Dave Duncan - West of January

I am not a god! The angels will question you hard about this if—when—you get to Heaven. Remember that—Knobil is not a god!

I shall prove it soon, I think. Meanwhile I can sit in the shade and snooze; waiting for my next meal of juicy roast dasher; remembering what might have been, dreaming what never was…

You are the first. You must set an example, every one of you. Heaven will judge the herdfolk by you. You are all big; try also to be great. Travel in groups if you will, but when the road divides, then make your own choices.

Remember always that every man must find Heaven for himself.

DAVE DUNCAN’S EARLY NOVEL is a complicated picaresque ramble across a faraway world, a world as full of strangeness and wonder as it is of familiarity and convention. The novel is a classic example of one of science fiction’s strongest motives: world-building.

In keeping with his arrival in postwar Canada, Duncan was acutely aware of the complexities of starting life in a new land, and the planet Vernier provides rich ground for his keen imagination. At first Vernier appears Earth-like, but it soon shows its alien qualities. The most dramatic of these differences is the measurement of time—and the motion of the planet about its sun is the methodically detailed central mechanism of Duncan’s book, from the title onward.

Since the original space-faring humans arrived and settled the planet long before the story begins, most of the technology and culture they brought has been lost. The world in West of January is one in which time and its passage are deliberately turned on their sides, and the peoples who inhabit this world must adapt their cultures and lives to survive.

The essence of true science fiction is its ability to speculate, and the heart of Duncan’s West of January is pure speculation. The essence of world building and what follows—the form of the cultures and societies that must accommodate that world—easily show the depth and scope of the imaginative talent Duncan brings to his work.

The Gilded Chain

Lord of the Fire Lands

Sky of Swords

Paragon Lost

Sir Stalwart

The Crooked House

Silvercloak

Past Imperative

Present Tense

Future Indefinite

Demon Sword

Demon Rider

Demon Knight (published under the penname of Ken Hood)

The Cutting Edge

Upland Outlaws

The Stricken Field

The Living God

Magic Casement

Faery Lands Forlorn

Perilous Seas

Emperor and Clown

The Reaver Road

The Hunters’ Haunt

The Reluctant Swordsman

The Coming of Wisdom

The Destiny of the Sword

Daughter of Troy (published under the penname of Sarah B. Franklin)

The Cursed

Hero!

Strings

West of January

Shadow

A Rose-Red City

Dave Duncan is the author of over thirty books of science fiction and fantasy. Born in Scotland, he attended the University of St. Andrews. In 1955 he emigrated to Canada and settled in Calgary, Alberta, where he worked in the oil industry as a research geologist and businessman. Dave Duncan began writing in his fifties and had his first novel accepted for publication just two weeks after a downturn in the oil industry left him out of a job for the first time in his life. He has never looked back. Dave Duncan first established his name by writing several fantasy series, including the highly regarded Seventh Sword trilogy. His most recent series, Tales of the King’s Blades, was an international best-seller and spawned the sequel series, Chronicles of the King’s Blades. West of January is among Dave Duncan’s stand-alone novels and is considered essential Science Fiction reading and one of his finest achievements. West of January received the Aurora award for outstanding achievement in Canadian Science Fiction.

Dave Duncan lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife of over forty years. He has three adult children and four grandchildren.

Copyright © 2002 Dave Duncan

Published in the United States in 2003

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Red Deer Press or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, ON M5E IE5, fax (416) 868-1621.

The Publishers

Red Deer Press

813 MacKimmie Library Tower

2500 University Drive N.W.

Calgary Alberta Canada T2N 1N4

www.reddeerpress.com

Credits

Edited for Bakka Books by John Rose and Salman A. Nensi.

Cover design by Mike Speke, Speke Visual Communications.

Text design by Dennis Johnson.

Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens for Red Deer Press.

Acknowledgments

Financial support provided by the Canada Council, the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, a beneficiary of the Lottery Fund of the Government of Alberta, and the University of Calgary.

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Duncan, Dave, 1933-

West of January

ISBN 0-88995-252-3

I. Title.

PS8557.U5373W47 2002 C813’·54 C2002-910249-9

PR9199·3·D874W47 2002

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