Elk River Books, 122 S 2nd St, Livingston, presents: 

Fishing guide and author Dave Ames will read from and discuss his latest comic novel, Trout Town, Thursday, June 8 at 7 pm.

“Jake Cruz is back from Afghanistan with a war-torn soul. Hardly an hour passes that he doesn’t dream of swallowing his own weapon. The sole reason Jake has to put one foot in front of the other is a tear-stained letter he’s promised to deliver to a person he’s never met in a place he’s never been—the jagged peaks of the ‘Backbone-of-the-World.’

“Nearing the end of his quest, Jake stumbles into Trout Town. He’s looking for whiskey to beat back the chill of a spring snow squall—but what he finds is Wounded Warriors, a program that uses fly-fishing to help ease veterans back into civilian life.

“In Trout Town, fly-fishing is the thread that binds people to place, and 500 million years of Montana history is the needle that pulls the thread. The implacable grandeur of the American west resonates like another character in this book, singing right along with a cast of iconoclasts that include a Blackfeet warrior who whispers with eagles, a banjo-playing exhibitionist, and a burly scientist-philosopher who lives to the sound of one tooth chewing…  It’s O.K. to be a little crazy in Trout Town because you’ll fit right in.”

Dave Ames was a fishing guide for 33 years, and is decrepit enough to remember the good old days when boats didn’t have phones. He has written for many magazines and newspapers, including Big Sky Journal, The Los Angeles Times and Fly Fisherman. His books include True Love and the Woolly Bugger, A Good Life Wasted or Twenty Years as a Fishing Guide, Dances with Sharks, and Me, My Cells, and I. He resides in Montana.