Dick moved to Southeast Alaska in 1981. Like many residents he worked on the water summers and in town winters. Two jobs that were especially valuable in writing Cannabis North were two years as the Activities Coordinator at a drug and alcohol rehab center and weekend shifts at a crisis respite house for the mentally ill. He has degrees in biology and education and lives in Juneau with his wife and two sons.
Head north with Finn Wentworth. Up to a place where animals are bigger than you are and don't need you to feed them. A place where you can sit fifty miles from nowhere on a wet beach rock, thinking you're the last person on earth, and all of a sudden five thousand people go by in a floating city, lights blazing, music playing. They rumble up a sunken valley and disappear into the fog. Things go quiet. Welcome to Alaska. If you get off the beaten path, be careful if you talk to strangers. They aren't mean and they won't take your wallet but they might make it hard to get back.
Dick Callahan's first novel brings all the characters of Southeast Alaska alive in the saga of Finn Wentworth. Finn arrives in Southeast, makes familiar cheechako mistakes and slowly acquires necessary skills in woodsmanship, hunting, fishing, and diving.
In the place he thought was the heart of wilderness, Finn meets the largest machines ever made. He's in the Cruise Ship Theme Park where everyone's along for the ride. This informed first novel is a well-written introduction to life in Southeast Alaska and a novel not to be missed.
