Diane Duane~~~
Okay, I got a question about what novels of Diane Duane’s I loved, and I gushed a lot, so figured it might be worth posting.
She’s written so much and I love it all. “The Door Into Fire” was some lovely formative sort-of-generic-fantasy. There are apparently four more in the series, hooray!
I’m also wildly fond of her Star Trek novels. Her Rihannsu novels explore the Romulan people, their thoughts, their world (and then Roddenberry decanonized it all but screw him, they are my Romulans).
The book “The Wounded Sky” made the characters of Kirk’s Enterprise real for me in a way no other author had. Not to mention Starfleet itself. And believable non-humanoid aliens: K’t’lk and her quick mind and sense of humour and how she and Scotty just chum right up, gosh, she’s great.
Oh, and “Spock’s World” - again, worldbuilding, but this time for Vulcans, and look, like, you know the new Star Treks? When the actors playing Vulcans asked about Vulcan’s history, what it was like, etc. the producers referred them to “Spock’s World”. It has become Law.
She worldbuilds like no other. And she writes real people, people who do believable things. And she’s married to Peter Morwood and they’re both adorable. And she was an Original Fan.
Gosh, I’m just gonna die. :D
"The Wounded Sky" was one of my uni commute books, seriously great, as was "Doctor’s Orders" - When Bones complains one too many times about command decisions, Kirk puts him in charge of the Enterprise the promptly goes missing.
Just, character development and details and such a clear understanding of the characters, amazing.
(Totally going to order “Spock’s World” now.)
Speaking of Vulcan world building, though, I recommend “The Vulcan Academy Murders” by Jean Lorrah - brilliant exploration of Spock’s family and Vulcan society.
Oh my God, “Doctor’s Orders”, was that her too? That’s another fave!
And yes, “The Vulcan Academy Murders” and “The IDIC Epidemic” are really very good. I liked the exploration of Vulcan emotion and romance, and cultural mores surrounding same. And bondmates~! (Aside: I wonder if Tuvok can still sense his wife? She might have some comfort in knowing that he’s still alive somewhere…)
I actually had a mini fandom crisis when I was, like, 12 and reading both Lorrah’s and Duane’s interpretations of Vulcan. They were different. I couldn’t handle that.
chequerootlurks
