MSI Press Blog

  Today's book back story is about Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail by Jim Ostdick. From the managing editor of MSI Press Jim's story is a unique one and an inspiring one. After retiring as a teacher, he rode his bike from coast to coast and put out a book, then a second -- self-published -- about the experience. After that, he was ready for something equally challenging: hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and writing about the experience (and history and geography) of place. ' I met Jim when he started joining discussion sessions at The Literary Center, an outreach activity of MSI Press for the local writing community. He shared his experiences, but, as well, he learned more about the craft of writing for publication. We would have loved to have published Jim's last book, Walks Far Man but he had already self-published it before we knew about it. Nonetheless, we took it in as an affiliated book to help with promotion, something we felt the b...

  Recommending an excellent affiliated book for Earth Day: Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail  by Jim Ostdick. Jim Ostdick is a retired Earth Science teacher and independent author who lives on the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Ohlone near the central California coast. In  Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail , Ostdick recounts his Pacific Crest Trail hiking experiences in the context of a larger, more vibrant story, thousands of years in the making. The Pacific Crest Trail in its current state is less than a century old. The land that the trail crosses was once home to bands of strong, inventive humans whose norms and values were strikingly dissimilar to the settlers and armies who vanquished them. With that in mind, Ostdick’s intentions are threefold: 1) to identify and honor the indigenous tribes who occupied and traveled the lands traversed by today’s Pacific Crest Trail, 2) to draw appreciation and respect fo...

  It is with sorrow that MSI announces the death of affiliated author, Jim Ostdick. Jim lived in San Juan Bautista and interacted with MSI Press staff and participated in activities of The Literary Center, a local outreach arm of MSI Press. He was especially close to Carl Leaver, MSI Press typesetter from 2003-2021. They both are missed. HERE is the biographic information published in the Hollister Freelance , the local paper.  For more posts on Jim and his book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use co...

  Jim Ostdick is a retired Earth Science teacher who lives on the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Ohlone near the central California coast. In Walks Far Man: In Step with History on the Pacific Crest Trail , Ostdick recounts his Pacific Crest Trail hiking experiences in the context of a larger, more vibrant story, thousands of years in the making. His intentions are threefold: to identify and honor the indigenous tribes who occupied and traveled the lands traversed by today’s Pacific Crest Trail; to draw appreciation and respect for the cultural traditions of these tribes, and to describe, with humor and humility, his 2,650-mile walk from Mexico to Canada. Ostdick began hiking the Pacific Crest Trail at Campo, California in 2001 and crossed the Canadian border in 2009. Along the trail, he became increasingly introspective. He gradually began to feel empowered by the synthesis of self, the Earth, the Sun and wind and stars, the raging rivers, the trickling creeks, and the effects...

Book description: Posing for a picture at the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail, a long-eared jackrabbit hop from Mexico and 2,650-some miles from Canada, your stomach churns and your mind reels. The air is dusty. A morning desert wind feels oddly cold. No amount of preparation is sufficient for the starkness of your decision. In this beginning, something has ended. Something practiced and old and broken-in has faded. In its place enters immediacy and relevance and sharp possibility. Plans and spreadsheets become paper prayer flags fluttering in a past mind, useless tributes to linear pretense. You catch yourself thinking that it feels like the first day of school. But there are no teachers, no classmates, no classrooms, no halls, and no walls. There is only one choice that yields results: to turn and to walk, to follow the well-worn trail North. With each step, you lose a little more of the other-world, the un-PCT. All you have is what you need. All you need is what you hav...