Dave Duncan

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  • Bibliography:
    66 Books (13 Series)
  • First Book:
    May 1968
  • Latest Book:
    May 2024
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Full Series List in Order

The Alchemist

1 - The Alchemist's Apprentice (Mar-2007)
2 - The Alchemist's Code (Mar-2008)
3 - The Alchemist's Pursuit (Mar-2009)

The Brothers Magnus

1 - Speak to the Devil (May-2010)
2 - When the Saints (Nov-2011)

Children of Chaos

1 - Children of Chaos (Jun-2006)
2 - Mother of Lies (May-2007)

The Enchanter General

1 - Ironfoot (Oct-2017)
2 - Trial by Treason (Oct-2018)
3 - Merlin Redux (Oct-2019)

The Great Game

1 - Past Imperative (Oct-1995)
2 - Present Tense (Nov-1996)
3 - Future Indefinite (Aug-1997)

A Handful of Men

1 - The Cutting Edge (Sep-1992)
2 - Upland Outlaws (May-1993)
3 - The Living God (Mar-1994)
4 - The Stricken Field (Apr-1994)

The King's Blades

1 - The Gilded Chain (Nov-1998)
2 - Lord of the Fire Lands (Oct-1999)
3 - Sky of Swords (Oct-2000)
4 - Paragon Lost (Aug-2003)
5 - Impossible Odds (Nov-2003)
6 - The Jaguar Knights (Oct-2004)

The King's Daggers

1 - Sir Stalwart (Nov-1999)
2 - Crooked House (Oct-2000)
3 - Silvercloak (Oct-2001)

A Man of His Word

1 - Magic Casement (Dec-1990)
2 - Faery Lands Forlorn (Apr-1991)
3 - Perilous Seas (Jul-1991)
4 - Emperor and Clown (Jan-1992)

The Omar Books

1 - The Reaver Road (Jan-1992)
2 - The Hunters' Haunt (Jan-1995)

Seventh Swordsman

1 - Reluctant Swordsman (May-1968)
2 - The Coming of Wisdom (Aug-1988)
3 - The Destiny of the Sword (Dec-1988)

Starfolk

1 - King of Swords (Sep-2013)
2 - Queen of Stars (Feb-2014)

The Years of Longdirk

1 - Demon Sword ()
2 - Demon Rider ()
3 - Demon Knight ()

Book List in Order: 66 titles

  • Reluctant Swordsman

    Seventh Swordsman - 1

    PAWN OF THE GODDESS 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 ...

  • A Rose-Red City

    The city of Mera is a fortress hidden from the rest of humanity, a sanctuary for the diverse group of people rescued from death by the Oracle that rules the city. The Oracle has brought together the citizens of Mera from every land and every time per...

  • Shadow

    Sald Harl would like nothing more than to soar on the wings of his noble eagle, but his youthful rides in the sky are cut short by an appointment to guard the prince. Sald watches his dreams of flight fade with his name and independence as he takes o...

  • The Coming of Wisdom

    Seventh Swordsman - 2

    SEVEN AGAINST SORCERY 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 Go...

  • The Destiny of the Sword

    Seventh Swordsman - 3

    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. ...

  • West of January

    The Aurora Award–winning novel of a remote far-future world caught in a cycle of destruction, from the author of the Seventh Sword saga.   On the distant planet of Vernier, a single day lasts an eternity. Lifetimes pass before a region fu...

  • Strings

    SWORN TO RUN 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, th...

  • Magic Casement

    A Man of His Word - 1

    A PERILOUS PROPHECY Princess Inos lived an idyllic life in her father's sleepy, backwater kingdom. Krasnegar was a peaceful realm, and Inos was a friend to all-especially her childhood companion, the stableboy Rap. Then one day a God appeared ...

  • Faery Lands Forlorn

    A Man of His Word - 2

    THE COMMONER'S QUEST 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 ...



  • Hero!

    Space opera at its finest and most action-filled, from the bestselling author of fantasy quests, epic tales, and swashbuckling adventures. Vaun, born a peasant in the stinking mud flats of Ult, a thriving colony planet, claws his way to survival and ...

  • Perilous Seas

    A Man of His Word - 3

    STARCROSSED DESTINIES Queen Inos was badly shaken. Rap--loyal, trustworthy Rap--had appeared to her, obviously from beyond the grave. His insubstantial image, the echo of his voice...She stiffened her resolve. She would serve her people, whatever ...

  • Emperor and Clown

    A Man of His Word - 4

    THE FINAL JOURNEY The loyal stableboy Rap had fought through hell and high water to rescue Inos, his queen. But at the end of his quest, all his struggle had been in vain. For Inos had already married the accursed Sultan Azak. Her beauty had b...

  • The Reaver Road

    The Omar Books - 1

    WELL MET TRAVELER! Since you are going in my direction, why don't we walk on together for a while? If luck is with us, perhaps we shall overtake Omar before nightfall, if that pirate of an innkeeper spoke true... You say you have never heard of...

  • The Cutting Edge

    A Handful of Men - 1

    Beautiful Queen Inos married the loyal stableboy Rap and made him her king. They were very much in love, and they lived happily ever after. Fifteen years went by. Rap and Inos were comfortable, secure, and truly happy, raising their family in the lit...

  • Upland Outlaws

    A Handful of Men - 2

    COME THE MILLENNIUM The power-mad dwarf-sorcerer Zinixo had driven Emshandar V from his throne. He had shattered the ancient Protocol that kept tenuous peace among Pandemia's warlocks. And his conquest had only begun. Somehow the deposed Impero...

  • The Living God

    A Handful of Men - 3

    ALL RAPPED UP... The sorcerer Zinixo had declared himself the Almighty, and none could doubt that the end of the era was at hand. Not in the thousand years since the War of the Five Warlocks had the world known upheaval on such a scale. Goblin hor...

  • The Stricken Field

    A Handful of Men - 4

    Zinixo, the Almighty, may have overthrown the Impire and crowned himself, but there was revolt in the land. Next to Zinixo's, their forces were paltry, but each rebel leader carried the flame of freedom and was willing to go through any trial to save...

  • The Hunters' Haunt

    The Omar Books - 2

    The Trader of Tales 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 grud...

  • Past Imperative

    The Great Game - 1

    In a world on the brink of madness... In the summer of 1914, a young man beyond eeproach awakens under police guard--grievously injured and accused of heinous, impossible murder. And in a strange, distant place... The youngest member of a pennil...



  • The Cursed

    THE WAGES OF GWIN War had killed Gwin's husband, and a plague of star sickness carried off her babies. Desolate, she nursed her stricken neighbors. But the few who would survive the sickness were doomed anyway. Every survivor would be cursed, a...

  • Present Tense

    The Great Game - 2

    THE GREAT GAME IS AFOOT! In the midst of the horror of the first World War, a stranger falls from nowhere into the mud and death of the Flanders battlefield--bruised, babbling, and star naked... with a remarkable story to tell. Wrongly accused ...

  • Future Indefinite

    The Great Game - 3

    In a place called Nextdoor--the farthest flung outpost of British imperialism--earthborn mortals possess the powers of gods. For five years, the young Englishman Edward Exeter has tried to escape the magnetic pull of a Great Game that has designat...

  • The Gilded Chain

    The King's Blades - 1

    As unwanted, rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall...Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm -- THE KING'S BLADES A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds teach to his ward--if not the king himself, then t...

  • Lord of the Fire Lands

    The King's Blades - 2

    As unwanted, rebellious boys, they found refuge in Ironhall...Years, later they emerged as the finest swordsmen in the realm-- THE KING'S BLADES Once bound, a Blade's life is no longer his own. Only death can break the gilded chain of enchantment...

  • Sir Stalwart

    The King's Daggers - 1

    Before They Could be BladesThey Were the King's Daggers Young Stalwart, known as Wart to his fellow 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,...

  • Crooked House

    The King's Daggers - 2

    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....

  • Sky of Swords

    The King's Blades - 3

    The mightiest swordsmen in the realm, they 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 righ...

  • Silvercloak

    The King's Daggers - 3

  • Paragon Lost

    The King's Blades - 4

    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...



  • Impossible Odds

    The King's Blades - 5

    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 Jaguar Knights

    The King's Blades - 6

    Supremely skilled warriors, bonded by magic, their destiny is to serve without question... The realm's most feared swordsman, Sir Wolf has earned his name, the "King's Killer," well. Unlike many of his brother Blades, however, Wolf detests his swo...

  • Children of Chaos

    Children of Chaos - 1

    On a dodecahedral world in thrall to the tyrannical, war-obsessed Hrag dynasty, no one could stop the Bloodlord from sending troops over the Edge to Florengia, invading its major cities, and offering them a choice between strict colonial rule and imm...

  • The Alchemist's Apprentice

    The Alchemist - 1

    To the legendary clairvoyant Maestro Nostradamus, the future is forever in motion. But for young swordsman Alfeo Zeno, his apprentice and protector, the present is hard enough to contend with. His days are spent poring over astrology charts and makin...

  • Mother of Lies

    Children of Chaos - 2

    The past fifteen years have not been kind to Celebre, the greatest city on the Florengian face of a dodecahedral world. Its walls have been breached and its Doge humiliated by the evil Bloodlord Stralg; all four of its heirs kidnapped and taken over ...

  • The Alchemist's Code

    The Alchemist - 2

    The legendary Maestro Nostradamus may be able to glimpse the ever-changing future, but even he cannot see the danger that is about to envelop him and his daring apprentice Alfeo when Nostradamus is hired to find a foreign spy by Venice's ruling Counc...

  • Ill Met in the Arena

    The nobles of Aureity have been breeding their children for psychic powers for generations. Women's powers are mental, including psychic control and mind-reading, making them ideal rulers. Men have superhuman strength and can teleport to any place th...

  • The Alchemist's Pursuit

    The Alchemist - 3

    Hampered by arthritis, Nostradamus is in no mood for granting favors or running about looking for trouble. But when his apprentice Alfeo?s mistress asks him to investigate the murder of her beloved courtesan mentor?and promises a fortune in payment?h...

  • Speak to the Devil

    The Brothers Magnus - 1

    A new adventure of brotherhood and magic from beloved fantasist Dave Duncan In the Kingdom of Jorgary, the days of feudal chivalry are fading as national armies are formed. But Ottokar Magnus is still baron, and his host of brothers include Anton,...

  • The Monster War

    Originally issued as a YA trilogy, "The King's Daggers" (including volumes Sir Stalwart, The Crooked House and Silvercloak), The Monster War works equally well as a single novel. The story fills a gap in the first Blades novel, The Gilded Chain, when...



  • Pock's World

    Pock's World, long settled by humankind, is accused of being infected by humanoid aliens. It has been quarantined and may have to be sterilized. Five people are chosen to go there and examine the evidence: saintly but ruthless Father Andre; Ratty...

  • When the Saints

    The Brothers Magnus - 2

    When we left the Brothers Magnus, they had assembled in Cardice to help Anton Magnus defend the castle from attack by a neighboring state with a significant military advantage and several officers who at any moment could request help from saints -- o...

  • 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 Death of Nnanji

    Those who read and enjoyed the original three-volume series, THE SEVENTH SWORD, will remember that the original trilogy presents a series of surprising endings, especially in the third volume. In order to avoid spoilers, the author has chosen to skir...

  • Wildcatter

    As long as there is money to be made, there will be Wildcatters. -- Dave Duncan Throughout human history wildcatters, the first great explorers and prospectors to lay claim to newly discovered lands, have marched to the beat of a different drumme...

  • King of Swords

    Starfolk - 1

    Rigel has always known he is not quite human, but the only clue to his origin is the otherworldly bracelet he has worn since childhood. His search for his parentage leads him to the Starlands, where reality and fantasy have changed places. There ...

  • The Runner and the Wizard

    Young Ivor dreams of being a swordsman like his nine older brothers, but until he can grow a beard he's limited to being a runner, carrying messages for their lord, Thane Carrak. That's usually boring, but this time Carrak has sent him on a long jour...

  • Queen of Stars

    Starfolk - 2

    While discovering the truth behind his half-human, half-elven parentage, master swordsman Rigel not only defeated the horrific monsters of the Starlands, but also thwarted Prince Vildiar’s dark designs to conquer the elven realms. Now, despite h...

  • The Runner and the Saint

    Earl Malcolm has reason to fear the ferocious Northmen raiders of the Western Isles are going to attack the land of Alba, so he sends Ivor on a desperate mission with a chest of silver to buy them off. But the situation Ivor finds when he reaches the...

  • The Runner and the Kelpie



  • The Eye of Strife

    Sword fights and romance, miracles and mystery, treachery and sly humour....

    A god summons a curious assortment of witnesses to his temple to testify on what they know about a jewel that was lost a thousand years ago. At least one of them is ...

  • The Adventures of Ivor

    At sixteen, Ivor of Bracken is too young to be a swordsman like his nine older brothers, but he has strong legs and a fine memory, so he can serve his lord as a runner, carrying messages. That sounds safe enough, except that this is Dark Age Scotland...

  • Irona 700

    Fantasy at its most enchanting: An original and absorbing tale from a master storyteller about the profound effects of a single life on the battle against ultimate evil It is Midsummer Day, the beginning of the year 700, in the city of Benign. Al...

  • Eocene Station

    Shortlisted for the 2017 Endeavour Award

    K. N. 'Cannon' Ball and his superstar wife, Tempest, are running for their lives. Cannon has exposed a fraud so huge even heads of government are implicated and determined to keep Cannon from ever tes...

  • Portal of a Thousand Worlds

    The looming threat of a once-in-a-millennium magical event sends nineteenth-century China into violent chaos in this epic alternate-history fantasy. Author of the Seventh Sword series Dave Duncan transports us to Imperial China in an alternate nin...

  • Ironfoot

    The Enchanter General - 1

    A lowly enchanter finds himself entangled in a plot to assassinate the king in a new historical fantasy series set in twelfth century England. Medieval magic, murder, and mayhem! It is 1164, and for a hundred years England has been ruled by t...

  • One Velvet Glove

    Swashbuckling adventure awaits four unemployed knights searching for treasure in this fantasy tale by the award-winning author of The Jaguar Knights. Sir Rhys, Sir Sharp, and Sir Trusty may be three of the world’s greatest swordsmen, but that ...

  • Trial by Treason

    The Enchanter General - 2

    A burgeoning Saxon enchanter confronts a demonic plot against the king in the sequel to Ironfoot, a historical fantasy series set in twelfth century England. King Henry, campaigning in France, receives a muddled warning of a treasonous conspiracy...

  • Pillar of Darkness

    A mysterious adventure awaits nine strangers who venture inside a dangerous region that defies science, in this novel by an award-winning author. Thirty years ago, a terrifying anomaly known as Sungoback appeared over North Africa. Two hundred miles ...

  • The Ethical Swordsman

    In the final adventure in the King’s Blades series, one of the Blades is asked to go undercover to hunt down a possible threat to the crown of Chivial. Niall’s father raised him to be a man of his word, and Niall has tried to live that way throug...

  • Merlin Redux

    The Enchanter General - 3

    Sir Durwin must overcome a cloak-and-dagger plot to usurp the king in the final novel of the Enchanter General, a historical fantasy trilogy set in twelfth century England. King Henry is dead; Richard the Lionheart now rules England. The new king ...

  • Tales of Omar

    A traveling storyteller journeys into misadventures in this complete humorous fantasy series by the author of the Seventh Sword series.The Reaver Road Omar is the world’s greatest storyteller, captivating audiences everywhere, from the fir...

  • Corridor to Nightmare

    When one life ends, another begins.After forty years as the village school teacher in the idyllic valley of Greenbottom, Agatha is looking forward to a quiet retirement. Instead, an enigmatic stranger arrives to drag her through a long-closed portal ...

  • The Traitor's Son

    “They know the world is dying, but they hope not in their lifetimes. Meanwhile, they’re top dogs and will do anything to stay that way.”Doig Gray is fifteen when his father is killed in a mining accident, which Doig comes to realize...

  • Demon Knight

    • / Fantasy
    • Buy Buy
    The Years of Longdirk - 3

    The Scottish outlaw Toby Strangerson, known as Longdirk, has used gramarye, dark magic, to defeat the Fiend and save Europe from abject slavery—but he has also made himself the most feared and envied man in all of Italy.

    The hordes ar...

  • Demon Rider

    • / Fantasy
    • Buy Buy
    The Years of Longdirk - 2

    In medieval Scotland, an outlaw seeks his freedom—from both the merciless khan who conquered Europe, and the demon spirit that possesses him.

    All of Europe is ruled by the Khan, whose Golden Horde swept its conquering way ac...

  • Demon Sword

    • / Fantasy
    • Buy Buy
    The Years of Longdirk - 1

    All of Europe is under the control of the Khan, whose conquering armies swept across the West in 1244. Scotland, in addition, lies under the heel of England. Young Toby Strangerson, a halfEnglish bastard, reared by a witchwife, wants only to shed his...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Dave Duncan has published 66 books.

The next book by Dave Duncan, Corridor to Nightmare, will be published in May 2024.

The first book by Dave Duncan, Reluctant Swordsman, was published in May 1968.

Yes. Dave Duncan has 13 series.
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