AUTHOR
Anne Carse Nolting
Then let night rise,
breadth of whale slicing sea,
and all that lies beneath this sigh
keeps scrolling back the beach.
Publications
Dear Future People
This novel describes the climax of the Hellenic Age in Egypt. Hypatia, an historically documented heroine, is portrayed as a young adult facing issues of a changing world, destined to stand at the center of a political power struggle which ultimately destroys the ancient Library of Alexandria.
Events in the novel follow historic accounts of the civil war between Rome and Constantinople, the “ethnic cleansing” and massacre of Gothic youth, and a trip down the Nile to seek a prophesy for Emperor Theodosius. The novel’s protagonist, Hypatia, plays a key role in a tragic era of social upheaval.
Dear Future People is published by Royal Fireworks Press (RFP), an educational book publisher for gifted and talented children. RFP provides teachers, administrators, homeschoolers, and parents books, resources and supplementary materials.
Pythagoras Eagle & The Music of The Spheres
The Alaskan setting in Prince William Sound lends a mystical aura to the ancient Greek legacy of numbers, their patterns and the dream of the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, of a harmonic and ordered universe.
Shawna Pestrekoff-Sautter, a native Koniagmiut, loves to integrate mathematics into “real life” situations. She and her friends, Adin and Tavia, have been promised a scholarship if they can successfully solve an obscure math problem by the end of the summer. They form the Pythagoras Club, and meet secretly on a beach to discuss their assignment. The three are confident they can meet the challenge with the help of Shawna’s uncle, who is rumored to be a mathematical genius.
Shawna soon realizes the real problem in her life in not in mathematics at all. When she visits Grandma Pestrokoff’s island, a dark family secret pervades, a secret Uncle Eagle cannot explain to Shawna. Her uncle seems much different than her childhood memories of him. He is withdrawn and makes mysterious references to the sound he hears in his mind, something he defines as music of the spheres. When Uncle Eagle disappears from her life, he leaves a number of clues for Shawna and her friends to decipher. Their discovery challenges the trio’s knowledge of the mysteries of the mind.
Rysaland
Rysaland is a romantic saga of Prince Vladimir, 10th century ruler of the Russian kaganate, a man revered today in Russia as hero and saint. Legends of Vladimir and his noble knights of the steppe are similar to Arthurian legends, and equally as captivating.
The establishment of the Russian state circa 985 C.E. involved a fascinating mix of cultural influences. Both Viking and Slavic heritages were influenced by the Byzantine Empire through trade and war treaties.
This historic tale of one of the most unforgettable heroes in Russian history is portrayed through the eyes of two of Vladimir’s wives: Ragnilda, a Slav, and Princess Anna of the Byzantine, sister of the Emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII. Both women, of very different disposition and background, find themselves unwilling partners in the stormy birth of a new empire.
Sentiments of the era are best captured through cultural legends and fairy tales. Nolting uses the voice of her characters to retell sagas. These include familiar Slavic fairy tales ‘Sonya and the Dragon’ and ‘Baba Yaga’, along with the author’s interpretation of the mystical Firebird. Varangian characters add the Norse myth of ‘Ginnungagap’. Byzantine priests arrive in Russia to tell prophesies which promise a Third Rome, and the bogatyri, brave knights of the steppe sing tales of valor against foes of trolls and dragons. The author draws all of these tales together to conclude her story with her creation of a futuristic legend for Russia.
Extensive notes at the end of the book explain sources of Russian images, a bibliography, timeline, historical background, and family trees of Russian princes and Byzantine emperors.
About Anne
Anne Carse Nolting is the author of Dear Future People, young adult fiction; Rysaland, adult historical fiction; and Pythagoras Eagle & the Music of the Spheres, middle grade fiction and winner of Mayhaven’s award for children’s fiction.
Anne’s nonfiction article, “The Ancient Library of Alexandria” appeared in May 2000 issue of Cricket Magazine. The article was published in Holt, Rinehart and Winston’s 2003 Holt Literature & Language Arts, and 2005 Holt Elements of Literature (language arts textbook for grade 6). “The Ancient Library of Alexandria” was also purchased by New South Wales Department of Education in Australia. The article was reprinted in Measuring Up to The New Jersey State Standards in English, published by The People’s Publishing Group, Inc.
Other publications appear in periodicals: Alaska—The Magazine of Life on the Last Frontier, Dairy Today Farm Journal Extra, Northern Adventures, and Cirque: A Literary Journal for the North Pacific Rim.
Anne has participated in Alaska Sisters in Crime Authors in the Schools Program. Presentations include YWCA Alaska Women Speak at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Young Writer’s Conferences, and Literacy Festivals for high school students. Anne has facilitated after-school writing workshops for middle school students. She was a guest speaker at the University of Alaska’s Philosophy Foundations of Education class.
Anne presently lives in Bellingham, Washington, and is a member of “Women With Wings,” an organization serving those in need of therapeutic music.
Reviews
Anchorage Daily News — Learning-disabled Learn from Book Geared for Gifted
A book geared toward educating gifted children has been made accessible to a group of learning-disabled students, thanks to Chugiak High School special education teacher Heather Edgren. Last summer, Edgren met with two teachers from West High School to formulate an...
Research Rewards Palmer Author in Rysaland: Russian Fairy Tales Come Alive in New Book by Anne Nolting
by Claire BaldwinSpecial to The Frontiersman Steppe fairies whisking along with the wind, firebirds sailing down from the sky and light elves riding across rainbows all seem part of common history to Anne Nolting, who wrote about them in her new book, Rysaland....
Book Adds up to Success for Palmer Author
by Cassey ResslerThe Frontiersman Valley Life EditorPublished on Sunday, October 26, 2003 For 12 years, the manuscript for Pythagoras Eagle & the Music of the Spheres sat collecting dust on the shelf of Anne Carse Nolting's home. Soon, it'll be sitting on the...
Valley Novelist Nolting’s Childhood Rich in Imaginings
by Anne HanleyAnchorage Daily NewsDecember 18, 2005 Anne Carse Nolting of Palmer has always had a thirst for history. Ever since she learned to write at age six, she has been penning stories about faraway times and places. Her latest book takes place in 100 B.C. on...