Search Worlds Without End

In the virtual twenty-first century multiplayer on-line games have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. And the most popular gaming universe of all is Omnitopia, created by genius programmer Dev Logan.

For millions of people around the world, Omnitopia is an obsession, a passionate pastime, almost a way of life. Omnitopia is a virtual place where dreams come true--players can create their own universes within the game's structure and participate in the profits if their piece of the universe is a hit. Ten million players routinely play in Omnitopia, and at any given time, nearly a million of them are on-line, living in a world more real to them than their own.

Now Dev and his people are preparing to roll out a major new expansion to the Omnitopia system. And even as players, staff, the media, and the heavy hitters on the world financial scene wait eagerly for this fast-approaching and momentous event, there are others preparing to play a very different game--one that is meant to strike at the heart of Omnitopia and bring the entire system crashing down...

This anthology collects some of Diane Duane’s most popular short work — stories that range across time and space, with a visit to her best-known milieu, the seminal Young Wizards young adult / urban fantasy series.

Uptown Local features eleven long and short works from the last decade and beyond.

Contents:

• In the Company of Heroes - (2001) - novelette
• Herself - (2004) - short story
• Uptown Local - [Young Wizards] - (1986) - novelette
• The Fix - (2006) - novelette
• Out of the Frying Pan - (2008) - novelette
• Theobroma - juvenile - [Young Wizards] - (2007) - novelette
• Hopper Painting - (2003) - short story
• The Back Door - (1994) - novelette
• The Rizzoli Bag - short fiction
• The Queen and the Thief and the Dragon - short fiction
• Bears - short story

Rhiow seems a perfectly ordinary New York City cat. Or so her humans think -- but she is much more than she appears. With her partners Saash and Urruah, she collaborates with human wizards to protect the earth from dark forces and maintain the network of magical gateways that connect to different realities. But amid this amazing secret animal world lies a danger that threatens not only the cats of the world, but humans as well.

The wizard cats Rhiow, Urruah, and Arhu are summoned to London to deal with a crisis that could destroy the very fabric of time, and they join forces with a teenage Arthur Conan Doyle to stop the evil schemes of their old nemesis, the Lone One.

Life's already much too busy for Rhiow and the other cats of the New York City worldgating maintenance teams. The old, cramped Penn Station is being torn apart and relocated into its big new building, which means that the Penn worldgates have had to be moved too. Everyone's nerves are in shreds, and no one's had enough sleep for a human, let alone a Person. So when Rhiow goes staggering home to her litterbox the morning after the job's done and finds it already occupied by another cat -- who then vanishes -- at first she thinks she's hallucinating.

But she's not. When her team is called to Los Angeles to do a minor consult after the city's single worldgate is deranged by a string of earthquakes, Rhiow's "hallucination" reappears bearing a dire message from the past. The messenger, a tom called Hwaith, reveals that similar earthquakes are striking Los Angeles in 1946 -- indicators not only of increasing instability in the San Andreas Fault, but of something far more troubling. Something is trying to subvert the Los Angeles gate to its own purposes. "The Lone Power?" Rhiow asks. "No," Hwaith says. "Something worse. Something from outside."

Rhiow and her team find themselves caught up in ever-deepening peril and mystery as they make the dangerous trip back to post-war Los Angeles. Their intervention plunges them headfirst into the glitzy, murky world of 1946 Hollywood, a smoggy film-noir landscape filled with glamourous starlets, flamboyantly corrupt studio heads, wicked, pampered cats with hidden agendas, unsolved murders, snoopy screenwriters, scheming PR flacks, and a shadowy, celebrity-ridden cult dabbling in knowledge better left alone -- knowledge which could destroy their world's present and doom its future, if the dreadful promise of the Year of the Black Jaguar is fulfilled...

The Great Rift lies between the Sagitarius and Orion arms of the galaxy. Stars are scarce there, beyond the authority of the Federation, and legends abound of lost civilizations and of ancient monsters that prey on those who dare to venture into the vast darkness between the stars.

When several ships and colonies mysteriously disappear into the Rift, the U.S.S. Enterprise leads an expedition to investigate various disturbing reports. Accompanied by two other Federation starships, Picard and his fellow captains discover a bizarre menace of unimaginable power. And the only way to trap this destructive entity is to use the Enterprise as bait.

One hundred years ago, four crewmembers of the U.S.S Enterprise crossed the dimensional barrier and found a mirror image of their own universe, populated by nightmare duplicates of their shipmates. Barely able to escape with their lives, they returned, thankful that the accident which had brought them there could not be duplicated, or so they thought.

But now the scientists of that empire have found a doorway into our universe. Their plan is to destroy from within, to replace a Federation Starship's crew with one of their own. Their victims are the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, who now find themselves engaged in combat against the most savage enemies they have ever encountered -- themselves.

An alien scientist invents the Intergalactic Inversion Drive, an engine system that transcends warp drive -- and the U.S.S Enterprise will be the first to test it! The Klingons attempt to thwart the test, but a greater danger looms when strange symptoms surface among the crew -- and time becomes meaningless.

Now Captain Kirk and his friends face their greatest challenge -- to repair the fabric of the Universe before time is lost forever.

When Dr. McCoy grumbles once too often about the way the U.S.S. Enterprise ought to be run, Captain Kirk decides to leave the doctor in command while he oversees a routine diplomatic mission. Kirk beams down to a strange planet nicknamed "Flyspeck" to negotiate its admission into the Federation, leaving Dr. McCoy to enjoy his new authority.

However, the doctor soon learns that command is a double-edged sword when Kirk disappears without a trace. Desperately trying to locate his captain, McCoy comes under pressure from Starfleet to resolve the situation immediately. Matters go from bad to worse when the Klingons arrive and stake their own claim on Flyspeck. Then another, more deadly power threatens them all, and suddenly Dr. McCoy and the Starship Enterprise find themselves pitted against an alien fleet in a battle they have no hope of winning.

It is the twenty-third century. On the planet Vulcan, a crisis of unprecedented proportion has caused the convocation of the planet's ruling council -- and summoned the U.S.S. Enterprise from halfway across the galaxy, to bring Vulcan's most famous son home in its hour of need.

As Commander Spock, his father Sarek, and Captain James T. Kirk struggle to preserve Vulcan's future, the planet's innermost secrets are laid before us, from its beginnings millions of years ago to its savage prehistory, from merciless tribal warfare to medieval court intrigue, from the exploration of space to the the development of o'thia -- the ruling ethic of logic. And Spock -- torn between his duty to Starfleet and the unbreakable ties that bind him to Vulcan -- must find a way to reconcile both his own inner conflict and the external dilemma his planet faces... lest the Federation itself be ripped asunder.

Ael t' Rlailiiu is a noble and dangerous Romulan Commander. But when the Romulans kidnap Vulcans to genetically harness their mind power, Ael decides on treason. Captain Kirk, her old enemy, joins her in a secret pact to destroy the research laboratory and free the captive Vulcans. When the Romulans discover their plan, the Neutral Zone seethes with schemes and counter-schemes, sabotage and war.

They are a race of warriors, a noble people to whom honor is all. They are cousin to the Vulcan, ally to the Klingon, and Starfleet's most feared and cunning adversary. They are the Romulans -- and for eight years, Federation Agent Terise LoBrutto has hidden in their midst.

Now the presence of a captured Starfleet officer forces her to make a fateful choice -- between exposure and escape. Between maintaining her cover -- and saving the life of Dr. Leonard McCoy.

The sword was the ultimate symbol of Romulan power, tradition, and pride. It lay in the Senate Chamber of the Romulan Star Empire, revered and untouched for centuries, until the day Dr. Leonard McCoy was tried for treason -- and both were stolen during a daring attack on Romulus itself.

Now, to avenge that insult and save face in the eyes of their deadly enemies, the Empire must recover the sword at any cost. Their envoys to the Federation demand the return of the sword and the extradition of the Romulan renegades who aided the Starship Enterprise in McCoy's escape. If diplomacy fails, the Romulans will trap the Klingons and the Federation in open war.

In such dangerous times, the U.S.S. Enterprise is assigned the most valuable -- and volatile -- element of all: the fugitive Ael, her stolen Bird-of-Prey Bloodwing, and the sword they carry. Ael will undoubtedly attempt to use ship and sword to foil her enemies and play her hand in the dangerous game that she's begun. But she will do it all under the watchful eyes of James T. Kirk, the Federation starship captain who knows her dangerously well.

At last, the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire have agreed to meet on neutral ground to attempt to resolve the tangle of intrigue and conspiracy that began with the hijacking of the U.S.S. Intrepid many years ago -- but the meeting may be as dangerous as the war they hope to avoid.

As a show of good faith, the crew of the legendary Starship Enterprise has been ordered to attend the talks. In their informal charge is Romulan renegade Ael, the wanted fugitive who, with Kirk, served as a catalyst of the current troubles. Kirk must represent the interests of the Federation first and foremost, but the best approach to an agreement remains muddled in the ever-shifting Romulan order.

And the visiting Romulan party is as fractious and divided as their troubled world. Among the Romulan nobles in attendance are the hero and popular Senator Arrhae, who secretly helped rescue Dr. Leonard McCoy from a Romulan execution, and the very men and women who put McCoy on trial for treason -- and tried to carry out the sentence.
As Kirk and crew attempt to renegotiate a delicate peace, and Romulans attempt to restore their tarnished honor, it becomes increasingly apparent that their only course of action is to prepare for war.

They call themselves Rihannsu -- the Declared. To the Federation, they are the Romulans. By any name they are adversaries as formidable as they are inscrutable. Self-exiled from Vulcan in ages past, they retain an ancient martial philosophy and a code of conduct that has sustained them through centuries of hardship, warfare, and thwarted ambition.

Now their empire is gearing for war once again. Armed with the revolutionary Sunseed technology, which can destabilize entire stars, a Romulan vessel is warping toward the heart of the Federation. Its target: Earth's sun.

But this offensive comes at a perilous time, as a growing number of Romulan worlds are joining a revolution -- one led by the renegade Commander Ael t'Rllaillieu of the warbird Bloodwing, with the aid of Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise and the Hamalki physicist K's't'lk, the Federation's foremost authority on Sunseed technology. As the threat to Earth looms ever larger, Bloodwing and Enterprise lead an armada toward the Romulan homeworld for a final reckoning that will decide the future of the Rihannsu people.

Herewiss s'Hearn, the first man in a thousand years to bear the Blue Flame of Power, is now happily married to King Freelorn of Arlen, their lover Segnbora tai-Enraesi, the fire elemental Sunspark and the dragon Hasai. But Herewiss tells none of them why (at a most delicate moment) he must undertake a clandestine mission to the city of Darthis.

His reasons are secret: his intentions desperate. So why does Herewiss wind up spending his whole visit in a tavern? Only the Stuck Pig's indefatigable bouncer, Iras, can learn the reason why... and finds herself caught up in a kind of tavern brawl that no one's ever imagined.

Herewiss is the only man in centuries to possess the Power of the blue Flame, but he can't use or control it -- not even to help his dearest friend, Freelorn, exiled prince of Arlen. Herewiss does have a talent for more mundane sorcery, and (aided by the unearthly creature Sunspark) he uses it to rout the armies besieging Freelorn. But now Herewiss faces a devastating choice.

His time to master the blue Fire is running out. Should he join Freelorn in his fight to regain his kingdom? Or should he seek out the ancient keep in the Waste where doors lead into other worlds -- perhaps even the door whose use will teach him to control the Power that he must master or die?..

Second of Diane Duane's "Middle Kingdoms" sequence, sequel to THE DOOR INTO FIRE. The quest of Freelorn Ferrant's son, exiled prince of Arlen, continues as he and his people push eastward across the Middle Kingdoms in pursuit of his lost throne. But his companion, the warrior and sorceress Segnbora, brings her own possibly deadly agenda to the search...

The author of The New York Times bestseller Spock's World continues the story of Freehorn, Herewiss, Segnbora, Sunspark, and Hasai in an entertaining and magical sequel to The Door into Fire.

Sorceress and swordswoman Segnbora tai-Enraesi - last scion of one of the Forty Noble Houses of Darthen and hero of the great War against the Shadow - is forced to come to grips with the one part of her life she's successfully avoided for more than a decade: her day job.

Segnbora's been preoccupied with the demands of motherhood and the continuing business of supporting her husbands King Freelorn of Arlen and Herewiss Hearn's son in consolidating Freelorn's hold on the Arlene throne. But now her liege-lady and lover Eftgan of Darthen calls on Segnbora to take up her rightful role as Head of House tai-Enraesi and begin restoring her diminished Household to its proper position among the Forty.

Reviving the fortunes of a House sunk into decline over two lifetimes will be difficult work, Segnbora knows. But she doesn't suspect how difficult until, while visiting her lands in Darthen's rural north, she discovers that one Holding of House tai-Enraesi conceals a danger unexpected enough to challenge even a companion of Dragons and a wielder of the blue Fire of Power...

The Landlady is the second of five novelettes and short novels being published during 2018-2019, spanning the years between Book 3 of the Tale of the Five, The Door Into Sunset, and the forthcoming The Door Into Starlight.

Something stopped Nita's hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine. It was one of those So You Want to Be a... books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist... a Writer. But his one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard.

I don't belive this, Nina thought. She shut the book and stood there holding it in her hand, confused, amazed, suspicious--and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn't... ?

Coming to the aid of a wounded whale, Kit and Nita are plunged into deep wizardry. The whale is a wizard, and she enlists Kit and Nita in battle against the sinister Lone Power. Becoming whales themselves, Nita and Kit join in an ancient ritual performed by whales, dolphins, and a single fearsome shark. But which poses more of a danger: the Lone Power, or ed'Rashtekaresket, the enormous shark as old as the sea?

Young wizards Nita and Kit face their most terrifying challenge yet: Nita's little sister, Dairine. Not only is Dairine far too smart for a ten-year-old, she also has recenlty become a wizard, and worse yet, a wizard with almost limitless power. When Dairine's computerized wizard's manual glibly sends her off on her novice adventure--her Ordeal--Kit and Nita end up chasing her across the galaxy, trying to catch up with Dairine before she gets into trouble so deep that not even her brains can resuce her.

To give Nita a vacation from magic, her parents pack her off for a stay with her eccentric aunt in Ireland. But Nita soon finds herself with a host of Irish wizards battling creatures from a nightmare land.

Not everything can be fixed with magic--young wizards Kit and Nita are having such a tough time coping with adolescence, they go their separate ways. But then Nita gets some bad news: Her mother has cancer, and it may be incurable--by medical or magical means.

While Nita grieves over her mother's death, Kit tackles a challenge as dangerous as it is strange: Rescue a young wizard who has vanished on his first assignment. This new wizard is unlike any other--he's autistic and he's a magical prodigy. His power is enormous.

Rest and relaxation--that's what Nita thinks she's going to get when she and her partner-wizard Kit go on a wizardly "cultural exchange" program. But nothing about wizardry--not even vacation--is ever quite that simple!

Nita and Kit return from their wizardly holiday looking forward to getting back to their everyday routine. But there's trouble brewing. A strange darkness of the mind and heart is about to befall the older wizards of the world, stealing away their power. Soon, the young wizards find themselves forced to defend wizards and nonwizards alike against an invasion of a kind they've never imagined.

For the first time in millenia, the wizards must go to war...

Young wizards Kit and Nita are faced with strange events when a life form from another era emerges on Mars. Though the Martians seem friendly, they have a plan that could change the shape of more than one world. As the shadow of interplanetary war stretches over both worlds, Kit and Nita must fight to master the strange and ancient synergy binding them to Mars and its last inhabitants. If they don’t succeed, the history that left Mars lifeless will repeat itself on Earth.

Every eleven years, Earth's senior wizards hold the Invitational: an intensive three-week event where the planet's newest, sharpest young wizards show off their best and hottest spells. Wizardly partners Kit Rodriguez and Nita Callahan, and Nita's sister, former wizard-prodigy Dairine Callahan, are drafted in to mentor two brilliant and difficult cases: for Nita and Kit, there's Penn Shao-Feng, a would-be sun technician with a dangerous new take on managing solar weather; and for Dairine, there's shy young Mehrnaz Farrahi, an Iranian wizard-girl trying to specialize in defusing earthquakes while struggling with a toxic extended wizardly family that demands she perform to their expectations.

Together they're plunged into a whirlwind of cutthroat competition and ruthless judging. Penn's egotistical attitude toward his mentors complicates matters as the pair tries to negotiate their burgeoning romance. Meanwhile, Dairine struggles to stabilize her hero-worshipping, insecure protégée against the interference of powerful relatives using her to further their own tangled agendas. When both candidates make it through to the finals stage on the dark side of the Moon, they and their mentors are flung into a final conflict that could change the solar system for the better... or damage Earth beyond even wizardly repair.