47North, Amazon’s science fiction imprint, has just released Dave Duncan’s extraordinary new novel Against the Light in paperback, audio and e-book, with a promotional giveaway of the e-book for Prime members.

In Against the Light  the Hierarchy, high priests of the religious order the Light, has installed King Ethan as the monarchical figurehead, ruling both the magical kingdom of Albi and its predominant religion. Scattered throughout the land, worshippers in the old ways of the Earth Mother are persecuted as heretics. And when young missionary student Rollo Woodbridge returns home to Albi, he is immediately arrested for heresy and treason, setting off a chain of events that plunges the land into utter chaos.

The Hierarchy has more treacherous motives, however, and when Rollo is rescued from jail, his family’s home is destroyed—but Rollo and his siblings are left alive. While Rollo tries diplomacy to end the religious and political conflict, his brother and sister swear vengeance. With the hours to deliverance counting down and their lives hanging in the balance, they must decide whether to stay and fight or leave Albi forever in the suspenseful, action-packed Against the Light.

If you like Against the Light as much as we think you are going to, you’ll find lots more Dave Duncan fiction on his author page on the E-Reads website.

In Pock’s World, a thrilling story of adventure and suspense by master storyteller Dave Duncan, five flawed individuals must decide the fate of an entire world.

On the outskirts of the Ayne Sector sits Pock’s World. Years ago, humankind settled the planet. Now, it might or might not have been infested by humanoid aliens, hidden amongst the populace, waiting to interbreed and use humans as incubators for their parasitic spawn.

Five people are chosen to travel to the quarantined Pock’s World to find out whether it should be sterilized of all life–a ruthless priest, a scandal-seeking reporter, an ambitious politician, a bureaucrat, and a questionable billionaire. Each has his or her own agenda as to what they wish to find on that distant planet. Instead, they discover the unexpected–a web of deceit, love, politics, and religion. With very little time left, there don’t seem to be any simple answers in the complicated universe of Pock’s World.

“Entertaining, fast-moving and thoughtful SF, with engaging characters.” – S. M. Stirling

You can purchase the e-book of Pock’s World here, or click here to buy the printed version published by Edge.

Dave Duncan fans clamoring for restoration of the middle volume of his King’s Blades trilogy will get their wish.  E-Reads has just reissued Lord of the Fire Lands 

We asked Duncan to tell us about the writing of this book, and we got far more than we bargained for when he revealed an amazing secret to us. You can read it here.

To bring you up to date, 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 in 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 bridge between The Gilded Chain and Sky of Swords. Engaging and complex, it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel or in combination with the rest of the trilogy. Either way, readers are in for a smart, thrilling adventure that cuts as sharp as the edge of a knife.

“Sophisticated structure and themes…will satisfy both fantasy fans looking for high adventure and those more interested in rich characterizations.” – Publisher’s Weekly.

We asked Dave Duncan to write something for us about Lord of the Fire Lands, the middle novel in his King’s Blades trilogy. When he did he revealed a secret that many readers may find incomprehensible but every professional writer will recognize.

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When asked how I write, I always stress the importance of knowing the ending of a book before writing the beginning. There are exceptions, though, and Lord of the Fire Lands was certainly one of them.

In its first version, it ended with the treaty negotiations, a scene that is still there. I was working well ahead of my submission deadline back then, so I put the MS aside to marinate while I worked on something else. When I came back to it to apply a final polish, I decided that the ending was too abrupt. So I wrote some more. That didn’t work. I tried again, with the same result. And again.

At that point Radgar, who is probably the most complex character ever to emerge from my word processor, completely took over. I have had characters awaken to a life of their own and try to upstage everyone else—Katanji in “The Seventh Sword” series, for example—but none quite as vividly as Radgar did then. He dictated the ending you will now find.

“You can’t do that!” I protested. “It’s barbaric. Moreover, you are completely ruining the final book.”

“The third book is your problem,” he replied, “and I certainly am a barbarian. This is my story, and this is how it must end.”

I argued as much as I dared, but Radgar was both armed and exceedingly dangerous, as you will see. Eventually he convinced me that this was indeed how he would act. The proof was that I did not need to change anything that had happened earlier, so “his” ending was correct for his story. I didn’t approve, but I had to let it stand. I took the dog for a long walk and worked out how I could salvage the rest of the trilogy. When the hardcover came out, I received so many protests from readers that we added a warning in the mass market edition, to the effect that you could read any book in the series, but not two, or you would have to read all three.
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E-Reads’ release of Firelands plugs a hole in the first series, “Tales of the King’s Blades”. The first book, The Gilded Chain, and the third, Sky of Swords, have never been out of print.*

The second series, “Chronicles of the King’s Blades” is also available in its entirety; these three books follow the Blades’ adventures after the reign of King Ambrose: Paragon Lost, Impossible Odds, and The Jaguar Knights.**

I also wrote a trilogy of YA novellas, “The King’s Daggers”, which E-Reads has re-issued as a single novel, The Monster War. That fills a story gap in the first series. So now you have all seven to look forward to.

PS: The Blades have been translated into at least seven other languages. Take a look at the cover of the French edition of The Gilded Chain and you will see how they struck a chord in the land of d’Artagnan.

Dave Duncan

November 23, 2011

* The Gilded Chain and Sky of Swords are available as HarperCollins e-books.

** Also available as HarperCollins e-books

Last May, in connection with the launch of its romance line, Amazon exec Jeff Belle said “We also know our customers enjoy genre fiction of all kinds, so we are busy building publishing businesses that will focus on additional genres as well.” We all knew that meant a science fiction line was coming. We just didn’t know when or what it would be named.

Today we know.

Amazon’s science fiction, fantasy, and horror imprint is now up and running. It’s called 47North.

Among the featured titles in the launch of the line are Against the Light, an original fantasy novel by Dave Duncan, and the first work in The Mongoliad by Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. Duncan and Bear are represented by Richard Curtis Associates.

If you were wondering about the meaning of the name, go to your googlemap and see what Pacific Northwest city is located at 47 degrees of latitude. Hint: Amazon is headquartered there. Here’s another: it’s the home of the Space Needle.

Here’s the full article.

Richard Curtis

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.

In 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. But why would you try to get away from a great Dave Duncan fantasy?

Visit his author page to see some others you may have missed.

Thanks to all who participated in E-Reads’ Dave Duncan promotional event.  We asked two of our staff members to pick five winners at random, and here’s a video of Andy and Lauren selecting the names of the lucky recipients of a free e-book of Duncan’s Ill Met in the Arena.

Congratulations to the winners!

Keep your eyes peeled on the E-Reads website for news of more promotional events.

Set on a distant planet, far in the future, West of January tells the story of a world in which the sun moves across the sky with agonizing slowness. It takes lifetimes for a region to experience dawn, midday and dusk. Because of this phenomenon the planet’s population does not remember the catastrophes that occur as the sun moves across the sky–entire civilizations have been scorched into oblivion.

The only people who remember the dangers of the past are those who have preserved past technologies. This is the story of one of them whose destiny leads him to move among all the other peoples of his world–the beautiful but unthinking seafolk, the cruel slavers, the manipulative traders and, worst of them all, the spinsters whose deadly secret he discovers nearly too late.

Dave Duncan is one of E-Reads top-selling fantasy and science fiction authors, and we have over two dozen of his classic works.  Visit his author page for a treasure trove of thrilling fiction.

The fantasy swordsmen that populate Dave Duncan’s novels are among E-Reads’ bestselling books. Now comes Longdirk, a Highlands outlaw whose blade slices through foes like a farmer’s scythe.

All of Europe is ruled by the Khan, whose Golden Horde swept its conquering way across Europe in 1244. The Scottish outlaw Toby Strangerson, known as Longdirk, is ruled by an even harsher master. He is possessed by a “hob,” a demon spirit murderous as a child although inherently neither good not evil.

In Demon Rider, the middle volume of the trilogy, Toby wants his freedom–and the spirit of the tyrant-demon Nevil, ensorceled in amethyst, can be traded for the exorcism of the hob. In order to make the exchange, though, Toby and his friend and ally Hamish must face the hexer Oreste on his own ground, in the dank and fetid dungeons of Barcelona, where souls are racked and tortured and destroyed on the relentless wheel of the Inquisition.

Demon Sword and its sequels Demon Rider and Demon Knight were originally published under the pen name Ken Hood but Duncan is stepping out from behind his shield.

Watch the Dave Duncan author page for release information about the third and final volume, Demon Knight. You’ll also see some two dozen fantasy treats from a brilliant master available for download or print paperback.

Dave Duncan’s “Handful of Men” quartet is now available in Kindle.

Picking up the story where his “”Man of His Word” trilogy left off, Duncan launches a new and magical adventure in Pandemia. The titles in order of publication are The Cutting Edge, Upland Outlaws, The Stricken Field and The Living God. All may be viewed and ordered on the Dave Duncan page on the E-Reads website.

The great adventure chronicled in the “Man of His Word” quartet ended happily enough. The good folk of Krasnegar discovered that a beautiful princess could, indeed, succeed her royal father and rule in her own right, and rule very well, too. And when Queen Inos married Rap, the former stableboy, he turned out to be a very good king. He never admitted that he was a sorcerer, and everyone knew that Rap was a Man of His Word, so that was all right.

The years passed. Rap and Inos raised a family, prospering in their remote little kingdom. But trouble was brewing in the great world outside. The aged Imperor grew ever more erratic, more tyrannical. His grandson Shandie, the boy Rap had befriended, was now a great soldier, struggling to suppress ever-growing upheaval in the borderlands while he waited to inherit the throne. Strange prophecies of upheaval and disaster spread. When the rumors reached even to Krasnegar, Rap scoffed at them as superstition–until one night a god appeared and confirmed that the truth was likely to be far worse. On his travels long ago, Rap himself had made a terrible blunder. Because of that, the world of Pandemia was now poised on the brink of utter disaster. The last thing Rap wanted was another adventure.

That’s too bad, because want it or not, he’s about to have one.  It all begins in The Cutting Edge.