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RJ Blain

RJ Blain

About

RJ Blain suffers from a Moleskine journal obsession, a pen fixation, and a terrible tendency to pun without warning.

When she isn’t playing pretend, she likes to think she’s a cartographer and a sumi-e painter. In reality, she herds cats and a husband, and obeys the commands of Tsu Dhi, the great warrior fish.

In her spare time, she daydreams about being a spy. Should that fail, her contingency plan involves tying her best of enemies to spinning wheels and quoting James Bond villains until she’s satisfied.

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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<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>

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Reviews

<p>Bronze Winner of 2017 Readers' Favorite Book Awards (Urban Fantasy.)</p> <ul style="margin:1.12em 0px 1.12em 20px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><li style="margin:0px 0px 0px 20px;">Playing with Fire reads a bit as though R. J. Blain took whatever mythical and magical ideas she had on hand, added in the kitchen sink, and tossed the whole lot at her word processor program.<br /><br /> I don't mean that in a bad way. Because what she ended up with is a fun, silly, ribald romp of a story that serves as an excellent palette cleanser in between courses of more serious reading.<br /><br /> And again, I don't mean that in a bad way either.<br /><br /> Sometimes the best thing to read is a book that takes nothing seriously, least of all itself.<br /><br /> There's a lot going on, some of it absurd, some of it sexy, some of it high drama (tempered with more absurdities and steaminess), none of it really graphic. There are action scenes. There are gorgons and angels, incubi and succubi, old Egyptian gods and glass coffins that serve as containment cells for viral contaminations. There's pixie dust that creates a high, and a purple unicorn that breathes fire. There's...<br /><br /> Well, you get the idea.<br /><br /> Of course this only works if the author has the skills to pull it all off. Happily, Blain is up to the task, making sense out of all the disparate elements and providing a highly entertaining journey that brings the puzzle of madcap contradictions together by the time we get to the end. If you're prudish and don't like to laugh, avoid Playing with Fire. Otherwise, you'll have a ball. <i>- Charles de Lint, Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction, Sept/Oct 2017.</i><br />  </li> <li style="margin:0px 0px 0px 20px;">Playing with Fire is an eccentric, charming, and humorous oddity, a rare gem, and definitely unique. RJ Blain brings a refreshing whimsy to well-known mythology. <i>- </i><i>Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite</i></li> </ul><div style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </div> <ul style="margin:1.12em 0px 1.12em 20px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><li style="margin:0px 0px 0px 20px;">With an abundance of humor, barely suppressed sexual tension, plenty of paranormal rules, regulations and fireworks, and a cast of characters including the lowest of evil creatures to faeries, centaurs and even the Divine, Playing with Fire pulls out all the stops for a great read that keeps you turning pages to see just how Bailey can manage the next disaster and if her dreams regarding Chief Quinn will come true. <i>- </i><i>Melinda Hills for Readers' Favorite</i></li> </ul><ul style="margin:1.12em 0px 1.12em 20px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><li style="margin:0px 0px 0px 20px;">The story is a heady combination of magic, excitement, fun, adventure, and romance, and the author weaves these elements effortless through the plot, making the book a compelling read. - <i>Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite</i></li> </ul>