Duncan was born in Newport-on-Tay, Scotland[1] and was educated at the High School of Dundee[2] before studying geology at the University of St Andrews.[3] After graduating in 1955, he moved to Calgary, Alberta, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1960.[4] He pursued a career as a geologist in the petroleum industry for nearly three decades before he started writing science fiction and fantasy novels. He made his first sale (A Rose-Red City) two years later in 1986 at the age of 53, just two weeks after his 31-year career as a geologist came to an end due to a slump in the oil business, at which point he switched to full-time writing.[3][5]
Duncan lived in Victoria, British Columbia. His wife was Janet, whom he married in 1959, and they had one son, two daughters, and four grandchildren. He had one brother, Michael, who was an agriculturist.[2]
Duncan died on 29 October 2018 at the age of 85.[6][7]
Writing career
Duncan was a prolific writer and penned over fifty books.[8][9]
His sixth book, West of January, won the 1990 Aurora award, an award he would win again in 2007 for Children of Chaos.[10][11]
He was a member of SF Canada[12] and in 2015 he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.[13][14]
Although Duncan usually wrote under his own name, some of his early books were published under the pseudonyms Ken Hood and Sarah B. Franklin.
Bibliography
The Seventh Sword
A dying petrochemical plant manager named Wallie Smith is transferred from Earth into the body of a master swordsman in a pre-technological world by a goddess for her own purposes.
As mentioned in the forewords, these titles are based on an excerpt from the 1819 poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats.
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
