Dana Stabenow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dana Stabenow (born March 27, 1952) is an American author who has produced science fiction, mystery and most recently a novel based on modern piracy and international terrorism.

Many of Stabenow's books are set in her home state of Alaska, where she was raised by her single mother who lived and worked on a fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska. Stabenow received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Alaska in 1973 and, after deciding to try her hand as an author, later enrolled in UAA's MFA program.

Her first novel, Second Star was bought by Ace Science Fiction in 1990. It was followed by two other science fiction books. Her first Shugak book, A Cold Day for Murder, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1993.

Contents

[edit] Publications

[edit] Star Svensdotter series

  • Second Star (1991) - Star Svensdotter builds a habitat at L5, in orbit between the gravitational pulls of the earth, the moon and the sun.
  • A Handful of Stars (1992) - Star Svensdotter leads a mining expedition to the asteroid belt.
  • Red Planet Run (1995) - Star Svensdotter and her two children, Paddy and Sean, travel around Mars in a balloon.

[edit] Kate Shugak series

Kate Shugak is a Native Alaskan, an Aleut, living in a fictional national park in Alaska, based loosely on the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Formerly an investigator for the Anchorage District Attorney's office, an incident during which she is badly injured on the job causes her to quit and return home to live on her own. Regular characters in the Shugak series include:

Mutt, Kate's part-wolf dog.
Jack Morgan, Anchorage District Attorney, and Kate's lover for the first nine books.
Ekatarina Shugak, Kate's grandmother
Bobby Clark, Vietnam vet and ham operator
Dan O'Brien, Ranger assigned to the Park
Sgt. Jim Chopin, a State Trooper assigned to the Park

Shugak stories:

  • A Cold Day for Murder (1992) (the first in the Kate Shugak series) - A park ranger is missing, and so is the investigator the Anchorage police sent in to look for him. Kate's ex-boss and ex-lover, Jack Morgan, convinces her to investigate their disappearances on her own terms, beginning her new career as a private investigator. This book introduces us to main characters that will remain constants in the books to come and sets the tone for the coming books. The storyline establishes the relationship between Kate and Jack and gives some background information and insight into their relationship.
  • A Fatal Thaw (1992) - A killer claims eight victims but nine bodies were found lying in the snow.
  • Dead in the Water (1993) - Kate hires on as a deckhand on a crabber where two former deckhands mysteriously disappeared. This novel talks about life on a crab fishing boat and the dangers on the sea.
  • A Cold-blooded Business (1994) - A novel that talks about life in the oil fields above the Arctic Circle has Kate looking into drug smuggling and finding other illegal situations as well.
  • Play With Fire (1995) - While picking mushrooms, Kate and her friends stumble upon the body of the son of the leader of a religious sect.
  • Blood Will Tell (1996) - Mostly set at the annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention, which Kate attends at the insistence of her grandmother, Kate looks into the death of one of the local village's board members.
  • Breakup (1997) - Breakup is the season of early Spring, when the rivers and ground starts to thaw and people can start spending more time outdoors again. Kate looks into the death of a woman by a bear that doesn't quite add up.
  • Killing Grounds (1998) - Set in the summer fishing season of salmon, Kate investigates the death of a fellow fisherman while working as a deckhand on a tender.
  • Hunter's Moon (1999) - Kate and Jack take on a job to escort a group of business men and woman into the park trophy hunting.
  • Midnight Come Again (2000) - After the events in the previous novel, Kate has gone missing from her home and friends.
  • The Singing of the Dead (2001) - Kate hires on to protect the life of a candidate for Alaskan State Senator.
  • A Fine and Bitter Snow (2002) - A novel that talks about oil drilling in a wildlife preserve, Kate looks into an attack on two friends of her late grandmother.
  • A Grave Denied (2003) - Some students on a field trip discover a body in the mouth of a glacier.
  • A Taint in the Blood (2004) - A woman hires Kate to clear her mother of a thirty year old murder, but the mother doesn't want to be cleared.
  • A Deeper Sleep (2007) - Kate tries to get a conviction on a repeat offender while her tribal elders try to get her to take a more solid role in the tribe.

[edit] Liam Campbell series

After the preventable deaths of people under his watch, Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell is broken in rank back to Trooper and sent to a remote post at the eastern edge of the Aleutian Islands chain.

  • Fire And Ice (1998) - Liam finds that a dead man may have been killed by the propeller of the plane of his ex-lover and bush pilot Wy Chouinard.
  • So Sure of Death (1999) - Liam gets a new Trooper posted with him, a visit from his estranged father, and two different cases: the murder of the assistant to an archeologist at his dig site, and a family killed on their fishing boat.
  • Nothing Gold Can Stay (2000) - What first looks like a random assault is found to be a string of serial killings that goes back twenty years and is still continuing.
  • Better To Rest

[edit] Novels

  • Blindfold Game (2006)
  • Prepared for Rage (forthcoming, January 2008)

[edit] Anthologies, as editor

  • The Mysterious North (2002) - including a short story by Dana Stabenow, "Cheechako," set at the Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike Gold Rush.
  • Alaska Women Write (2003) - including an essay by Dana Stabenow, "The Gift," about her childhood on board a fish tender in the Gulf of Alaska.
  • Wild Crimes (2004) - including a Kate Shugak short story by Dana Stabenow, "Wreck Rights"
  • Powers of Detection (2004) - including a Mnemosynea short story by Dana Stabenow, "Justice is a Two-Edged Sword"
  • At the Scene of the Crime (2008) - including a Liam Campbell short story by Dana Stabenow, "On the Evidence"
  • Unusual Suspects (forthcoming, 2008) - including a Mnemosynea short story by Dana Stabenow, "A Woman's Work"

[edit] Essays

  • "A Son of Martha" in Our Alaska (2001)
  • "The Gift" in Alaska Women Write (2003)

[edit] Short stories

  • "Nooses Give", a Kate Shugak story in The Mysterious West (1994)
  • "No Place Like Home" in Star Colonies (2000)
  • "Missing, Presumed...", a Bill and Moses story in And the Dying is Easy (2001)
  • "Cheechako" in The Mysterious North (2002)
  • "Wreck Rights", a Kate Shugak story in Wild Crimes (2004)
  • "Justice is a Two-edged Sword", a Mnemosynea story in Powers of Detection (2004)
  • "A Woman's Work", a Mnemosynea story in Unusual Suspects (forthcoming)
  • "On the Evidence", a Liam Campbell story in At the Scene of the Crime (forthcoming, 2008)
  • "The Perfect Gift", in the anthology Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (October 2008)
  • "Gold Fever", in the anthology Two of the Deadliest (forthcoming)

[edit] External links