Working North: Dew Line to Drillship

Ranson skillfully recreates his northern experience in strong, crisp stories that are humorous, quirky, and unique. Working North makes it clear why Ranson was moved to "pity the southerner who has never seen an arctic sun skipping along the earth, gathering all the colours of the prism and turning the land a warm purple." Working North is an engaging and entertaining read for inexperienced southerners and northern travellers alike.

Rick Ranson, the third child in a family of six children, was raised the son of an enthusiastic, story-telling Royal Canadian Air Force Captain, and grew up in military bases across Canada, from Vancouver to Labrador. When he was 16, Ranson hitchhiked from Winnipeg through the US to Toronto, and then from Winnipeg to Mexico, before canoeing from Winnipeg to New Orleans. After a brief stint in Australia from 1974-1975, Ranson settled in Winnipeg, MB, where he lives today. Ranson has worked as a longshoreman, a drill ship's welder, a boilermaker, a farm equipment salesman, an editor for McGraw Hill, a forklift operator, and a business owner. Ranson has contributed to several publications, including The Cottager Magazine, Gam on Yachting, Western Producer, and The Herald, and is the author of Working North: DEW Line to Drill Ship, which chronicles the eight years Ranson spent working as a welder in the Canadian Arctic.