Why Chasing Ray?

Ray Bradbury is my favorite writer, and also one of my favorite human beings. My first Bradbury book was Dandelion Wine and I have read hundreds of stories and poems since then. I think the world would be a lot better place if we tried to live like he does - if we appreciated everything around us as much as he seems to. I named the site Chasing Ray because I hope one day to be the kind eclectic writer that Ray Bradbury is.

Tell Us A Little About You...

I was raised on the East Coast of Florida, just south of Cape Kennedy, a few minutes from the beach. I moved to Fairbanks, Alaska after college and spent ten years there. I made the best friends of my life in Alaska and became a pretty good writer. I also was cold - a lot. I live now with my husband, son and dog in the Pacific Northwest. It looks like Alaska, but is a lot warmer. I still miss the Atlantic though.

I do not have a writing degree or know much about them. I have degrees in Aviation Management, History and Northern Studies, one from Florida Institute of Technology and two from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

How Did You Get Started?

I've been writing forever, but when I finished my grad school thesis on pilot error accidents among Alaskan air taxis and commuters, I really thought I had an idea that would make a great book. I tried to spin stories from the thesis off and rework them for literary magazines, but just got a ton of rejection slips back. Then in 2003 I had a story returned to me that had the words "Okay to Trash" written on the top.

That really pissed me off.

I decided not to submit to literary magazines anymore and instead focused on writing a book. But I was worried that without some feedback for my writing, and some editorial guidance, I might not get any better. When I saw that Jessa at Bookslut was looking for reviewers I wrote a piece about the relatively unknown works of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, one of my favorite writers. Jessa ran the piece and I've been writing for Bookslut ever since.

What's the Alaska Flying novel About?

My novel, based originally on research for my thesis, is about professional aviation in Alaska. I learned to fly when I was 18 but I was never a commercial pilot - I actually haven't flown solo in fifteen years. But when I moved to Fairbanks I got a job for a bush commuter in Operations and eventually became the lead dispatcher responsible for running the department and answering to the Director of Operations. I learned everything good and bad about aviation in Alaska by working the ramp, assisting passengers, dealing with the post office, the FAA, the pilots, management - etc. The book is based on what I saw, on on what happened to friends who flew for a living and on all th stories I heard from over one hundred other pilots working for dozens of other companies that I interviewed for my thesis.

The book is a fictionalized account of aviation life in Alaska and formatted as a series of interrelated stories. The format is based on Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried": a collection of related stories that together form a greater more complete tale. Right now I'm calling it "How to Tell a True Flying Story". If you look under the "Find Me Elsewhere" section of my sidebar you can link to a couple of excerpts from the book that have been published online: "Our Missing Airman" in failbetter and "Mercy Flight" in Storyglossia. I sent the book out to several agents in 2006 and signed with Michele Rubin at Writers House later that year. Under Michele's guidance I started second book, a memoir of my time in Alaska. She has that WIP in progress right now and is working it up to send out to editors. It's called "The Map of My Dead Pilots" and is very nearly complete. Together both books provide an accurate picture of commercial flying in Alaska in the 1990s; all the flying in those books is true and I look forward to sharing them both with readers.

Who Else Do You Write For?

Eclectica Magazine is a great literary magazine that celebrated its 10th year online in 2006. I found them because the editor, Tom Dooley, is also from Alaska and after reading an editorial he wrote about a place I was very familiar with up there, I sent him an email. I found out Eclectica was looking for reviewers and forwarded them a link to my St Ex piece up at Bookslut. They agreed to take me on and I became the young adult reviewer. After the sudden death of our Reviews Editor, Kevin McGowin in January 2005, I became Reviews Editor.

Voices of New Orleans came out of the publication of the essay collection Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? from Chin Music Press. I reviewed Chin Music's first book Kuhaku in August 2005 and after Hurricane Katrina I submitted an essay to their proposed collection about New Orleans. The book is beautiful and in conjunction with its February 2006 release Chin Music decided to create a website to continue coverage of the rebuild efforts in the city. I review books there that are about New Orleans and Southern Louisiana in an effort to remind people of how valuable the region is to all of us.

How Did You Become a Reviewer for Booklist?

I did a piece on censorship of young adult authors in 2005 for Bookslut and one of the publishers involved passed along my name and a link to the piece to a friend who is an editor at Booklist. She had me write a few reviews for them and liked what I did and now I receive a couple of books a month to review for the American Library Association. I'm a huge fan of libraries - when I was young I pretty much lived at the Eau Gallie Public Library in my hometown. As a kid from a family that didn't have a lot of money it was my primary source of books. I like reviewing for Booklist because I think libraries are critical to this whole thing we call "civilization". (Something Ray Bradbury has been saying for decades.)

About the Site

Chasingray.com was designed by Craig Mod, art director at Chin Music Press. He lives in Tokyo and spends his days dancing to old war songs blasted from black vans near Yasukuni Shrine.

The enigmatic and book loving sting-rays in the header were masterfully executed by Tokyo artist Aki Sumiyoshi. Aki sometimes comes to dance with Craig but is mostly holed up in her basement studio painting and building elaborate installation pieces. Aki doesn't really speak English but a foreign missive would really make her day. If you care to send your regards, she can be reached at this address.