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Debrah (D.B) Martin

Debrah (D.B) Martin

About

I would describe myself as the ultimate multi-tasker. Sometimes I even have to remind myself who I am for the day! That’s because I write under three different pen names and in three very different genres.

As Debrah Martin I write literary fiction. I also plot fast-paced and compelling thrillers as D.B. Martin and of course also pen my YA teen detective series as Lily Stuart.

So why not stick to just one name and one genre?

Variety is the spice of life, I reckon - and I have all these ideas – they have to come out somehow! My past careers have spanned two businesses, teaching, running business networking for the University of Winchester and social event management. I now make do with chairing the Wantage (not just Betjeman) Literary Festival in my hometown when I’m not writing. I also have two daughters and a dog to organise. See – more multi-tasking…

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of CrossFit and the Primal Future of Fitness

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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

Lawrence Juste QC finds himself tricked into taking a case defending a juvenile against a charge of manslaughter by his clever, but dead, wife. Normally he wouldn’t have even opened the folder without her around to persuade him, but she’s left something else to do that for her; a list of all the unsavoury people and events from his past. The ones he’s carefully hidden until now and didn’t even know she was aware of. Disconcertingly, the boy reminds him of himself – not only as a person but in the crime he’s supposed to have committed. Taking the case catapults Juste into a world that touches his own past with alarming regularity until it throws up the brother he betrayed as a teenager, the bully he’s done his best to avoid ever since and a disturbingly attractive female liaison. It also leads him on a journey in which he rediscovers the family he rejected, has to answer for the murder he should have ensured was fairly tried, but didn’t, and himself – or the principles the man who styled himself Lawrence Juste once wanted to adhere to. By the time the book closes, the links to his forgotten family have become disturbingly closer and so has the childhood bully. And the one person who seems to be the linchpin for all of it is Juste’s dead wife whose influence still seems very much alive and active...

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Reviews

<p><strong><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">B.R.A.G. Medallion honoree: </span></strong><em style="line-height:1.6em;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">&quot;We are proud to announce that PATCHWORK MAN by D.B. Martin is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree. This tells a reader that this book is well worth their time and money!&quot;</span></em></p> <p><em style="line-height:1.6em;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">&quot;</span></em><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">A powerful novel&quot;</b></p> <p><em><strong>&quot;</strong><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">I literally could not put my reader down. This book is a page turner full of surprises. Cannot wait for the next book.&quot;</span></em></p> <p><strong>&quot;<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">Martin’s ability to hold you in suspense is uncanny.&quot;</span></strong></p> <p><em><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">&quot;D.B. Martin has a flair for building layer upon layer of meanings in dosages individually tolerable until the entire story comes to an end. This is the beginning of an immensely successful trilogy.&quot;</span></em></p> <p><strong><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">&quot;</span></strong><b style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;line-height:normal;">Brilliant Debut and Concept for Series!&quot;</b></p> <p> </p>