Joy Cometh with the Mourning

"Dave Freer is a former Ichthyologist (Fisheries Biologist) who turned author because he heard the spelling requirements were easier. They lied. He is happily married, with two great sons, two lovely daughters-in-law, and now is bracing himself for grandchildren. He and his wife Barbara live on remote Flinders Island, off the coast of Tasmania. He dives, fishes rock climbs, lives a chaotic experiment into self-sufficiency, including making his own bacon, from his own pigs, and writes novels. Some have even blundered onto best-seller lists before being kicked out by respectable literature." (Bio from Amazon.)

Dave Freer is one of my pretend internet author friends and exceptionally skilled writer. He recently moved from South Africa to Flinders Island, about as near the back side of beyond it's possible to manage and still be on Earth, and has written this book and is dedicating all proceeds from it to his new little parish church. Many of his books are science fiction and fantasy. He also has some literary YA books out. But THIS one is a "cozy". It's a comfortable murder mystery (a *cozy*) which he assures us that "your conservative mother will like." The heroine is a timid priest sent from the city to serve a country parish after the old priest had died.

Dave says: "I wrote this book for one simple reason (and, of course being me, several complex ones). I have given the entire income from it to my little Church on the Island. The Island is at least as nominally Christian as the US – which I see comes in 76%. (...) But in the meanwhile, Sunday to Sunday, it’s a very small group. Most of them are old. The church is important to them. They don’t have enough money to have a priest, or even to fly one in regularly to take mass. That is important to them. It’s important to me. They’ll take dawn service on ANZAC day, on Remembrance Day, and I’ll be there while I am still breathing, to pay my respects to the fallen, and honor those who served. They’ll bury me here, one day… if there is anyone left to bury me. They’ll be the ones making teas and comforting the grieving, as they do now, regardless of creed or color or background, or if you ever came to church."


As it's time to start thinking about gifts for our Conservative Mothers, I thought I'd share.