User talk:Diane duane

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• To sign your posts (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).
• Try the Tutorial, and feel free to experiment in the test area.
• If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk
• Follow the Wikipedia:Simplified Ruleset
• Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
• Remember Wikipedia:Neutral point of view
• Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

Meelar (talk) 13:39, July 21, 2005 (UTC)

Errantry

Heya, Diane. Somewhere around here I have a copy of Wizard's Holiday, which I'm going to be reading as soon as I dig it up again.

This is just a bit of adulation; one can never get enough adulation, after all. Best to Peter. DS 20:20, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

• Hey, thanx!  :) Diane duane 20:40, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Dai'stiho, Ms. Duane! I was very happily surprised to find you under "Notable Wikipedians"! I really didn't expect to find any of my favorite authors on here like that. What a delight! I haven't read all of your work yet, but I have read the first seven Young Wizards books (with numbers 1-4 and 7 being my favorites), and I really enjoyed them, especially the concepts. I most especially like the idea of mixing the magical and the scientific; one of my favorite moments in any of your books that I've read so far was when Dairine realizes in High Wizardry that the planet she's sitting on is one giant computer. Loved it!

I was a bit concerned after reading book six, since there were some depressing bits and, well, it just wasn't one of my favorites (though of course, it did have some good points, as all of your books so far have. The concept of the Pillar was interesting, for instance, and I like how Kit's relationship with Ponch is developing). But I'm so glad to have seen the series bounce back to a more even and well-balanced mix of the serious and the humorous in book 7! The aliens were great, especially the tree alien (that part with Dairine trying to explain what her dad does? Priceless!). My only concern was that Kit's sister was almost becoming a tiny bit of a Mary Sue by the end of book seven (it was the fact that her charisma was capable of charming even a houseful of alien beings, I think; the talent for languages, not so much, since she is closely related to a wizard, after all, and if I recall, already grew up in a bilingual household, right?), but since she hasn't been a central character yet, it's not so bad. Besides, I trust you. :) If you do more with her (or have done more. I haven't read past book 7. I haven't gotten Wizards at War yet. It's actually pretty rare nowadays that I visit the fantasy shelves in the bookstore, heh), I'm sure you'll develop her (or have developed her) quite nicely.

In any case, there's always the funny bits and the really ingenius little scientific/mystic concepts, which ensure that I'm bound to keep reading those books, and would do so even if every single character in them became the most blatant and intolerable Mary Sue ever. ;) That's a pretty high compliment coming from me, by the way. I'm normally very character-oriented, and the only other author whom I would do that for is Isaac Asimov, and he's practically the God of Science Fiction (although my phrasing there's kind of ironic, considering he wasn't particularly religious, heh).

I wasn't entirely surprised to find that you had done some sci-fi in addition to fantasy; your fantasy that I've read so far reads like science fiction with mystical qualities. I look forward to checking out your other work. :) Especially the other fantasy books, though, since I had no idea there were other books related to Young Wizards! I'll have to look for them the next time I'm 1.) at Barnes & Noble and 2.) not broke. ;)

But whoa! You wrote for Batman: The Animated Series!? That was like the best American animated series ever! No way! :D I think I'm falling in love with you as a writer all over again.

On a side note, even though I was kind of a nerdy child, I hadn't even heard of the concept of entropy before I read So You Want To Be A Wizard. I found the concept so compelling that I'm actually even using a form of it in one of my own works (albeit on a much smaller scale than the whole universe, heh) - a fantasy. :P Because mixing SF and fantasy is so very fun to do, as you well know. ^_^ Actually, it may very well be your works that inspired me to start doing things like having (non-human, though) characters refer to "souls" as "bioenergy" instead. Hehe.

I keep wanting to write a fan fiction writing some of the characters from that one into a version of Young Wizards (because 1.) the setup is so darn cool, 2.) it could actually fit surprisingly well with that story's universe, with relatively few tweaks, and 3.) two characters of mine in that one are already mulitlingual, and one in particular would, despite in general not minding that she's "not well-educated", love being a wizard, as she happens to have a bit of a Good Samaritan Complex, as it were). I always have to smack myself for it, though, since I haven't finished writing the first chapter of the original story. :P It's so much more fun to think of stories than to write them, though. And editing it is actually pretty easy and enjoyable, too; it's the first drafts that taunt me in my dreams (yes, I do mean "taunt", not "haunt". I think they're still determined against all odds to get me to write them down). I'm frankly in awe of anyone such as yourself who has the discipline to finish a lot of writing projects, because I'm constantly wanting to start whole new ones before the others have gone past chapter 1!

Er, well, I've probably gone and prattled on for far too long anyway, so I guess I'll stop myself before I write enough words to qualify for an actual novel (funny how writing is so easy for me except when it's on my fiction. Grr! Frustration). :P Runa27 04:15, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

note regarding COI

Hi there. Assuming that you are Diane Duane (of course), I must exclaim in various ways my appreciation for your writings, High Wizardry in particular being my favourite - the imagery was wonderful. I must note however, that you've edited your own article, so you should probably take a look at Wikipedia's guidelines on situations involving conflicts of interest, since some Wikipedians with articles have edited their articles inappropriately, even including Jimbo Wales. I trust that it won't be a problem, but I figure that it's probably a good idea to note this regardless. Cheers, Nihiltres^(t.c.s) 16:12, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Great, that's perfect, I just had to make sure you knew about that. If you're not sure about something on Wikipedia or want to change something that might not be entirely appropriate for you to personally add or fix, feel free to ask me to check through it, I'd love to help. Looking forward to your next novel, Nihiltres^(t.c.s) 18:40, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Photo for your article

In your Copious Free Time (tm), you might want to consider uploading a photo, since if I grabbed the one from YoungWizards.net, it would just get deleted as non-free content. Or, I could just stalk you next time you're on my side of the pond....--SarekOfVulcan 01:12, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Hey, as long as you're here -- PING! :-) --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 13:12, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

A Wizard of Mars Release Date

When is A Wizard of Mars going to come out?! I've been waiting so long, and the release date keeps being changed and moved farther and farther back! Please give me a definite release date! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.234.245.85 (talk) 20:42, 21 April 2009 (UTC)