Dave Freer

Dave Freer , actually David Freer (* 1959 in Durban ) is a South African science fiction author and former marine biologist who mainly writes humorous and alternative world novels. He holds a Ph.D. in the field of zoology .

biography

Freer grew up near a nature reserve in South Africa. He is the child of an African language teacher and linguist who was in the civil service of the city of Durban. He completed his school days in Bloemfontein at St. Andrews School .

For a while he went to boarding school where, according to his own words, he only learned to smoke, strong drink and pursuit of wild women - "Smoking, heavy drinking and dealing with wild women ..." At the age of 17 he began his military service with the South African Defense Force (SADF) and was sent to the Angolan border as a medic . He later said: My choices were five years in jail, leave the country, or go in for a year. I'm a strong swimmer, but the Atlantic seemed too large ... - “My options were five years in prison, leaving the country, or one year in the military . I'm a good swimmer, but the Atlantic seemed to be too big for me ... "

Freer's military service was extended to two years. After his return he married and enrolled at a university to specialize in zoology and became an ichthyologist as a result of which he subsequently carried out research for shark fishing societies. In the course of these activities, he took on the role of a senior scientist at the Western Cape Shark Fishery for the Department of Sea Fisheries . In this activity he organized aquaculture .

To make it easier for himself to write articles about fishing, he took a sideline as a diver at a mussel farm. For some time he owned a fish farm himself, but it had to close, and then he started writing. Six years later he made his first publication with the novel The Forlorn at Baen Books .

Freer is a passionate mountaineer who has opened numerous routes near Morgans Bay in the Eastern Cape . He lived for a long time near Mount West in the Midlands in KwaZulu-Natal with his wife Barbara and their two sons Paddy and James . In 2010 he and his wife emigrated to Flinders Island in the Australian state of Tasmania . Freer ran an internet forum at Baen's Bar and runs a blog on “The Freer Family Adventures and Mishaps in Immigration to Flinders Island.” His agency in the US is OnyxHawke.

Award

His 2008 novel Slow Train to Arcturus won the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll for best science fiction and fantasy novel.

bibliography

Drowned World

Alternative world in the 1970s where no invention was made that led to global warming.

• Cuttlefish , 2012, Pyr, ISBN 978-1-616-14625-2
• Steam Mole , 2012, Pyr, ISBN 978-1-616-14692-4

ssiti Shards Universe

163x series

• A Lineman for the Country , 2004, Baen
• Diving Belle , 2008, Baen (with Gunnar Dahlin )

Dragon's Ring Series

• Dragon's Ring , 2009, Baen
• Dog and Dragon , 2012, Baen

Fish story

• Fish Story, Episode 1 , 2006 (with Andrew Dennis and Eric Flint )
• Fish Story, Episode 2 , 2006 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 3 , 2006 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 4 , 2006 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 5 , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 6 , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 7: We're Going to Need a Bigger Pub , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 8: The Yellow Sub ... , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 9: Love at First Bite , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 10: The A-Team , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 11: The End of Mankind , 2008 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 12: Make It More Complicated , 2008 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 13: The Plot to End the Universe , 2008 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 14: Punctiphobia: An Inordinate Fear of Spots , 2008 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Fish Story, Episode 15: They Came from Beyond , 2008 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)

Heirs of Alexandria

Together with Eric Flint and Mercedes Lackey . The action takes place in an alternate Venetian empire where magic exists. Many storylines and characters are borrowed from Lackey's Merovingen Nights universe. The basic idea was created by CJ Cherryh with her novel The Angel with the Sword .

• The Shadow of the Lion , 2002, Baen
• This Rough Magic , 2003, Baen
• A Mankind Witch , 2005, Baen
• Much Fall of Blood , 2010

Carts

Based on the novel The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz , 1966.

• The Wizard of Karres , 2004, Baen (with Eric Flint and Mercedes Lackey)
• The Sorceress of Karres , 2010, Baen (with Eric Flint)

Pyramid

• Pyramid Scheme , 2001, Baen
• Pyramid Power , 2007, Baen

Council, bats and vats

• The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly , 2004, Baen
• Rats, Bats and Vats , 2010, Baen

More novels

• The Forlorn , 1999, Baen
• Slow Train to Arcturus , 2008, Baen

Short stories

• Genie out of the Vat , 2005, Baen
• The Red Fiddler , 2005, Baen, (with Eric Flint)
• Candyblossom , 2006
• The Tinta Falls Catfish , 2006 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Flashing the Loch Ness Monster , 2006 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Crawlspace , 2007, (with Eric Flint)
• Thin Ice , 2007
• The Yellow Submarine , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Love at First Bite , 2007 (with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Jack October , 2007
• The End of Mankind , 2008 (with Flint and Andrew Dennis)
• Regency Fay in Something Magic This Way Comes (DAW 2008), edited by Sarah Hoyt
• Boys , 2008, DAW
• Wetware 2.0 , 2008, Baen
• The Witch's Murder , 2008, Baen (with Eric Flint)
• The War, Me, Seventeen Million Dollars, and a Stripper , 2008, Techno
• The Poet Gnawreate and the Taxman , 2008, Techno
• Pirates of the Suara Sea , 2008, Nightshade (with Eric Flint)
• Soot , 2009, Baen
• Wolfy Ladies , 2009, Baen
• If Music be the Food of Love , 2010, Baen
• Pinked Djinn , 2010
• Neither Sleet, Nor Snow, Nor Alien Monsters , 2010, Baen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fantasy Author Dave Freer Emerges as Major Talent. on www.pjmedia.com
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Dave Freer, short biography. on www.literarytourism.co.za
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Self-description (English), accessed on May 18, 2013
4. ↑ Self-description , accessed on May 18, 2013
5. ↑ http://flindersfreer.blogspot.com/
6. ↑ OnyxHawke Agency - Dave Freer Agency
7. ↑ Preditors & Editors Awards ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

• Literature by and about Dave Freer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Dave Freer in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
• Works by and about Dave Freer at Open Library
• Dave Freer's website
• Interview by Michael A. Ventrella, August 2009 (English)