Tim Burtner

Pero is Tim Burtner’s first completed novel and is an amalgam of narrative fiction and memoir.

The author was born of battlefields. He was born in Gettysburg and his family is from Sharpsburg and was living there during the battle the North calls the Battle of Antietam. His family has a tradition of soldiers, preachers, valiant warriors and Pacifists, of farmers, carpenters, merchants, poets, and scientists. He is second generation mandatory education when many things were still learned at home like mechanics, farming, butchering, carpentry, cooking, sewing, hunting, fishing, canning and masonry.

He grew up in Northern Nigeria in Wurkun and Mumuye country and went to school at Hillcrest School on the Plateau. He was part of a missionary family during the golden age of missions in Nigeria. People in the US were inspired by their churches to share their wealth and knowledge with the world. Doctors, preachers, teachers, nurses and farmers were all paid similar amounts by their churches and went to Nigeria to share. It was a working wage, a fortune to most Nigerians. Doctors could save or lose patients with their abilities unfettered by government, insurance companies or lawyers. Teachers could teach their favorite lessons. Preachers could preach the message that had moved them. Farmers could introduce new crops and methods and all could try to adapt to local conditions supporting each other as a team. The era came to an end as the Nigerian Government took over most church institutions and US professionals looked to their own government for employment.

Pero describes Hillcrest School and Nigeria at that time. Hillcrest School was the boarding school where most of the missionaries sent their children.

Although the author has enjoyed writing since he learned how, it is only later in life that he has started to put together pieces. His work is flavored with a lifetime of experience with construction crews, taverns, wives, camping, travel, children, learning and forgetting.

He has revisited Nigeria several times over the years. To get a feel for his writing and his most recent stay, you can read a journal with pictures he kept in December, 2012, 12/12/12, by request.