Young Wizards Updating

The Young Wizards series, by Diane Duane, is one of my favorites. I just bought A WIZARD OF MARS, the ninth book, at a local Borders. It reminded me to get online and look for news about the tenth book. Unfortunately, there's no publication date yet for GAMES WIZARDS PLAY.  Instead, I discovered that Duane is updating the first four books in the series. 

I love my copies of SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD, DEEP WIZARDRY, HIGH WIZARDRY, and A WIZARD ABROAD. I have the 1996 covers, which are far more attractive to me than the current cartoon covers. (The Cliff Nielsen covers, which I own for books 5-9, are quite nice too.  I am a Nielsen fan, if only because he's done covers for many of my favorite books.) 

But this isn't a cover issue. SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD was first published in 1983 - six years before I was born and far longer for kids just discovering the series. The Young Wizard series is one of the strongest influences on my own writing. I loved how Duane blended fantasy and science fiction. But the early books are less accessible nowadays due to that focus on science and technology. Duane explains more about what technological updates are needed, as well as fixing a few timeline issues caused by a series that's been published with long gaps between books.

The new edition of SYWTBAW should be out September 1 and will be available here. Even though I own and love the old editions, I am excited to see the changes.

For those who haven't read the series, you can get an ebook bundle of all nine books for $39.99. (Or less, if you use 10 % off discount code COMPLETE. Instructions on using discount codes here.)  I do advise you to check it out.  Nita and Kit's adventures are clever and exciting.  Though I recommend starting at the beginning, I will confess that my favorite is A WIZARD ABROAD.