Life on the Fly

About the Book

Broadcast on the evening news . . . Hillcrest English teacher and former football star was shot in the back while fly-fishing. David Browning leaves behind a wife and two young children. Authorities have ruled it a hunting accident.

Matthew Blake has only one purpose left in life: to find who murdered his best friend. At the time of his death, David Browning had a loving family and successful career. What does Matthew Blake have? Nothing. Matt Blake is an ex-athlete, ex-husband, and ex-angler . . . a guilt-driven alcoholic and professional failure.

To uncover the murderer, Blake must journey back to his hometown, Hillcrest, where he will be forced to face his past, make new enemies, and learn the meaning of love . . . if he can live long enough.

Life on the Fly is another suspenseful, poignant, and compelling novel set in Schreiber´s richly imagined Ironwood County.

The first novel in the Ironwood County series is the young adult novel, Hillcrest Journal. The second is the adult novel Passing Through Paradise.

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What others are saying about the Ironwood County novels:

“Skillfully told . . . very realistic.” – West Concord Enterprise

“Tough to put down. The themes are masterfully interwoven.” – Byron Review

Helpful Link:

Schreiber has posted some of his published articles, essays, and poems along with book group discussion questions for Life on the Fly at John Schreiber´s Books

About the Author

John Schreiber (born 1954) is an American teacher, theater director, and writer. Originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota, he has taught English and directed over 120 plays in southern Minnesota since 1976. During that time he also helped pioneer teaching over interactive television and developed one of the first concurrent enrollment courses with a local college. He has received numerous awards including Ashland Oil's "Golden Apple Award," and the "Selection of Excellence" from the MN Alliance for the Arts. In 2003, he was a finalist for Minnesota's Teacher of the Year, and in 2012 he was Minnesota's first Theater Educator of the Year. His Ironwood County novels, ("Hillcrest Journal," "Passing Through Paradise," and "Life on the Fly") draw on many of his teaching experiences in rural Minnesota. His collection of short stories, "Tales from 2 A.M." features stories written over the course of many years. Each story is written in a style designed to match the theme. Influences for these stories can be found in sources as diverse as Ray Bradbury and Mark Twain. For his fifth novel, the epic fantasy "Heartstone," Schreiber employed a cinematic, real-time style that brings an extra immediacy to the action. After promising himself never to write a novel as complicated as "Heartstone" again, he broke that promise and wrote the sequel "Heartstone: Under the Shadow." He is currently working on a fourth novel in the Ironwood County series.