NONFICTION
MONSTER FISHING: Caught in the Ethics of Angling
by MARK SPITZER
"Spitzer is a unique voice in angling literature."
—MATTHEW MILLER, author of Fishing Through the Apocalypse
An investigation into the bioethics of fish pain and suffering leads to a lifestyle-changing discovery for monster-fisher Mark Spitzer. Monster Fishing: Caught in the Ethics of Angling is a bestiary of gar, sharks, ratfish, buffalo, carp, pike, gaspergou, and the human spirit fighting to preserve a planet in distress. After fifty years of fishing waters worldwide, extreme angler Mark Spitzer takes a hard look at his impact on monster fish and their environments. Through action-packed adventures exploring both familiar and foreign waters during a deadly global pandemic, this deep dive into the neurobiology of fish suffering and stress invites a new way of seeing aquatic species and holding ourselves accountable for the health of our shared planet.
July 2023 | Nonfiction | 9781948814775 | 240 pp |$19.95
"I gave up angling—the core of my identity—for a full year. Monster Fishing encapsulates the ethics and ethos of why I quit: In 2020, I tortured 773 fish that I had to account for personally. So I put myself to the test, which scared the living crap out of me...​I’m offering this book as a real-world mirror for taking a look at one’s real-world self and who we really want to be. So the question is, are you going to accept this piddly challenge, and if not, why the hell not?"
—MARK SPITZER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARK SPITZER is the author of Monster Fishing, Season of the Gar, Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West, and other books. He has appeared on the Animal Planet series River Monsters and consulted for National Geographic’s Monster Fish show. Spitzer was professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas and lived part-time in New York’s Mid-Hudson River Valley until the end of his life in early 2023.
PRAISE FOR MONSTER FISHING
“Spitzer is a unique voice in angling literature, and this is a highly readable and provocative narrative. It is at times poignant and at times laugh-out-loud funny. Spitzer’s Gonzo storytelling works for the subject matter, bringing readers along on some epically unusual fish quests...The surprise ending was quite powerful and literally kept me awake pondering big issues...this is a first-rate fishing book.”
—MATTHEW MILLER, author of Fishing Through the Apocalypse
​
​
“Spitzer is a walking encyclopedia on all things gar as well as a tireless champion of this ‘very despised, hated fish’...a unique zoological relic that is worthy of our protection.”
—JEREMY WADE, River Monsters
​
​
"Mark Spitzer is one of the most electric and original voices of the twenty-first century. Monster Fishing is his masterpiece...a dazzling adventure with the bravest, funniest, and most knowledgeable guy ever to cast a rod."
—NINA DE GRAMONT, New York Times bestselling author
“Monster Fishing is a culmination of Mark Spitzer’s full-bodied and brilliant career. Always wild, and wildly prolific, he writes sentences that are alive, spilling over with energy, electricity, occasional ecstasy, and always, raw fun...the art of monster fishing is also a metaphor for a certain kind of life, a vital and elemental life close to the currents of nature, a life beyond the merely human, a life that is no mere trudge from birth to death but an embrace of this joyous and wild world and all it offers.”
—DAVID GESSNER, New York Times bestselling author of All the Wild that Remains
​​
​​
“No one has done more to raise concern [for gar] than...Mark Spitzer...Spitzer has produced two highly readable books on gars and their interaction with humans...His efforts have resulted in state efforts to protect the gar.”
—TOM DILLARD, Arkansas Democrat Gazette
​​
“I deeply respect where Mark Spitzer is coming from about catching, harassing, and killing fish. He is one of the few enlightened anglers (former anglers?) who has the courage, decency, mind, and soul to take on this issue.”
—HENRY HUGHES, author of Back Seat with Fish
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE END OF THE WORLD
by DAVID GESSNER
With sharp intimacy and visionary scope, David Gessner asks what the world will be like in 2063, when his daughter, Hadley, is the same age he is now. What is the future of weather? Of heat, storms, and fire? In this eye-opening tour of climate hotspots, Gessner takes readers from the Gulf of Mexico and the burning American West to New York City and the fragile Outer Banks, where homes are being swallowed by the seas. With his usual sense of humor and a willingness to talk to anyone, Gessner considers earth's extremes in a story of climate crisis that will both entertain and shake people awake to the necessity of navigating this new age together.
​
“An act of generational love and courage.”
—BILL MCKIBBEN, author The End of Nature
THE BACKWOODS OF EVERYWHERE
by R.E. BURRILLO
After an upstate New York childhood and a bartending stint in New Orleans’ French Quarter, seasonal resort work led R. E. Burrillo to the desert Southwest, whose redrock landscapes were a source of stability through mental and physical illness. In The Backwoods of Everywhere, archaeologist Burrillo excavates his past, examining Indigenous and tourist cultures, the complexities of American archaeology, and what it means to be a local. In the vein of Bill Bryson, Tim Cahill, and Ellen Meloy, Burrillo’s is a fresh voice in humor-spiked nature writing and cultural commentary.
​
“Mixing fighting words and wonder, Burrillo extends the boundaries of ‘backwoods’ to back yards, city riots, and the depth of the Grand Canyon. He reminds us to be vexed, amused, and serious about the mark we put on the world.”
—CRAIG CHILDS, author of Tracing Time
