49 Writers Online Book Club Selection: And She Was

From several outstanding nominees, our readers have selected Cindy Dyson's And She Was as our next online book club selection. We look forward to an engaging discussion September 28 and 29. If you haven't participated in our online format yet, allow me this little plug: it's a great way to engage with other readers without having to get dressed up, go out, bring snacks, or warm up with small talk. You can lurk or chat, coming and going as you please over the two-day discussion period. Several months ago we hosted some informal dialogue about Dyson's book, especially its treatment of Aleut culture, so I'm looking forward to re-reading it with that in mind.

The publisher's synopsis from the paperback edition of And She Was:

"Sweeping across centuries and into the Aleutian Islands of Alaska's Bering Sea, And She Was begins with a decision and a broken taboo when three starving Aleut mothers decide to take their fate into their own hands. Two hundred and fifty years later, by the time Brandy, a floundering, trashy, Latin-spewing cocktail waitress, steps ashore in the 1980s, Unalaska Island has absorbed their dark secret—a secret that is both salvation and shame.

In a tense interplay between past and present, And She Was explores Aleut history, mummies, conquest, survival, and the seamy side of the 1980s in a fishing boomtown at the edge of the world, where a lost woman struggles to understand the gray shades between heroism and evil, and between freedom and bondage."

And from Dyson's bio: "The author of eight books for young adults, Cindy Dyson grew up in Alaska. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Backpacker, First for Women, Women's World, and other publications. She now lives near Glacier Park, Montana." We'll hope to run an author interview prior to our discussion. In the meantime, find yourself a copy of the book and start reading.

49 Writers Weekly Roundup

Head out from the city, and the leaves are starting to turn. That can only mean one thing: it's time to choose a title for our 49 Writers Fall Online Book Club discussion. Vote in the side bar to the right (below are links to descriptions and reviews of all nominated titles). Polling closes at 8 a.m. Monday, August 31, with the discussion scheduled for September 28 and 29.

If our book club selection isn't enough to keep you busy, you might want to check out President Obama's vacation reading list, sent in by reader Michael Engelhard.

Looking for another great activity? Anchorage nature writer and author Bill Sherwonit will teach Writing Down the Wild, a 12-week nature writing class beginning Sept. 17. Participants in this workshop-style class will explore and refine their own writing styles, with an emphasis on the personal essay form. The class will also read and discuss works by some of America’s finest nature writers, past and present. The cost is $200. To sign up for this Thursday night class (7 to 9:30 p.m.), or for more information, contact Sherwonit at 245-0283 or akgriz@hotmail.com.

Alaska's State Writer Laureate Nancy Lord is on the move, visiting libraries and bookstores in conjunction with the publication of her new book Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life (University of Nebraska Press). During each of her visits to Kodiak, Sutton, Wasilla, Palmer, and Talkeetna, she'll also be meeting with library supporters to share the Homer experience of successful fundraising for their new library.

Nancy Lord’s September Appearance Schedule:

Sept. 11 Kodiak Public Library, 7 p.m., reading and talk

Sept. 12 Kodiak, The Next Page Bookstore, 1-3 p.m. book signing

Sept. 14 Homer, Bunnell Street Arts Center, 7 p.m. book party for Rock, Water, Wild: An Alaskan Life

Sept. 15 Anchorage, 7 p.m., Alaska Writers Guild, Barnes & Noble store, "Literary, Popular, Genre, Journalistic: One Writer's Take on Labels, Goals, and Definitions of Good Writing"

Sept. 16 Sutton Public Library, 7:30 p.m., reading and talk

Sept. 17 Talkeetna, Denali Arts Center at The Hangar, 6 p.m. reception co-sponsored with Talkeetna Public Library
7-9 writers workshop

Sept. 18 Talkeetna Public Library, 6 p.m. reading/talk

Sept. 19 Wasilla, 10-11:30 Walden Books book signing
2 p.m. Wasilla city hall council chambers, reading/talk sponsored by Wasilla library

Sept. 20 Palmer Public Library, 2 p.m. reading/talk
4-5 Book signing at Fireside Books

Sept. 28 Anchorage, 6 p.m. reading/talk/book signing at Title Wave Books

This week I received word that my book Totem Tale has been selected as a read-aloud book for around 40,000 children in 50 public elementary schools in Washington, DC through the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) DC Initiative (“DCI”), a special program facilitating free book distribution and motivational activities. All children in participating schools get to choose a free book to keep at each of the three book distribution events held during the school year. Totem Tale will be featured in the first book distribution event during November, which is American Indian Heritage Month

Amazon self-publishing, part II : a final guest post by Ned Rozell

In my last post, I promised another on the pros and cons of my self-publishing experience. I published Alaska Tracks with an Amazon company called createspace. I liked both elements of that compound word, so I gave them a try.

First, what I didn’t like so much: I never once spoke to a human being. All e-mail contact, and even that in a robotic format. You create pdfs of your cover and your book’s innards, two pdfs in all for a book like mine, and send them to createspace. They whip them together and send you a proof copy. I really wanted to talk with someone at the company, but ended up typing all my questions into this form-letter format and sending it off to them.

But, someone always seemed to hear my pleas, because my proofs were always changed, and never offered for sale until I gave the thumbs-up. And when I’ve had other minor issues, like shipping to the wrong address once, they gave me a few free books.

I also haven’t cracked the distribution nut with createspace. It’s available on Amazon and my own site, but I haven’t gotten it into the stream of Alaska distribution or distribution elsewhere. (But having it on Amazon alone ain’t too bad, as Deb said).

I’ve set up accounts with a few booksellers where I send them to the createspace website with a discount code that’s easy to set up. That has kept the books out of my garage, which is one of my goals. The book, however, has appeared on the shelves of very few bookstores. If you want it in yours, give me a jingle.

Now, on to what I really like about this method: I chose my title, the book’s photos, and the general look and feel of it. It’s my baby and I’ve not yet complained about my publisher to another writer. I check every night to see the sales, and point to the ceiling like Big Papi when I sell one (like tonight!). Createspace deposits my profits right into my checking account, and sends me an account summary every week.

Mostly, I just like that someone in Des Moines can order my book when I’m sleeping on a gravel bar. Amazon ships it off and deposits $7.50 in my account, and that’s that. The books are printed on demand and shipped off, no extras. I like the feel of it all.

This method, of course, is something you’ll never touch if you have an agent and big publisher to muscle your book out there. And I’m working with University of Alaska Press on another book (and am enjoying that human touch). But for some projects, like Alaska Tracks, it’s a nice option that wasn’t this easy five years ago.

If you have questions about the process and you don’t want to clog the comments section (but I’ll check there too), I’ll answer them at nedrozell@gmail.com. Finally, I’ll stop yakkin here with a thanks to Deb and Andromeda for inventing this site and creating a community, pulling together we isolationists and others who choose to write.

49 Writers Publisher Interview: Alaska Geographic

"Niche publishing will likely stay stronger than national publishing companies and Alaska has its own special appeal that works to our advantage." That's the good news from Lisa Oakley, Projects Director at Alaska Geographic. Continuing our series on independent and regional publishers, Oakley explains the special niche and unique opportunities associated with Alaska Geographic.

Tell us about your company. Who started it? Why? Which books were among the first you published? What niche do you hold in the marketplace?

Alaska Geographic does not fit the typical publishing model. We are a non-profit organization that partners with land management agencies to connect people to Alaska’s parks, forests, and refuges. Everything we publish is produced in collaboration with our agency partners. In addition to our publishing program, we operate 48 bookstores at public land visitor centers across Alaska, offer hands-on education programs and field courses, and provide financial support for our partners’ interpretive programs.

Alaska Geographic was incorporated in 1959 by National Park Service employees in what was then Mount McKinley National Park (today’s Denali National Park). At the time, visitation was on the increase yet little information was available about the park or its natural and cultural history. Alaska Geographic was created to fill that information gap. Our first publication, Mammals of Mount McKinley by Adolph Murie, was released in 1962. Since then we have published hundreds of Alaska books, maps, films, and other interpretive products for public land locations throughout the state.

Our publications focus on the natural and cultural heritage of Alaska’s parks, forests, and refuges. Many serve a distinct need for the visitors and neighbors of public lands, helping fill information gaps that might otherwise be neglected due to the limited commercial market for such titles.

Many of you might confuse us with the old Alaska Geographic Society, who published a series of quarterly journals for nearly three decades. Sadly that organization ceased to exist in 2003. Around that time, our organization (then known as the Alaska Natural History Association, or ANHA) was looking for a more memorable and meaningful name that better reflected the increasingly broad scope of our mission. We were lucky to acquire the trademark for Alaska Geographic. In 2008 we re-branded ourselves as Alaska Geographic with a new name, look, and website.

Our mission is very similar in spirit to that of the old Society and we are proud to carry it forward into the future. Just this year we entered into an agreement with Alaska Northwest Books to re-release old Society journals under the Alaska Geographic brand. The first, Secrets of the Northern Lights, was released in spring 2009. We look forward to working with the Alaska Northwest team to re-release more titles in the future.

We primarily sell our titles through our own bookstores, though in 2009 we contracted with Taku Graphics to act as our sales rep for other venues. We’ve seen a nice response to their marketing efforts and are steadily expanding the broader distribution of our titles beyond just our stores.

What are some of your best-selling titles? Has there been a shift in what readers expect and which Alaskan authors/books do well?

Titles that do well for us are typically either site-specific or topic-specific publications. For example, our newest release—Silent Storytellers of Totem Bight State Historical Park by Tricia Brown—has been flying off the shelves at our store at Totem Bight. No other park-specific publication exists and visitors are eager to learn while they’re on location. Topic-specific titles like Sculpted by Ice: Glaciers and the Alaska Landscape by Michael Collier also do well due to their broad appeal; we can sell them at most of our bookstores due to their more general coverage of Alaska topics.

How many books do you typically publish each year? In which genres? Over the years, what kinds of changes have you made to your list?

We release two to four new titles annually. Most are site-specific publications written for an adult audience. Almost all are maps, guides, natural history books, or general interpretive publications, though we have added a few broader topical titles and children’s books to our line in recent years.

Prior to 2000, most of our content and material was developed by the relevant park, forest, or refuge and typically written by an agency staff person. In the past decade, however, we have centralized publishing efforts in our Anchorage office and now think more strategically about future titles. For example, we have developed series that connect different parks, forests, and refuges with a common look and format. Our trails series—Sitka Trails, Juneau Trails, and Kenai Trails—is a good example of this new direction.

Describe your ideal author. In other words, if one of us wanted to wow you with a proposed project, how would we do it?

We rarely publish proposals received from outside our agency relationships, and evaluate any proposed titles using several key criteria. Is it relevant to a specific park, forest, or refuge or to Alaska’s public lands in general? Is the proposal a developing idea or a complete manuscript? Proposals that include a manuscript and/or fully designed publication are difficult for us to accept. Everything we publish is done in collaboration with our agency partners and we need to work closely with them in developing—and approving—any publication project. Authors need to be willing to work within that partnership model and be responsive to agency needs, requests, and feedback.

Most of what we publish is done as a work for hire rather than royalty-based. Our ideal authors meet deadlines, but also communicate when they need more time or have a concern with the project. They do their research and write from knowledge. They have a beautiful way with words, but aren’t offended at being asked to change their carefully crafted text. They understand that their work will be reviewed and scrutinized by our agency partners. And they understand that it may take years before their book is finally published.

The economy has hit publishing hard. Are you seeing any encouraging signs? What is the future for small and regional publishers?

Niche publishing will likely stay stronger than national publishing companies and Alaska has its own special appeal that works to our advantage. I do think that we are on the edge of radical change in publishing world as digital delivery devices become commonplace and consumers increasingly demand and expect information in other than print format.

What do you most want to communicate to readers about your books and to writers about submissions?

If an author has a great idea and is willing to go through our rigorous review process, we would love to hear about it early in the creative process so that we can develop it in full partnership with the appropriate agency. Writers interested in future opportunities should submit a resume and writing samples.

And the winner is...

After a record voter turnout, and a good close race: "Ode to Stinkin." I'll be contacting the winner to arrange delivery of an autographed Ray Troll t-shirt of the writer's choice. Many thanks to all who entered, voted, and spread the word about our contest. We'll look forward to another when salmon season rolls around next year.

On to our next poll: this quarter's book club selection. Nominated were Cindy Dyson's And She Was, Thomas Wharton's Icefields, and Marcel Theroux's Far North. We'll add those to Being Caribou, Firecracker Boys, and Raising Ourselves, all nominated earlier this year, and set up another poll for readers to choose our next selection. By clicking on the Shelfari links in the sidebar, you'll get complete information about each title. Voting closes at 8 a.m. AST on Monday, August 31, and the book discussion will be September 28 and 29.

And to add a good laugh to your Monday, here once again is the winner of our Ode to a Dead Salmon contest:

"Ode to Stinkin’"

Dead salmon in the middle of the path stinking to high heaven—Ancient folk song (Circa, 1973)

O Humpy! An eagle dropped you in the park,
a cyclist ran over you in the dark.
O beautiful salmon! Putrefied and parched
atop you a hundred tourists marched.

And there you decayed and stank in the sun,
when I happened on you during a morning run.
I paused to move you from the path
so as not to encounter a bruin’s wrath.

But then, O Humpy! I saw your eyes
and thought you must have once been wise.
to swim so far from the ocean’s deep,
navigating currents your scent did keep.

You finned and spermed in the riverbed
and left your babies on the mud-bank’s edge.
Sad now, though, those sloughing scales,
but your end is better than my own sad tale.

O Humpy! I buried you beside the trail
and then at once I started to wail.
See, I’d been out there runnin’ and a thinkin’
about my ole’ man and all his drinkin’.

Bout how his eyes are glossy and thick
and when he smooches me, I just feel sick.
His hugs feel more like a nasty squish,
no six-pack abs as I’d once wished.

O Splendid Humpy!
Lover or fish, does it really matter?
Seems I'd rather smell the rot of the latter.
But what’s an Alaskan girl to think

cause after a while—they all start to stink.

"Our" Stinky Poetry on the Radio

Did anyone else hear the Alaska Fisheries Report yesterday (from Kodiak public radio station KMXT 110.1)? By chance, I turned on during the end and heard one of our "Ode to a Dead Salmon" finalists' poems being read, with a plug for the voting happening now at 49 writers. Made me so proud!

Don't forget to vote!

49 writers weekly round-up

Votes are pouring in, and you still have a few days left to cast yours for the best of the best in our Ode to a Dead Salmon Contest Polling (see sidebar to the right) ends Monday, August 24 at 8 a.m; one vote per reader, please Many thanks to the Anchorage Daily News for featuring the contest in yesterday's Alaska Newsreader.

Also closing Monday: nominations for our next 49 writers online book club discussion, currently scheduled for September 28 and 29. Leave your nomination as a comment or email me at debv@gci.net. It's fine to nominate a book that has been nominated before, as long as it's one we haven't read yet.

A reminder from the Rasmuson Foundation that the only Individual Artist Award application deadline, as of 2009, is once a year in March. There is NO September deadline. Due to the increased cost of convening review panels, it was decided that the funds would be put to better use in maintaining the number of grants to Alaskan artists. The NEXT (and only) DEADLINE for Individual Artist Award applications is MARCH 1, 2010.

Fairbanks author Marie Reid is marketing her new book Spirit Basket. Written with pre-teen and early teen readers in mind, the novel features historical events as experienced by an Alaska Native family. Each chapter is a new adventure of a new generation, reverently repeated and passed on with the basket across Alaska. Events span more than two centuries, yet the book length is under 150 pages. A Teaching Guide is available from the author (jeep.marie@earthlink.net). The book is listed for $11.95 at Author House, Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. The author has a supply on hand and offers a 20% discount for orders of 10 or more ($9.55).

Finally, from Harper Collins authonomy comes the chance to have your short story published in Angry Robot author Lauren Beukes' next book. In order to enter, all you need to do is write a short story (up to 3000 words) based in the universe Lauren created in her first novel, Moxyland. Use characters, themes and settings from her book to create your own work. Moxyland is available to read on authonomy now. The closing date for entries is September 11th 2009, and winners will be announced at this year's FantasyCon which will be taking place in Nottingham, UK. For more information, go to http://www.fantasycon.org.uk

From Cold to Cod: Thoughts on Unwritten Books

Nancy Lord’s review of Bill Streever’s Cold -- with its hint of understandable envy about the general subject, which so many of us would have enjoyed writing about -- reminded me of all those books we think of authoring, but don’t. My favorite unwritten book taught me some important lessons.

In the summer of 1993, I found myself in a small town in Nova Scotia down the coast from where I had recently settled with my husband Brian, asking for permission to board a docked Russian trawler that the local fishermen had surrounded with their smaller boats, holding the big vessel hostage as an international demonstration of their desperation about overexploited fish stocks.

It was a strange and exciting scene, and both the local fishermen and the Russian hostages were surprisingly civil, though tense. A carton of cigarettes was all it took to get aboard the trawler, and a nervous young blond man in a white t-shirt and loose jeans – a James Dean with a Russian accent – gladly showed me around, answered my questions as well as he could, and let me shoot some photographs.

I wasn’t a journalist. But I knew there was a great story in this cod drama, in this cod story in general, which might open out into larger issues: how a government had mismanaged a fishery so profoundly, how Newfoundlanders and Nova Scotians would struggle to adapt to their changing fortunes, and the strange history of the codfish itself, which had lured so many Europeans to North America in the first place. I loved books like Diane Ackerman’s Natural History of the Senses and I hoped one could write a book about a specific topic like fish, including all the kinds of peculiar anecdotes and sensual details that made Ackerman’s writing so wonderful.

But I was young and inexperienced, and I had no idea to proceed. I’d written one guidebook (to kayaking Baja California) and read lots of literary nonfiction, but I’d never tackled a more serious nonfiction book. I was finishing up an obscure graduate degree – an “M.M.M.” or Master of Marine Management degree, encompassing fisheries management and international law. That provided some good background, and good contacts, I suppose.

One of those contacts, a professor of maritime anthropology, met me in his office and listened to my post-graduation plan to write a book for the general reader about the “cod crisis.”

My memory of his response, paraphrased of course: “I’ve studied fisheries my whole life. And even I wouldn’t want to read that book.”

But of course, he was probably right. Who would want to read a book about cod? What was I thinking?

And I had further evidence as well: the national magazine that had shown brief interest in my article about the Russian trawler later rejected it as insignificantly newsworthy. (Though they did run a short news item including some of my information, without crediting me. What can you do?)

You know where this story ends, don’t you? Four years later, Mark Kurlansky published a little book called Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. Not only was it a bestseller, but it started an amazing trend in detailed and idiosyncratic “micro-histories” that persists today.

If this sounds like sour grapes, it isn’t. The cod story makes me smile every time I think about it. I think of the aging, burned-out professor and what I’ve learned since – people who are tired of their jobs are tired of everything; don’t listen to them!

I think of Kurlansky’s unlikely bestseller, which was a boon to all nonfiction writers interested in idiosyncratic topics. I think of myself, too young at the time to realize that it isn’t the subject that matters, it’s the way it is handled. And truly, I think my book would not have found the same audience as Kurlansky’s – I would have stressed the alarming environmental crisis over the history; I would have preached instead of charmed; I would have crammed in too much science and filled too many pages. I wouldn’t have thought to include recipes.

Today, I would do it better. But today is too late (never mind that one bestseller about cod might be all the market can tolerate). Now I’m interested in other things – ancient statues and World War II art collecting, bicycling and cuneiform last year, old cellists and Spanish history a few years before that. Thank goodness I’ve stopped listening to most people, most of the time, who tell me what “no one would want to read,” or I would have given up long ago.

When I do book signings, I still get people who come up to me and say, because they’ve traveled some place I have traveled or shared some interest : “I could have written that book.”

I just smile, and try to be encouraging.

I don’t say to them: “But you didn’t write it. You just thought about writing it.”

Self-publishing without shame: guest post by Ned Rozell

“My book is self-published.”

Loser is the first word that flashes into your head when you hear that, right? If his/her material were good enough, a conventional publisher would have taken the risk.

For my latest book, Alaska Tracks, I didn't want or try to find a publisher. Here’s why: After I sent queries to publishers for my first book, Walking my Dog, Jane; from Valdez to Prudhoe Bay along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, three said they wanted the proposal, and two wanted the manuscript. I sent it, and Duquesne University Press published the book.

That was a decent experience, even though they couldn’t pay an advance on royalties, and offered a little more than a buck in royalties for each $24.95 hardcover they sold. Curious after meeting only via email and letter, I visited my publishing contact there once when I had a layover in Pittsburgh. She bought me lunch in the Catholic university’s cafeteria. That ham sandwich was one of the biggest perks of my deal.

Upon my urging, she decided to sell the rights of my book to Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. in Portland in 2005. Since my contract stated I’d get half of that cash, I was pretty happy. But I still haven’t seen it all. Shortly after the sale, Graphic Arts sent me and other authors a form letter that they were going bankrupt and not to expect any checks for a while. And, no, they weren’t interested in selling me the rights to my book while they dug themselves out.

Fresh off that experience, I didn’t consider using a traditional publisher as I gathered material for my third book, a sequel to Walking Jane. I knew editors I could hire. I knew an artist who could design a cover for me. Why did I need to beg for someone to publish my new book? Why give away all my control to people I might never meet face to face? I knew my stuff was good.

So, without Writer’s Shame, I looked into what self-publishers were offering writers who can spell and have an eye for layout. Some offered decent distribution in exchange for about $1,000 cash. Others, including an Amazon.com company, offered less on the distribution end, but wanted only a modest cut of each title sold. I went with them, paid them $0, and have sold on Amazon at a clip that has rivaled my other books, with a return of $7.50 to me on each $16.95 book. And, since the books are print-on-demand, the only ones in my house are the ones I order to give away or use at book signings. The details, and what I believe are the pluses and minuses of my self-publishing option, in my next post.

Ode to a Dead Salmon: The Finalists

Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for. Thanks to authors Bill Sherwonit, Nancy Lord, and our own Andromeda Romano-Lax for narrowing the field of fine entries in our Ode to a Dead Salmon contest.

Submissions came from around the world, including Hawaii, Malta (where we're told there are no salmon), and the Lower Forty-eight as well as Alaska. "This really was fun," wrote one contestant. "I vote for more silly contests." Another said, "It was fun writing this poem. I was supposed to be writing seriously but got sidetracked on the internet." Sidetracked? We like to think of it as expanding your creative vision. Besides, what other quick, fun diversion offers the chance to win an autographed Ray Troll t-shirt of your choice?

Now, dear readers, in the interest of all stinky writing, here is your task. Posted below, in reverse order by date received, are the three finalists. Have a look, then cast a vote for your favorite in the right sidebar poll. You can vote for your own entry, but only one vote per reader, please. Voting closes Monday, August 24 at 8 a.m.


"Ode to Stinkin’"

Dead salmon in the middle of the path stinking to high heaven—Ancient folk song (Circa, 1973).

O Humpy! An eagle dropped you in the park,
a cyclist ran over you in the dark.
O beautiful salmon! Putrefied and parched
atop you a hundred tourists marched.

And there you decayed and stank in the sun,
when I happened on you during a morning run.
I paused to move you from the path
so as not to encounter a bruin’s wrath.

But then, O Humpy! I saw your eyes
and thought you must have once been wise.
to swim so far from the ocean’s deep,
navigating currents your scent did keep.

You finned and spermed in the riverbed
and left your babies on the mud-bank’s edge.
Sad now, though, those sloughing scales,
but your end is better than my own sad tale.

O Humpy! I buried you beside the trail
and then at once I started to wail.
See, I’d been out there runnin’ and a thinkin’
about my ole’ man and all his drinkin’.

Bout how his eyes are glossy and thick
and when he smooches me, I just feel sick.
His hugs feel more like a nasty squish,
no six-pack abs as I’d once wished.

O Splendid Humpy!
Lover or fish, does it really matter?
Seems I'd rather smell the rot of the latter.
But what’s an Alaskan girl to think

cause after a while—they all start to stink.



"Why as a Mighty Salmon I Will Not Leave"

Do not cry for me, I shall not leave
those who share my love
my spawn
I swim against the great river that is ours thereon

'neath soaring peaks and o'er frost heaves
put here to remind that I am me
why I am me
that I am humbly great

Nature calls me to my dream so that my scales slip off the sexist critique
(for the fact that I have eggs and vast stores of oil)
and like chill water off the feathers of the migratory goose so courageously
departs
corruptions of an evil coast elite

so shall I too defy the hooks and devious nets of socialist media
who seek to fillet and hang me to dry
but I shall never die

I repel those maggots and sea lice that infest
by leaps across the surge chill waters pure
very like brave soldiers sent to save our cherished Land

not fish but woman and man
for I am best
and writhe against cruel microscopes of logic choppers
scientists who work for godless enemy's behest
Their secret motives bald
but mightier than they for I am called
I will not decay yet I shall spawn
and swim against the flow 'til all else is gone


"Oh Dear Deceased Chum"

Oh dear deceased Chum , 'tis such a mournful thing
That you were never loved like the Alaskan King
For it is his remains that connoisseurs have selected
While your poor body has been quickly rejected

So now as I gaze into your vacant eyes
What your life was like , I can only surmise
But it must have begun with a spawning ritual
That would be for your parents, never habitual

With their bodies quivering next to one another
Your dad did his thing and so did your mother
So did they say to you, "Little Egg", before they died
"The sex was disappointing but at least we tried"

You hatched as an orphan with orphan siblings galore
And you grew and swam aimlessly not far from the shore
But did you wonder at all before your migration
What would be your journey toward self-actualization?

Was it perhaps in the ocean when you felt most alive?
Did you then wonder toward which goal you should strive?
Did other sea creatures laugh at you with mirth
When you decided to return to the place of your birth

Against many obstacles you struggled and won
You swam back to the place where your life had begun
But then you did that spawning thing and started to die
Preparing yourself for that sweet fishy bye and bye

But now your sad corpse lies on a food market shelf
Where a beautiful King salmon is compared to yourself
And a poor Chum salmon just cannot compete
In flavor, in texture, and especially in meat

Oh will you be remembered in your children's genealogy?
As a very inferior salmon in the world's ichthyology?
Yet although you were rejected, you are not a total loss
Because you're really not so bad, with enough tartar sauce

Book Club Nominations

It's time once again to choose a book for the 49 Writers online book club discussion. Here's how it works: we take nominations through your comments, then poll to select a book. Those who choose to participate have approximately one month to read the book so they can join in an online discussion; this time, we're looking at a discussion toward the end of September. Our previous discussions have been weekend events, but we may shake things up and have a Monday-Tuesday discussion period on September 28 and 29.

To refresh your memories, we've already read and discussed John Straley's The Big Both Ways, Seth Kantner's Ordinary Wolves, and Miranda Weiss's Tide, Feather, Snow. Books nominated in the past can be nominated again; these include And She Was, Being Caribou, Firecracker Boys, and Raising Ourselves. Nominated titles should either be written by Northern authors or set in the North.

To nominate a book for discussion, leave a comment below. You don't have to justify or explain a nomination unless you want to; just leave the title. You know the drill: click the button that says (number) comments below, write your comment in the box, type the silly-looking spam control letters, choose an identity (anonymous is fine), and wait for confirmation that your comment has been posted. Easy enough. We'll gather up the nominations next Monday morning, August 24, and set up a poll so readers can choose their favorite from among the nominated titles.

49 writers weekly round-up

Time's running out: our Ode to a Dead Salmon contest ends at midnight tomorrow, Saturday, August 15. Check out the great entries we've received so far and send yours to debv@gci.net. It's fun! It's free! It's easy! And you'll have a chance to win an autographed Ray Troll t-shirt of your choice! Finalists will be announced early next week, with online polling to determine the winner.

Speaking of online polling, we're gearing up for our quarterly 49 writers book club discussion. Next week I'll ask for book nominations, and we'll follow up with a poll to choose the book. Discussion will be mid- to late September.

On the horizon are some great opportunities for Alaskan authors. From the Alaska Writers Guild comes a reminder about the 2009 Alaska Writers Workshop to be held Saturday and Sunday, August 22 & 23 at the Coast International Inn in Anchorage. "Authors, agents, publishers, editors, and publicity professionals will be here for two full days of exciting, stimulating, helpful instruction and discussion about your writing," says the Guild. "For the rock bottom price of $245 ($220 if you are a Guild member) you can rub shoulders with, eat with, and discuss writing with these professionals who can boost you along in your quest for better writing skills and publication."

For writers and readers, the Alaska Sisters in Crime are hosting "No Rest for the Wicked," a weekend in Seward. For a mere $50 (plus one night at the Hotel Seward; special rate of $89 if you register by August 21), you'll learn craft from Alaska author Sue Henry, discover how to assess your scene's "level of consciousness" and learn about police and prison procedures in Alaska and Seward. The event begins with a reception and no host bar at the hotel 8 pm Friday. The guest of honor is Sue Henry, and the guest lecturer is Diane Gedymin, author of Get Published: Professionally, Affordably, Fast!To register, e-mail info@aksinc and they'll send you a registration form.

Also, great news from Ann Chandonnay, who'll be one of our featured authors later this year. Her ‘Write Quick’ (Civil War) manuscript has been accepted by Winoca Press of North Carolina/Texas. ‘Write Quick’: War and a Woman’s Life in Letters, 1835-1867 is a collection of previously unpublished letters focusing on two men and one woman, before, during and after the Civil War. Ann and co-author Roberta Pevear are descendants of the authors of the letters. Ann is already busy compiling a master mailing list of libraries interested in Civil War topics as well as magazines and newspapers that might review the book, so any suggests you have would be welcome. The book will be about 600 pages, available in spring 2010.

Last but not least, Alaskan author Bill Sherwonit and his book Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska's Arctic Wilderness are mentioned in a post this week on the Sierra Club's blog. As a reminder of how much that sort of thing matters, check out agent Nathan Bransford's post "The Myth of 'Just an Author.'"

Introducing Ned Rozell, our August featured author

Hey. Ned here. Good to meet you.

I’ve hit this blog many times since it was born, and I’m glad for the chance to plant some words into it. First, an intro:

I earn all my money from writing. I’m a half-time science writer for the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and have for 15 years written a weekly column for Alaska newspapers and any web venue that wants to host it. Since 2001, I’ve had a steady gig with Alaska magazine, first as an adventure writer, now as a natural history writer (there have been less wilderness adventures since my daughter was born).

I’m probably not a typical reader of this blog. For one thing, I don’t read many books. Sorry, I probably haven’t read yours. Most of my reading is on a computer screen. I read every word this guy writes.

I don’t like writer events, conferences or book signings, though I have enjoyed the camaraderie this blog provides. I think Sarah Palin did a good job as governor and think writing a bio of her family would be a blast. But I never got that email.

I’m an author with three books on the shelves, the last one—gasp—self-published. That experience in this ever-changin’ world will be the subject of my August posts. Stay tuned.

Nancy Lord on Bill Streever's "Cold"

What brilliant marketing--to publish a book that celebrates cold, in the middle of a hot summer. In those parts of the world where people actually vacation (as in relax with a book) in summer, as opposed to Alaska where we do the opposite during our all-too-brief go-for-it season, what could be more pleasurable than reading about animals that freeze into icy lumps, the search for absolute zero (460 degrees below zero Fahrenheit), death by hypothermia, and piloerection (look it up.) Outsiders have clearly taken to Cold: Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places, the new (first) book by Anchorage’s Bill Streever. The book has already won a raft of great reviews including not one but two in the New York Times, one of which graced the cover of its Sunday book review section. See this one and this one, too.

I’m jealous, of course. Not just at the book’s success, which is well-deserved, but at the very idea of it. As a reader I was completely absorbed in all the stories of Arctic and Antarctic adventurers, deadly blizzards, refrigeration inventors, animal and plant adaptations, the ice ages that have come and gone—loving every detail about the workings of bird feathers and migrations, how some crazy guy rode way high in a gas balloon to look at snowflakes, and the cold’s influence on Mary Shelley’s writing of Frankenstein. As a writer I was paying attention to the “how” of it. How did this writer put together such a wealth of material and make it so fascinating?

In his acknowledgments section (the first thing I read in any book) Streever says he was inspired in his approach by Robert Twigger’s The Extinction Club, a book I don’t know but now would like to—credited with being part of the “new nature writing” that combines musing and wit with the story, in Twigger’s case, of a species of deer facing extinction. Cold reminds me, as well, of Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky’s very anecdotal (including recipes) narrative that convinces even the most fish-adverse reader that that species and everything it’s touched are the most interesting things ever heard of. Cold has this same effect on me—the science, history, personal history, musing, quotations, all of it racing me through what amounts to, practically, a history of the world.

Structurally, Cold is arranged in chapters corresponding to months of a year, with the author located within those months—whether he’s on the North Slope looking for polar bear dens, swimming in the pool at Chena Hot Springs, or sitting in a Boston traffic jam and thinking about the end of our ice age. The narrative takes off from these focal points, in a kind of organic growth where one idea leads to the next. Everything’s loosely--sometimes very loosely--connected to cold-related topics, and the whole is always in motion, returning to certain images (like the “pet” caterpillars he placed in his freezer and hoped to revive), never repeating but, instead, circling outward into greater explorations.

But it’s not just content and structure that make Streever’s book so terrific. It’s the quality of that thing we call “voice,” the way he speaks to readers—friendly, informed, curious and passionate himself about all things cold, funny. He’s astonishingly skilled at synthesizing what he’s read, experienced, and knows into prose that’s clear, lively, even poetic. He breaks down scientific concepts into stories and explanations that are readily understood by us English majors, and he does this without distorting or oversimplifying the science or by talking down to readers.

If all scientists could only write so well, we might have a scientifically literate citizenry. And, boy, could we use that. Writers who are not scientists might also learn something from this book about how to approach and present science.

This is one book where readers will not want to overlook the extensive “notes” in the back. Streever not only cites his sources there but elaborates on them and on the subjects they address, fascinating esoterica all.

Quibbles? As much as I love this book, there are two things I found a little curious. Streever brings to life all sorts of historical personages, but he’s oddly reticent about naming any of the living. In describing his own adventures, he refers to “companions,” leaving them nameless and faceless. Even when he’s interviewing other scientists, they’re referred to as, for example, “the Russian.” (This appears to be Vladimir Romanovsky, the permafrost expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, oft-quoted in the media.) I’m all for protecting the identities of people who, for one reason or another, don’t want to be identified in a book, but the contrast here between the living and the dead just seemed odd to me.

My second minor protest has to do with Streever’s handling of the global warming/climate change issue. He doesn’t avoid it; it underlies the whole concept of the book, the celebration of cold and the awareness that there’s less of it as the earth warms. I just wish Streever had connected the dots more. He’s clearly concerned, and the final chapter goes the farthest to be explicit about the dangers of permafrost thaw and the loss of sea ice. He explicitly blames the Industrial Revolution and the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. But he also quotes several deniers—those who want to believe global warming has nothing to do with human activities—without challenging them. He finds “good news” in the fact that the planet isn’t warming evenly and that a change in ocean currents may make Europe “pleasantly frigid.”

Who is this Bill Streever? I don’t know him, and he seems to have caught other Alaskan writers by surprise, as in where has this amazing writer been hiding? If you Google around, you’ll find he works for BP (that’s the Beyond Petroleum oil company) on the North Slope. Nothing I’ve read or heard suggests that he’s anything but an honest biologist, one who has previously worked for universities and governments, authored many papers, and volunteered for worthy causes. I don’t believe anything about his present day-job compromises this book. We can surely use more of his kind--scientists who can write, not just readably, but beautifully, and who present the world as they know it with such thoughtfulness and delight.

Check out the book’s website. There’s some great stuff there, including a short video of Streever building a snow cave.

49 Writers Publisher Interview: McRoy and Blackburn

Continuing our series on small and regional publishers, we bring you this interview with Carla Helffrich, editor at McRoy and Blackburn.

Tell us about McRoy and Blackburn. Who started it? Why? Which books were among the first you published? What niche do you hold in the marketplace?

It’s all my fault…I was the (first real) editor for the University of Alaska Press, and for very good reasons, its editorial board then limited potential publications to “scholarly nonfiction relevant to Alaska, the Arctic, and the North Pacific rim.” This led to some painful decisions when good fiction—my area of greatest interest—came sailing over the transom, often with sad notes saying in effect, “I know you don’t usually publish fiction, but could you think of making an exception? They just don’t get it in New York.” A real low point came when I read a draft of Velma Wallis’s first book and had to send her to Epicenter (in fact, my husband made a point of introducing me at gatherings for some time thereafter with, “Meet the editor who rejected Two Old Women”). But the last straw came when a good friend (and published author) showed me the much-rejected manuscript he had of a children’s book, Bucket, elegantly written and brilliantly illustrated by his mother, a retired Bush teacher, with collages make from colored carbon paper. Stunning on all fronts, but not acceptable to New York publishers. That should be published, said I, and so I will. Thus was born McRoy (after my husband, oceanographer Peter McRoy) & Blackburn (after Henry Blackburn, a literature-loving scientist who introduced me to both the ‘Titus Groan’ novels and the poetry of Seamus Heaney) with the publication of Bucket in 1993. Our position in the marketplace is more of a slippery slope than a niche: only Alaska fiction.

What are some of your best-selling titles? Has there been a shift in what readers expect and which Alaskan authors/books do well?

Neil Davis’s collection of tales focused on gold mining over the decades in the Interior, Caught in the Sluice, keeps on moving well for us; he has a solid knowledge of mining and its history as well as a cheerfully raunchy sense of humor—and virtually no competition in the subject. Don Porter’s Alex Price adventures, especially Yukon Murders, have also sold well; Don’s a terrific salesman for his own work. Nita Nettleton’s ‘Wild’ series, which I’ve described as light-hearted chick lit in bunny boots, has begun to catch on also. I think in general Alaska fiction is growing up, so to speak. Although a lot of pure entertainments with an Alaska setting are still the most numerous—and I happily publish them—we’ve seen some Serious Literature emerging in fiction, notably Seth Kantner’s Ordinary Wolves (but I can point with pride to M&B’s own prize-winning The Red Mitten too). I think if you look over the work of some of our most productive fiction authors—Stabenow, Henry, Straley for examples—you’ll find a general tendency toward writing that’s both sharper and deeper as they’ve honed their craft and as readers have learned they can expect work of a high standard.

How many books do you typically publish each year? In which genres? Over the years, what kinds of changes have you made to your list?

We turn out only one or two books a year, and sometimes one of those is a reprint of an earlier title with an uncomfortably low stock; we’ve vowed to keep all our titles in print. The chief change in the list has been a move away from fiction for children—we’ve not done well at selling the titles we have. A Christmas-themed one is on track for next year, though, so we never give up completely.

Describe your ideal author. In other words, if one of us wanted to wow you with a proposed project, how would we do it?

You’d show off both your craft and your ability to read! I’m forever astounded by manuscript submissions from people who don’t think sound grammar and accurate spelling should concern fiction writers, or from those who haven’t bothered to read what’s on the web site in the Guide to Authors.

The economy has hit publishing hard. Are you seeing any encouraging signs? What is the future for small and regional publishers?

Not yet, and pretty grim. Changes in technology make it easy for any doofus to ‘publish’ a book, avoiding all that annoying business of dealing with persnickety editors, so there’s more regionally flavored bad writing for sale. But somebody had to make the last buggy whips, and somebody gets to be the last Alaska fiction publisher standing…

What do you most want to communicate to readers about your books and to writers about submissions?

I hold with the old adage that writers of fiction lie their way to the truth; I want to publish the truth about Alaska, its people, its rot and its glory, in well-written fiction. For me, a good book creates a world that a reader truly experiences, not just reads about. It breaks us out of the prison of our own skulls. Send me a manuscript that does that, and I’ll publish it, guaranteed!

Alaska Writers Guild: Interview with Jim Misko

What motivated you to start the Guild?

Three things. I belong to the Palm Springs Writers Guild in Palm Springs, California. They have been through startup, turmoil and then success with 200 members. I attended Kachemak Bay Writing Conference in 2007 to see what it was about and realized many of the 165 people they attracted had come from Anchorage. Finally, I judged that out of 265,000 people in Anchorage, we must have enough writers to form a Guild. And we could attract state wide members if we put honest effort into producing meetings, programs, workshops, and conferences that promoted the art and business of writing. Most importantly—I wanted to talk to writers, know writers, and help writers.

What kind of interaction and support will writers find when they join?

First and foremost is comradeship. They get to sit, talk, and listen to authors, editors, publishers, marketing people, agents and others who bring expertise to the meetings that relate to writing in different ways.

They get an organization that is vibrant and growing. We have over 120 members today with a goal to reach 200 by the end of this year.There are programs that produce book signings, workshops on specific subjects and skills, help with publishing or meeting with those who can help with publishing.

The Guild sponsors a bi-monthly writing contest that allows members to vie for a $50 prize for their fiction or non-fiction.
We have a website that has our history, present information, and future plans on it at www.alaskawritersguild.com

How does the Guild interface with other organizations for writers?

We’d like them all to join the Guild and be a part of it. If they have their own group that meets their needs, such as Sisters in Crime, Children’s Books and Illustrators, Romance Writers, then we’d like to hear about their programs, boost their efforts through our membership, and have them spread the word about the Guild.
Our intent is to be inclusive of anyone who puts pen to paper and strive to produce varied programs that speak to their wants and needs as a writer.

Where there are writers we’d like to have an affiliate Guild chapter. Seward, Homer, Juneau, Sitka, Soldovia/Kenai, Fairbanks—anywhere you can gather 4 people who want to talk about writing and do something about it, we’d like to touch that group.
One of our plans in the works is to produce DVDs of our programs with speakers and send a copy to each group. They can play them at their meetings and get the same information without coming to Anchorage for it.

We’d really like to have more interaction with the UAA MFA program and its instructors, Alaska Pacific University, and the public schools. We have the beginnings of a young writers group and a prison group and are forming committees to reach into other community endeavors of writing and literacy.

How would you describe your membership?

I could research this but generally it is 70% women and 30% men. We have members from 16 to 87 years of age but the largest group is in their 50’s and 60’s. I believe we could count over 100 published books in the current membership and many of the members have multiple titles. If you included trade journals, newspapers, and anthologies as being published, then approximately 50% of our members have been published. We have a Pulitzer Prize winner, a contributing editor for Alaska Magazine, an MFA graduate and MFA students in our membership and a number of traditionally published authors with large (10,000 to 20,000) book sales nationwide.

There is a current slant toward self or assisted publishing due to a number of factors in the book business over the last two years. Two authors I know of have gone to self publishing after having had several books sold through traditional publishing houses because of greater profits to be realized. When the publishing houses moved away from giving marketing and sales assistance to other than their top ten authors, it spurred successful authors to print, publish, distribute, market and sell their own books.

It has been said that 80% of Americans believe they have a book in them. If they have the persistence and can hone their talent they can produce a book in this present climate of digital printing.

What do you think are the greatest challenges for writers in Alaska?

Distance. Distance from agents, editors, publishers, distributors, and the general mind set in the lower 48 that things Alaskan don’t sell well on the continent. They sell well in Alaska. Another is getting a national distributor to get active in distributing Alaskan books. Ingram and Baker and Taylor do some. Regional distributors, especially in the Northwest, have a few Alaska authors.

The other challenge is meeting frequently with other published authors. In California I can have coffee once a week with various authors who have each published 20 to 100 novels. And younger authors working hard on books or plays or screenplays for Hollywood are at every meeting. Reminds me of France in the 1920’s when Hemingway and other writers met in cafés and discussed authors and writing.

What are the greatest benefits of being a writer here?

The environment; the energy; the stamina of Alaskans. We also have very supportive book sellers. Barnes & Noble, Borders, Title Wave, Pandemonium, Fireside Books, Annabelles—all support local authors and open their businesses and hearts to book signings.

And the stories abound. There are so many untold tales in Alaska which only a hundred years ago was a wild frontier with gold mining, town building, and career building just emerging.. The plot for Edna Ferber’s book The Ice Palace was wrapped around many of the Alaskan characters we’ve known, some of whom are still walking the sidewalks of Alaska—at least in the summer.

Anything else readers should know about the Guild?

The Guild is inclusive — not exclusive. We search out and empower writers of all genres and intensity. Our Charter states: "THE PURPOSE OF THIS GUILD shall be to inspire and nurture the creative process of writing among its members; to further the writing abilities of its members; to uphold the dignity of writers and promulgate the importance of their craft in society; to support and continue the camaraderie of writers." We always seek members who can contribute in any way that meets their needs and the goals of the Guild.

49 writers weekly round-up

The stinky entries for our Ode to a Dead Salmon contest keep rolling in. Remember you've got 8 days to submit your entry to debv@gci.net for a chance at an autographed Ray Troll t-shirt of your choice.

Also, check out our 49 Writers Northern Favorites shelf in the sidebar to the right. We've added several new titles this week, and soliciting more. Leave a comment with your suggestion (one per reader, please) or email to debv@gci.net.

Bill Hess, author of Gift of the Whale, checks in with a reminder that he's blogging at Wasilla Alaska by 300. Speaking of Wasilla, I'll be signing at Pandemonium Books from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 13. Would love for you Valley folks to stop by and say hello, but be warned: I'm told a number of younguns will be in attendance.

Aside from a lively online debate of sorts featuring guests posts by Bill Sherwonit and Rich Chiappone, it has been a relatively quiet week at 49 Writers. Maybe it has something to do with that blanket of smoke smothering half the state. You folks up north have our sympathies.

Coming next week: Interviews with Carla Helfferich of McRoy and Blackburn Publishing, and Jim Misko of the Alaska Writers Guild. Stay tuned!

P.S. Famous Literary Feuds

Light news day add-on that I had to mention, following our own round of argumentative posts here: Moonrat over at Editorial Ass turned me onto this short JacketCopy post about six famous literary feuds. One example:

Although F. Scott Fitzgerald helped Ernest Hemingway get "The Sun Also Rises" published, Hemingway later had no problems criticizing his friend. "I always knew he couldn't think -- he never could," Hemingway wrote in 1936, criticizing an article Fitzgerald had written. "He had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it -- not whine in public."

'Nobody wants to be called a nature writer' : a response by Rich Chiappone

I have never blogged before, so forgive me if I’m not good at this. (I sound like an innocent farm boy on his first trip to the brothel. Promise not to laugh at me, please!) Bill Sherwonit’s recent post discussed what seems obvious to everyone around him: the fact that nobody wants to be called a nature writer. I am careless where other people’s feelings are concerned, and I truly had no idea that an academic discussion of literary strategies (the pitfalls of tendentiousness, in this case) conducted among putative coequals at the Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference could possibly be taken so personally. I genuinely like Bill very much: he is a kind and decent guy. And I admire his work ethic: he is one of the hardest working writers in Alaska---and that is saying a lot. Yet, injure him I did, apparently. Given that I can’t take back anything I said, I am flattered to find myself included among such estimable fellow miscreants as Gary Holthaus, and my friend and employer at the university, Dr. David Stevenson –both of whom also pierced Bill’s heart with their comments recently. It seems that just about everyone these days is questioning the efficacy of nature writing as a means to save the world, or even keep it on what shaky legs it has remaining.

For readers less sensitive on the subject I would suggest David Gessner’s fabulous essay “Sick of Nature,” an examination of the usefulness of nature writing by one of its finest practitioners, not just some wise guy from Anchor Point. Unlike me, Gessner (editor of Ecotone magazine) is an Ivy League educated man of letters of the highest order, and his cogency is beyond refute. He opens by complaining about “being constrained by the gentle straitjacket of the genre.” And then touches on the very question raised that fateful morning at the Kachemak Bay conference: “And not only do I preach from my pulpit, I preach to the converted. After all, who reads nature books? Fellow nature lovers who already believe that the land shouldn’t be destroyed.” Gessner goes on to say, “I have to admit that an essay is a much less effective way of protecting the land than a cudgel. In other words, I have to admit to impotence.” Amen.

What I said at Kachemak Bay and elsewhere and what I’ll stand by is this: If you want to write something to save the natural world, write a check to the Sierra Club, or the Nature Conservancy or Friends of Wildlife or Trout unlimited or any one of the other similar hard working organizations who know how to use the cudgel of professional lobbying. That is how you write to save the planet. Not by telling us, yet again, how swell nature is.

But my real concern is not about whether writing to promote some political idea is useful or effective. My complaint is that it leads to lousy writing. I believe that intentionally setting out to make a political statement in one’s writing is a big mistake, ESPECIALLY FOR BEGINNERS.

The reason is this: A new writer focusing on winning an argument (persuasion) will not be paying enough attention to the language itself (that is also why this letter will not be “literary”: I don’t care how it looks, only what it says). There are some very, very accomplished writers who can make a point and produce fine work too. My dear friend Nancy Lordcomes to mind (she forwarded me Bill’s post, which I appreciate because, among my many shortcomings, I suffer a near total obliviousness to what is being said in cyberspace, so I missed it on the Anchorage Daily News blog site and also here at 49Writers). Nancy, I might add, in all the years I’ve known her, has never referred to herself as a nature writer. As a side note, even Bill, when called upon to speak from the audience during the plenary panel discussion on the opening morning of the conference, rather hesitantly introduced himself with something of an apologetic, “I guess I’m what you call a nature writer.” Again, I ask this question: Why does hardly anyone want to be labeled thusly? Not even Bill Sherwonit, a national award winning nature writer, seems comfortable with that sobriquet.

Let me say now, that I just got back from a hike to the Anchor River behind my house, where I saw a lovely snipe at close range, and watched two adult eagles perched in a cottonwood side by side like the stern parents they are berating their adolescent youngster in that shrill eagle-speak they use for that purpose; I enjoyed examining the tracks of a brown bear, an otter, a coyote and several beavers; I thrashed my way through dense thickets of pushki and fireweed and felt like a kid again, playing along a river as I did most summer days of my youth. Two days ago I was in Mendocino county, California, hiking among the giant redwoods (the oldest living organisms on earth, and possibly the tallest too). There I spent some time on my hands and knees, turning over rocks in a nearly dry streambed looking for newts –amphibians also being a big part of my youth and in short supply here in Alaska. I mention all this by way of asking, dear reader, are you bored yet? Because I would be if I had to read this, and that is why nobody wants to admit that he is a nature writer. Because so darned much of it is self-absorbed drivel.

Bill’s post gave fine examples of the best of the genre, great writers all. But those are the exceptions to the rule. And the shelves in bookstores are stuffed with insipid imitations of those writers: thousands of hideously predictable paeans to nature’s glory. And then, if that isn’t bad enough, there is the self-righteous finger wagging, reminding us that we need to be better people. Christ, the dashboard of my pickup is bad enough:it scolds me for not buckling up or turning off my lights. Do I need to hear some proud creative writing major telling me that nature is wonderful and everything manmade is ugly and soul killing? And that too, is why nobody wants to be called a nature writer. You people did it to yourselves. As if the priggishness of that phony gasbag Thoreau wasn’t enough, we had to endure Annie Dillard’s garishly inflated prose and Edward Abbey’s smug “I’ve been there and you haven’t” superiority. And those are the BEST of the genre! What about the amateurs who want to share every little brown bird they’ve spotted? You guys have no one to blame but yourselves.

Look, nature writing may have been a literary form once, but it is fast becoming an embarrassment. Whose fault is that? If you can clearly remember my public outburst there at the Kachemak Bay conference, you will recall that I bashed science fiction in even more dismissive terms than nature writing. Oddly enough, nobody from the world of sci-fi seemed as vulnerable. What does that tell you? On the other hand, almost no one is still taking sci-fi seriously enough to teach it in a workshop at a writing conference. Maybe that’s the problem with nature writing: it hasn’t rolled over into the Graveyard of the Genres yet.

But let’s talk about my genre, so nobody’s toes get stepped on but those of my own kind. Yes, I hate to say it but, I am a genre writer too. I have published a number of stories and essays and even some poems in magazines falling under the rubric of the “hook and bullet” genre. Hunting and fishing magazines! Yech! I would admit to being a fishing and hunting writer right after I volunteer to have my lips cut off with a coping saw. The magazines I write for are, for the most part, unreadable: they are stuffed with sentimental, predictable pablum. Why? Because ALL genre writing is mostly very bad. Period.

Today I sat on a log in the sun and watched the humpies humping in the shallows of the Anchor River. At my feet caddis fly larvae, coated in bits of detritus (the way they protect themselves) crawled along the muddy bottom among the shoreline rocks. Smolts slashed at nearly invisible midges emerging from the water’s meniscus. The sunlight filtered through the cottonwood….OK! Hold everything. I know what you are thinking: “Who gives a ****? OR We’ve heard all this a thousand times.” And yet, I assure you I could go on like that for ten pages and as long as at some point I picked up my trusty fly rod and made a perfect cast and a trout rose and took that lovely little dry fly and leaped into the air like….er, like…um…like Rudolph Nureyev (or Fred Astaire or some other great dancer: M.C Hammer maybe?) that self congratulatory tripe would be snapped up by one of those magazines so fast you’d snap your neck watching it happen. And I’d probably win a fishing writing prize for it too. (Just for the record: in all the stories and essays I’ve published in those magazines no one has ever caught a game fish or shot anything at all). But, my non-traditional fishing stories (like the one with the lesbian, vegan animal rights lawyers/birdwatchers) aside, the outdoor sporting genre has ---like the sci-fi genre and the western and the romance and the detective novel--- become a joke too.

So, let this summer’s ignominious moments of public chagrin be a wake-up call. Unless nature writers want their writing to become a joke too, they need to look at what they’re producing. They can go one of two ways; they can eschew the literary establishment (which is pretty much what sci-fi and others have done), and say that they are a bunch of stuck-up, elitist academics (true indeed). OR they can start policing what gets published under the name of nature writing.

Here it is again in a slightly different way: the reason nobody wants to be called a nature writer is because nature writing it has become a genre. Once more, for the people in the back who aren’t sure I actually said that: All genre writing is mostly bad. All genres. All of them.

Here’s why.

First of all: sloppiness. What I said to the sci-fi writer in the crowd (when I wasn’t insulting nature writers) the morning of that panel at the conference was this: “When you write to deliver a message to an audience you know is already in agreement with your message, there is almost no need to be careful with the writing, and as a result, it is easy to get sloppy.” That is my point, entirely. Genre writers are careless with the language; that is the only mortal sin I believe in anymore. And when a writer has an unassailable position to start with, the probability of sloppy writing is so great it is almost assured in all but the most advanced authors Nature is good. Even I believe that. I swear, I spent days in the California redwoods and did not cut down a single tree. Honest. Anyone who has been to my house knows how many trees I have there. Me: Treehugger. I love ‘em. Really. Nature good!

Secondly: predictability. Genre writing does not encourage surprises. The editor of the very best hook and bullet magazine publishing today told me (in response to my complaint that the magazine in which I appear regularly was mostly awful) “Ninety-nine percent of the poems we get can be summed up in three words: Trout are keen!” Literary writing (writing about the human condition) is unpredictable. The human condition is unpredictable. You marry the woman you love and it turns into a nightmare. Who knew? The outcome of literary stories cannot be predicted. But genre writing (at its worst) can be predicted –too easily. The intrepid fly fisherman always catches the huge trout. The detective gets his man. The alien slime monster is blasted into a black hole by the brave interstellar cadet. The natural world is always better than the man made: Grow your own beans and drink spring water! This is why no one wants to be called a fishing writer or a nature writer. Period.(The science fiction writers don’t seem to notice the derision, god love ‘em.)

Bill’s post mentioned Sherry Simpson’s reading at UAA a couple weeks ago. She read an astounding essay about a kayak trip that was really about her love life and her relationship with her husband, and their deeply routed companionship and nearly lifelong devotion to each other. I have notified Sherry that she has been awarded the coveted Brass Cojones Prize for standing up there and reading something that personal and true. Amazing, wasn’t it? I think it was the most personal, revealing and moving essay I’ve ever heard read in public. Her husband, Scott, was sitting in front of me and he looked like he was going to burst out of his seat with pride, and with the kind of nearly palpable affection that most couples can only wish that decades of marriage had produced.

I‘ll take back every mean thing I’ve ever said about genres if more nature writers shake off the shackles of predictability (the gentle straitjacket, as Gessner put it) and do what Sherry Simpson did; write something about nature that takes us into territory we have never been to before: the deep dark interior of the writer’s heart . Then all of you can hold your heads up high and say it loud: “I’m a nature writer and I’m proud!”

We’ll even call you “literary” if you want.

Rich Chiappone teaches creative writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and is the author of a short story collection, Water of an Undetermined Depth.

Provoking on purpose : our editorial policies up for discussion

This week, we're getting ready to put up a guest post we received via email. It's sharp, funny, thoughtful, and (in my opinion) a great read. But it has also forced me to consider -- make that, learn -- our editorial policies. Even I had forgotten what those policies actually were (Deb was the one who was organized enough to get them written and posted). Here they are, in part (in reference to comments, but I am applying them to posts as well):

We welcome your comments. Be advised, however, that it is our policy to delete the following:

• Comments that are abusive, off-topic, or excessively foul in language
• Comments celebrating the death or illness of another person
• Comments containing racist, sexist, homophobic, or ethnic slurs
• Comments posted elsewhere on the site (thread spam)
• Comments posted with the intent of provoking others

That last one is the tricky one. Intent to provoke. It's a bit of a catch-all. My thesaurus says that "provoke" means to needle, goad, whip up. Well, doing those things in the service of new ideas sounds valuable. Doing all that in order to injure the reputation of another writer, or to harrass him/her for just teasing's sake, doesn't sound valuable.

But it's a hard call, isn't it? A blogpost or essay that uses goading or teasing in a humorous or ironic vein, or as part of an argument that heads into truly productive literary territory, shouldn't be censored, should it?

And what about the flat-out teasing of more famous, distant personalities? I've thrown a few stones at Sarah Palin, and even at the writer Alice Hoffman, just to mention the most recent post that comes to mind.

Let me share my current fuzzy thinking -- and realize, this is Andromeda talking here, not Deb.

Here is how my own inadequately-tuned internal censor has been working on these issues.

#1) I tend to be less protective of famous people, celebrities, and national figures than local writers. The closer we get to home, the more careful I try to get (though surely, I stumble at times). The more prominent a person becomes -- and this does include Alaskans -- the more criticism (including constructive criticism) I believe they should be able to handle.

#2) I think the most stringent rules should apply with comments, for example, to discourage people from making quick, thoughtless jabs. (And they do. We've deleted some for you, including ones posted at around 2 or 3 in the morning, which just goes to show when people's inhibitions are at their lowest.) I get more flexible with guest posts, because the writer usually has taken time and care to explain himself/herself, and voice becomes part of the message or opinion or story. A provocative voice can be good. But here is the hardest part -- where I see literary value, I tolerate prickliness. And that, of course, is a personal judgment call. In other words, make me laugh or help me learn, and I may not mind that you finger-pointed or made some disparaging remarks. But others -- even my own fellow blogger Deb -- may disagree. You, the reader, may disagree, and I don't mind hearing from you about that.

If this blogging business were a full-time job, I'd have time to develop more rock-solid guidelines. But friends, you all know this : Deb and I do this thing on our own dime, ten minutes here or an hour there. We're writers, not op-ed page staff or web innovators. As Deb has said before, we're more like party hosts than editors. We invite others to the party, pass around the drinks, clean up the spill here and there, and only occasionally wonder if we should take away someone's car keys, so that he doesn't hurt himself or others. (Keep in mind that some guest-posters may not realize that what they blog can circulate on the internet for a loooong time.)

Please keep that in mind if you see me struggling to decide how or whether to edit a guest-post, second-guessing my own previous posts or comments, and so on. I am bound to be inconsistent, sometimes rushed, and never, ever particularly wise about all this. This blog is a place for community, not a hard-hitting newspaper or even a fully staffed literary journal. What it may lack in gravitas it makes up for in flexibility and inclusivity (I hope). Which doesn't mean we don't want thoughtful, hard-hitting pieces -- we do! But we will need your help and patience at every step of the way -- from editing blog-posts, to unruffling ruffled feathers (when required), to rethinking future policies.

Your turn: Northern favorites

Summer is spruce-up time in Alaska, and heading into August I have to admit there are more than a few chores still on my list. Here's one you can help with: our Northern Favorites shelf (see the sidebar to the right) is dusty. Leave a comment below with a title (one per reader, please), and I'll add it to the collection. By clicking on any of the books on the shelf, readers can get full information on the book. It's a great way to promote worthy reads.

If you like, feel free to nominate a title you wrote. I learned that lesson in eighth grade when I lost the election for Biology Club president by one vote. To be polite, I'd voted for the other guy. The club sponsor pointed out that if I didn't vote for myself, I couldn't really expect others to find me worthy.

So bring on the titles. And if the cleaning fairy doesn't show up soon, I could also use some help with the windows.

49 Writers Publisher Interview: 40 Below Ink

Following up on previous interviews with Sara Juday at Alaska Northwest Books and Barbara Farris at 40 Below Ink, we're launching a mini-series on small and regional presses that feature Alaskan books. Today's post brings an update on 40 Below Ink. Watch for more publisher interviews in the coming weeks.

Tell us about your company. Who started it? Why? Which books were among the first you published? What niche do you hold in the marketplace?

40 Below Ink started in October of 2008. Our niche is Alaska, as told by Alaskan writers.

What are some of your best-selling titles? Has there been a shift in what readers expect and which Alaskan authors/books do well?

We’re getting ready to publish our first book this year. It is a comedic mystery set in Fairbanks, Alaska.

How many books do you typically publish each year? In which genres? Over the years, what kinds of changes have you made to your list?

We hope to publish two books next year and go up from there. Genres include contemporary fiction and humorous non-fiction about life in Alaska.

Describe your ideal author. In other words, if one of us wanted to wow you with a proposed project, how would we do it?

Good writing. I can’t say it enough. People need to edit their work at least 28 times and have l2 friends read it before submitting to agents or publishers.

Originality is second on my list. Humor is third.

My favorite book at the moment is The Marriage of True Minds by Stephen Evans.

The economy has hit publishing hard. Are you seeing any encouraging signs? What is the future for small and regional publishers?

The future seems to be in smaller print runs and the eBook market.

What do you most want to communicate to readers about your books and to writers about submissions?

We want our books to be fun and to show off Alaska. We’ve lined up our next three books and these are all comedic mysteries showing the quirky side of life in Alaska.