Dave Freer

Dave Freer
Born	1959 (age 64–65) South Africa
Occupation	Novelist, short story author
Nationality	Australian
Period	1999–present
Genre	Science fiction
Website
www.davefreer.com

Dave Freeris a South African–born, Australian-based, award-winning science fictionauthor writing mostly humorous oralternate historynovels.

Biography

Freer was born and educated inSouth Africa.He grew up on the edge of a city next to a ~500-acre nature preserve of coastal bush. His father crewed on a commercial fishing boat on weekends. After a stint in boarding school, where he learned "Smoking, strong drink and pursuit of wild women",he was conscripted at the age of 17 into theSouth African Defence Forceand sent to the Angolan border as a medic (his last choice). "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...."The year stretched into two. Afterwards he married, went to university and became anichthyologist,then worked as research officer for the Western Cape commercial shark fishery. To make ends meet, and alleviate writing "amazingly dull" papers on fishery matters, he moonlighted as a commercial diver for a mussel farm. He managed a fish farm for a time, but the farm was forced to close (through no fault of his own) and he started to write. Six years and 74 rejections later, his first book (The Forlorn) was published byBaen Books.

Dave is an ardent rock-climber and has opened many routes near Morgan's Bay in the Eastern Cape (South Africa). He is also an accomplished chef, winetaster, and also enjoys fly-fishing and diving.

For many years he lived near Mount West in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands with his wife, Barbara, and two sons, Paddy and James. In early 2010 he and his wife emigrated toFlinders Island,in the Australian state ofTasmania.He and his family are now naturalized Australians.

Dave has his own forum at Baen's Bar,a website,and a blog about "the Freer Family's adventures and misadventures emigrating to Flinders Island". His literary agent in the United States is the OnyxHawk agency.

Awards

His 2008 Novel,Slow Train to Arcturus,won the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2008.

In 2022 he publishedCloud-Castles,which won aPrometheus Award.

Bibliography

Drowned World

Thisyoung adultsteampunkis set in an alternate 1970s earth where one scientific discovery was never made leading to massive global warming.

• Cuttlefishlaunches the series and was released 07/12 by Pyr.ISBN1616146257

ISBN978-1616146252

• Steam Moleis the follow-up novel revolving around the same cast 12/12 by Pyr.ISBN1616146923

ISBN978-1616146924

Assiti Shards Universe

163x series

• A Lineman for the Countrynovella inRing of Fire(Baen 2004)0-7434-7175-X
• Diving Bellenovella inRing of Fire II(Baen 2008)978-1416591443with Gunnar Dahlin

Dragon's Ring series

1. Dragon's Ring(Baen 2009)978-1-4391-3319-4
2. Dog and Dragon(Baen 2012)978-1-4516-3811-0

Fish Story series

Short stories.

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

Heirs of Alexandria series

See also:Heirs of Alexandria series

WithEric FlintandMercedes Lackey.Set in an alternate "Venetian Empire" in which magic thrives. Note: a significant amount of text, and a couple of major characters in this work, are adapted from stories written by Lackey in theMerovingen Nightsshared universe series. That series was started byC. J. Cherryhin her novelAngel with the Sword.

1. The Shadow of the Lion(Baen 2002)0-7434-3523-0
2. This Rough Magic(Baen 2003)0-7434-7149-0
3. A Mankind Witch(Baen 2005)0-7434-9913-1
4. Much Fall of Blood(Baen 2010)978-1-4391-3351-4
5. Burdens of the Dead(Baen 2013)978-1-4516-3874-5
6. All the Plagues of Hell(Baen 2018)978-1-4814-8361-2

Karres series

Expands the characters and situations in the novelThe Witches of KarresbyJames H. Schmitz(1966) into a series.

• The Wizard of Karres(Baen 2004)0-7434-8839-3with Eric Flint and Mercedes Lackey
• The Sorceress of Karres(Baen 2010)978-1-4391-3307-1with Eric Flint

Pyramid series

1. Pyramid Scheme(Baen 2001)0-671-31839-X
2. Pyramid Power(Baen 2007)978-1-4165-2130-3

Rat, Bats and Vats series

1. Rats, Bats and Vats(Baen 2000)0-671-31940-X
2. The Rats, the Bats and the Ugly(Baen 2004)0-7434-8846-6

Novels and novellas

• The Forlorn(Baen 1999)0-671-57831-6
• Crawlspace,military/social satire, with Eric Flint inJBU1.6and inBest of JBU 2007
• Slow Train to Arcturus,with Eric Flint (Baen 2008)978-1-4165-5585-8,winner of the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2008 for SF/F novel
• Stardogs(Magic Isle Press 2014)978-0992549008
• Joy Cometh With The Mourning(Magic Isle Press 2014)978-0992549022,a non-science fiction mystery.
• Changeling's Island(Baen 2016)978-1476781204
• Tom(Magic Isle Press 2016)978-0992549039
• Cloud-Castles(Magic Isle Press 2022}978-0992549053,Prometheus Awardwinner

Short stories

• "Genie out of the Vat", military SF, inAdventures in Far Futures(Baen 2005), edited by T. Weisskoph978-0743498876
• "The Red Fiddler", with Eric Flint, inBedlam's EdgeTechno for Baen, 2005), edited byRosemary Edghilland Mercedes Lackey.
• "Candyblossom" inProbe(SASF magazine) (2006), inJBU Volume 1.1,and inThe Best of JBU 2006
• "The Tinta Falls Catfish" (Fish II), with Eric Flint andAndrew Dennis,inJBU Volume 1.2(2006)
• "Flashing the Loch Ness Monster" (Fish III), with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, inJBU Volume 1.3(2006)
• "Thin Ice" inJBU Volume 2.1(2007)
• "The Yellow Submarine" (Fish VIII), with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, inJBU Volume 2.2(2007)
• "Love at First Bite" (Fish XI), with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, inJBU Volume 2.3(2007)
• "Jack October" inFates Fantastic Anthology(Techno 2007), edited by Dan Hoyt
• "The End of Mankind" (Fish XIII), with Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, inJBU Volume 2.5(2008)
• Regency FayinSomething Magic This Way Comes(DAW 2008), edited bySarah Hoyt
• "Boys" inThe Future We Never Had(DAW 2008), edited by Rebecca Lickiss
• "Wetware 2.0" inTranshuman(Baen 2008), and inApproaching the Singularity Anthology(Baen), edited byMark Van Nameand Toni Weisskoph
• "The Witch's Murder", with Eric Flint, inThe Dragon Done It(Baen 2008), edited byMike Resnickand Eric Flint
• "The War, Me, Seventeen Million Dollars, and a Stripper", inFront Lines(Techno 2008), edited by Denise Little
• "The Poet Gnawreate and the Taxman" inBetter Off Undead(Techno 2008), edited by Daniel M. Hoyt
• "Pirates of the Suara Sea", with Eric Flint, inBlack Sails, Fast Ships(Nightshade2008), edited by Jeff Vander Meer
• "Soot" inWitch Way to the Mall(Techno for Baen 2009), edited byEsther Friesner
• "Wolfy Ladies" inStrip Mauled(Baen 2009), edited by Esther Friesner
• "If Music be the Food of Love" inFangs for the Mammaries(Baen 2010), edited by Esther Friesner
• "Pinked Djinn" inAndromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 42(2010), edited by Edwina Harvey
• "Neither Sleet, Nor Snow, Nor Alien Monsters" inCitizens(Baen 2010), edited byJohn Ringoand Brian M. Thompson
• "Like Ghost Cat and a Dragon's Dog" inFree Short Stories 2012(Baen 2012).[1]

External links

• Official website
• Dave Freerat theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Interviewby Michael A. Ventrella, August 2009