About J. Starkey-Saylor

Notes from the Author

I started writing while living in a small 24 x 24 cabin on a homestead in rural Central Alaska. I wrote during the day or by the light of an oil lamp in the evenings, because we didn’t have electricity nor did we have indoor plumbing or running water.

As an adult, I taught classes in Native cultures of the Pacific Northwest Coast, to mature learning students.

I was also the coordinator for a Native American Council for college students. From these students, who were from various nations throughout North America, I learned much about Native cultures and reservation living. I have been extremely fortunate in my life to also have learned from Native pipe carriers and Sundance chiefs, as well as many spiritual leaders.

The central characters in my first series of books (People of the Red Rock) are Native American. Jamie and Charlie are art students at Northern Arizona University at the encouragement of their Uncle Max, a man who wears many hats in the Yavapai Nation of Arizona.  Jamie, Charlie and their Dog, Star, travel across the United States with their Uncle accidentally finding trouble where ever their travels take them.

This is a five part series, four books, (Sedona: Tricksters and Fools, New York-Taos: Coincidental Thieves, Homer: The Disappearing Man, Umatilla: Spirits and Heroes), are currently published and available from Amazon and Barnes and Nobel. The fifth book, (Seattle: Ancient Spirits of the Emerald City) is only available from Amazon.

I have started a new series of mysteries called “Alaskan Myths and Legends”. The first book is titled, “Alaska’s Mysterious Hairy Man” and will release for purchase soon. I look forward to writing the rest of this series. It will be fun to write and read.