Diane Duane (born May 18, 1952) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the ''

Young Wizards ''Young Wizards'' is a series of novels by Diane Duane. The Young Wizards series presently consists of eleven books, focusing on the adventures of two young wizards named Nita and Kit. Each novel pits Nita and Kit against the "Lone Power", an ...

'' young adult fantasy series and the '' Rihannsu''

Star Trek novels The ''Star Trek'' franchise has a history of tie-in fiction which began with the 1967 publication of James Blish ''Star Trek 1''. More than 850 original novels, short story collections, episode and film novelizations, and omnibus editions have ...

Biography

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, she grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island. After school, she studied

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

and practiced as a psychiatric nurse for two years until 1976, when she moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and worked as an assistant to

David Gerrold David Gerrold (born Jerrold David Friedman; January 24, 1944)Reginald, R. (September 12, 2010)''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2'' Borgo Press p. 911. Archived at Google Books. Retrieved June 23, 2013. is an American science fic ...

. Her first novel was published by Dell Books in 1979; Gerrold wrote an "overture" to that novel, on the grounds that he'd rather be making overtures than introductions to Duane's work. She subsequently worked as a freelance writer. In 1981 she moved to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She married

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

author Peter Morwood in 1987; they moved to the United Kingdom and then to Ireland, where they reside in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by ...

Bibliography

Young Wizards

# # # # # # # # # # # A short story within the same universe, "Uptown Local", has also been published as part of

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is '' The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. H ...

's ''Dragons and Dreams'' anthology, and a podcast of Duane reading it is freely available from her website. It also appears in the twentieth anniversary edition of ''So You Want to Be a Wizard''. In February 2011, Duane announced she would be releasing new versions of the first 4 books in the series, updating the technology used in the books, fixing some timeline issues within the series, and overall making the series more appealing to contemporary young adult readers. The first of the series would be available in June 2011, initially in ebook format, with the next three books to follow in the succeeding months and all these to have new ISBNs, with the publisher switching to the revised editions with new covers around the time the next book in the series is released.

Feline Wizards

The series, in the same setting as the Young Wizards novels, focuses on cat-wizards, who maintain the worldgates that wizards use for travel between the sheaf of canonical universes. # # (Published in the US as ) # In December 2005, Duane proposed to her fans that they fund a third novel in the series, ''The Big Meow''. After funding the project via whole-book

subscriptions The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

, per-chapter threshold pledges,

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more ...

, "put something in the kitty"

donation A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as ...

s, and $2,900 in

challenge grant Challenge grants are funds disbursed by one party (the grant maker), usually a government agency, corporation, foundation or trust (sometimes anonymously), typically to a non-profit entity or educational institution (the grantee) upon completion ...

s, Duane wrote, over a span of two and a half years, seven of the book's 13 chapters. No new chapters were published between July 2008 and February 2011, but on February 2, 2011, Duane announced the project's completion and posted the remaining chapters for subscribers between then and the 15th.

Adult Wizards

Books about adult wizards set in the same universe of the Young Wizards series. * "Theobroma", featured in the fantasy short story collection ''Wizards, Inc.'' (November 2007)

Alternate Universes

The Young Wizards universe contains canonical alternate universes (''

So You Want to Be a Wizard ''So You Want to Be a Wizard'' by Diane Duane is the first book in her long-running Young Wizards series of novels which currently consists of eleven books by Diane Duane. It was written in 1982 and published the next year. In 2012 a revised "N ...

'' and '' To Visit the Queen'' are good examples: the protagonists travel to alternate universes to solve problems there). * ''Stealing the Elf-King's Roses'' () is set in a sheaf of universes originally mentioned in Nita's studies in ''So You Want to Be a Wizard.''

The Middle Kingdoms

Also known as the ''Tale of the Five'', this high fantasy series was paused in 1992. The books center on some of the same themes as her better-known Young Wizards series; those who wield the Blue Fire have many of the same responsibilities as the wizards and fight the same battle against

entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodyna ...

. In ''So You Want to Be a Wizard'', Nita's wizardry manual is written by "Hearnssen", a reference to the protagonist of ''The Door Into Fire'', Herewiss s'Hearn (son of Hearn), so it may be that the Middle Kingdoms are part of the same sheaf of universes as the Young Wizards setting. Adding to this, one interdimensional portal in ''The Door into Fire'' appears to open over New York City. Duane is working on the final volume. ''The Door into Fire'' and ''The Door into Shadow'' have an omnibus reprint called ''Tale of Five: The Sword and the Dragon.'' () # ''The Door into Fire'' (1979) # ''The Door into Shadow'' (1984) # ''The Door into Sunset'' (1992) # ''The Door into Starlight'' (to be written) Several short stories are set in the Middle Kingdoms: ''Parting Gifts'' (1981) and its prequel ''The Span'' (1999) featuring Sirronde; Duane plans to write a middle novella and publish the three together as ''Sirronde's World''. ''Lior and the Sea'' (1985) is set in the world of the Middle Kingdoms, but not concerning any of the characters in the novels. Duane also worked on ''Tales of the Five'', a five-book series to bridge the gap between ''The Door into Sunset'' and ''The Door into Starlight''. Books in this series so far are: * ''The Levin-Gad'' (2018) * ''The Landlady'' (2019) * ''The Librarian'' (TBA)

''Star Trek''

Duane has also written a number of ''Star Trek'' novels: * Original Series ** ** ** ** (omnibus, containing ''Spock's World'' and

A. C. Crispin Ann Carol Crispin (April 5, 1950 – September 6, 2013) was an American science fiction writer, the author of twenty-three published novels. She wrote several '' Star Trek'' and '' Star Wars'' novelizations, and created an original science fictio ...

's ''

Sarek Sarek is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He is a Vulcan astrophysicist, the Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, and father of Spock. The character was originally played by Mark Lenard in the epis ...

'') * '' Rihannsu'' ** ** (co-written with husband Peter Morwood) ** ** ** ** An omnibus of the first four Rihannsu novels, containing minor tweaks for consistency and re-editing ''Swordhunt'' and ''Honor Blade'' into the originally-intended single novel. * Next Generation ** ** Duane also shares story credit on the ''TNG'' episode "

Where No One Has Gone Before "Where No One Has Gone Before" is the sixth episode of the American science-fiction television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', which originally aired October 26, 1987, in broadcast syndication in the United States. A high-definition, r ...

" with Michael Reaves.

''Harbinger''

The Harbinger Trilogy, published by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

, is set in the

Star*Drive ''Star Drive'' (stylized as ''Star*Drive'') is a science fiction campaign setting that was published in 1998 by TSR, Inc. for the ''Alternity'' role-playing game. The first published setting for ''Alternity'' was provided in the ''Star Drive Campa ...

universe. While Duane is not the only author to write for this universe, she was the first. # # #

Spider-Man

Duane wrote a trilogy of

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Si ...

novels, ''The Venom Factor'', for Byron-Preiss Multimedia from 1994 to 1996. The trilogy was composed of: # # #

Guardians of the Three

''SeaQuest DSV''

Space Cops

(written with Peter Morwood) # # #

X-COM

X-Men

Net Force

Co-authored with

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have b ...

and Steve Pieczenik

Omnitopia

Short stories

* "Parting Gifts" featured in ''Flashing Swords! #5: Demons and Daggers'' (1981), and released for free on he
website
as part of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day * "Lior and the Sea" featured in ''Moonsinger's Friends'' (1986) * "Apparitions" featured in ''The Further Adventures of Superman'' (1993) * "The Dovrefell Cat" featured in ''Xanadu 2'' (1995) * "Don't Put That in Your Mouth, You Don't Know Where It's Been" featured in ''Don't Forget Your Space Suit, Dear'' (1996) * "Recensions" featured in ''Amazing'' Magazine (1998) * "Blank Check" in ''On Crusade: More Tales of the Knights Templar'' (1998) * "1-900-nodream" featured in ''Perchance to Dream'' (2000) * "Night Whispers" featured in ''Star Trek: Enterprise Logs'' (2000) * "Herself" featured in "Emerald Magic" (2004) * "The Fix" (2006) * "Goths and Robbers" featured in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' anthology '' Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership'' (2008) * "The House" featured in ''Witch High'' (2008)

Comics

* "Ill Wind", five part graphic novel/miniseries for ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', DC Comics, New York: Autumn 1995-Spring 1996. * "The Tale of Prince Ivan the Not-Too-Experienced", six-part comic script for ''The Dreamery'', Epic Comics, December 1987 through August 1988. * "The Last Word", STAR TREK #28: single-issue comic script for DC Comics, NYC, April 1986. * "Double Blind", STAR TREK #24-25: two-part (comedy) comic script for DC Comics, NYC, Jan/Feb 1986. * "The Misadventures of Prince Ivan." About Comics. February 2011. .

Other prose works

Duane has recently made available in various e-formats a previously unpublished book which was sold to at least two European publishers, but never actually brought out due to internal restructuring at one publishing house (Corgi) and the sale of another (Heyne Verlag). The novel, ''A Wind from the South'', is the first of a projected trilogy telling the story of a young girl born in the 11th century in a remote region of the Alps. This girl slowly discovers that she is the intended physical avatar of an exiled Roman goddess, while (as she grows) she becomes caught up in the political turmoil of William Tell's time. Duane was also responsible for prose adaptations of several scripts from '' The Outer Limits''. She has also written numerous short stories, about equally divided between fantasy and science fiction, which have appeared in various anthologies and collections over the last twenty years. She also wrote the 1985 text adventure video game '' Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative''.

Maps

Duane drew the map in

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are '' Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, '' The Mote in God's E ...

's ''

The Ringworld Engineers ''The Ringworld Engineers'' is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. It is the first sequel to Niven's '' Ringworld'' and was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1981. Origin In the introduction to the novel, ...

''.

Screen works: film and television

Duane has worked in television since the early 1980s, initially becoming involved in script work at the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

animation studio (now

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

). After writing numerous scripts for such series as '' Scooby and Scrappy-Doo'', '' Captain Caveman'', ''

Space Stars ''Space Stars'' is a 60-minute Saturday morning animated program block produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on NBC from September 12, 1981, to January 8, 1982. ''Space Stars'' was narrated by Keene Curtis and featured five carto ...

'', '' Fonz and the Happy Days Gang'', '' Biskitts'', and '' Laverne and Shirley in the Army'', she moved on to work in development and serve as a staff writer at

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and ...

, and in 1985 was hired to story-edit the DiC animated series ''

Dinosaucers ''Dinosaucers'' is a 1987 animated television series co-produced in the United States and Canada, produced by DIC Animation City and distributed in syndication in the US by Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The show was created by producer Michael ...

''. During this period she also wrote scripts for

Sunbow Productions Sunbow Entertainment (known as Sunbow Productions until 1995) was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin ...

('' Glo Friends'', ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, ...

'', and ''

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...

'') and

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

('' Duck Tales''). In 1986, she co-wrote (with Michael Reaves) the script of one of the earliest episodes of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', "

". In the early 1990s Duane was brought on board as the head writer on the BBC Television educational series ''Science Challenge''. Shortly thereafter she co-wrote (with her husband) scripts for '' Batman: The Animated Series'' and for '' Gargoyles''. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 space adventure game '' Privateer 2: The Darkening'', which starred

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

Jürgen Prochnow Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film '' Das Boot''. He is also known ...

and Mathilda May. Other screen work from that period includes the screenplay for the '' Space Island One'' episode "Not In My Back Yard" (1998–1999). In 2003, after doing nearly four years' development work with the production company Tandem Communications of Munich, Germany, Duane and Peter Morwood co-wrote the script for the German TV miniseries ''Die Nibelungen''. The miniseries aired in Germany on the Sat.1 network in late November 2004, and a feature version (titled '' Sword of Xanten'') screened in the UK in December 2004. A "megafeature" cut of the entire miniseries was aired on

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...

television in the UK in December 2005. The miniseries aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US in late March 2006 under the title '' Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King''. The miniseries has also been released on DVD in the US and numerous other markets, under various titles (the previous US title was '' Curse of the Ring''). Duane was also a co-author of the

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

movie '' Barbie: Fairytopia''. An adaptation of ''

So You Want to be a Wizard ''So You Want to Be a Wizard'' by Diane Duane is the first book in her long-running Young Wizards series of novels which currently consists of eleven books by Diane Duane. It was written in 1982 and published the next year. In 2012 a revised "N ...

'' is currently in the works.

Screenwriting credits

Television

* '' Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo'' (1979) * ''

The Flintstone Comedy Show ''The Flintstone Comedy Show'' is an American animated television series revival and spin-off of ''The Flintstones'' produced by Hanna-Barbera that aired on NBC from November 22, 1980 to October 24, 1981. Outside North America, the show was rele ...

'' (1980) * ''

'' (1981) * ''

The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang ''The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang'' is an American animated science fiction comedy series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Paramount Television and originally broadcast during the Saturday morning schedule on ABC from November 8, 1980 ...

'' (1981) * ''

Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour ''Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour'' is a 1982–1983 American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Ruby-Spears Enterprises in association with Paramount Television, featuring animated versions of characters ...

'' (1982) * ''

The Biskitts ''The Biskitts'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1983 to 1984 and aired on CBS. The series lasted for only one season; only 13 episodes were produced. ''Shirt Tales'' replaced the show in its t ...

'' (1983) * ''

The Glo Friends ''The Glo Friends'' is an American television series that originally aired in 1986 as a segment of ''My Little Pony 'n Friends''. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions in collaboration with Toei Animation, the 26 segments of ''Glo ...

'' (1986) * '' My Little Pony'' (1986) * '' The Transformers'' (1986) * ''

'' (1987) * '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987) * ''

DuckTales ''DuckTales'' is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation. The original cartoon series premiered on syndication and on Disney Channel on September 18, 1987 and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four sea ...

'' (1987) * '' Batman: The Animated Series'' (1995) * '' Gargoyles'' (1996) * '' Space Island One'' (1998) * ''

Spider-Man Unlimited ''Spider-Man Unlimited'' is an American animated series by Saban Entertainment which features the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man, intended as a loose sequel series to the previous '' Spider-Man: The Animated Series'', which ran from 19 ...

'' (2001)

Film

* '' Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King'' (2004) * '' Barbie: Fairytopia'' (2005)

Awards

* "Midnight Snack" (Cassette version): Award for Excellence in Education from Media & Methods Magazine, 1987. * ''The Door Into Fire'': Two-time John W. Campbell Award nominee for best new writer. * "Young Wizards" series: special commendation in the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize in Children's Literature, 2003. " So You Want to Be a Wizard" got the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers award, 1984 * ''Wizard's Dilemma'':

Mythopoeic award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awa ...

nominee, 2002. * ''Wizards at War'': Mythopoeic award nominee, 2006.

References

External links

*
Weblog
mirrored by the author o
LiveJournal
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duane, Diane 1952 births American bloggers American children's writers American comics writers Female comics writers American expatriates in England American fantasy writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American nurses American women nurses American science fiction writers American women short story writers Constructed language creators Living people American women novelists Psychiatric nurses People from Roosevelt, New York American women children's writers American women bloggers Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Irish science fiction writers Screenwriters from New York (state)