Books by Dave Duncan

Promised a fortune by his apprentice's mistress for using his skills to find out who is behind the murders of the courtesans of Venice, Nostradamus utilizes the dark arts to peer into a secret world to unravel a mystery involving one of the great families of the city. Original.

The Goddess had rescued Wallie Smith from certain death, endowed him with a magnificent new body, and gifted him with the legendary Sapphire Sword of Chioxin. She asked only one service in return...

So Wallie became the Goddess' champion -- and promptly found himself on the losing side in a battle against magics far beyond any the priests of the Goddess could hope to summon, After eons of exile, sorcerers walked the World again, claiming lands and souls for their Fire God.

Wallie quickly found that swords were no match for spells -- and how could mere mortals prevail against the powers of magic?

Sir Stalwart and Emerald, a White Sister, join forces with Badger, an apprentice Blade-in-training, to journey to Smealey Hall to investigate the mysterious death of the king's friend Digby in the middle of a royal ceremony. Original.

The third installment in the Demon series continues the fantastic adventures of young Toby Longdirk, illegitimate son of a Scottish lass and an English invader, as he battles a demon to unite the city-states of Renaissance Italy. Original.

Europe lies under the heel of the Kahn, who swept across the West in 1244. And the Scottish outlaw Toby Longdirk lies under an evan harsher rule -- he is possesed by a hob, a demonic spirit neither good nor evil, but murderous as a child.Toby wants freedom. The spirit of the demon-tyrant Nevil, ensorceled in amethyst, can be exchanged for the exorcisism of hob. But to make the trade, Toby and his friend Hamish must face the hexer Oreste on his own ground: in the fetid dungeons of Barcelona, wherre souls are splintered on the Inquisitions groaning wheel.

The outlaw Longdirk wields a wicked sword in the Scottish highlands of 1244, but strange demon winds are howling across the lochs and the enemy Sassenach king is a sorcerer whose Black Arts can free Europe from the Golden Horde. Original.

The Riddle of the Goddess

Wallie Smith had been dying on another world when the Goddess transferred his mind to the body of the barbarian swordsman Shonsu. Then She gave him the great, magical Sapphire Sword of Chioxin and sent him on a mission.

All he had to do was to lead the arrogant band of swordsmen to destroy the sorcerers and their Fire God.

Now Wallie discovered that he'd already tried it -- and been hopelessly defeated.

A few complications cropped up. Wallie's reputation was in tatters. His best friend and pupil was apparently planning to betray him. And if he won, he would doom all hope of progress and learning in this World of the Goddess -- doom the Goddess Herself.

It made an interesting kind of riddle. All he had to do was find the solution -- and survive, if he could!

Inos, the late king's daughter, had been kidnapped through the magic casement even as the Impish legions overrunning her tiny kingdom were storming the castle tower. Now she was a prisoner in a desert land ruled by a dockside whore with a talent for magic and a passion for politics.

She little dreamed that the loyal stableboy Rap had jumped through the casement after her. But no one really knew how the magic worked, and Rap found himself not in a desert, but in the steaming jungles of Faerie -- half a world away from Inos!

Rap was determined to rescue his beloved queen, and nothing could stop him -- not even the monsters and headhunters of Faerie, or the paranoid machinations of an evil sorcerer...

Edward Exeter assumes the mantle of Liberator in the strange, alternate world called Nextdoor--a far-flung outpost of British imperialism where earthborn mortals possess the powers of gods. His decision has made him the target of betrayals and murderous plots. But Exeter has learned the Game well in his short time in Nextdoor and he plays it boldly to its unexpected, worlds-shattering conclusion.

Still high from his victory over the Brotherhood, tough young Space Patrol officer Vaun must prepare himself for a second battle as a giant spacecraft threatens to destroy the planet.

This is the second book featuring Omar the storyteller. If he doesn't get into shelter soon, Omar is sure to die in a massive blizzard, but the local innkeeper claims he has no room, and challenging a group of travellers to a tall-tale contest--with the prize being one of their rooms--is his only chance.

A blizzard savaged the mountain peaks, but at an inn called the Hunters' Haunt, travelers found safe refuge, a cozy room, and a roaring fire. All but Omar, the Trader of Tales -- against whom the innkeeper had been nursing a grudge. But before he could pitch Omar out into the storm, his other guests proposed a contest: if Omar could top a roomful of their tallest tales, the storyteller could win his room and board.

For Omar the stakes were life and death. That gave the contest some spice.

So as winter winds whipped about the little inn, lies and truths and fabulous fabrications swirled before the blazing hearth. The innkeeper and his pretty sister; the merchant and his blushing bride; the dowager and the crusty captain of her guard; the scribe, the maid, the minstrel: they all poured out their tales, and Omar wove them together. Before they knew it, their very lives were intertwined, and their separate stories were spinning relentlessly to a single conclusion no human could have foretold!

In a supernatural world where men of incredible strength compete in gladiatorial contests to marry psychic women of high rank, a powerful teen sets out to identify the origins of the mysterious fighter Quirt, a quest that results in unexpected consequences. 10,000 first printing.

Elite warrior swordsmen, they are unequalled in any time or realm ...

The King's Blades

The King has decreed that new Blades must be sworn into the service of the Grand Duke Rubin, deposed by a foul usurper and currently on the run. But none of the rough youths being readied at Ironhall possess the seasoning to survive what better, more skilled Blades already have not. Still, two woefully unprepared candidates are approached with an offer of early bonding and probable death: deft but dense, rude Ranter, and eager, impetuous Ringwood ... with a third, the inadequate swordsman but potentially able spy Bellman, enlisted into their threadbare ranks. Joining the Duke's entourage along with the courageous and prescient White Sister Trudy, the would-be champions must restore a rightful ruler to the throne or die in the process. But before them waits an army of the dead. And the Duke whom the Blades must protect to the last drop of their lifeblood is not the liege they imagined ...

Enduring years of painful loyalty to a ruler he has never respected, Sir Wolf is ordered to accompany a mysterious inquisitor and his impetuous younger brother, the latter of whom has been imprisoned for twelve years, on a mission to rescue former royal mistress Lady Celeste, a task that leads to the discovery of threatening secrets. Reprint.

As unwanted, rebellious boys, they found refuge in Ironhall. . .Years later they emerged as the finest swordsmen in the realm--

The Kings Blades

Once bound, a Blade's life is no longer his own. Only death can break the gilded chain of enchantment that binds the bodyguard to the man he is sworn to defend. And never in living memory has a candidate refused the honor of serving his king. . .until now.

Young Wasp never intended to be a rebel. Yet, at the sacred ceremony of binding, he follows the lead of his friend Raider, and together they spurn the wishes of King Ambrose himself. Now Raider and Wasp are outlaws hunted by the very Blades whose ranks they were a breath away from entering, and joined together by a destiny that binds them more securely than any knot tradition and sorcery might tie. Amid the turmoil their "treachery" has inspired, Wasp and Raider must undertake a desperate journey into the heart of the dreaded Fire Lands. And the outcome of their terrifying confrontation with dark truth and darker magic in this realm of monsters, ghosts, and half-men will ultimately determine the fate of two kingdoms.

Fifteen years after the city of Celebre is conquered by the evil Bloodlord Stralg and his fanatical sister, Saltaja, the Mutineer Marno Cavotti amasses a powerful liberation force in the hopes of rescuing the city's four exiled heirs, in the sequel to Children of Chaos. Reprint.

Many legends have emerged from the shadows of Ironhall, yet surely none can surpass the greatness and glory predestined for Sir Beaumont -- possessor of the purest and strongest of hearts, and a mind as quick, keen, and accurate as his sword. But the day he sets out in the service of the elderly Lord Wassail turns to a black one, and young Beau's journey ends in horror and blood ... and disgrace. Banished from the King's Blades, he now faces a grim future as a homeless pariah, a creature to be shunned and despised. But redemption can come from unexpected directions and in unrecognizable guises. Approached in secret by the legendary Durendal, now Grand Master of the Order, the dishonored paragon is offered one last chance to win back his weapon and his place among his brothers in arms. But to do so, Beau must ride alone back through the icy gates of Hell ... and do battle with the Devil himself.

In the summer of 1914, in a world poised on the brink of madness, a young man beyond reproach awakens with no memory of recent events - grievously injured, under police guard, and accused of a heinous, impossible murder. A troupe of penniless actors makes its way across a dangerous, unpredictable land - and stands by helplessly as its youngest member is taken prisoner by the loyal minions of a corrupt and vengeful goddess. For an elaborate ancient prophecy has split the realm's ruling Deities into warring factions - a prophecy that mentions the captive crippled child...and a youth recuperating from mysterious wounds in a British hospital bed. But slavery is not to be Eleal Singer's fate - as resourcefulness, courage, chance and dragon carry her ever-closer to her perilous foretold meeting with the one who will bring death to Death. Nor will the gallows claim Edward Exeter on this explosive eve of World War. For, across a mystical threshold, there are new worlds for him to explore...and deliver.

Edward Exerter is trapped in the alternate reality fo Nextdoor, where he has been pressed into military service. The young soldier is hounded at every turn by the Pentatheon--five evil "gods" who have ruled Nextdoor for centuries and are threatened by Edward's existence. More than one million copies of Dave Duncan's books have been sold worldwide.

In his first adventure, Omar, a storyteller who trades his tales for food and lodging, gets mixed up in rescuing a kidnapped princess.

The last thing Wallie Smith remembered was a fog of hospitals, grim-faced doctors, and pain. So when he woke in the body of a barbarian swordsman, attended by a beautiful slave girl and a wizened old priest nattering about the Goddess, he assumed it was a fever-dream.

But the World could not be dismissed so lightly. A naked little demigod called Shorty explained that the Goddess needed a swordsman. If Wallie undertook the job and succeeded, all that World had to offer would be his. If he refused, the results would be...unpleasant.

Wallie was not convinced, but Shorty was exquisitely persuasive. Soon Wallie found himself bearing a magnificent sword, with no idea how to use it -- and the servants of the Goddess were out to stop him.

SILVERCLOAK is the third book in the King's Daggers trilogy, and Duncan has infused this title with all the breathless action and riveting intrigue of the first two titles, as well as the adult Tales of the King's Blades books published by Eos. The result is a fabulous read for fantasy enthusiasts, who are also sure to be drawn to the embossed, silver-foil cover and by the reputation of the acclaimed writer.

Tales of the King's Blades are told in The Gilded Chain and Lord of the Fire Lands. Now comes the first in a trilogy about the students of Ironhall, the academy from which the young king's daggers emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm -- the King's Blades. Young Stalwart, known as Wart to his fellows students, is expelled from the academy for King's Blades_only to be plunged into a current of breathless intrigue and danger. Together with Emerald, a former White Sister, Wart must survive sorcery, swordplay, ambush, a chimera, a quagmarsh, and more, and uncover a devious plot to, assassinate their king...and prove himself worthy of a place among the King's Blades.

The mightiest swordsmen in the relm, are bound by magic to defend their noble wards...to the death.

The King's Blades

The unloved child of the unscrupulous King Ambrose,Princess Malinda learned at an early age to fight for what was rightfully hers. Now , with the Kings abrupt death, civil war has become her grim destiny. Making her uncertain way through the blood labyrinth of schemesand betrayals, Malinda can trust none but the Blades of the Royal Guard. But the Blades themselves are in grave peril. And the young Queen faces the most crucialdecision of her life: a choice that will either redeem her kingdom from chaos...or bring ultimate destruction down upon it, her Blades, and herself.

Alya's hunches were never wrong. So the scientists of 4-I were happy to promise her a place in the next offworld colonization team if she agreed to assess the potential of the latest worlds they had discovered. Then she met Cedric, the grandson of 4-I's brilliant and tyrannical director, and for the first time ever she began to doubt her uncanny intuition.

Cedric dreamed of becoming a scout and exploring other worlds. When he met the lovely Alya he was more determined than ever to leave Earth -- with her. His grandmother, though, needed him as a pawn in her Machiavellian plot to cover up a murder and protect 4-I itself from being destroyed.

She had no intention of letting him go. But the director underestimated her grandson -- and the woman whose destiny seemed linked with his . . .