What inspires you to write? 

I can’t not write. I have always been a creative person. For many years in Juneau, where I lived for 16 years, I had an art studio and made my living as a freelance graphics artist/publication designer. I had my own etching press, pulled intaglio and woodcut prints, as well as painted with alkyds. Then Alaska went into a recession and my two main contracts with the state were canceled on the same day. 

I had to give up the studio, sell my press (it lives in Fairbanks now), and store the rest of my art supplies in our house. My first wife, daughter, son, and I shared the house with her sister and daughter. I had no space to do art. 

So I tried my hand at writing and never looked back. I still get a jones for painting, but I no longer have the time. I love writing, creating characters, and letting them breathe, argue, fight, love, and die on the page. 

Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? 

I have been reading history books since I was eight. At twelve I discovered science fiction. As a young person I thought there were rules for everything in life, and science fiction put an end to that fallacy. 

My first efforts were science fiction. In 1988 my first sale was a short story to Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber for their UNIVERSE 1 anthology. In 1993 I came in second in the 4th quarter of the Writers of the Future Contest. 

WOTF was an amazing experience in so many ways. I was living in Juneau, Alaska and they flew me and all the other winners and runners-up to Hollywood for a week of in-depth classes on every aspect of the science fiction/fantasy field. The writer who beat me out for first place in the 4th quarter was Eric Flint. 

In 1989 I had begun writing Treadwell, A Novel of Alaska Territory. I spent eight months of my free time researching in the Alaska Historical Library before putting a word down. I worked on the novel for eleven years, and also wrote other manuscripts. 

I wrote an alternate history novel, Russian Amerika, about an Athabascan Indian revolt in Interior Alaska in 1989, in a world where the Czar still owned Alaska, and the rest of North America was a total of nine nations. The American Civil War was fought in 1850-51 and the South won. 

Eric Flint helped me get through the door at Baen Books and they published Russian Amerika in 2007.

What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre that they need to know? 

Every world, imaginary or not, has rules. Once established, you have to stick to them. Also, your characters must have a reason for all they do. Harry needs a reason to slide a knife into Charles, and the reader can be startled, but also understands the situation because it was a reasonable action under the circumstances. 

Are you a full-time or part-time writer and how does that affect your writing? 

I have been a full time writer for the past fourteen years. I have accomplished a great deal of writing in that time. I am fortunate to be married to Colette, who not only graciously understands I need to spend hours in the office, but she is also an excellent beta reader / proofreader / plot analyst, and snack provider. 

What are some day jobs you have held? 

After I mustered out of the Navy (one enlistment, Viet Nam Era, Honorable Discharge), I went to Alaska for the summer. I ended up spending 31 winters. I worked as an EFF, (Emergency (Forest) Fire Fighter) for the BLM, heavy laborer for the USAF at Eielson AFB south of Fairbanks, shipping & receiving clerk, television cameraman and film editor (before AK had communications satellites), parts runner for an auto body shop – and then I got married and went to college. 

I majored in Art, History, and Education; minored in Anthropology and Sociology. I did my student teaching at Metlakatla (Tsimshian) Jr-Sr High School and then we moved back to Anchorage where I worked on an MFA in Art. After the first semester I was offered a job with the Tanana Chiefs Health Authority in Fairbanks as a media specialist. 

Working with the Tanana Chiefs Conference was a wonderful education in itself. I was totally immersed in the Athabascan culture and had the opportunity to travel to villages up and down the Yukon River in winter and summer. Funding for my position ran out after two & a half years. I then worked as staff artist for Tundra Times, an Alaska Native newspaper. 

After a year we moved to Juneau where I worked as staff artist for KTOO-FM & TV (NPR and PBS) for a few years. I did freelance, worked for the State of Alaska in three different agencies, before moving back to the Lower 48 to be closer to my terminally ill mother. There’s more, but you get the picture.

What have you written so far? 

Russian Amerika, Alaska Republik, and Cassidy’s Challenge. (Russian Amerika series – alternative history) 

Incident in Alaska Prefecture, Twilight of Empire, Reich War: West, and Reich War: East. (Prefecture Series – alternative history.) 

TRIF3CTA is a collection of three shorter works dealing with first encounters of different sorts. (science fiction/time travel/aliens – great fun) 

Whalesong (science fiction) 

Level Six, and Return to Kiana (Kiana series – science fiction/space opera.) Treadwell, A Novel of Alaska Territory, and Thane, The Assassination of Warren G. Harding, Books One and Two of the Gastineau Channel Quartet. (historical fiction) 

I’ve also had a couple of shorter works published, but my short stories tend to turn into novels. 

Can you share with readers a little bit about your latest book? 

I am currently 62k words into Douglas, The Great Conflagrations. Book Three of the Gastineau Channel Quartet. I am also 14k words into Attack on Kiana (3rd in the Kiana series). And I am 34.8k words into Mission to Victoria (4th book in the Russian Amerika series). 

I’m not scattered. If I bog on one, I go to the next. 

I also do my own book covers – it’s in my contract. I worked in graphics for 40 years and know what happens in the story. 

Do you listen to or talk to your characters? 

Absolutely. When I was researching to write Thane, I had an incredible dream. A very attractive African American woman walked up to my bed, looked down at me, and said, “I’m Cashmere Lavaca, and I’m in your novel.” She is the main character in the prologue, and is still going strong in Douglas. 

What is proving difficult is deciding which character I should listen to next. They tell me the story, I just write it down for the rest of you. 

What is your next project? 

I want to finish the Gastineau Channel Quartet. The titles are the four towns that existed on Gastineau Channel, which is the narrow body of saltwater separating Juneau on the mainland, and Douglas Island in Southeast Alaska. It’s a beautiful place, I drove a tour bus for 4 summers and loved talking about the place. Only two of the towns still exist. You can tour the ruins of

Treadwell on Douglas Island, and Thane is now a growing area for homes. The original massive mine and the miner’s homes are long gone. 

I once read a three page missive written by the wife of the main hoist operator on the night (spoiler) the Treadwell Mine caved in. In those 3 pages she painted a breathing, vivid look into the past about what it was like to live at Treadwell. I decided I wanted to write a novel about that time and place. 

That’s the genesis of Treadwell. It took 11 years to write the ms., but a lot happened during those years (I got divorced, for one thing) including writing Russian Amerika and Alaska Republik. Once I finished, I realized the story wasn’t over, I had 20 lives I created and intertwined who had miles to go before they slept. I ended up self-publishing Treadwell. It was republished (with a cover I hated) by Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press just before my friend Eric passed away.

Treadwell spans 10/1915 to 4/1917. Thane spans 11/1920 to 8/1923. Douglas (in progress) spans 7/1932 to 11/1936. Juneau will span 11/1941 to 8/1945. My new publisher wants to cut Treadwell into two volumes. They will have to do the same thing with Douglas, and Juneau will probably end up being three volumes. Many of the characters are in all four books, and there are always more characters waiting in the wings who are relevant to the story. 

I do a lot of research as I go along. The Quartet is also illustrated with period photos, and front pages and articles from the Juneau Empire (although that’s not what it was called back then) with their permission. 

I figure I will have the Quartet finished by late 2025 or early 2026. I will be so relieved – I have more novels in my head demanding print. 

What do you like to read in your free time? 

I read a lot of history pertaining to the ms. I am currently writing, or the next one. I just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin’s superb No Ordinary Time about FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. I have read extensively about WWII from my own library (about 3,000 volumes – most of it history) and am eager to write Juneau, The Plot to Kill FDR. 

What one person from history would you like to meet and why? 

Mark Twain. I would love to discuss the writing process and characters with him, as well as meet his cats.

Want to learn more about Stoney Compton?

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