No Do-Overs In Paradise: Journeys Through Wild Places and Inner Landscapes | Stephen Collector | Introduction by Terry McDonell | $25 | 9781948509732 | 300p w/84 photographs | Release Fall 2026
Early Praise:
“No Do-Overs in Paradise” is an infectious account of Stephen Collector’s sporting life and unabashed passion for life under wild skies. A propulsive ride through the outdoor games we play to keep us point-blank with nature.”–Tom McGuane, author, Ninety-Two in the Shade & The Longest Silence
“Stephen Collector understands something many contemporary writers have forgotten: wild places do not exist merely to be admired. They are places where we come face to face with ourselves. In No Do-Overs in Paradise, the hunt, the landscape, the campfire, and the kitchen table become places where we remember what matters. Beneath these essays runs a simple understanding: none of us gets out of here alive. Collector reminds us to savor what is here while we can—the hunt, the meal, the wine shared among friends, and the stories that linger long after the plates are cleared. A gifted photographer and writer, Collector pays close attention to the world. His photographs and essays celebrate both the beauty of wild places and the fleeting nature of our time within them. In these pages, he carries forward the tradition of the great sportsmen writers, photographers, and artists who came before him. This is a book to savor.”–Brad Wetzler, author of Into the Soul of the World
“Although I write ‘outdoor’ books myself, I rarely read them, because so many are uninspiring and repetitive. Hence my delight when I received an early look at Stephen Collector’s wonderful new No Do-Overs in Paradise. His treatment of my own favorite topics—wing-shooting, fly-fishing, gun dogs—reflects passion as well as knowledge and experience. However, it’s his observations on the people and places that make the outdoor life so special elevate the book far above the usual standards of the genre. Although best known as one of our premier outdoor and sporting photographers, his prose is wonderful and leaves this reader eager for more. The black and white photos complimenting the text would be worth the cover price on their own. As one never known for restraint, I’ll go on record now and call this one an instant classic.”—Don Thomas, Outdoor Writing and Photography, Lewistown, MT
“Stephen Collector’s many fans will delight in these adventures.”—Annie Proulx, author, Brokeback Mountain & The Shipping News
“Stephen Collector’s book is unique: it’s a spirited and intimate catalog of the writers and artists of contemporary America.”—Steven Bodio, author, Querencia
“Part travel narrative, part outdoor memoir, and part meditation on the natural world, these essays remind us why we venture outdoors in the first place. Thoughtful, literate, and yes, a bit raw.”—Jim Pruett, publisher of John Gierach’s masterpiece, Trout Bum
“Stephen Collector is a fine visual artist who has graced us for decades with his black and white photographs of dogs and famous sportsmen, some still with us, others gone. Now he shows us his writing skills in four seasons of tramping the wild country for fish and game. Thanks to Terry McDonell, our greatest literary prospector, for his introduction to the book.”—Doug Peacock, author, Was It Worth It: A Wilderness Warrior’s Long Trail Home & Grizzly Years
“Stephen Collector’s No Do-Overs in Paradise is a delight to the eye and the sporting mind, a treasure of images and stories to take you from your reading chair to the streams, fields, and flats of your desires. —Dan Gerber, author, Sailing through Cassiopeia & A Primer on Parallel Lives
About the book: Stephen Collector’s No Do-Overs In Paradise is a collection of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that many of us could only dream of. His work as a professional photographer has taken him front and center to many of the most remarkable sporting locations the western hemisphere has to offer. He shared time with Legends of the Fall author Jim Harrison, dined and cooked at Jimmy Buffett’s home in Key West, witnessed the indigenous wisdom of a Cheyenne medicine woman in Montana, fished countless famed Western trout waters, and so much more. These enchanting essays, along with many of his award-winning photographs, cover all four seasons of the sporting year. Collector captures all the thrills, the disappointments, and the remarkable lessons this world has to pass on to each of us.
Stephen Collector was born in Virginia in 1951. After attending George Washington University for two years, he transferred to the University of Colorado in 1971. A longtime freelance photographer, his book of Stock Detectives, Law of the Range: Portraits of Old-Time Brand Inspectors was published in 1991 by Clark City Press, Livingston, Montana. His feature writing has appeared in The Drake, Anglers Journal, American Angler, The Big Sky Journal, Tail Fly Fishing, Quail Forever Journal, Modern Huntsman, and The Pointing Dog Journal. His photographs have been widely exhibited throughout the West. Collector, who resides in Boulder, Colorado, is a lifelong sportsman. See his website
Terry McDonell is a veteran editor, author, and media executive best known for leading some of America’s great sporting and outdoor magazines, including Outside and Sports Illustrated. His four-decade career earned him a place in the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame, and his memoir The Accidental Life drew on a lifetime spent working alongside some of the most celebrated writers in American letters. See his website
Events being planned: Release at the Mountains and Plains Booksellers FallCon, Denver, Colorado, in October.