Bill Ransom (born 1945 in

Puyallup, Washington Puyallup ( ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. It is on the Puyallup River about southeast of Tacoma and south of Seattle. The city had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from the Puyallu ...

) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer.

Early life and education

He began full-time employment at the age of eleven as an agricultural worker. He attended

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

on track and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

s, and the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1888. The institution offers a variety of undergraduate degrees as well as five graduate programs in counseling, education, oc ...

on a track scholarship. He received his BA in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and English Education from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1970, and MA in English from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

in 1997.

Work

From 1965 to 1970 Ransom worked as an expeditor on a quick engine change team, building and repairing military and commercial jet engines. He studied American minority literature and Old and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

on an NDEA Title IV fellowship at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

, then began a pilot project with the Poetry in the Schools program in Washington state. He received his MA in English from Utah State University. He founded and directed the popular Port Townsend Writers Conference for Centrum and appeared in two feature films: ''

An Officer and a Gentleman ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' is a 1982 American romantic drama film directed by Taylor Hackford from a screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart, and starring Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and Louis Gossett Jr. It tells the story of Zack Mayo (Gere ...

'' and ''

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial may refer to: * The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (play), a play by Herman Wouk, adapted from his novel ''The Caine Mutiny'' * The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1955 film), a TV play based on the play * The Caine Mutiny ...

'' (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

). He was a

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

, firefighting basic training instructor, and

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

instructor for six years; and an advanced life support emergency medical technician for ten years in

Jefferson County, Washington Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,977. The county seat and only incorporated city is Port Townsend. The county is named for Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson County ...

. He volunteers with humanitarian groups in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Writing

Bill Ransom co-authored three Ace Science Fiction novels with

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science-fiction author, best known for his 1965 novel Dune (novel), ''Dune'' and its five sequels. He also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, ...

, following up on Herbert's '' Destination: Void''. The Pandora series included: '' The Jesus Incident'' (1979), '' The Lazarus Effect'' (1983) and '' The Ascension Factor'' (1988) from the Putnam/Berkley Publishing Group. In addition the novelette " Songs of a Sentient Flute" (1979) from the ''Medea'' series was the precursor version of ''The Jesus Incident'', but the two were set on different planets due to copyright issues, being published by different publishers. Ransom has published six

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, six poetry collections, numerous short stories and articles.

Learning the Ropes ''Learning the Ropes'' is a Canadian-produced sitcom that aired on CTV Television Network, CTV in Canada and in Broadcast syndication, syndication in the United States from September 1988 to March 1989. The series stars Lyle Alzado as Robert Rand ...

(Utah State University Press), a collection of poetry, short fiction and essays, was billed as "a creative autobiography." Three of his short stories from this collection have been selections of the PEN/NEA Syndicated Fiction Project, often called "The Pulitzer Prize of the Short Story": "Uncle Hungry," "What Elena Said" and "Learning the Ropes." These appeared in the Sunday magazine editions of major newspapers around the country. His 1973 poetry collection ''Finding True North & Critter'' was nominated for both the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

and the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. His most recent novel is ''Burn'' (Ace, 1995), a sequel to ''ViraVax'' (Ace, 1993). Recent poetry is in '' Puerto del Sol'', ''

Spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

'' and ''

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

''. ''Jaguar'', a 1990 Ace paperback, came out on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

via Alexandria Digital Literature in 1999, and was the first novel to outstrip short stories for the bestseller slot. ''Jaguar'' remained on the bestseller list from January through June, 2000;

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limite ...

re-released it as a physical book in 2001. With Richard Landerman, he wrote screenplays of his novels ''Jaguar'', ''ViraVax'' and ''Burn''.

Personal life

Bill Ransom is single with an adult daughter and three grandchildren. He resides in Grayland, Washington. he was listed as Dean of Curriculum at

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a ...

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ransom, Bill 1945 births 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Living people Evergreen State College faculty Writers from Olympia, Washington Writers from Port Townsend, Washington People from Puyallup, Washington American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Washington (state)