When the going gets tough, Colden MacIntyre, the main character in Iron Sharpens Iron, gets tougher, taking on the Lake Placid Ironman in an effort to overcome his demons.

Iron Sharpens Iron (Heavy Lift Books, 2020) is the first novel from upstate New York author Herb Terns. Though set mainly in Lake Placid, characters roam throughout the North Country, hiking High Peaks, trail running the Tongue Mountain Range, paddling Lake George and backpacking the Northville-Lake Placid Trail. But the heart of the book is Colden’s quest to win the Ironman, and the strength of the community that helps him through.

“We tend to remember the scars we get in life,” Terns says, “but we don’t always remember all the people who help us along the way. In some ways, the story is a metaphor for the way small towns pull together to help people who need it.”

Terns is a long-time outdoors writer at the Albany Times Union. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoys hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, paddling and camping, but his first triathlon attempt ended in a rare double disqualification.

Iron Sharpens Iron is available online at herbterns.com and through a variety of local booksellers, including The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, The Open Door Bookstore in Schenectady, Market Block Books in Troy, I Love Books! In Delmar and The Book House in Albany.

To learn more about Terns and Iron Sharpens Iron, email trailhed@verizon.net or go to www.herbterns.com. He is also on Twitter at @HJTerns.