David John Duncan (30 June 1933 – 29 October 2018) was an award-winning

Scottish Canadian Scottish Canadians () are people of Scottish descent or heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a large impact on Canadian cultur ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author.

Biography

Duncan was born in

Newport-on-Tay Newport-on-Tay is a town in the north-east of Fife in Scotland. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport-on-Tay. The area itself has views of the two bridges that cross the River Tay and distant views of the Scottish Highlands. History T ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and was educated at the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is a private, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only private sc ...

before studying

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

. After graduating in 1955, he moved to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, becoming a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

citizen in 1960. He pursued a career as a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

in the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

for nearly three decades before he started writing science fiction and fantasy novels. He made his first sale (''A Rose-Red City'') two years later in 1986 at the age of 53, just two weeks after his 31-year career as a geologist came to an end due to a slump in the oil business, at which point he switched to full-time writing. Duncan lived in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. His wife was Janet, whom he married in 1959, and they had one son, two daughters, and four grandchildren. He had one brother, Michael, who was an agriculturist. Duncan died on 29 October 2018 at the age of 85.

Writing career

Duncan was a prolific writer and penned over fifty books. His sixth book, ''

West of January ''West of January'' is a fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The g ...

'', won the 1990 Aurora award, an award he would win again in 2007 for ''Children of Chaos''. He was a member of SF Canada and in 2015 he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Although Duncan usually wrote under his own name, some of his early books were published under the pseudonyms Ken Hood and Sarah B. Franklin.

Bibliography

The Seventh Sword

A dying petrochemical plant manager named Wallie Smith is transferred from Earth into the body of a master swordsman in a pre-technological world by a goddess for her own purposes. #''The Reluctant Swordsman'' (1988), #''The Coming of Wisdom'' (1988), #''The Destiny of the Sword'' (1988), #''The Death of Nnanji'' (2012),

Pandemia

A Man of His Word

# ''Magic Casement'' (1990), # ''Faery Lands Forlorn'' (1991), # ''Perilous Seas'' (1991), # ''Emperor and Clown'' (1992), As mentioned in the forewords, these titles are based on an excerpt from the 1819 poem "

Ode to a Nightingale "Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem by John Keats written either in the garden of the Spaniards Inn, Hampstead, London or, according to Keats' friend Charles Armitage Brown, under a plum tree in the garden of Keats' house at Keats House, Wentworth P ...

" by

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

A Handful of Men

# ''The Cutting Edge'' (1992), # '' Upland Outlaws'' (1993), # ''The Stricken Field'' (1993), # ''The Living God'' (1994),

Omar

#''The Reaver Road'' (1992), #''The Hunters' Haunt'' (1995),

The Great Game

#''Past Imperative'' (1995), #''Present Tense'' (1996), #''Future Indefinite'' (1997),

The Years of Longdirk

Published using the pseudonym Ken Hood: #''Demon Sword'' (1995), #''Demon Rider'' (1997), #''Demon Knight'' (1998),

The King's Blades

Tales of the King's Blades

#''The Gilded Chain'' (1998), #''Lord of the Fire Lands'' (1999), #''Sky of Swords'' (2000),

Chronicles of the King's Blades

#''Paragon Lost'' (2002), #''Impossible Odds'' (2003), #''The Jaguar Knights'' (2004), #''One Velvet Glove'' (2017), #''The Ethical Swordsman'' (2019),

The King's Daggers

A series of

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

books set in the "King's Blades" world: #''Sir Stalwart'' (1999), #''The Crooked House'' (2000), #''Silvercloak'' (2001), Omnibus edition of all three is titled ''The Monster War'',

Dodec

#''Children of Chaos'' (2006), #''Mother of Lies'' (2007),

Nostradamus

#''The Alchemist's Apprentice'' (2007), #''The Alchemist's Code'' (2008), #''The Alchemist's Pursuit'' (2009),

Brothers Magnus

#''Speak to the Devil'' (2010), #''When the Saints'' (2011),

The Starfolk

#''King of Swords'' (2013), #''Queen of Stars'' (2014),

Ivor of Glenbroch

A series of young adult short stories: #''The Runner and the Wizard'' (2013), #''The Runner and the Saint'' (2014), #''The Runner and the Kelpie'' (2014), Omnibus edition of all three is titled ''The Adventures of Ivor'',

The Enchanter General

#''Ironfoot'' (2017) #''Trial by Treason'' (2018) #''Merlin Redux'' (2019)

Standalone novels

*''A Rose-Red City'' (1987), *''Shadow'' (1987), *''

'' (1989), *''Strings'' (1990), *''Hero!'' (1991), *''The Cursed'' (1995), *''Daughter of Troy'' (1998), (as Sarah B. Franklin), *''Ill Met in the Arena'' (August 2008), *''Pock's World'' (October 2010), *''Against the Light'' (January 2012), *''Wildcatter'' (August 2012), *''The Eye of Strife'' (April 2015), *''Irona 700'' (August 2015), *''Eocene Station'' (August 2016), *''Portal of a Thousand Worlds'' (February 2017), *''Pillar of Darkness'' (January 2019), *''Corridor to Nightmare'' (2024), ''forthcoming'' *''The Traitor's Son'' (2024), ''forthcoming''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Dave 1933 births 2018 deaths People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish fantasy writers Canadian fantasy writers Scottish emigrants to Canada Scottish science fiction writers Canadian science fiction writers Writers from Victoria, British Columbia British male novelists Aurora Award–winning writers