ONE Niniltna, June 25 “Lots of spirits all over, this year,”They whisper. —A Quick Brush of Wings, Mary TallMountain They would argue later about when it all began, perhaps with the death in July, or maybe the meeting in Washington, D.C. the month before, or even with the fall of the Berlin Wall in…
This is the cover art (and pre-order links) for the next Kate Shugak novel. I’ll be publishing teeny, tiny excerpts from it in the next four newsletters so you should definitely sign up for it here. This, aspiring authors, is what we in the biz call “promotion.” I wrote about it before here, and I’ll…
Thanks to Nic Cheetham and all the wonderful people at Aries Fiction, today sees the return of the first three Kate Shugak novels in paperback! [There is a buy link beneath each of the cover art images above. In case you were interested.] It’s been about twenty years since Kates 2-9 dematerialized from paperback existence.…
Her first startled glance showed no one in immediate distress, with the exception of Mutt, who had been slumbering peacefully next to the fire. She shot to her feet, looked wildly in every direction, put her muzzle up in an emphatic and unequivocal howl of protest and vanished into the brush. Dieter had produced a…
Excerpt: In his authority as harbormaster Shitting Seagull retained the right to reserve transient parking for ships belonging to such extraterrestrial visitors as wandered out this far on the galactic rim. He had been doing so for twenty years, ever since he first took on the job. The mayor would have fired him for this…
Excerpt: Kate looked from the garage door lying flat on the ground to the cache crumpled up on the opposite side of the yard and sat down hard on the doorstep, the rifle clutched in her hands, waiting for her heart rate to drop below 200. “Breakup,” she said. Fun fact: Breakup has been called…
On the importance of setting. Can’t remember who I wrote this for. The US Coast Guard invited me to do a ridealong on cutter Alex Haley in the Bering Sea in February of 2004. I was invited to write a daily blog from the ship so the shorebound families of the crew could eyewitness as…
Excerpt: There was a large boulder on the near bank, the top worn smooth from years of use by Shugak backsides. Kate sat down. Mutt sat next to her and leaned up against her legs, a warm, heavy presence. They watched the horizon, waiting. At first it was no more than a luminous outlining of…
So…the Kate Shugak series is under option. Again. Yes, this means that someone, brow furrowed, is thinking hard about making a Kate Shugak film or a Kate Shugak television series and paid me money so no one else could think about it for the length of the option. I am not allowed to say who…
Excerpt: Dinah lowered the camera. “This tape is almost full, anyway.” Her eyes were bright and excited. “There’s stories all over this place just walking around on two legs. See that girl over there? She quit her job waitressing to pick mushrooms. Said she could make more money. And that guy? He builds log homes.…
