Northern author David Ferguson pens 'Bear Runners' book

David Ferguson never planned to write more than one novel. But when he was finishing up his first book, his editor asked him what he was working on next.

"I had no interest in writing a second book," he said.

A week later, they talked again and she told him to think of a situation where someone has found a body in camp in the remote wilderness.

"Six months later, I had the first draft to her," he said.

Ferguson is a retired conservation officer from Algoma Mills. His first book, Toxic Waters, took years to write and is an environmental crime story set on Lake Huron.

His latest book is called Bear Runners.

"There's a murderous polar bear poacher stripping polar bears from the coast of James and Hudson Bay up around Polar Bear Park in this story," he said.

The book also features two protagonists who end up getting romantically involved.

This book as well as his first are self published.

Ferguson says he's been getting support from the public as well as his former co-workers.

"All the characters are composites of people that I've met over my career," he said.

"The bad guys are composites of the bad guys that I've met. The good guys are composites — again, it's life's experiences. In 70 years, you meet a lot of people."

And even though he had never planned to write more than one novel, he's got an idea for his next book.

"It's exactly the same story [but] it's simply dialed back on the romance," he said.

He says he's also working on another book featuring the characters from Bear Runners.