Freaky Fearless Fred

Freaky Fearless Fred is an irreverent and quirky series of children's books written by Australian author Tony Barber, Fred's old schoolmate. The books tell the extraordinary life story of Fred Doppler, an eccentric and innovative green-haired boy with one finger missing from his left hand. He also eats cockroaches.

There are two books in the series so far, with a third on its way.

Book 1. "The Bouncing Balls of Death"

Synopsis:Commences with Fred's traumatic birth in Ward C of the Metropolitan General Hospital. Date: 3rd December 1942. Due to Fred's bungee jumping antics with his mothers umbilical cord, several rooms of the hospital are blown up. Following chapters tell of his childhood and why other children will not warm to a kid that build sculptures of rabbits from his own his belly button hair and ties live flies to the wings of model airplanes to power them.

When Fred is ten years of age, Fred's parents disappear, and his Aunt Nell arrives in the middle of the night with a bucket on her head to take him back to her home in the seaside town of Longthagee. Once there, Fred makes his first friend, a girl named Tamzin. She sets a new standard in fashion by wearing all her clothes inside out, and dreams of being a stand up comedian in Las Vegas. Fred's first two enemies appear in his life. They are Spitter and his maniacal sister Tarsher, the twisted and bitter children of a local asparagus grower. Fred swiftly sorts them out with a well laid plan that among others things involves a babies dummy, diaper and feeding bottle. Tamzin explains about the rules of bullying and why adults will (or don't) want to stop it.

After befriending a friendly yellow Razor-ball creature called Zooma, Fred finds himself trapped inside a cave in a fight to the death with several hundred of its relatives. The book ends with the eleven year old Fred being stranded on Earth after risking his life helping his parents leave Longthagee in a travel pod heading for Earth 2, his father's home; it is three minutes ahead in time in the fourth dimension.

Book 2. "The Exploding Dwarf"

Synopsis: Fred decides to build an "interplanetary communicator" to contact his parents on Earth 2 and enters a competition to win development funds. He wins the prize, much to the disgust of Spitter and Tarsher, whose father suddenly dies from falling onto a frozen asparagus stick. This results in their mother selling the farm, and whisking them both off to England to start a new life.

Fred discovers Zooma has a twin brother, and, after it attacks Tamzin, engages the evil Razor Ball in a bloody fight. After realizing that physically, he is not going to age beyond eleven, Fred gives the prize money from the competition to his Aunt Nell and Tamzin so that they can pursue their dreams. Using seal whiskers, Fred invents and sells the secret to a toothbrush that won't wear out to Draycoor Inc., the world's largest toothbrush manufacturer. Now independently wealthy, and after thwarting an attempt on his life from a hired assassin employed by Spitter, Fred receives an interesting letter from someone called Dagbell, a dwarf whose parents were eaten by a hippopotamus and now has issues with all things that are different. Including little people. Fred travels to the dwarf's home in Alaska, and together they build a receiver and manage to make contact Fred's parents.

Unable to return from Earth 1 to pick him up, Fred's father instructs his son on how to build a one-boy (correction: one-Fred) time machine. Fred then buys a run-down radio station in Halls Creek, Western Australia. As a cover, Fred and the dwarf set it up as if it's broadcasting while they build the time machine, occasionally adding live comments. Events take a sinister turn when the dwarf snaps and goes completely mad. The book ends with Fred entering the time machine to take off for Earth 2.

Book 3 will tell of Fred's arrival and adventures on Earth 2.