Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Alaska Native (Tlingit) from Yakutat, Alaska where I grew up as a commercial fisherman. The village is located in the northern part of southeast Alaska between Mount Saint Elias and Mount Fairweather. It is between these mountains of which I write my fiction about, however I have taken real-life events to create my stories. In a sense, then, the history, culture and life style of this beloved community is very much true. So far I have written two books of fiction and two none fiction. One of the fiction book is a collection of short stories which stories are illustrated with my water color paintings. The other is a novel that talks about acculturation and assimilation of the Native peoples of Alaska.
The non fictions are political commentaries about tribal governments and their relationship with the federal government, including the subjects of legal plunder, progressives and the dangers of socialism and communism.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Kadashan Speaks, volume 2, the Law of Nature of Nature and Natures’s God—our lives, our liberties, our pursuit of happiness– from a Native American perspective.
I was inspired to write this particular book because over the many, many years of learning about how our governments should function, and how far away we are from real intent of the U.S. Constitution and the Natural Law and God’s laws, I felt it was now time to educate America about how we became a great nation and why we are following great nations that have come and gone.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. Try to get my writing done in mornings so I can do my tasks in the afternoons. I read and think a lot to get ideas about what to write about—and then go at it. I am not inspired to write every day (although I have been encouraged to do so), I find I do my best when I prepare myself. You will find in my non fiction that a lot of research has been put into my subjects. In my fiction you should be able to tell that I share a lot of my history, culture and traditions taught to me me by my parents and elders.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoyed John O’Hara’s stories. I read him a lot in college and his style has always made me want to write–not like him, but to develop my own. Alexis De Tocqueville, Cicero, W. Cleon Skousen, Frederica de Laguna
What are you working on now?
I am presently working on an autobiography about growing up in the fishing rivers of Dry Bay and Akwe. Akwe is where the village of Guseix is, where my ancestral roots and tribal house come from. The village had seven tribal house in it and sunk into the ground nearly a hundred years ago. My quest to locate the village has been for not for many years. The last ten years has become fruitful and one can never describe the feeling I had when I discovered my own tribal house.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang, Facebook, Twitter and my own website: www.kadashan.simplesite.com. My books are found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My mother taught me something when I was still a boy. She said, “it is no disgrace to fall. It is when you just lay there that’s so disgraceful.”
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Same as my mother. When my rejections slips were getting thicker than my manuscripts, I just got up and started all over again. It took twenty years before I was discovered.
What are you reading now?
5000 Year Leap, Democracy in America, John Locke’s on Politics and Education.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To write more short stories and a novel or two. I would like to write more about the history and culture of Native Americans, and the greatness of America.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, Book of Mormon, Under Mount Saint Elias, John Muir’s Travels n Alaska, the 5000 year Leap—He Walked the Americas
Bertrand (Kadashan) Adams’s Social Media Links
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