Dave Freer lives on a farm called Finnegans's Wake, in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, with his wife Barbara, two sons, four dogs and four cats.

Freer spent two years as a reluctant conscript Medic during the Angolan war. He then went to Rhodes University where he trained as a Fisheries Scientist and became involved in Rock Climbing/Mountaineering, pioneering sea-cliff climbing in South Africa. He moonlighted as a commercial diver to pay his fees. He also incidentally learned a little about fish and a lot about how not to write.

Freer then moved to Cape Town where he was the Chief Research Officer for the Shark Fishery. To escape going to sea, he went fish farming and took up writing. He wrote like a Scientist: badly. Logically, he decided to become a career writer. His "day job" while trying to get published was as a relief Chef at various luxury game lodges, in between being a househusband. Food forms a major 'unique' element in Freer's writing. His hobby is recreating traditional dishes and preserving methods. He is also one of few male writers who knows a great deal more than he'd like to about changing diapers.

Biography provided by the author, July 2003.