Freebird Publishing

Christmas Ideas 2010

With the Winter now completely upon us, and instead of being on the bank shivering whilst watching a lake rapidly freeze over, there is nothing like sitting back in the warm on the sofa with a good book to get into. Christmas is also almost upon us and with the weather looking to be the same into the New Year, books always make a welcome present for the angler, regardless of their angling capability.

Freebird Publishing were kind enough to send UKMA three of their books from their portfolio for us to read and review.

The Myth by Keith Jenkins

Almost ten years ago, Keith Jenkins put pen to paper to write something that back then was almost unheard of within angling circle - a novel about angling. With most books being based around true experiences of anglers on venues that they had fished or basic instructional material, "The Myth" created a brilliant response from the anglers that were lucky enough to obtain a first edition print run. Ten years later, Keith decided to reprint "The Myth" to accompany the sequel that has also been released (keep reading to find out about the sequel).

"The Myth" is based on the angling experiences of a group of close friends looking for the ultimate quarry in angling - an unknown mythical Common Carp (which almost every water in the Country seems to hold but is never caught or rarely seen). The story tells the experience over several decades of an angler called Stan Peacock from the first time he went fishing as a young boy through to three decades to recent times (at time of original publication). During his travels and angling, Stan meets up with some anglers that end up becoming angling partners on almost every session that they go out on. As they travel from water to water, they hear rumours about "monster" fish and obtain the relevant tickets in their quest to up their "PeeBee's".

Running alongside the main story, is narrative of the story of the mythical Common Carp and its "friends" over the same time span as Stan's story is told. The narrative of the Common is told from the fish's perspective.

Do Stan or one of his colleagues land any of the mythical fish? Well you will have to read the book to find out as I am not going to tell you.

UKMA Thoughts on The Myth

In honesty, I had heard a lot about the book from others but never got round to reading it first time round, so when it dropped through the door to the UKMA office, I was looking forward to reading it. It isn't very often that I pick up a book, and neglect doing anything else until I have finished it, but "The Myth" captivated my attention, and I even forgot to eat or drink at times whilst reading it. I was that engrossed in the atmospheric writing that was entering my brain from the pages. If you put your mind to it, you can put the characters names to some of Kieth's friends (or nemesis's) and some of the pseudonym's that Keith came up with made me chuckle out loud (to the annoyance of my wife!) when it came to me who the character was portraying.

All in all, "The Myth" is a fantastic book and any angler that does not enjoy or become engrossed in reading it, should take up golf instead!

"The Myth" is available from Freebird Publishing at a cost of £15.00 for a limited time.

The Keeper by Keith Jenkins

"The Keeper" by Keith Jenkins is the hotly awaited sequel to "The Myth" which Keith said he would never write! "The Keeper" follows on from where "The Myth" finished off with the main character from the first book, Stan Peacock, becoming the warden/caretaker of the lake where the mythical Common resides and the new complex that surrounds it. "The Keeper" though is not purely about Stan, but introduces the reader to new characters as well as some old ones.

The main theme of the book is around angling itself, but the book goes into a lot deeper subjects away from angling, that a lot of readers could actually appreciate if they have had experiences similar to those written about.

Even though "The Keeper" has been written as a sequel, if you haven't read "The Myth" you can still understand the main characters without detraction from the actual story.

Again, like "The Myth", alongside the main story, a narrative from the fish's point of view runs.

Trials and tribulations, agony and ecstasy, are all part of the story, and I will not give anything else away.

UKMA Thoughts on The Keeper

After reading "The Myth", I couldn't wait to get started on "The Keeper" (after consuming a weeks worth of food and coffee in one hit just in case of complete engrossment) and I wasn't dissappointed. "The Keeper" is every bit as engrossing as "The Myth" on different tangents. Topical scenarios are included into the story seamlessly which will make any angler that cares about their quarry think. Keith Jenkins has a superb story telling ability and I hope that Keith continues writing angling novels.

"The Keeper" is available from Freebird Publishing at a cost of £22.00 or as a limited edition boxed set along with "The Myth" (until December 25 2010) for £65.00.

Every carp angler should have this book in their library at home.

Cassien... and Beyond by Steve Briggs

Mention the name Steve Briggs to any angler that knows their sport will know that the guy has caught massive carp all over Europe and outside of Europe. But that is not all what Steve is about as he has also experienced some very big fish from UK waters as well.

This book is not a life story from Steve on his entire angling career, but focuses on the first time he took that long drive to the South of France to fish Cassien and his adventures since. Steve has fished Cassien for the best part of two and a half decades, and still holds the lake deep within his heart. Some of the tales are humerous, some are serious, but best of all, every angler will be able to relate to the situations that Steve discovered along the way.

Unlike a lot of other books that are written in a similar vein, Steve has decided not to include guest chapters so the reader gets the up close and personal experiences direct from the author without being distracted by guest chapters which may be written in a different style.

Also in the book, Steve has included chapters on his time fishing on Lake Raduta in Romania and also on the continent of Africa, before coming back to the UK and describing his time on Boyer Leisure's Colnbrook West and Cemex Angling's Wraysbury One, Steve then moves on to the awesome Rainbow Lake.

UKMA Thoughts on Cassien... and Beyond

Books based around continental angling are not usually my cup of tea, but after reading this book, it made me want to go back to the days of the pioneering of European waters by British anglers and be part of it. Steve has a superb style of writing that is not patronising towards beginners or the more advanced. A chapter on tackle and tactics is also included which was very interesting and informative especially for the angler that is thinking of going over to the Continental inland seas. All the chapters are very enjoyable, and if I had to pick a favourite chapter, the Rainbow Lake chapter is one that I could read over and over again.

"Cassien... and Beyond" is available from Freebird Publishing at a price of £25.00.