Click here to go to my Flickr page and look at three maps of Kate Shugak’s world. I love maps, and it is my invariable habit always to begin my novels with a clear vision of the place I’m writing about (Ellfive, the asteroid belt, Mars, interior Alaska, southwest Alaska, Mnemosynea). Then I figure out who lives there, and then I figure out what kind of trouble they’re up to. The Kate Shugak series was different, in that when I wrote A Cold Day for Murder, I was just exercising my writing skills between science fiction novels. My sf editor liked it so much that she talked her publisher into buying it and more, and I was in such a scramble to meet my delivery dates that I never phonied up a map as a guide. This has created a few problems, as I’m sure alert readers are going to point out to me. (It may also have something to do with Chopper Jim’s various heights.)

Here also is another photograph of ‘maniacs with books. This photograph is kinda cool, ’cause they’re standing in front of the welcome sign to Homer, Alaska. Which is where I live. Peggy Wiederick writes, “The attached .jpg is of my husband, Walter, who is also a dedicated Dana fan, holding three of the earlier Kate books that we bought on our recent trip to Alaska. We bought them to replace ones in our library that we have worn out rereading and lending to friends. The location is the viewpoint at the entrance to Homer, AK - the final stop on our four week trip before we turned for home. We used Dana’s ‘Quick-and-Dirty Alaska’ itinerary column as a guide during our trip. I had the best Reuben sandwich of my life at the Sourdough Express.”