- Timeheart -

[The books]

"So You Want To Be A Wizard"

‘Something stopped Nita’s hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine.

It was one of those So you Want to Be a … books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist … a Writer. But this one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

I don't believe this, Nita thought. She shut the book and stood there, holding it in her hand, confused, amazed, suspicious—and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn't …?’

[Extract from "So You Want To Be A Wizard" by Diane Duane.  Reproduced without permission.  See Disclaimer.]

Thirteen-year-old Nita, tormented by a gang of bullies because she won't fight back, finds the help she needs in a library book on wizardry which guides her into another dimension.

"Not old enough to love as yet,

but old enough to die, indeed--

-- the death-fear bites my throat and heart,

fanged cousin to the Pale One's breed.

But past the fear lies life for all --

perhaps for me; and past my dread,

past loss of Mastery and life,

the Sea shall yet give up her dead!"

[Extract from the Song of the Twelve from "Deep Wizardry" by Diane Duane.  Reproduced without permission.  See Disclaimer.]

Nita scrubbed at her eyes, not much liking this line of reasoning. 'But the spell never said anyone was going to have to die to pay back the price!'
'No. All it said was that you were going to have to pay back the exact amount of energy used up at some future date. And it must have been a very great amount, to require lifeprice to be paid. There's no higher payment that can be made.' Carl fell silent a moment, then said, 'Well, one.' And his face shut as if a door had closed behind his eyes.

During a summer vacation at the beach, thirteen-year-old wizard Nita and her friend Kit assist the whale-wizard S'reee in combating an evil power.

When her younger sister uses the family computer with its special wizard software to travel to worlds light years away, Nita uses her wizardry to try to find her.

Sent on vacation to her aunt's home in Ireland, teenage wizard Nita becomes entangled in a magic battle to save the country from the ghosts of its past.

Nita is growing up and having problems with her relationship with her partner Kit.  Then her mother collapses and is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Will the Lone One's offer to save her mother tempt her or will her new friend's help enable her to fight off the terrifying disease?
When even her powerful sister Dairine is helpless how can she come to terms with not being able to save her mother either with or without the team work she has come to depend on?

Becoming a wizard isn't easy. In fact, it can kill you. 

All first-time wizards must go through an initiation in magic called an Ordeal.  The more powerful the novice, the longer and more dangerous the Ordeal.  Most last only a few days.  So why has Darryl McAllister been on Ordeal for three months?

Or has he?  Darryl hasn't actually gone anywhere.  His body is still here; it's his mind seems to have departed.

It's a puzzle that send Kit Rodriguez and his dog, Ponch, chasing Darryl through one strange world after another.  Kit could use the help of his regular partner, but Nita is struggling with a puzzle of her own: Every night in her dreams, she receives frantic calls for help from -- of all things -- toy clowns and giant robots.

But Nita had better work fast.  Because only together can she and Kit unravel the mysteries around Darryl -- who he is, what he is, and why the source of all the death in the universe, the Lone Power, is desperately trying to destroy him.

-----

"Kit nodded, glancing to one side as Carl came up from the basement with a very large roll of duct tape.  "Ah," Tom said.  "The substance that binds the universe together.""

An extract of this upcoming book can be found here.

Praise for "The Book of Night With Moon."

"Duane's writing is lucid and often lyrical... the story intensifies superbly as it goes on, with dark journeys and some disconcertingly bleak scenes, and there's an elegant moral twist." SFX

"Enchanting... The cats' magical experiences give Duane an opportunity to elaborate on the complex structure of a secret cat civilisation... Duane's tale purrs with charms that even ailurophobes will find irresistible." Publisher's Weekly

"Enjoyable and entertaining reading." Starburst

The feline wizards who protect our world from chaos travel to Victoria's London - and discover it strangely changed...

Rhiow and her team of New York wizards, teaming up with London cats led by sexy Huff, face the challenge of preventing a lethal change to history.  The horribly changed face of Britain arises from science and contaminated by 20th-century technology in the 1820s and politics changed forever by the assassination of Queen Victoria in the 1870s.  Both events must be reversed - and only the cats can possibly do it in time.

Aided by the Tower ravens, the Keeper of the Mummied Cats at the British Museum, a dinosaur and a fledgling novelist who can't believe his eyes, the cat undertake the intricate, nearly impossible task of saving the queen's life - and our world's.

The contracts have been signed for these two, and a possible third.  "Wizards' Holiday" is tentatively set for October 2003.  We can't wait!

The first three books are being released as a box-set soon.  I don't need to tell how much the team of Timeheart want this box-set.

Let's just say the keyboard is in risk of short-circuiting from all the drool.

This website is based on characters and situations created and owned by Diane Duane, and various publishers.  No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.