WRWA Inc. - Member Spotlight! On J. Birney Dibble

Birney was born in India, probably because his mother was living there at the time. He has done a lot of traveling since then because, as his Uncle Clifford explained, he was “born so far from home.” His writings reflect an upbringing by religious parents during the Great Depression, his medical career, combat experiences in Korea with the First Marine Division, love of the outdoors, experiences as a missionary surgeon in countries such as Tanzania, Nigeria and Liberia, and as a non-missionary surgeon in Guam and Saudi Arabia. During a year and one half in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) he wrote long letters to friends. Birney kept carbon copies of letters that described life in all its aspects on the mission field, including native tribal life, medical work and hunting. The wife of one of his friends worked for the editor of the Abingdon Press. After she shared these letters with the editor, Birney was asked to make a book out of his experiences.

Birney published two books set in Africa, two medical futuristic novels, one novel based on his experiences in combat with the First Marine Division, and one stimulated by two years in Saudi Arabia and by his knowledge of the Bible and the Koran. He has published 21 short stories in publications such as Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, A Matter of Crime, Saturday Evening Post, Gray's Sporting Journal, Lake Superior Magazine and Teen Life. He has published 58 articles, plus 30 reprints in second and third magazines, including The World and I, Field and Stream, Medical Economics, Midstream, VFW News, Sporting Classics, Alaska Sportsman, Fin and Feather and Good Old Days.

If you were stranded on that famous “deserted island,” what book would you take with you and why?

It would have to be a book of poetry, inspiration, history, myths and truths, sex and violence, heroics and cowardice, strong men doing good, strong men doing bad, weak men doing bad, love and hate, war and peace, kings and peasants, the rich and the powerful and the poor and the weak. It could only be the Bible. And that's only the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). Add to that the four gospels, letters of Paul, letters not written by Paul, the book of Hebrews and, finally, the book of Revelation.
And if you knew ahead of time that you would be stranded on that famous “deserted island,” what book would you make sure not to take?

After living with the Koran 3-6 hours a day for two years, I definitely don't want that around, despite the fact that I'm working on an objective comparison of the Bible with the Koran.
Of all your writings, what is your favorite, and why?

The last one born is always the favorite, the baby of the family, so it would have to be my latest, “Too Cold a Trail,” just published in the October issue of Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.