Alaska writer Colleen Mondor gets high praise for her book on aviation adventures and misadventures in Alaska. She is introduced at this UAA Campus Bookstore by fellow Alaska writer Sherry Simpson.

Here’s a bit more on the book from the author:

“I learned to fly at age 18 and have degrees in aviation, history and northern studies. ‘The Map of My Dead Pilots’ is based on my experiences as lead dispatcher at a Part 135 (commercial) air carrier based in Fairbanks. The ‘Company’ had bases in multiple bush locations and flew single-engine, multi-engine and twin turbine aircraft carrying everything from scheduled passengers and mail to convicts and sled dogs. There were incidents and accidents, moments of Pythonesque absurdity and brain-numbing hard work. It was never the profession I learned about in the classroom nor the glory stories so popular in modern myth…It is the story of the people who worked at one Alaska commuter and the culmination of my efforts to understand how commercial pilots live and die in the Last Frontier.”

This, from Alaska writer Nick Jans:
“Strap yourselves in. ‘The Map of My Dead Pilots’ is one hell of a ride, one of the best Alaska books ever. In gorgeous, literary prose that nails the rhythms of a barroom conversation and plumbs the depth of the human soul, Colleen Mondor writes a one-way ticket into the world of Alaska aviation.”

This podcast was recorded April 4, 2012.

Download MP3 (60:00min, 55MB)

For More Information:

Colleen Mondor

Writing on her book

Sara Ryan blog

Interview with Colleen Mondor

7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog

A blog about books, interview of Colleen Mondo

Booklist

Interview with Colleen Mondor

UAA Campus Bookstore

Bookstore website