Please welcome Megan Short to the blog today. She is talking about the setting for her new book.
Alaska, the last frontier, is a place that many have on their bucket list to visit. I ticked it off my list in 2009, when I went on a five-week tour that took me on a wonderful adventure that has inspired my Love Inspired Suspense stories. For me, Alaska represents dichotomy: isolation and tight knit community; heart-stopping danger and peacefulness; conquest and defeat. The wildlife is as unique as that in my native New Zealand and chosen home in Australia. Plus, the vivid scenery and the unforgiving natural hazards make it a character—often an antagonist—in the story.
The uniqueness of small community
I particularly love the tight-knit community that the isolation creates —much like those found in rural country towns throughout the world. I visited around ten small Alaskan towns, and my observation was that the main variation in these communities is due to culture, geography, and to a certain extent the population. Many towns rely on fishing and tourism as their income, which is seasonal. So there are plenty of workers from the “lower forty-eight” states of the US that come during the summer months, then leave. Further, if the small town is on a cruise ship route, the population swells from a hundred or so to six thousand for twenty-four hours. Because I was traveling in a self-guided tour, I got to experience this phenomenon in person. It’s quite something to have a quiet town one day, and then the next it’s overflowing. From what I could see there’s that tension of welcoming tourists who bring income and relief when the tourist season is over so things can go back to normal. I’ve tried to include that in some of the stories too.
First stop: Cordova, Alaska
My first three stories were set in the town of Cordova. It’s located in Orca Inlet, near Prince William Sound, has the most magnificent sunsets, and includes abundant opportunities for both adventure and danger! It’s not on a cruise ship route because there is nowhere for large cruise ships to dock. However, it is on the Alaska Marine Highway, which means that the ferry is a popular way to get from town to town. The town is only accessible by air or sea, so there’s that sense of isolation to add to the danger. Plus when you’re traveling, you’re most likely out on the open water where all sorts of problems can occur (I’m looking at you, Trapped on the Alaskan Glacier!).
Cordova is where I spent a couple of terrifying hours worrying about the bear that had been spotted lurking in the woods. Regretting the fact I’d saved the $50 by not purchasing bear spray, I sang and clapped my way through the beautiful Chugach National Forest, not noticing very much. It probably wouldn’t have been as scary if I hadn’t earlier spent some time experiencing how large and hungry brown bears were—see the photo below! I tell you this because it informed the encounter my characters experience in Alaskan Survival Threat. The fear is real—it’s mine! Also, that part at the end of Alaskan Police Protector that is also a spoiler… I went to that pebbly beach with terror in my heart!
Moving on to Kodiak Island
The tour of Alaska did not take me to Kodiak Island, unfortunately. That is a location I would love to travel to one day. Thankfully I had the opportunity to go on a three-day small boat cruise of Glacier Bay, where similar birdlife and wildlife can be found. This helped me a lot when I wrote my heroine Helena—who is a bird aficionado—plus adding details of bird calls and habits. I particularly love puffins; always have since I was a little girl in New Zealand where we had the Puffin Club. It was a treat to be able to see them firsthand on the tour. They’re hard to photograph, but here’s one I managed to take below, plus an example of the abundant birdlife too.
The contrast of ice and fire in Alaska
Another element of Alaska that I hadn’t expected was the wildfires. I would have thought it was too cold, but it turns out that fires are a part of life when the forests are dry. I drove through the blackened forests soon after one of those wildfires, and it inspired some of what I wrote in Alaskan Survival Threat. Having experienced bush fires in Australia, and the smoke of wildfires in Yosemite, it didn’t take much imagination to bring the scenes to life. But I won’t say any more due to spoilers! Here is a picture of Alaska after a wildfire that I took on the road from Denali National Park so it’s a little blurry.
What’s next?
I am staying on Kodiak Island for three books, maybe more. From there, who knows. Do you have any locations in Alaska that you’d love to visit or read about? Let me know in the comments below.
Check out Narelle Atkins blog for a link to her fangirling episode and a chance to win this book open to Australia and USA addresses. Click here