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Writing on the Edge
A selection of contemporary nonfiction and fiction writings about Alaska that explores life in 49th state, from wide open landscapes and wild seas, to its small towns and urban hubs. Through true stories and literary realism, they present a wide range of perspectives on contemporary life in Alaska. Moving beyond the stereotypical ideas of what Alaska is like, they take readers into the heart of the state and collectively offer insight into the reality that lies behind the myth of the Last Frontier.
498 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2023
7 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
David James
623 books11 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Others:
David 2^ James : Mystery & Thrillers
David 3^ James: GR Author, Travel, Slovakia
David 4^ James: Celtic Crafts & Design
David 5^ James: GR Author, Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy
David 6^ James: Australian author
David 7^ James: GR Author, Young Adult Science Fiction
David 8^ James: Professional Stills Photographer
David 9^ James: Upholstery
David 10^ James: Sports, Football
David 11^ James: Philosophy
David 12^ James: Poetry
David 13^ James: Islamic History
Others:
David 2^ James : Mystery & Thrillers
David 3^ James: GR Author, Travel, Slovakia
David 4^ James: Celtic Crafts & Design
David 5^ James: GR Author, Young Adult, Science Fiction & Fantasy
David 6^ James: Australian author
David 7^ James: GR Author, Young Adult Science Fiction
David 8^ James: Professional Stills Photographer
David 9^ James: Upholstery
David 10^ James: Sports, Football
David 11^ James: Philosophy
David 12^ James: Poetry
David 13^ James: Islamic History
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 13, 2023
3.5
I really enjoyed the many different perspectives and learned a lot about so many different cultures and types of people that have resided in Alaska at one point or another. However, I do think the book could have used additional editing as there were several grammatical and spelling mistakes. Additionally, I was confused why the author decided to pick up certain stories at the points he did, and I was left wanting more from several chapters since the main climax of many of these stories were left out.
I really enjoyed the many different perspectives and learned a lot about so many different cultures and types of people that have resided in Alaska at one point or another. However, I do think the book could have used additional editing as there were several grammatical and spelling mistakes. Additionally, I was confused why the author decided to pick up certain stories at the points he did, and I was left wanting more from several chapters since the main climax of many of these stories were left out.
December 27, 2025
The earth and mountains move, too, giving the sun room enough to flood nearly the entire basin with its light. The landscape now flashes with uncountable sparkles, ice crystals reflecting the sun even as they begin to slowly melt. It’s a blessing to be here for this morning’s spectacle, one that’s been repeated an untold number of times across the ages and yet never quite the same as today’s. I think that’s one of the things I love about this wilderness, the immensity of scale that’s revealed, both across the landscape and through time.
Bill Sherwonit
Hugely diverse collection of writings here, from fiction to short story to non-fiction, and overall an interesting snapshot of what it might mean to be an Alaskan in this time. Although my quotes are from male writers, there was a lot of female voices in the offerings, as well as locally published authors without a book yet.
“For most people, supporting the idea of preserving wild Alaska is a no-brainer. The Great Land is one of the last reservoirs of large-scale wilderness on this rapidly shrinking rock we all call home. But as an Alaskan who’s lived in, traveled, and studied Arctic wilderness for four decades, I feel a special responsibility to advocate; and the fact that I’m a writer and photographer, with the ability to reach out to others and provide accurate, first-hand information, strengthens that obligation to report from the front lines. One might argue that I’m simply engaging in NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard); however, wild Alaska—what the Inupiat call Nuna, The Land—is a legacy to the world, an invaluable treasure that we all must conserve and guard for future generations.” Nick Jans
“Up one creek bed I hiked, chest-thick chunks of petrified redwood lay, annual rings and beetle holes in the bark as clear as if the trees had fallen not a hundred million years ago, but the day before. Some gravel bars seemed composed almost entirely of fossil-rich stone; others were littered with strange, glistening, green and red-marbled metamorphic stones that seemed to have fallen from space. The true story of this place, however, lay in the rocks themselves. Much of this part of the Brooks Range was formed from uplifted and folded sedimentary rock. Strata of soft sandstone, limestone, and shale had weathered over countless seasons, rounding the land into elongated, east-west trending ridges and exposing lower, ancient layers. Time had scraped the country down to its bones; now fossils lay scattered at the surface as if dropped by a great, careless hand—everything from tableaux of ripples on a long-vanished shore to imprints of ferns, and casts of tree-like algae and minute, shelled creatures.” Nick Jans
“Denali matters, it teaches and inspires; it slows me down. It opens my lungs. I love the intimate distance, the raw existence, the unexpected ravens, the furtive lynx, the stoic moose, the resilient birch, the poetry of water over stones; I love pulling my sleeping bag up to my chin and wondering: how far away is the nearest bear? The farthest star? I love sunrises and sunsets, the only gold rush I care to be a part of. I love the survival amid hardship, the warm embrace of indifferent mountains, the simple but profound freedoms; I love the dream-tossed nights when, according to comedian George Carlin, ‘the wolves are silent and the moon howls.’” Kim Heacox , Rhythm of the Wild.
What does it mean to be a critical thinker? To challenge your own assumptions before you challenge those of others? To stand atop a mountain and find God in nature, time in a flower, perfection in a caribou, poetry in a river? To question answers rather than answer questions? What does it mean to be a radical, a liberal? What did it take to free the slaves and give women the vote? To get Social Security, Workman’s Compensation, a Civil Rights Act, a Wilderness Act, the first Earth Day, the establishment of Mount McKinley National Park, and its enlargement and redesignation to Denali National Park and Preserve? It took vision, hard work, and courage. It took liberal values championed again and again, always opposed by conservatives. And it’s conservatives today, their fists closed tightly around their money, who despite all scientific evidence say human-caused climate change is fiction. Let us knock the wheels off their clown car. Let us write and speak with brave self-reflection and go forth, inspired by all, intimidated by none, grateful for every day, to accept seemingly insurmountable problems as golden opportunities. “Your job,” I tell the kids, “is to joyously confront the crises before you. Can you do that?” Kim Heacox
Bill Sherwonit
Hugely diverse collection of writings here, from fiction to short story to non-fiction, and overall an interesting snapshot of what it might mean to be an Alaskan in this time. Although my quotes are from male writers, there was a lot of female voices in the offerings, as well as locally published authors without a book yet.
“For most people, supporting the idea of preserving wild Alaska is a no-brainer. The Great Land is one of the last reservoirs of large-scale wilderness on this rapidly shrinking rock we all call home. But as an Alaskan who’s lived in, traveled, and studied Arctic wilderness for four decades, I feel a special responsibility to advocate; and the fact that I’m a writer and photographer, with the ability to reach out to others and provide accurate, first-hand information, strengthens that obligation to report from the front lines. One might argue that I’m simply engaging in NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard); however, wild Alaska—what the Inupiat call Nuna, The Land—is a legacy to the world, an invaluable treasure that we all must conserve and guard for future generations.” Nick Jans
“Up one creek bed I hiked, chest-thick chunks of petrified redwood lay, annual rings and beetle holes in the bark as clear as if the trees had fallen not a hundred million years ago, but the day before. Some gravel bars seemed composed almost entirely of fossil-rich stone; others were littered with strange, glistening, green and red-marbled metamorphic stones that seemed to have fallen from space. The true story of this place, however, lay in the rocks themselves. Much of this part of the Brooks Range was formed from uplifted and folded sedimentary rock. Strata of soft sandstone, limestone, and shale had weathered over countless seasons, rounding the land into elongated, east-west trending ridges and exposing lower, ancient layers. Time had scraped the country down to its bones; now fossils lay scattered at the surface as if dropped by a great, careless hand—everything from tableaux of ripples on a long-vanished shore to imprints of ferns, and casts of tree-like algae and minute, shelled creatures.” Nick Jans
“Denali matters, it teaches and inspires; it slows me down. It opens my lungs. I love the intimate distance, the raw existence, the unexpected ravens, the furtive lynx, the stoic moose, the resilient birch, the poetry of water over stones; I love pulling my sleeping bag up to my chin and wondering: how far away is the nearest bear? The farthest star? I love sunrises and sunsets, the only gold rush I care to be a part of. I love the survival amid hardship, the warm embrace of indifferent mountains, the simple but profound freedoms; I love the dream-tossed nights when, according to comedian George Carlin, ‘the wolves are silent and the moon howls.’” Kim Heacox , Rhythm of the Wild.
What does it mean to be a critical thinker? To challenge your own assumptions before you challenge those of others? To stand atop a mountain and find God in nature, time in a flower, perfection in a caribou, poetry in a river? To question answers rather than answer questions? What does it mean to be a radical, a liberal? What did it take to free the slaves and give women the vote? To get Social Security, Workman’s Compensation, a Civil Rights Act, a Wilderness Act, the first Earth Day, the establishment of Mount McKinley National Park, and its enlargement and redesignation to Denali National Park and Preserve? It took vision, hard work, and courage. It took liberal values championed again and again, always opposed by conservatives. And it’s conservatives today, their fists closed tightly around their money, who despite all scientific evidence say human-caused climate change is fiction. Let us knock the wheels off their clown car. Let us write and speak with brave self-reflection and go forth, inspired by all, intimidated by none, grateful for every day, to accept seemingly insurmountable problems as golden opportunities. “Your job,” I tell the kids, “is to joyously confront the crises before you. Can you do that?” Kim Heacox
September 7, 2023
This book is an anthology and very definitely a mixed bag. There is fiction, nonfiction, short stories, snippets from novels, memoirs, essays, history, just a little bit of everything, all held together by being related to Alaska. Not surprisingly, some pieces within this collection were more to my taste than others, but I am not sorry to have read any of them. In general, I preferred the pieces that were meant to stand alone, those that had a satisfying completeness to them, to those which had been extracted from a larger piece of writing. In a few cases those excerpts left me really wanting more, as was probably the editor's intent. In others, however, I just found the extracted pieces harder to connect with.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sampling an eclectic mix of Alaska writing, or who wants to become acquainted with a wide variety of Alaska writers. I am glad to have had this exposure, and there are a few writers who I look forward to following further.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sampling an eclectic mix of Alaska writing, or who wants to become acquainted with a wide variety of Alaska writers. I am glad to have had this exposure, and there are a few writers who I look forward to following further.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews