About
I've published three novels novels and one collection of short stories and poems.
My latest novel is A Majority of One, which is about book-banning and religious zealotry.
The stories and poems collection is titled Six of One, Half Dozen of Another.
Striking Out, my first novel, is a coming of age story set in Georgia. It was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway
award.
Atlanta Blues, my second novel, is about the search for a missing college girl by a reporter and two cops. The search leads through the underbelly of urban Atlanta to murder and heartbreak. The novel was nominated for an Edgar Award.
Striking Out and Atlanta Blues have been taught in American lit. courses in college. All my books are available at Amazon.com and at smashwords.com.
Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness
Description
<p><b>The absorbing, definitive account of CrossFit's origins, its explosive grassroots growth, and its emergence as a global phenomenon.</b><br /> <br />One of the most illuminating books ever on a sports subculture, <i>Learning to Breathe Fire </i>combines vivid sports writing with a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human. In the book, veteran journalist J.C. Herz explains the science of maximum effort, why the modern gym fails an obese society, and the psychic rewards of ending up on the floor feeling as though you're about to die. <br /> <br />The story traces CrossFit’s rise, from a single underground gym in Santa Cruz to its adoption as the workout of choice for elite special forces, firefighters and cops, to its popularity as the go-to fitness routine for regular Joes and Janes. Especially riveting is Herz’s description of The CrossFit Games, which begin as an informal throw-down on a California ranch and evolve into a televised global proving ground for the fittest men and women on Earth, as well as hundreds of thousands of lesser mortals. <br /> <br />In her portrayal of the sport's star athletes, its passionate coaches and its “chief armorer,” Rogue Fitness, Herz powerfully evokes the uniqueness of a fitness culture that cultivates primal fierceness in average people. And in the shared ordeal of an all-consuming workout, she unearths the ritual intensity that's been with us since humans invented sports, showing us how, on a deep level, we're all tribal hunters and first responders, waiting for the signal to go all-out. </p>
Story Behind The Book
As a lover of literature and a champion of the separation of church and state, I am annoyed by the continuous efforts of this or that group, almost always religious in nature, to ban classic American novels from the classroom. One of their favorite targets? To Kill a Mockingbird. Imagine! Another favorite target? The Adventures of Hiuckleberry Finn. Both of these are great (and beloved) American novels and are as innocent of offensive content as the Bible itself, maybe less so. These censors comprise a social evil. I wrote the book to expose them for what they are: ignorant.
