Earlier in June Zeke Pipher came to Tesco Productions to record his audiobook The Far Bank. The book is being published by David C. Cook Publishers. The Far Bank is a 40-day collection of devotionals (Christian spiritual thoughts and lessons) for anglers. When I received the script from the publisher and discovered its subject, I sent a reply email advising them we’d try to limit swapping fishing stories so we could actually get the recording done. My contact got back with, “hope you guys have a blast”. We did. In addition to sharing a common interest in fishing, we also discovered Zeke knows relatives of mine and has regular contact with them. He would have pastored my late aunt as well.

The 40-day read/listen covers a number of years of life and fishing experiences that have shaped who Zeke is today. They’ve also inspired him to pass on those lessons (and a fly or two – or more) to others he comes into contact with, and many he’ll never meet in person – at least not in this life. As is my normal practice, once we chose the microphone and setup for recording Zeke’s audiobook, I settled into my primary role of “listening as a listener”. There’s the necessary requirement of catching mistakes in the read, but aside from that I try to assume how I would perceive listening to the book without the benefit of print in front of me. This includes following how my mind is processing the thoughts presented, and suggesting at times an alternate way to read some content. Zeke and I connected well on those ideas and David C. Cook Publishers endorsed having Zeke’s material represented as closely as possible to the author’s wishes. The content is all in the publisher’s hands and will be released soon. I know I for one will never view my fishing outings in quite the same way again. Thank you Zeke.