Horse & Dog Adventures in Early California: Short Stories & Poems (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780615856162)

Ransom Wilcox was born in Taber, Alberta, Canada, in 1907. Because he was sickly, it was suggested that the family move to California. They bought land in Vina, north of Chico, but financial hardship forced them to move in search of work. They farmed, tended livestock, and did a lot of hunting and fishing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Once, to escape a charging boar, Wilcox stuck a pole he was carrying in the ground and climbed up! One season the family lived in a tent while the men worked cutting hay. Another year, Wilcox joined his father and brothers in Arizona, building a school on an American Indian reservation. Many elements of Wilcox's stories come from his early experiences. In 1943 he enlisted in the army. After the war, the Great Depression, and a divorce, Wilcox finished his schooling and opened a chiropractic practice off Union Square in San Francisco. Wilcox's friends called him Ray (for R.A.) or Doc. Besides writing, Wilcox loved to walk in the great outdoors. Near the end of his life, he joked about leaving his body to science; "I'm sure they can use my brain. It's in perfect condition-never been used." His suspense novel, "To Swallow the Earth," is available in paperback and ebook versions.