Yolanda Renee - Alaska as setting, with photos. Writing what you know...

Hello friends!

I've seen questions raised on facebook and in the blogosphere about guest posts, book tours, book launches, cover reveals. I understand, but with limited opportunity, how do authors let us know a new book has been launched? So I'm happy to do my bit, promoting authors who have written a book that has appealed to me. I try to make it interesting for my blog readers.

Many of you know and love Yolanda Renée. She has been recently published by Curiosity Quills Press. I've read her first book, Murder, Madness and Love and am sailing through her second, Memories of Murder. These stories are chilling and thrilling, set in exotic (to me) places such as Idaho, Seattle and Alaska. 

I've asked Yolanda to give me a first-person eyewitness account of her Alaskan experiences. You know what they say--write about what you know, so Yolanda decided to research an Alaskan setting the hard way...and the results? In her own words...read on...

Alaska - Love at First Sight - and One More Mountain to Climb

 

Yolanda in 1976, about to embark on her Alaskan adventure.

A two-week vacation in Alaska turned into a four year adventure. I arrived in the land of the last frontier – I fell in love, immediately, yes, love at first sight! I originally thought an Alaskan setting would be unique, and when I first started writing Murder, Madness & Love, it was. Imagine -- there was no reality television, no Ice Road Truckers, no Sarah Palin, and no Selling Alaska. In fact, when I started writing my book I think most people still saw Alaska as nothing more than an iceberg!

Atigun Pass

I loved the endless hours of bright sunshine. Was dumbstruck by the views of some of the tallest mountains I'd ever seen. Being from the east coast of the United States, what folks referred to as mountains are really rolling hills in comparison. Millions of evergreens, tall birch trees, and wildlife everywhere you turned greeted me. There is such a sense of adventure in this place.

The spirit of the people I met was the most amazing, as no one was a stranger. I saw most of us like the misfit toys in the Rudolf Christmas tale, on our own private iceberg that no one wanted to be rescued from. I even felt safe hitchhiking, although it wasn't something I did alone. I was part of the University crowd – a clique of intellectuals (but only because I dated one) and in a safe environment. I was on my very first adventure, and felt truly independent. I was in charge of my destiny.

 

Brooks Range

During my first week, I went on a wilderness hike. I carried a 35-pound pack, sported a pair of barely worn hiking boots, and all with no wilderness experience. The group my boyfriend introduced me to - two other couples - let me know that being a novice had not gained me any points. I sensed hostility, and was surprised, but these folks had a plan, and only four days to accomplish it. They were on a quest into the Alaska Range to take pictures of grizzlies in their natural habitat, and they weren't interested in a sightseer.

       

My boyfriend took pity on me and made sure my load was much lighter than what the others carried. Some of them hauled 45 to 50 pound packs. To say I struggled would be an understatement. The temperatures, in the seventies, were still a bit cool for my thin blood, but I quickly worked up a sweat walking across the Alaskan tundra.

 

The tundra in the Alaskan Range

Imagine clumps of earth dotting a bog, and your goal it to make sure you stepped on the clump, and not down into the blog. It took skill, a steady eye, a massive stride, and great balance, something difficult to achieve if you've never worn a pack on your back or heavy hiking boots on your feet. So yes, I struggled; I was 110 pounds, five foot five, and wore size six shoes.

It was no picnic. Thousands of swarming mosquitoes attacked us, like flies to a decaying body. Even though I wore a hat with a net over my entire head to keep them out of my eyes, mouth and nose, there were literally millions of the bastards, especially near the stream we wanted to follow up and into the mountains. The constant buzz and swatting of the black swarms soon got to the pros; most of them did not sport the netting I had chosen to wear.

A change of direction was required. We headed away from the stream to higher and cooler territory. We headed straight up a 1000-foot rise. It was a rocky slope that I literally had to crawl up on hands and knees, while the others simply walked to the top. I was slowing down the rest of the group. My boyfriend stayed with me, encouraged me, but I felt his disappointment. You know that inexperienced weakling in all the movies, that was me, although I wasn't a whiner. I stayed tough, well, stoic, at least.

 After two days, the two other couples abandoned me; they got up one morning and left me behind. I felt bad because my boyfriend stayed behind too; this was his adventure as much as it was mine. But while mortified that I was so inadequate, I was glad for the break. They were headed into an area with bears, and I was happy not to have to face a grizzly on top of everything else.

The hikers returned that evening, highly disappointed that they'd not seen one bear, and felt their extended hike had been a waste of time. While my boyfriend and I fished, slept in, well, mostly slept, and explored the general area, they spent the day trekking rocky slopes and not seeing a thing. Honestly, I was grimly pleased. They were a bit like bullies to someone who had never, ever hiked a mountain path, let alone a wilderness where no path existed.

Although, prior to this adventure, I was a walker, and walked over a mile to and from work every day, my walking was done on a sidewalk in tennis shoes; I was nowhere close to being ready for such a huge endeavor. These guys moved with purpose and speed, so when they didn't achieve their objective, and it wasn't my fault, I couldn't help but feel vindicated.

By the end of the adventure, they were a bit kinder, even sympathetic, I think because my boyfriend was constantly apologizing on my behalf, which only made me feel worse. The most surprising thing about the trip was that a two-day hike in, took half a day to hike out. I never did understand that, but I kept up with them and we enjoyed breakfast together at a diner on the road back to Fairbanks.

It was an amazing experience and while at times humiliating, it only made me more determined to conquer Alaska, because while difficult, it was also the most amazing thing I'd ever done! I wish I could show you pictures of that time -- my boyfriend took hundreds, but when we broke up, he kept them.

Everywhere you turn in Alaska there is an amazing view, whether the extensive mountain ranges, the Inland Passage, the Arctic Ocean, or the mighty Yukon River. From the rain forests of the southern panhandle to the mountainous interior, to the frozen almost desert like north – Alaska is an amazing experience. 

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        In book 3 of the Murder trilogy, Obsession to Murder, I plan to go deeper into the beauty that is Alaska. Detective Steven Quaid's new quest will take him deep into the Brooks Range, and all the way to the Aleutian Islands.

        Murder, Madness & Love and Memories of Murder the first two books in the Murder trilogy are now available on Amazon Kindle, Kobo, and B & N and in paperback.

       

       

Thank you Denise, for allowing me the opportunity to discuss how my own adventure in Alaska, helped to inspire my choice of an Alaskan setting. But I am curious, do your readers enjoy the setting of a story as much as the characters, or do they find it fluff that takes away from the action? 

         

You can find Yolanda Renée here:

~ Defending The Pen ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~

•   Please answer Yolanda's question -- do you enjoy the setting of the story as much as the characters -- or do you skip over setting as so much 'fluff'? (Most of you know my opinion -- setting is character to me.
• Don't forget to add your name to the list for the HAUNTING blogfest next week. Yolanda is there!