It is with great sadness that we have learned today that one of our authors, Peter Rondel, has passed away. It was a shock to us, but doubly so that we didn’t know he passed back in October last year.

Peter had a long-standing relationship with IFWG Publishing, certainly back to the first few years of our operations. For a while we ran a print magazine called ‘SQ Magazine’ (that later morphed into a longer-running ezine called ‘SQ Mag’) and his story, The Face in the Frame, appeared in the very first edition in 2011. On the strength of this work, we read and accepted a delightful children’s illustrated book, A Magpie Called Will, and beautifully illustrated by New Zealand artist Frances Hutt. This was published in the same year, 2011, and only recently ceased printing. In 2016 we were very happy to publish his climate change science fiction novel, In the Heat of the Day, which is currently still in print.

We know Peter has published elsewhere and that he had a penchant for literary works and poetry, above and beyond the genre fiction we were honoured to facilitate for him. In part because he lived in Western Australia, and we were on the east coast, we never had the chance to personally meet him and have the opportunity to know him better. We also know he was a mature writer and it gladdens our hearts that we were able to help him get published, however humbly it may have been. Nevertheless, these circumstances contributed to us missing his passing until now, and this has made us wonder, how many in our writing and reading communities knew of this, or even knew him.

This isn’t right. We are not saying that our communities should have known him, or know of his passing (perhaps some of you did, particularly in WA), but we want to acknowledge him now, this last time, so that he can be given the respect he deserved:

Peter was a quality author with a great diversity of writing styles at his disposal. His children’s book tells us that he loved children and no doubt children loved him. He was in tune with important global matters, including climate change. His passing is a loss to our writing community and he will be missed. We pass our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

We are in communication with Peter’s family on administrative matters.

We do ask you to consider purchasing Peter’s last novel, In the Heat of the Day, if you are unfamiliar with his work (print and kindle).