Zippo Fire Starter

I picked up this Zippo emergency fire starter when I was at the Outdoor Retailer show a few weeks back and since I am doing a fire starting workshop this week I thought this would be a good place to start the gear reviews.

Right out of the package this worked just as pictured on the package. I can see keeping this in a tackle box on canoe trips or just in a general emergency kit. Zippo makes metal and plastic versions of this and I had the plastic one for testing. It's lightweight and the plastic one even floats. Since it is a striker only there is no lighter fluid involved so you don't need to be worried about keeping it refiled for when you need it. It can sit in your emergency kit for years and when the time comes when you actually have to start a fire it will just work.

Issue #2 is now online

I am happy to tell you that the second issue is now online! Check it out here 

WE ARE LIVE!

The website is live! This has been a long time coming but you can see the first issue of The Adventure Bum here it is FREE to download.

Still looking for more stories for future issues, see previous posts for more detail on what we're looking for. Email ALL story ideas to me at 

editor@theadventurebum.com

I look forward to seeing comes in.

To answer a question

A lot of people have been asking what kind of stories I'm looking for, the simplest answer is that I am looking for first person accounts of outdoor adventures. If you have a story that starts off my friends and I.....road our bikes across the US, went on a road trip and everything that could go wrong did, I went into the mountains for an overnight trip and I almost died, I canoed the length of the Mississippi for a summer. Things along those lines but not limited to just those things. What I am NOT looking for would be things like festival reviews or political pieces.
I am paying $200 per story with a minimum of 1000 words with 3-4 photos if possible. Hope that helps clear things up a bit.

Update on the magazine.

Since it's a new year I thought I should update everyone one whats going on with the magazine. I have decided to nix the idea of the print version and go to a digital version for the iPad and then moving into the other tablets.

I am still looking for general outdoor adventure and travel stories in the 1,500 to 3,000 word range with photos as well as stand alone photo stories for the the gallery section.
The fun part about doing this for the e-reader market is that I can combine the print version with what would have been on a website like video. And beyond just stories I would like to add some interviews and some how-to articles to the mix but DON'T want that type of stuff to overpower the rest of the magazine like so many of the other publications do.
People will get paid for any submissions that get published and if you have any ideas feel free to hit me up at editor@theadventurebum.com

What is The Adventure Bum

     

This is a project I started a few years back as a "cheeky" photo project for a calendar, people really liked the images but the calendar was a flop. It was right around this time I was starting to have issues with most adventure magazines, mainly the fact that you were lucky to maybe get one actual first person story the rest was advertising, how-to pieces and write ups on places to go or great towns to live in and while that stuff is good to know it gets repeated pretty regular. I decided to start this site as a place to share stories from my own adventures, the final straw came recently when Backpacker re-ran their Editors Choice gear issue without changing a thing other then slapping a new cover on it. Hell the interior pages still said April 2012 while the cover said July 2012. To me that is bullshit, people are out there everyday having cool adventures but they feel they don't need to tell those stories. 

     Now I want to start my own adventure magazine to tell those stories. I am of the opinion that everyone has some sort of story to tell but they don't have a good outlet to do so. THE ADVENTURE BUM will be an iPad magazine that is NOTHING but stories and photos, Gear reviews or How-To type stuff will be here on the blog but the magazine will just good stories that you might tell while having beers with friends around a campfire. Weekend warriors and seasoned pros are all welcome.
Stories that will be excepted will be just about anything that is some sort of adventure. One issue could have a wide range of stories from climbing and backpacking to road trips, international trips are more then welcome as well. Along with the wide range of subjects I also want people to know that they don't have to water their stories down for mass consumption. When I do find a first person type story in the major magazines it has been so watered down so as to not offend some one or even worse an advertiser the story suffers. So if your style is more Edward Abbey or Hunter S. Thompson you are welcome here.
Stories should average around 1,500+ words and will need to have a couple photos to go with it.  There will also be a gallery section for photographers that will feature 4-5 images from a different photographer each issue. Images should be no larger then 8x12" @ 300ppi. I will be paying for stories and photos on publication. 

Please send all submissions to

editor@theadventurebum.com

and if you have any questions you can send them in an email or if it is something other people might be wondering ask it in the comment section below.

Lets see what we can get going with this.

Great Video

This is a great video, not only does it go a long way to answer the question "WHY" but the visuals are stunning.