Dave Duncan – författare

“Complicated politics and family scandals twist through this tale of courtly intrigue from prolific fantasist Duncan” (Publishers Weekly). Though Quirt’s name is little known, his skills as a gladiator are quickly obvious and hard to match. In Aureity, noblemen battle in the arena circuit, using their powers of teleportation and telekinesis to prove their breeding and strength. The prizes at play are not only silver and bronze but also the chance to rise amongst the nobility and mate with the ruling class of women. Older than most players, Quirt still manages to draw attention and awe through his mastery of the games. Some of that attention comes from Humate, a brash young competitor with unbelievable power and little patience or control. To him, Quirt is a mystery he can’t resist. However, that mystery soon proves much bigger than all of them. Ancient crimes, struggles for status, romance, vengeance, duty—Humate has a lot to learn from the world‑wise Quirt. As the secret of Quirt’s true identity and past unfolds, Humate and Quirt race to bring justice to the murderer and madman whose blood links the two gladiators together.  With Ill Met in the Arena, award‑winning fantasy author Dave Duncan creates yet another new, fully realized world filled with complex cultures and brisk adventure. Intrigue, politics, action, humor—this book will grab you from page one and not let go until the final word.

“A complex and gripping story” of plague, prophecy, and a woman’s quest for freedom from the author of Portal of a Thousand Worlds (Booklist). The world was desperate. Since the empire had fallen a hundred years ago, Gwin and her people had nearly given up hope that the Renewer would come. Gwin had lost everything. Her husband was killed in one of the wars. Her children died of Star Sickness. Even her work at the hostel was in jeopardy because the politicians had it out for her. The cursed Gwin, therefore, had nothing to lose. When she took in the girl, a survivor of the Star Sickness, it was a dreadful crime. Gwin was at the end of her rope, and possibly the end of her life if she was found out. But the Sickness had left the girl with certain magic, certain powers, which could prove very useful to them both. Was it possible that this young survivor could save their lives and the empire? Was a new life for Gwin and her world finally at hand?

“Exceptional . . . Duncan can swashbuckle with the best, but his characters feel more deeply and think more clearly than most” (Publishers Weekly). Raider and Wasp have spent five years at Ironhall studying to become Blades, expert swordsmen whose talents stand unmatched. Magic both enhances the Blades’ fighting skills and binds them to lifelong duty. But when Raider and Wasp are selected to protect the king of Chivial himself, they refuse, an act unprecedented in the living history of the Blades. Now on the run for their “treasonous” act, the two gifted swordsmen must escape to the Fire Lands, where pirates, monsters, and mixed allegiances wait around every corner. As old hatreds and still‑fresh tragedies come to light, these young swashbucklers must confront both harsh truths from the past and a present swarming with their would‑be brothers at arms seeking vengeance and intending punishment.  Dave Duncan’s Lord of the Fire Lands serves as a splendid sequel and companion to his earlier book The Gilded Chain, and his later Tale of the King’s Blades Sky of Swords. Engaging and complex, it may be enjoyed as a standalone novel or in combination with the rest of the trilogy. Either way, readers are in for a smart, thrilling adventure that cuts like a knife.

A sword-and-sorcery classic from the Aurora Award–winning author of the King’s Blades series. Wally Smith, having died on Earth, finds himself reincarnated as a swordsman in another world and entrusted by the presiding goddess with a mission that has no appeal for him at all. Can he bring together all the swordsmen to finally defeat the sorcerors and their terrible technology? Wally is not quite convinced he should, but goddesses can be very persuasive . . . This is the third and final exciting book, after The Reluctant Swordsman and The Coming of Wisdom, in the Seventh Sword Trilogy. 

A new link in the tale begun in The Gilded Chain from “one of the great unsung figures of Canadian fantasy and science fiction” (Quill & Quire).   Originally issued as a YA trilogy called the King’s Daggers (including volumes Sir Stalwart, The Crooked House, and Silvercloak), The Monster War works equally well as a single novel. The story fills a gap in the first Blades novel, The Gilded Chain, when King Ambrose sought to shut down the evil sorcery of the Elementaries, and the sorcerers fought back by trying to kill him. The same great characters are all here: Ambrose himself, Grand Master, and Blades Durendal, Bandit, and Snake. Appearing for the first time are Sir Stalwart, the only Blade who does not bear a binding scar, and Emerald of the White Sisters, the only girl ever enrolled in Ironhall. The action wanders across Chivial from the White Sisters’ headquarters at Oakendown, to Grandon, and into the heart of Ironhall, for the evil penetrates even there. If you missed this one the first time (and most Blades fans did), then here is your chance to join the action as the King’s Blades ride again!

The first novel from “one of the leading masters of epic fantasy”—a tale of a place where death holds no sway and heroes are born (Publishers Weekly). Alya has an almost magical talent. Her hunches are never wrong. The scientists of planet 4‑I want to use her talent and promise her a spot on the next off-world colonization team in return for her assessment of the potential of the latest worlds they have discovered. But Alya meets Cedric, the grandson of the brilliant and tyrannical director of 4‑I, and she begins to doubt her own intuition. Cedric has dreamed of becoming a scout and exploring new worlds, and when he meets Alya, he is more determined than ever to leave 4‑I with her. His grandmother needs him on 4‑I, though, because she has schemes afoot to protect her planet and to cover up a murder, and she does not intend to let him go. However, she has underestimated her grandson—and the young woman whose intuition is strong and whose destiny is linked to Cedric’s.