An Interview with Robert Runté (Dave Duncan's editor)

The Second Black Beacon Book of Mystery will be released on the 8th of July (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99, and you can add it to your Goodreads list today) and to celebrate this new volume of short mysteries bound to get armchair detectives the world over donning their deerstalkers, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Are you ready to glimpse the inner workings of these criminally clever minds? Sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy the following interview—on second thoughts, don’t drink that!

Hi Dr. Runté,

Dave Duncan passed in 2018 and you were the one who submitted his story. What was your connection to Dave?

I was Dave Duncan’s editor. I had acquired nine of his books when I was Senior Editor at Five Rivers Publishing, and copyedited one for him for Open Road. We were finishing up two new books, The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare, when he passed suddenly. I was surprised to discover that he had left me all his unfinished manuscripts to edit and see published. I consider that a great honour. We had originally connected when he was starting out as a writer and I was starting out as reviewer. Eventually, he recruited me as one of his handful of beta readers. Over the course of three decades, we corresponded extensively about his writing, so I got to know that side of him pretty well. I thought of Dave as a close friend, though in truth we’d only met in person a few times.

Did Dave Duncan write a lot of mysteries?

No, but also yes. Dave was universally known as a fantasy and science fiction writer, with over sixty-five traditionally published novels. He was hugely popular with both fantasy and science fiction fans for his universe building and uniquely inventive magic systems. “Alexander’s Nose” is one of only three or four short stories he ever wrote and his only ‘pure’ mystery story. On the other hand, the driver of many of his SF&F plots were definitely mysteries of one sort or another. Pillar of Darkness, for example has a recognizable Agatha Christie vibe in that Duncan gathers all the characters in a villa for the first half of the book and the reader has to suss out who is up to what. His Alchemist’s Apprentice series are straight-up murder mysteries, set in an alternate Renaissance Florence. His Omar books are about a fast-talking conman, just in a sword and sorcery world. His SF thriller, Hero, is essentially a spy novel (though for an attentive reader, there is also a deeply satirical subtext of the whole macho hero motif). And so on. With a few exceptions, all his books challenge the protagonist(s)—and therefore the reader—to figure something out, so are in that sense “traditional fair-play mysteries”.

How important is setting in Duncan’s writing?

Setting was an essential part of what made Duncan’s books so popular. Anything set in historical times was researched down to the tiniest detail. I was never able to catch him on an anachronism and his knowledge of ninth century Ireland, medieval England, or Renaissance Florence, or whenever, informed all his fantasy. Setting was even more fundamental to his SF, given his world-building was often the defining element in initiating the action: some new technology or new world our hero was thrust into.

What are you working on now for Duncan?

The Traitor’s Son and Corridor to Nightmare are coming out from Shadowpaw Press sometime in 2023-2024. Duncan was working on the sequel to Corridor when he passed, but had gotten stuck a third of the way in. He had asked for my input and agreed with my analysis about why it wasn’t jelling. The last thing he ever said to me in person was, “I’m like what you said, but it will mean changing the ending.” I’ll always regret I didn’t ask him, “What’s the new ending, then?” I’ll figure it out. I think I can channel Duncan well enough, but I am in contact with his other beta readers, and I won’t release the sequel unless they agree the final product is seamlessly a Dave Duncan book. There are other partial manuscripts as well, so I’m looking for other published authors familiar with Duncan’s extensive canon that might be open to collaborating with his ghost to finish them up.

Where can we find Duncan online?

Duncan’s website expired a couple of years after his passing, so his Wikipedia page is probably the best resource to track down his books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Duncan_(writer) Or people can contact me at EssentialEdits.ca.

Thanks for playing along. Enjoy the tea!