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Born in Scotland, Duncan has spent most of his adult life in Canada. Originally a petroleum geologist, he has written over 30 books. He made his name writing fantasy novels including the Seventh Sword and the King's Blade trilogy. He received the Aurora Award for outstanding achievement in Canadian SF in 1990 for his novel West of January. He divides his time between Victoria in the winter and Calgary the rest of the year. He sometimes writes under the pen names Sarah B. Franklin and Ken Hood. His SF books include Jaguar Knights: A Chronicle of the King's Blades (HarperCollins). In 2008 he published his 40t fantasy title, Ill Met in the Arena (Tor).
Author's note:
"I was a wildcatter once. To say that this book is based on my own experience would be obvious rubbish. Nevertheless, many years ago, I worked for a succession of small 'independent' oil companies, which explored for petroleum, competing against 'majors,' meaning multinationals with vastly greater resources. Strangely the Goliaths did not always win. There was a lot of luck in wildcatting, which originally meant hunting for oil and gas 'out among the wildcats", far from any known fields."
"I had some modest success, and the money I made then helped support me when I left geology for a writing career. I met a lot of fascinating characters. I saw some of the bare-knuckle gold-rush style towns that grew up near any important discovery."
"The tie-in to this story is that people do not change. If interstellar travel ever develops along the lines I suggest, then it will surely attract the same sort of gamblers. If there are riches to be found among the stars, then wildcatters will be out there."
BOOKS:
Series:
Seventh Sword series:
The Reluctant Swordsman (1988)
The Coming of Wisdom (1988)
Destiny of the Sword (1988)
The Death of Nnanji (2012)
A Man of His Word series:
Magic Casement (1990)
Faery Lands Forlorn (1991)
Perilous Seas (1991)
Emperor and Clown (1991)
Omar series:
The Reaver Road (1992)
The Hunters' Haunt (1995)
A Handful of Men series:
The Cutting Edge (Del Rey, 1993)
Upland Outlaws (Free Stock, 1995)
The Stricken Field (Del Rey, 1994)
The Living God (Del Rey, 1994)
Great Game series:
Past Imperative (William Morrow & Co., 1995)
Present Tense (Eos, 1997)
Future Indefinite (Avon, 1997)
King's Daggers series:
Sir Stalwart (Avon, 1999)
The Crooked House (Avon, 2000)
Silvercloak (Avon, 2001)
King's Blades series:
The Gilded Chain (Eos, 1998)
Lord of the Fire Lands (Eos, 1999)
Sky of Swords (Harper Voyager, 2000)
Paragon Lost (Harper Voyager, 2002)
Impossible Odds (Eos, 2003)
The Jaguar Knights (Eos, 2004)
Dodec series:
Children of Chaos (Tor Fantasy, 2007)
Mother of Lies (Tom Doherty Associates, 2007)
Venice series:
The Alchemist's Apprentice (Ace, 2007) James Griffin, illustrator.
The Alchemist's Code (Ace, 2008)
The Alchemist's Pursuit (Ace, 2009)
Brothers Magnus series:
Speak to the Devil (Tom Doherty Associates, 2010)
When the Saints (Tom Doherty Associates, 2011)
The Enchanter General series
Ironfoot (Night Shade 2017) $24.99 978-1-59780-917-7
Stand-alone:
Cursed (Del Ray, 1995)
Pock's World (Edge, 2010) $14.95 978-1-894063-47-0
Against the Light (47North, 2012)
Wildcatter (Edge, 2012) $9.95 978-1-894063-90-6
[BCBW 2017] "Fiction"
Author's note:
"I was a wildcatter once. To say that this book is based on my own experience would be obvious rubbish. Nevertheless, many years ago, I worked for a succession of small 'independent' oil companies, which explored for petroleum, competing against 'majors,' meaning multinationals with vastly greater resources. Strangely the Goliaths did not always win. There was a lot of luck in wildcatting, which originally meant hunting for oil and gas 'out among the wildcats", far from any known fields."
"I had some modest success, and the money I made then helped support me when I left geology for a writing career. I met a lot of fascinating characters. I saw some of the bare-knuckle gold-rush style towns that grew up near any important discovery."
"The tie-in to this story is that people do not change. If interstellar travel ever develops along the lines I suggest, then it will surely attract the same sort of gamblers. If there are riches to be found among the stars, then wildcatters will be out there."
BOOKS:
Series:
Seventh Sword series:
The Reluctant Swordsman (1988)
The Coming of Wisdom (1988)
Destiny of the Sword (1988)
The Death of Nnanji (2012)
A Man of His Word series:
Magic Casement (1990)
Faery Lands Forlorn (1991)
Perilous Seas (1991)
Emperor and Clown (1991)
Omar series:
The Reaver Road (1992)
The Hunters' Haunt (1995)
A Handful of Men series:
The Cutting Edge (Del Rey, 1993)
Upland Outlaws (Free Stock, 1995)
The Stricken Field (Del Rey, 1994)
The Living God (Del Rey, 1994)
Great Game series:
Past Imperative (William Morrow & Co., 1995)
Present Tense (Eos, 1997)
Future Indefinite (Avon, 1997)
King's Daggers series:
Sir Stalwart (Avon, 1999)
The Crooked House (Avon, 2000)
Silvercloak (Avon, 2001)
King's Blades series:
The Gilded Chain (Eos, 1998)
Lord of the Fire Lands (Eos, 1999)
Sky of Swords (Harper Voyager, 2000)
Paragon Lost (Harper Voyager, 2002)
Impossible Odds (Eos, 2003)
The Jaguar Knights (Eos, 2004)
Dodec series:
Children of Chaos (Tor Fantasy, 2007)
Mother of Lies (Tom Doherty Associates, 2007)
Venice series:
The Alchemist's Apprentice (Ace, 2007) James Griffin, illustrator.
The Alchemist's Code (Ace, 2008)
The Alchemist's Pursuit (Ace, 2009)
Brothers Magnus series:
Speak to the Devil (Tom Doherty Associates, 2010)
When the Saints (Tom Doherty Associates, 2011)
The Enchanter General series
Ironfoot (Night Shade 2017) $24.99 978-1-59780-917-7
Stand-alone:
Cursed (Del Ray, 1995)
Pock's World (Edge, 2010) $14.95 978-1-894063-47-0
Against the Light (47North, 2012)
Wildcatter (Edge, 2012) $9.95 978-1-894063-90-6
[BCBW 2017] "Fiction"
Articles: 4 Articles for this author
Article
Dave Duncan has more titles out-of-print than in, so the veteran novelist was hoping Print-on-Demand 'e-Books' ordered from internet sites could rejuvenate his earlier work.
"Print-on-Demand seems to be the victim of its own success,"; he says. "It is so easy and so cheap that every Wannabe Tolkien here on Middle Earth is pumping out fantasy trilogies as PoD books; all the little Rudyards are kipling like mad. Suppliers are overwhelmed by an avalanche of vanity press. The trade press will not recognize PoD books as books, catalogues ignore them, and thus no one can buy them."; He believes the future just hasn't arrived yet and PoDs will ultimately prevail. Meanwhile HarperCollins has re-released Duncan's historical novel Daughter of Troy and Red Deer Press is re-releasing his 1990 Aurora fantasy award winner West of January. His latest novel is called Paragon Lost: A Chronicle of the King's Blades (HarperCollins $24.95). 0380978962 (2003)
[Spring 2003 BCBW]
Sir Stalward; Book One of The King’s Daggers (Avon $6.99)
Info
For the King's Blades, sorcery and swordplay are all just part of a day's work. 0-380-80098-5
[BCBW Autumn 2001]
Sir Stalwart
Info
Victoria fantasy writer Dave Duncan made the bestseller list compiled by Locus, the newspaper of science fiction, for his young adult novel Sir Stalwart.
[BCBW SUMMER 2000]
Fire Lands
Info
Adult fantasy author Dave Duncan of Victoria is publishing his 28th novel, Fire Lands, in October, plus his YA title Sir Stalwart will be released in November.
[BCBW AUTUMN 1999]
