The Contender

-Just some end-of-the-month bookkeeping here. It’s been a busy August over at The Contender, so let’s bring you up to date. Since my salmon trip to Norway was canceled (low water) I was a little more productive on the home front. There was news about my next book, Into the Fire, a guide to my favorite fishing lodges and outfitters, consideration of good travel secretsand yourquestions answered. -We also inaugurated The Central Division Book Club.

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -53:34 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Who says men won’t read novels besides Lonesome Dove? We go deep on James Salter’s Light Years and discuss Nedra, Viri, Hadji, Eve and the gang and do some good old-fashioned close reading. -Order Light Years. -James Salter in The Paris Review. -The famous James Salter New Yorker profile. -Thomas McGuane reads James Salter. -James Salter on Peter Matthiessen. -Michael on Second Cities.

I used to obsess over Orvis-endorsed guides and lodges when I was younger. I read their descriptions with great interest and dreamed of fishing in far off places. They’ve moved away from that, but I certainly haven’t. I wanted to have all my trusted guides and lodges in one place—outfitters I recommend, who I’m happy to pay for when I fish myself. Just a reminder that all of fishing stories on The Contender can be found here—advice, low-key commandments and travel ideas.

I was sitting in the living room of our cabin the other night, reading an old copy of The London Review of Books, feeling relaxed and virtuous, when a bat flew out of the hallway and started circling overhead. It was 9pm, very dark and I was alone. I like bats but in an enclosed space I like them much less. I turned out the rest of the lights, propped open the doors, swore a few times and, finally, the bat flew out into the night.

Hey now, let’s grill, baby! I’m thrilled to share the news about my next book. Into the Fire is about grilling: who grills well and where do they do it? Why do people get obsessed with cooking over fire? The book ranges worldwide from the American South to Japan—I’ll visit great grilling cultures over the next year for proper research. The book is a portrait of experts who have mastered the most ancient form of cooking. I forget who said, Not every book needs to be about fishing.

Central Division A weekly conversation about style, travel, culture and occasionally sports, between David Coggins and Michael Williams. A weekly conversation about style, travel, culture and occasionally sports, between David Coggins and Michael Williams.

I’m easing into late summer at our cabin in Wisconsin. It’s a good place to get some work done and a good place not to get much work done. Somewhere in between is answering your questions on this Friday in August. So please ask whatever’s on your mind—one of the benefits of subscribing to the newsletter. Be assured that when civilians DM me with their questions, they end up in the digital shredder. Hopefully I can help with style, travel, fishing or book recommendations.

I admire people who start things. Many of my friends are natural at opening restaurants or publishing magazines or designing clothes. I’m given to overthinking and never quite get going. That’s why I wouldn’t have started this newsletter if Michael (who’s famously proactive) hadn’t convinced me to do it on a Friday afternoon in August. I got off the phone with him and before better judgment kicked in I fired off a newsletter. Over the next week I sent one almost every day.

What’s a good travel secret? Well, it can be practical or remarkable, usually a little improbable. If we’re honest, the revealer probably wants to offer a hint of worldliness, but if the secret is useful then all is forgiven. Travel secrets used to be a form of currency. Now we have videos of hotel rooms, photos of airplane seats and Reddit threads about the best bakery in Copenhagen. James Salter kept a small black book of Parisian brasseries recommended to him.

Central Division A weekly conversation about style, travel, culture and occasionally sports, between David Coggins and Michael Williams. A weekly conversation about style, travel, culture and occasionally sports, between David Coggins and Michael Williams.