No Do-Overs in Paradise: Journeys Through Wild Places and Inner Landscapes is a book by photographer Stephen Collector, with an introduction by Terry McDonell, 2026. Here are some of my favorite lessons learned from the book and from Collector in general.
Telling of an old fisherman taking his last trip to Alaska by himself, "I was stunned to see the gregarious mask he'd worn during dinner at the lodge the previous night fall from his face. I knew all too well how he felt. As he boarded the jon boat, he smiled weakly and reluctantly waved goodbye. If the reason for my lifelong obsession with fishing then so be it. If it was from a paternal void left by my father, I'd learned from my father's omission. It wasn't important anymore. My son's generous gift had gotten me to Alaska, and Pop, though he'd never know it, had picked up the tab."
From an Alaskan guide: I tell all of the mighty bear hunters from the lower 28, you know the guys out fishing with a sidearm, "I tell all of 'em: take your .45, put it in a vice, and file off the front sight, all the way so it's smooth," he said. "That way, once they take a shot at a bear, it won't hurt so bad when the bear shoves it back up their ass."
"I try to stay two drinks ahead of reality and three behind a drunk," which I discovered is attributed to James Crumley and appears in his novel The Last Good Kiss, published in 1978.
On Denver sporting writers in the newspapers, "When I first embraced fly-fishing in the mid-1970s, the major outdoor writers for the two major Denver papers were Bill Logan of the Rocky Mountain News, and Bob Saile of the Denver Post. I read their weekly columns religiously." I read them religiously as well, together with Charlie Meyers and a few short-term columnists who tried to fill their big shoes.
