~~~
​Iri was robbing the Abidan.

~~~
​[My model for her doesn’t have a lot of testing,] Dross said. [Should we think about this a minute? That’s a good idea, let’s think about it.]

“Begin!” the Overlord called.
~~~
Information requested: Luminous Queen Sha Miara, Monarch of the Ninecloud Court
 
Beginning report…
~~~
The next thing Ziel knew, his hammer was covered in blood that slowly dissolved into light.
~~~
​​“Let it be so!” Eithan said triumphantly, and then he strode toward their waiting room. “Come, Yerin! Let's get ready to beat our new friends to death!”
~~~
​Lindon had never before been so worried about Little Blue's opinion.
~~~
Yerin coughed. “Who's telling you I'm afraid of anything? I agreed, I agree, I'm agreeing now.”
~~~
The Sword Sage is a wiry man with messy hair, half-lidded eyes that make it look like he’s falling asleep, and tattered black robes. Six sword-arms hang limp from his back, and he draws his white sword back. He’s about to lunge forward.
~~~
The Burning Cloak sprung up around Lindon, a flame of black and red surrounding his body, and the dragon advanced.

"Why isn't this Elder Empire?"
--My friend Ian

"My favorite part was when Lindon bonded with Sophara, finally allowing him to undertake the Path of the Double Dragon."
--Andrew Rowe

"Still not enough fighting."
--My brother

"The tournament does not get interrupted by the Dreadgods."
--Will Wight

"This book would have been more fun if it were part of an elaborate simulation game."
--Will Wright

"Why isn't the next one out yet?"
--You on September 27th

"I was initially skeptical about the introduction of sexy vampires, but the supernatural love triangle really sold me."
--You on September 26th

"Why don't you just skip to the bloopers? In fact, don't write anything but bloopers."
--Anonymous

angry bell noises
--Little Blue

Did you guys not know that I put out my pumpkins, skeletons, and cobwebs on September 27th? I call it "Scary Day."

I can see now how it might have been misleading to suggest that the book will be released before Halloween, but to be fair, this is before Halloween.

The Uncrowned pre-order is now live and with it the official release date, so go and pre-order! ...if you want to!

Otherwise, follow this and my other sites as the pre-order period unfolds and we gradually release news and content in celebration!

​-Will

Emriss Silentborn, Memory of the World.
Tiberian Arelius, the fallen Patriarch.
Akura Malice, Queen of Shadows.
Seshethkunaaz, King of Dragons.
Reigan Shen, Emperor of Lions.
Luminous Queen Sha Miara.
The Eight-Man Empire.
Northstrider.


The Monarchs, the most powerful sacred artists on Cradle, rule with unquestioned authority. They are mysterious and distant, and catching a glimpse of one is privilege enough for a lifetime.


Now, they have all gathered in one place, bringing their heirs and greatest students together for a competition to determine whose successor is the best in the world:
​

The Uncrowned King tournament.

Here, for the first time, I reveal to you the cover of Cradle 7: Uncrowned. Take a moment, scroll down, and bask in its glory. Bask, I say!

Once you're done basking, scroll back up, because I have news.

This coming Thursday, September 5th, the Uncrowned ebook will be available for pre-order! (We're hoping to have the audio version releasing at the same time as the ebook, but audio pre-orders are weird, so it won't go up for pre-order at the same time.)

To celebrate this launch and of course DragonCon (which is where I currently am, by the way), there's a sale for 10% off all Cradle merchandise now through September 7th! Grab that Orthos T-shirt you didn't know you needed in your life!

Is that enough? No, it isn't. So Cradle: Foundation will also be going on sale for free tonight for five days! Let the sky rain Cradle!

...and you'll notice that there's one key piece of information left out of this blog: how long is the pre-order? When will the book actually be released!

Good question! Find out soon!

​-Will

It's been a while since you've heard from me on this blog.

Do you know why? You know why. It's only ever for one reason: because I'm writing.

But now the writing has ended. The time is nigh. The countdown has begun.

And no one knows about the secret machinations that have eaten up my time for the past several weeks in addition to my normal writing frenzy.

Now that the frenzy has ended, prepare for a slew of announcements from me over the next few weeks. The first of which is this: I just arrived at DragonCon in Atlanta!

For those of you at the convention who would like to meet me and complain in person about the inadequacy of my storytelling, I'm having a fan meetup on Saturday afternoon!

When: 5:00-6:30 PM on Saturday, August 31st.
Where: The courtyard of the Hyatt Place (which is not the main convention Hyatt; it's a smaller hotel about two hundred yards down the road). This one. If it's raining or way too hot we might meet in the cafe just inside the doors, but you won't miss us.
What: Typically this is an informal meet-and-greet thing where we just meet up and talk about the books. Last year we had about a dozen people, so it's not a big thing. Just chilling and talking and meeting you guys.
Who: Me and anyone who cares to show up.
Why: Because conversation with me is a non-stop thrill ride.

If you're at DragonCon, I hope to see you there!

If you're not at DragonCon, then brace yourself, because I will have news coming soon. Perhaps even very soon.

​-Will

Though I've spent much of my time working on Of Kings and Killers, I know (from the 8,761 emails and messages and comments I've gotten on the subject) that what you guys are really waiting on is Uncrowned.

So, since Uncrowned didn't come out yesterday (as I jokingly suggested it would in my April Fool's post), when is it coming out?

Before skeletons dance
Before pumpkins swallow candle-lights
Before bats hang from rafters and cobwebs paint the corners
Uncrowned will haunt you first

See if you can crack that master-level riddle, Batman!

A devious person might suggest that, to make any comment such as this, I must have already written some percentage of Uncrowned as well as Of Kings and Killers. Well, indeed I have written a measure of both.

Here's one line (out of context) from Cradle 7, Uncrowned:

Not enough?

All right, how about a second line that is actually included in Uncrowned. Get ready to have your minds blown that I would include such an original line:

Over the past week or two, we've snuck a few new Cradle designs onto our merch store.
Check them out (click Read More for the rest):

Over the last weekend, I had the privilege of joining approximately fifteen other independent authors at the home of Michael and Robin Sullivan, where we did nothing but discuss business for days on end and definitely did not throw knives at anything or anyone.

As you probably know, I spend most of my time either writing or curled up in my carapace, so it's unusual that I ever exchange words with others and see the sun at the same time. But I really had a blast; it was awesome to meet up with a cabal of these fellow independent writers and find out that they're all such great people. It's a rare treat to be able to talk with my peers and exchange notes on books we're reading, marketing strategies, and the current location of the secret Story Idea Shop where we buy all our ideas.

Who was there? That's a great question--allow me to provide you with a list of the other authors in attendance, some of whom you may have read before, and others I'm sure you're about to go read right now:

Michael Miller - Battle Spire, the Dragon's Blade trilogy, and Portal Books
Miranda Honfleur - Blade and Rose and Dark-Elves of Nightbloom
Davis Ashura - The Castes and the OutCastes and The Chronicles of William Wilde
Dyrk Ashton - Paternus: Rise of Gods and also your dreams.
Luke Chmilenko - Ascend Online and A Mark of Kings (with some other guy)
Bryce O'Connor - The Wings of War and A Mark of Kings (with some other guy)
Alec Hutson - The Crimson Queen and its sequel
​Phil Tucker - Godsblood, The Chronicles of the Black Gate, ​Euphoria Online
K.S. Villoso - The Agartes Epilogues, Annals of the Bitch Queen
Quenby Olson - First Position, The Firstborn, The Bride Price, and many others.
J.C. Kang - The Dragon Songs Saga, Scions of the Black Lotus
A.C. Cobble - Benjamin Ashwood, The Cartographer
Andy Peloquin - Defenders of Legend, Hero of Darkness, Heirs of Destiny (these include a bunch of books, seriously this guy has like a million books out, he is a monster who must be stopped.)
T.L. Greylock - The Song of the Ash Tree (Books 1-3)

Now go read.

-Will

P.S. Thanks to Ethan Roscoe on Facebook for the puntheon.