Diane Duane’s excellent Trek novels

[hbquikcomjamesl]

With her reputation, I doubt that the powers that be would ignore her if she made it known she was interested in one of those slots.

My best guess is that she's more interested in her own stuff.

 

[Christopher]

With her reputation, I doubt that the powers that be would ignore her if she made it known she was interested in one of those slots.

Never assume. There are plenty of equally accomplished novelists who stopped getting invited to do Trek novels after a while, even when they did express interest.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I thought The Wounded Sky decended way too far into absolute worship of our heroes for my tastes.

I went on my first overseas holiday to USA in December 1983. A Star Trek friend lent me her map of LA where she had used a highlighter pen to mark all the places that sold Star Trek novels. She was fairly definite that Trek stuff was hard to find.

My first stop was Hawaii -- and "The Wounded Sky" was in the very first department store I wandered into! I was able to read chapters of that book during my flights to San Francisco, Chicago and Detroit. One time, our plane's takeoff coincided with the testing of the Enterprise's new drive system. Wow! An immersive and surreal experience.

 

[James Swallow]

I've got a lot of fondness for Diane's books; she and her husband Peter Morwood (also an accomplished writer) were regular guests at UK Trek cons in the late 80s, both fun, interesting and engaging to talk to.

When I was just starting out, wondering if I could actually make a career out of writing stuff, Diane and Peter were the first professional authors I ever met, and I've never forgotten the encouragement they gave me.

 

[I am not Herbert]

As the holder of a BA in history, I have to disagree. Ancient sources may be unreliable (as, indeed, are modern ones), but that is taken into account by scholars of history, who strive to approach sources objectively and present existing evidence in its wider context and without presuming the correctness of any single version. Mythology, by contrast, is not concerned with objective, temporal reality, but freely manufactures events and characters as symbols to convey an intended philosophical or moral idea. The two differ in intent and approach.

That there is a distinction between the two in intent and approach does not contradict hbquik observed about the two merging the further one looks back in time. I'm not vetting the truth of either statement, just observing that they are not incompatible.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Could not have said it better myself, @I am not Herbert .

And we're not talking about just any no-longer-active (but still living, unlike John Ford, Ann Crispin, and Vonda McIntyre) ST novelist. A number of ST novelists have sold publisher hardcovers (I count six for MJF), and a number have had their MMPBs reissued as book club hardcovers (e.g., Jean Lorrah's The Vulcan Academy Murders), and a number of them have writing credits for episodes.

Diane Duane has all three. Along with comic and video game credits. And in this very thread, two currently active ST novelists have expressed admiration for her. And unlike Diane Carey, she doesn't have a reputation for putting hard-Libertarian rhetoric in the mouths of Vulcans, or for being a loose cannon.

While I admit that it's hardly certain that the only explanation for why The Powers That Be haven't approached DD for another ST novel is that she's not interested in doing one, that does seem at least as likely an explanation as any other.

 

[Christopher]

That there is a distinction between the two in intent and approach does not contradict hbquik observed about the two merging the further one looks back in time. I'm not vetting the truth of either statement, just observing that they are not incompatible.

I still disagree, because history is not about what happened in the past, it's about how an author in the present chooses to discuss and interpret what happened in the past. The reason it's from the same root as "story" is that it's a narrative, and the creator of a historiographic narrative will make different choices than the creator of a mythological narrative. No matter how far back in time the subject matter, the approach of the author in the present is what I'm talking about.

In The Wounded Sky, Diane Duane approached the crew of the Enterprise as if they were mythic figures, idealizing and celebrating them. In The Romulan Way, by contrast, she wrote in the voice of an in-universe historian who was approaching Romulan history through the lens of a scholar, an outside observer seeking to be objective, rather than the lens of a mythographer. The two were written with differing styles and intentions.

Diane Duane has all three. Along with comic and video game credits.

And a fair number of TV writing credits, mostly in animation.

While I admit that it's hardly certain that the only explanation for why The Powers That Be haven't approached DD for another ST novel is that she's not interested in doing one, that does seem at least as likely an explanation as any other.

Speculation is pointless without data. The only person qualified to say that is Diane Duane herself.

And I've found over the years that laypeople's assumptions about what constitute "likely" explanations for decisions in publishing are usually staggeringly wrong, because the publicly visible facts they have are only the tip of the iceberg, and the real factors behind those decisions are usually completely unknown to them.

 

[trentman359]

This thread inspired me to start reading Dark Mirror tonight.

 

[Reanok]

Wounded sky is the first book I got by Diane Duane. I like the Creation myths K'Tslk technology and help creating a new universe was a very unique story.That's why I liked it so much.

 

[Commander Troi]

I've re-read Wounded Sky several times. I adore K's't'lk.

 

[Turtletrekker]

And Naraht!

 

[Tallguy]

As someone who grew up got older in Phoenix, when I read Spock's World I can feel the air when she describes it. It's the feeling you get walking from an over air-conditioned movie theater into 115 degrees F. (Ahhhhhhh.)

You know the scene in The Search for Spock when they are standing by the fountain on Vulcan about to "climb the steps"? I read Spock's World and it feels like she took that "modern but ancient" and turned it into a city and a planet.

I forget who it is in Bjo Trimble's On the Good Ship Enterprise that, well let's just say "loses her composure" when she meets Mark Lenard back in The Day. I feel like Duane's Sarek was rather inspired by this kind of encounter.

 

[Commander Troi]

As someone who grew up got older in Phoenix, when I read Spock's World I can feel the air when she describes it. It's the feeling you get walking from an over air-conditioned movie theater into 115 degrees F. (Ahhhhhhh.)

^Yes, this. She did a gorgeous job describing Vulcan.

 

[Vulcanoid]

I did manage to order about three of her novels with some pretty good prices, and this all does hype me up for how well they'll be to read. I probably should've ordered Dark Mirror too because I do enjoy the Mirror Universe stuff but I guess I'll cross that road when I get to it.

 

[Christopher]

Incidentally, Duane's website has a lot of discount bundles on e-books of her original novels. I recently bought a nearly complete set of the Young Wizards/Feline Wizards e-books, most of which I have in paperback, but these are the revised editions of YW that move the timeline forward to make it more consistent and update the technology to match. Plus it was at such a discount that I couldn't resist, and it's a good incentive to revisit the series for the first time in more years than I'd realized.

 

[FredH]

Incidentally, Duane's website has a lot of discount bundles on e-books of her original novels. I recently bought a nearly complete set of the Young Wizards/Feline Wizards e-books, most of which I have in paperback, but these are the revised editions of YW that move the timeline forward to make it more consistent and update the technology to match. Plus it was at such a discount that I couldn't resist, and it's a good incentive to revisit the series for the first time in more years than I'd realized.

I’ve always meant to explore Duane’s other work. Of her non-Trek series, is there one you’d most recommend starting with?

 

[Christopher]

I’ve always meant to explore Duane’s other work. Of her non-Trek series, is there one you’d most recommend starting with?

Hmm, Young Wizards is the longest and the one I'm most familiar with -- also a fairly easy read since they're YA, though they don't shy away from mature ideas. If you've read TNG: Dark Mirror, you'll find some familiar concepts in the second YW book Deep Wizardry. Or you could start with the Feline Wizards trilogy, which is in the same universe but can stand alone and is not YA.

Most of her other original stuff is standalone novels or nearly so, except for the Middle Kingdoms series including the Tale of the Five, which was supposed to be four novels but has been stalled at three for several decades now, though she's done some other things in the same universe, apparently. That was an adult fantasy alternate-world series that began in 1979, and was pretty progressive for its day in that in prominently featuring a romance and intimate relationship between two male leads.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I did manage to order about three of her novels with some pretty good prices, and this all does hype me up for how well they'll be to read. I probably should've ordered Dark Mirror too because I do enjoy the Mirror Universe stuff but I guess I'll cross that road when I get to it.

My local Half Price Books has a fairly extensive collection of new and used Star Trek novels, Diane Duane among them, at reasonable prices. Have you tried your local used book stores to see what they have?

 

[FredH]

Hmm, Young Wizards is the longest and the one I'm most familiar with -- also a fairly easy read since they're YA, though they don't shy away from mature ideas. If you've read TNG: Dark Mirror, you'll find some familiar concepts in the second YW book Deep Wizardry. Or you could start with the Feline Wizards trilogy, which is in the same universe but can stand alone and is not YA.

Most of her other original stuff is standalone novels or nearly so, except for the Middle Kingdoms series including the Tale of the Five, which was supposed to be four novels but has been stalled at three for several decades now, though she's done some other things in the same universe, apparently. That was an adult fantasy alternate-world series that began in 1979, and was pretty progressive for its day in that in prominently featuring a romance and intimate relationship between two male leads.

Thanks, Christopher. It looks like she generally focused more on fantasy than sf (which is fine!).

 

[Christopher]

Thanks, Christopher. It looks like she generally focused more on fantasy than sf (which is fine!).

Basically, yeah, but Young/Feline Wizards is one of those universes where the magic is integrated with science fiction elements like aliens and computers and so on, treated as basically a more advanced understanding of physics, more or less, although it's overtly a reality where divine powers exist and created the universe.