Hot Apple Cider

Don Ranney, MD,  is the co-author of the short story, "Of Cobras, Culture, and Change," on page 220 of Hot Apple Cider. The story is actually an excerpt from the novel When Cobras Laugh, which is partially based on Don's experiences as a missionary to India..

Don Ranney, BA (Anthropology), MD, (Toronto) FRCS is a man of many talents.

While studying medicine at the University of Toronto, Don developed an interest in orthopedic surgery and the new techniques of leprosy reconstructive surgery.

He studied surgery in England because of the high reputation the British training has in India, and served briefly as a medical officer in the British Special Air Service—a special forces regiment within the British Army which has served as a model for the special forces of other countries.

After becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1966, Don went to India as an orthopedic surgeon at a leprosy research center near Madras in South India. There he trained surgeons, taught medical students at Madras Medical School, and did a great deal of innovative research in reconstructive surgery.

Don returned to Canada in 1973, and for 20 years, as an Associate Professor in Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo, taught courses in anatomy, neuroanatomy, sports medicine, and the management of injuries in sport and work. In1980 he began running an evening clinic in orthopedic and sports medicine at the University of Waterloo, which later moved off campus and, when he 'retired' from UW in 1996, became a daytime clinic.

Though retired from the university, Don still does research there and is currently working on intracellular changes in muscle cells due to repetitive use. He is a member of 14 professional organizations—from writers of fiction to hand surgery and research in chronic pain.

Don's published work includes 114 research papers on hand surgery, biomechanics of the hand, anatomy, and muscle physiology and the novel, When Cobras Laugh. (OakTara, 2008)

His website is www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~ranney.

Don, Hot Apple Cider came together in a rather unusual way. What made you want to have your work in it?

I support the concept of making the public aware that there are writings of high quality being produced by Canadians who are Christian. I feel honoured to be accepted in this group and see Hot Apple Cider as a way of promoting the gospel as well as my work.

This book is 100% Canadian. Canadian authors, publisher, printer–everything. Is that important to you? 

Yes.

In her foreword for Hot Apple Cider, Janette Oke mentions that writers are often asked, “Why do you write?” How do you respond to that question?

I write for personal satisfaction. I feel I have a message to give. As a university professor for more than two decades I had the same desire—to communicate what I felt my students needed to know. This desire persists—almost as an  obsession—to communicate ideas I feel are important. That's why at the age of 77 years I continue to do scientific research. Others may not share the view that my ideas are important. I can live with that. Just let me speak and let others listen if they choose to.

Your primary occupation has been that of a medical doctor and instructor, and in that capacity, I believe you’ve done a lot of writing that was quite different from what you wrote for Hot Apple Cider. Can you tell us a little about your other published writing?

I've written, alone or in combination with others, 114 peer-reviewed scientific papers, which include chapters in eight books.

I've produced four books, with my favourite being a medical text on work-related injuries. In this, I wrote eight of the seventeen chapters and edited the rest.

Some of my colleagues have done much more, but my scope has been broad: leprosy reconstructive surgery, neuromuscular embryology, biomechanics of the hand, biomechanics of ballet, clinical anatomy, workplace injuries, muscle physiology, and the biological basis of forearm muscle pain.

On the latter topic we have six more papers to complete, and I am almost ready to send to a journal my own critique regarding the way motor vehicle accident victims are assessed, based on my intimate knowledge of the central nervous system and techniques of assessment.

Apart from the above academic pursuits, as president of my own corporation, Disability Assessment Services, Inc. for the past 13 years, I assessed about 100 motor vehicle accident victims per year and wrote a 10 to 15 page medicolegal reports on each of them for lawyers or insurance companies.

Because of my training as a writer, I try to make each report a literary document that is a pleasure to read as well as factually correct.

Your piece in Hot Apple Cider is actually a short adaptation from the novel, When Cobras Laugh, which you co-wrote with Ray Wiseman. Writing a novel with another person strikes me as a way of asking for relationship problems. Were you and Ray friends before writing the novel? And how did you handle it so you remained friends (assuming that you did )?

We met at a writer’s meeting and became good friends immediately. Personally, I cannot understand Christians not being good friends. Any friend of Jesus is always a friend of mine.

We approached the book with the idea that we both had a story to tell, that the events would be up to each writer, and that the writing could be critiqued by the other. This worked very well, and especially so for me, because I respected Ray’s years of experience as a reviewer of manuscripts. Also, as a previous writer of scientific articles, I knew the editor always has the power to refuse the work and the writer has to give in a lot or have an extremely convincing argument to support an alternative.

We met every Thursday to discuss the manuscript and this kept my attention on the project when medical work, etc., had a tendency to distract me. Ray’s approach was never “Do it this way,” but rather “What would you think about this other possibility?”

We were both amazed when a teacher of good writing critiqued it and said the two stories our book contains fitted together very well.

The novel you and Ray wrote is based on your own personal experiences as missionaries some years back. Why did you choose to write a novel rather than a memoir?

As a missionary, I had a difficult time, partly my own fault—my marriage broke up, the career I had trained nine years for was gone and I felt God had rejected me. But God reached out for the lost sheep that I was and restored me in every way. So there was no desire to condemn, no satisfaction in telling tales.

Meeting Ray and learning he also had returned as a “failed missionary” convinced me there must be others who had felt rejected by God and who would benefit by knowing our Lord is always in control of the final outcome. God called me to go to India and called me to return home so that I could give a message of comfort to other failed missionaries.

By fictionalizing the story, the message would come out without condemning any person or group. It became a general situation, not a particular one. Returning as a failed missionary is a reality that 25% of missionaries face.

Your own missionary story ended quite tragically and led to your rejecting God for a number of years. Did writing about it after all this time help you in any way?

I relished the writing of this book as it brought back sad memories, but also the joy that I had already been healed. But the writing did not heal me. God had done that in five minutes in 1979.

I’m assuming you get feedback from a lot of people because of the nature of your books, and feedback is great for the author – you know someone is actually reading your words! But I’m wondering if you’ve learned anything from your readers that you could share with us?

I learned that others have walked the same path we did and gained comfort from this story. In fact, I was surprised that hardly anyone thought we were wrong to write of our experiences.

My teacher in India, Dr. (Mrs) Aiyapandian in the story, immediately recognized herself. She was so grateful I had told of the unjust way the mission board had treated her husband, stealing his equipment and interfering with his wonderful research, that she thought of sending several copies of the book to India. But as she is a good Christian, she let this remain an unfulfilled temptation.

From a fellow retired member of the British Special Air Service I learned that even trained assassins can find this interesting. He said, “You know Don, I’m not a spiritual person, but I really enjoyed this book. It’s a good read.”

Are you working on something else now? And if so, can you tell us a little about it?

I have three novels partly finished. The one I want to complete in 2010 is about the environment from Genesis to Revelation, changing through wars and pollution that began with the steam engine, automobiles and electricity to the point of a global meltdown. Will God save it?

Here is the foreword.

Unholy Scripture is a novel (Latin, novus = new), a new way of looking at the world, the people in it and their actions.

As a work of fiction, I have bent the history in places for literary effect. I present the “facts” within the framework of modern science (even quantum mechanics), adding human philosophy, the biblical record and the Kuran—and giving all sufficient twist to express truth in a way that captivates the imagination.

Originally conceived as the life history of God, it cannot really be this, because the central character in a novel must change as the novel progresses, and that doesn't happen. Rather, the environment changes. Earth morphs from a pure, happy place to a cesspool of misery.

The story unfolds through the eyes of two women: devout, sometimes gullible Eve, and sexy Sarah, a beautiful woman who leads a wild life in Egypt. It explores the parallel universe that exists next to and within ours but beyond our reach in this life. It explains the mystery of The Trinity, and the almost unsolvable problem this asexual trio has in reconciling the eternal conflict between justice and love—a struggle resulting from sin, which itself arises as the inevitable consequence of holiness. Yet sin and its source must be destroyed by the Creator, a Supreme Being whose love knows no limits, who never punishes anyone, and even longs to forgive Satan.

Aside from your own piece, is there a particular piece or thought in Hot Apple Cider that stood out for you?

I really liked “Blind Date” by Paul Boge. I say this because I have been there many times (When looking for a second wife, I had 17 blind dates in four weeks!). But everyone can appreciate the fast pace of his grammar, clear but not too wordy descriptions, and the insight into the mind of the main character. It is a really exciting story.

A lot of people want to share their stories in order to help others. What advice do you have for someone who wants to write but doesn’t know how to begin?

a) Make a list of events you want to talk about. Start with the most exciting and refer to earlier events only briefly. Talk primarily about what you have experienced.

b) Think about your purpose in writing, will this story achieve that goal?

c) Work in some sub-plots, outline the climax and the ending. But…

d) Prepare yourself mentally to let the story change itself as you go along.

e) Read each section aloud and have someone critique it. Membership in a reading circle can be very helpful, but in the end accept only ideas you agree with.

f) Take lessons, read writing manuals and learn from the experts how to write.

 What is your prayer for the readers of Hot Apple Cider?

My prayer is that non-Christians will become interested in Christian writing that will point them to “The Word.”

See inside Hot Apple Cider

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