ready to fish Upper Dam on the Rapid River for brook trout and landlocked salmon, we talked about the upcoming midterm elections and what we thought about incumbent Senator Susan Collins and her opponent, Democrat Troy Jackson. There were varying opinions about Troy . . . but all of us agreed that Collins wasn't getting the job done, and that it was time for a change in Washington. Have a listen:

NPR INTERVIEW

Well, so a cloudy day today, and I decided to do some writing. I was just going to put down a preliminary sentence or two, but then I wound up writing onward for a few hours. Over 1,000 words down on screen; I suppose that months from now I'll be able to look back upon September 9 as the day I actually started a draft of the sequel to Rolling Back the River. That said, for the last few months, I've been researching, writing things down, outlining in my random manner . . . and also, I tend to do most of my writing in the late fall, through the winter, and into early spring, and we still have a few weeks to go until late fall is here. But . . . I'm working on a novel. 

What I didn't bring enough of? Tiny, black mosquito nymphs/emergers. That's what the Arctic char were taking, and they were amazingly selective. 

On my way north, to fish in Swedish Laponia (Lapland.) 

I think I mentioned before that I'm working on a sequel to Rolling Back the River—a sequel that will take place on an even broader international canvas than that of Vincent Mapp's Maine-to-Argentina adventure. The working title is Fish Story, and part of it will take place in above the arctic circle in Sweden. Anyway, I recently returned from a research trip to that area, and one of the species I targeted and caught was arctic char. The photo of of me with a char, caught on a tiny mosquito emerger. 

I'm planning a sequel to Rolling Back the River, and to that end, I'm currently in Lulea, Sweden, staging—with a group of other anglers—to head up to Swedish Lapland, above and below the Acrtic Circle, to fish and gather research. I've got plenty of flies, some of which you see here. I'll post some other photos and information when I get a chance. Wish me luck. 

Tomorrow, June 20, I'll hold my last book signing event for a while, as I'll be traveling next month to do some research for the sequel to "Rolling Back the River." Barnes & Noble in South Portland from 1:00 to 3:00. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi. This is a GREAT Father's Day book, by the way. ;)

Two book signings this weekend: Tomorrow, Saturday, I'll be at the Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shop in Falmouth from 12:30 to 2:30, and on Sunday at the Barnes & Noble in Augusta starting at noon. Stop by and say hi!