Bone Rattle by Marc Cameron (best ereader for pdf .TXT) 📕

the US Marshals Service, Jujitsu Master Ty Cunningham. We sat around a campfire near his home in Southeast Alaska discussing human conflict, wilderness tracking, and long-range shooting.

A significant portion of the story takes place underground. Through a stroke of luck, a coincidental introduction from Ty’s sister-in-law on an early research trip to Juneau put me in contact with Peter Nestler – jump rope master, multiple Guinness Record holder, and world class fine-art photographer. Visit his website. You won’t regret it. Peter also happens to be a genuinely nice human being. He and his wife guided me on my first trip into an abandoned gold mine and then introduced me to a friend of theirs named Brian Weed.

As it turns out, Brian is a real-life incarnation of Indiana Jones when it comes to adventuring. He spearheads a group called Juneau’s Hidden History (check out the amazing photos on their Facebook posts) and is surely one of the most knowledgeable people in the area when it comes to historic mining sites. Brian; his wife, Mareta; and their super cool dog, named Kat, opened their home to me during subsequent research trips and guided me on some incredible excursions underground. Many of the locations described in Bone Rattle are taken directly from these adventures.

The whole gang from Juneau’s Hidden History invited me on several hikes and even hosted a dinner during my last research trip to Juneau. During the course of my visit, I wished many times that I didn’t have a deadline so I could throw my hat in and join one of their adventures – over mountains, down rivers, or deep into some mine; it didn’t matter to me.

Someday.

My dear friend Brian Krosschell answers countless questions about life in rural Alaska and provides a sounding board (and source) for many of my ideas.

Though this story is set in Alaska, much of it was written on the island of Rarotonga, ancestral home of Lola Tuakana Teariki. My wife and I have made many wonderful friends in the Cook Islands over the years – Bill Rennie, Peter Heays, Jolene Bosanquet, Carey Winterflood, George and Karleen, Amber and Jaret, Jean and Brian, Rod and Lily, Paul and Gabrielle, Mike and Pauline, Vikki, Naomi – all of whom contribute continually to Lola’s character, culture, and my writing life in general during our stays in the South Pacific.

I have one of the best literary agents in the business in Robin Rue of Writers House. Gary Goldstein, my editor at Kensington, is a gem of a guy. More than just colleagues, both have become my good friends over the course of many years and a few million words. In fact, the entire gang at both Writers House and Kensington Publishing are nothing short of stellar.

My friends with the Anchorage Police Department and the United States Marshals Service continue to be a constant source of inspiration and guidance.

It’s a fortunate writer indeed who has a partner who listens, plots, critiques, applauds, cajoles, and edits like my wife, Victoria, does for me. I was thinking the other day how patient she’s been over the past three (almost four) decades, allowing me to disappear into my mind as I wrote several hours each day – half of that time getting nothing from publishers for my efforts but rejection letters.

In one way or another, all the best characters in my books are inspired by her.

Grumpy Cutter’s Venison Stew

Note: Grumpy’s version calls for venison and a Dutch oven. Arliss uses caribou and cooks it in an Instant Pot. Moose, bison, Dall sheep, musk ox… or even beef may be substituted.

1½ pound of caribou cut into cubes

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1-2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp pepper

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 Tbsp of Montreal Steak Seasoning (or similar)

½ cup of Red wine

1 large onion chopped

3 cups beef broth

2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3-4 Yukon Gold potatoes – cut into big chunks

4-5 carrots, cut in big chunks

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1-2 Tbsp of water to add to the corn starch to make a slurry

Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to the Instant Pot and turn on the saute function. When the oil starts to sizzle add the meat and season with the salt, pepper, and Montreal Steak Seasoning. Stir the meat until it has browned on all sides.

Scrape the bottom of the pot for brown bits as you deglaze with the red wine. Add the last 1 Tbsp of oil, onions and garlic and cook on the saute setting for two minutes, stirring with the meat.

Turn the Instant Pot off.

Add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, potatoes, and carrots.

Lock the lid and check that the valve is set to seal. Set to cook for 35 minutes on HIGH pressure. It will take 7 to 10 minutes to come up to pressure. Cook on HIGH pressure for 35 minutes.

Allow for a natural release of pressure for 10 minutes when the cooking time is up and then move the valve for a final quick release of pressure. Meanwhile, whisk the corn starch and water together to make a slurry.

Add the corn starch slurry to the steaming hot stew, stirring continuously as it thickens. Stew is done and ready to serve.

Grumpy Cutter’s Flaky Square Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 sticks of butter, frozen (16 Tbsps)

1½ cups of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet with a light spray of oil or cover with parchment.

In a bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

Grate the two sticks of butter and add to the dry ingredient mixture.

Gently combine until the butter particles are coated.

Next add the buttermilk and briefly fold it in. Transfer this dough to a floured spot for rolling and folding.

Shape the dough into a square; then roll it out into a larger rectangle. Fold by hand into thirds using a bench scraper. Press the dough to seal it. Use the bench scraper to help shape the dough into flat edges. Turn it 90 degrees