As a young teenager growing up with no television in Alaska in the fifties and sixties, I fell in love with fiction when my father subscribed to a Christian book club. Thus began my lifelong relationship with books. I also read the nine Christian novels authored by my great aunt, published under the pen name of Zenobia Bird, and the desire to write novels too was born in my heart.
Two people who challenged me to explore my faith were my maternal grandparents, Charles C. and Florence Personeus, who went to Alaska in 1917 as missionaries without promise of financial support. They ministered there for the next 65 years. I spent every summer of my childhood in their home.
A motto on their wall read,
Only one life, Twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
My grandparents and parents lived that, and I grew up following in their footsteps.
In 2003, I published my first book, Frontiers of Faith, my grandparents’ story of living by faith. (A sequel, Footsteps of Faith
, true stories of God’s direction, protection, and provision in my life, is due to be released in December 2020.) My grandma, an enthralling storyteller, had told of several true incidents in their ministry that triggered my imagination for novels I wanted to write but still hadn’t.
In 2006, I joined a local writing group, hoping to find support for writing those novels. I was also asked to write daily devotionals for the website of a Christian radio network where my bivocational pastor husband worked. That took up all of my writing time.
One night, I dreamed I was walking by a large church with two entrances about a block apart when I glanced up and spotted a slobbering bear galloping toward me. Panicking, I didn’t know which entrance might be open to provide an escape. As I hesitated, the bear attacked me, and I awoke trembling and sobbing. Bears outnumber humans in Alaska. At age four, I’d had a face-to-face encounter with one. I wasn’t hurt, but after that, I’d often had nightmares about them which I’d long outgrown. Why now?
When my writing group discussed how to interpret dreams, I told them about my nightmare. One lady suggested that two doors might mean I needed to make a choice. Yes! If I was going to write the novels I’d dreamed of since my teens, I’d better start now. That bear reminded me that my time was running out. I was 60 years old. I made a decision. The radio network was able to make different arrangements for their devotionals, and that freed me to write my novels.
In the next five years, I wove Grandma’s true stories into the Alaskan Waters Trilogy, the life and death saga of a fictitious Norwegian immigrant family who battles the beautiful but often treacherous waters of early twentieth century Southeast Alaska to find love and happiness in the midst of tragedies. While showcasing the majestic beauty of Alaska, the books explore God’s love and human love, forgiveness and reconciliation, rebellion and redemption, fear and faith.
Although the trilogy, published by Ambassador International, deals with one family through two generations, each book can stand alone.
In Till the Storm Passes By (2013), Evie is plagued by a recurring nightmare. A deathbed confession compels her to go to the faraway Territory of Alaska in 1953 to unravel a past shrouded in mystery.
In A Star to Steer By (2015), tales of big money to be made in Alaska in 1920 lure 19-year-old Norman, a Norwegian fisherman, to immigrate to America to make his fortune and return to marry his fiancée, who promises to wait for him.
In Beside Still Waters (2017), Violet, a destitute young Bostonian, accepts a teaching position in the harsh Yukon Territory in 1915, where she meets a handsome Yukon riverboat captain. When tragedy strikes, she must decide to allow her losses to make her better, not bitter.
I’ve had no more nightmares about bears. I’m thrilled to have accomplished a lifelong goal. My hope above all else is that readers will come along with my characters on a life-changing journey to Alaska, “The Last Frontier,” and find their faith in God renewed.
AnnaLee Conti is a fifth generation ordained minister and a fourth generation writer in her family. She earned her BA in music and elementary education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and her MA in Bible at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. For years, she wrote short stories, articles, devotionals, church school curriculum on assignment for Gospel Publishing House, and since retirement, has authored five books. Her experiences growing up in a missionary family in Alaska in the fifties and sixties provide inspiration for her writing. She and her husband, Bob, have pastored in New York State for nearly 40 years. Now retired, they reside in the Mid-Hudson River Valley. They have a son, five grandchildren, and expect a great-granddaughter in January. AnnaLee teaches Bible and theology to ministerial students and enjoys arts and crafts, including scrapbooking, as well as reading.
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