Save The Dragons

Dave Freer is one of the more off-beat, funny and pleasant figures of SF. I had the great pleasure of meeting him a few years back at a con in Melbourne, and then he and his good wife dropped by Chez Flinthart on their trek through Tassie. He gets the Flinthart "Yarrrharrrr! Avast!" of approval with both lungs.

Anyway, for the last few years Dave has been working his way towards becoming an expatriate South African. Cunningly, he plans to do it in Australia, which is a lot easier than doing it in South Africa - so I'm told, anyway.

Problem is, Dave has a lot of critters: a much-loved collection of rescued dogs and cats and he really, really wants to bring them with him. However, you can't bring a critter from SA to Oz without copious quarantinage, and that, my friends, costs a bomb. And a half.

Dave's response? He has set up a website where he's posting chapters of a book he's written that's not yet seen publication. For every $400 raised he's putting up a new chapter. Folk who donate more than $25 will receive a signed copy of the book once it does see hardcopy publication.

This isn't ex-President Winston Kudogo of Nigeria, mi amigos. This is the real thing, and it's a chance to offer a helping hand to someone inside the SF industry who deserves all the help we can give him. Even a couple of bucks would be helpful.. There's more information at the actual site -- which is where I'm going right now, to toss a few dollars into the virtual hat.

Save The Dragons!

PS: Yes, Birmo. He writes Science Fiction too.