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Marshall Thornton

Marshall Thornton

About

Marshall Thornton is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright and author living in Long Beach, California. He has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA where he won the Carl David Memorial Fellowship for his romantic-comedy, Husband Material, as well as a BA in Creative Writing from California State University at Long Beach. He has had plays produced in both Chicago and Los Angeles. Marshall has published in literary journals and is currently exploring the world of on-line downloadable fiction.

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

<span style="font-family:verdana;line-height:normal;">Marshall Thornton's short story, &quot;The Beneficiary,&quot; is a great suspenseful tale that takes place during the time of the 1990s Los Angeles riots, and is the story of a desperate real estate agent who comes up with a plan to commit insurance fraud involving finding, and marrying, a man who is near death's door. Despite the fact that she finds what seems to be the perfect mark for her plan, as the plan progresses, she begins to worry that things may not be quite as simple as she originally thought. <br /><br />Thornton's writing is excellent. His characters are well developed and the setting was enough to make one believe they are back in the 90s. The story progresses at a strong pace and keeps you guessing until it reaches an ending that to me has a bit of a Hitchcock-like twist. The story is short, and so it was a bit disappointing to reach the end so soon. But at the same time, in the hectic times we live in today, a good, quick read is also much appreciated sometimes, and this story definitely provides just such an experience. <br /><br />This is a story that I believe everyone will enjoy. <br /><br />- Gregory Bernard Banks, author &amp; publisher</span>