About
Mary Anna Evans has degrees in physics and engineering, but writing stories gives her a chance to go beyond studying how the world works, concentrating more on how people tick.
Wounded Earth, features environmentalist Larabeth McLeod in a duel to the death against a stalker who calls himself Babykiller. Her Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries include Artifacts, Relics, Effigies, Findings, Floodgates, Strangers, Plunder, Rituals, Isolation and, new in 2017, Burials. All of her books are available in print and ebook editions.
Her characters, Larabeth McLeod and Faye Longchamp, live the exciting lives of an environmental scientist and an archaeologist, and Mary Anna envies them a little. Her novels have been on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's (IMBA) bestseller list and they have been designated Notable Books by Booksense and Indiebound. Mary Anna has won the Florida Historical Society's Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Mississippi Author Award, and a Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal. Her books have been nominated for the Oklahoma Book Award, ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year and for the SIBA Book Award. For more information on Mary Anna and her work, go to http://www.maryannaevans.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
WOUNDED EARTH, featuring environmental scientist Larabeth McLeod, was inspired by my experiences traveling across the country, inspecting manufacturing plants and hazardous waste sites, hither and yon. I am here to tell you that there are some scary things out there. I am also here to tell you that I'm very glad there are people like Larabeth out there to protect us from those things.
Reviews
Mary Anna Evans' books have received praise from awardwinning authors like Tony Hillermans, who called her work "fascinating" and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, which has called it "absorbing" and "compelling." She has received awards including the Benjamin Franklin Award and the Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal. Her work has been listed on VOYA's annual list of "Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal" and both BookSense's and IndieNext's lists of Notable Books.
