Chasing the Dark

Joe Jackson's life has seemed to follow the hours of low light; waking in the pitch-dark to beat the sun and lingering until it's long gone. The stories told in between range from hunting snowshoe hares in the cold of Alaskan winter; Spey casting monotonously to king salmon and waiting, hoping, praying for a miracle; fishing to the very ends of human sanity for steelhead in one of the last great places on Earth; developing a new and profound love for upland bird hunting; and much, much more. Jackson shares and reflects on the adventures and the misadventures, assessing why he and so many others can rise in the wee hours to hunt and fish day after day, yet have a hard time rolling out of bed for work or school. In short, these are the tales of a sporting life-a young man's yarns of chasing the dark and seeking the fins, furs, and flurries of wings beyond it.

Joseph Jackson is a social studies teacher and outdoor writer in Alaska. His work has appeared in many publications such as Gray's Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, The Drake, Alaska Magazine, and others, where his wife, Emmie, also publishes much of her photography. His first book, It's Only Fishing, has garnered immense praise throughout the outdoor world. When he's not getting up early to chase rainbow trout or hunt ptarmigan, he's learning how to be a father to the world's next greatest fly-fisherwoman.