Hello friends and fans of my older brother's weird brain! NotWill here for the second blog this year. That is not normal, do not expect many blogs that aren't written by Will.

Two weeks ago we had a HUGE breakthrough with Barnes & Noble in terms of getting Will’s books stocked on their shelves. They ordered thousands of copies of each Cradle book for, from what we can tell, the purpose of being able to stock on shelves nationwide.



I spent the majority of last week driving to 22 different stores around Florida to gather information as to why the mass order happened (turns out we just have the best fans ever that buy Will’s books wherever they’re seen) and ask our local stores to stock Cradle. Most of the B&N’s either had Unsouled on the way to the store to be stocked or ordered copies at my request.



Really cool employees you got there, Barnes & Noble!

This was a gigantic win for us. It’s been years in the making of switching from print-on-demand books to better quality stock that bookstores would be willing to carry. With this order at B&N when you buy a Cradle book, it will automatically restock at that store. That is why this is even more exciting than just a single large order!

I talked to managers at a lot of these stores and it is extremely rare for indie publishers to be stocked in B&N. So THANK YOU to all the fans that voraciously buy Hidden Gnome books! You have no idea what it means to us.

Now you should start seeing “Will Wight” on the shelves at your local Barnes & Noble, which is the coolest thing I’ve ever written. You might start seeing Will Wight himself on the shelves too, because he hides between copies sometimes.



If you don’t see the books, you can ask a manager to order them if you’re so extrovertedly inclined (this should work at your local indie bookstore as well). Cradle is in B&N warehouses nationwide.

This is one small step for indie publishers and one giant leap for Hidden Gnome Publishing!

-Sam

This month has been way better than last month. Though it would be hard to get much worse than last month.

But now, it's almost Omega's turn to fly the ship! He's so excited that he promises not to appear over you as you sleep​, whispering into your ears with six mouths. As long as you preorder. If you don't buy the book, he promises nothing.

Writing The Pilot was an interesting challenge, mainly because of all the interruptions over the last half a year. I did enjoy writing Omega, though. Especially his backstory. Probably my favorite scene to write was a flashback to before Omega had powers, because you get to see him act like a lunatic but in a more human way.

While enjoyable, he's still hard to write as the central character of a book, because Omega doesn't care about anything. Or does he? Yes he does, because otherwise there would be no story, but bringing that out was Interesting Challenge #2.

Interesting Challenge #3 will be writing the next book, because we'll get to explore some COOL NEW THINGS that I won't SPOIL because they're SPOILERS for the ending of this one.

Besides putting a book up for preorder, the coolest thing I did this month was go to Epic Universe, the new theme park in Orlando.

I know they already had Super Nintendo World in Japan and California, but I hadn't spoiled myself, and my first time walking into the Mushroom Kingdom was literally breathtaking. It took my breath. I shed a single nostalgic tear.

The entire park seems like it's tailor-made to appeal to me specifically. The worlds are themed after Wizards, Dragons, Monsters, and Nintendo. This is the park that my eight-year-old self sketched in a notebook.

For real, the entire park is incredible. And we got in when it was raining and therefore not hot or crowded, which is a Florida life hack for theme parks.

-Will

P.S. The Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Oreos sound like they wouldn't work, but they are delicious.

Hello there fantasy author blog enthusiasts! This is Sam, Will’s favorite and only younger brother coming in hot with a very unfun post while Will is somewhere in the middle of the ocean writing something not ocean related.  

2025 has been off to a rough start here at Hidden Gnome Publishing. As some of you may know from the last blog post, our cousin Ellie was diagnosed with stage four Ovarian cancer in January. She fought for four months but ultimately didn’t make it. She passed away 19 days before her 25th birthday.

Ellie was one of the cousins we grew up close to, relationally speaking. We took many cross-country RV trips as a family. I saw snow for the first time on one of those trips to Yellowstone and we brought Ellie on her first visit to Disney World. After she graduated from college, we even discussed with her the possibility of interning for Hidden Gnome to get some real world experience. 

Her older brother Stuart is one of my best friends and a Cradle fan himself. I’ve spent a good chunk of the last couple months in Georgia trying to be there for him and his family. In the end, there was nothing we could do, which is probably the part that stings the most.

A little over a week ago, another member of our team, Lily, had her mom pass away unexpectedly. She and her husband Patrick, our art designer, are currently with their family trying to navigate that loss. 

Life is hard and it’s difficult not to feel anger when you lose a young cousin to cancer and your mother before you’re ready to say goodbye. The only bright side is the 24 years Ellie got to impact other people’s lives and the effect a good mother can have on raising an awesome daughter. 
​
7 of the 12 members of Hidden Gnome are grieving in different ways right now. It’s times like these where being a family company is difficult, so apologies in advance for delays in some of our deadlines we’ve communicated. We’re all trying to get back in the proverbial saddle as quickly as we can.

The great part about being a family company is that we can be there for each other. Because of this job and the fans who support Will’s career, we have the ability to take time away and support our relatives when they need it the most. Sincerely…gratitude to all of you.

Cancer sucks and I have a whole new level of empathy for anyone who has or is currently walking through this. We’re all rooting for you! And remember, “A dragon is not ashamed of tears.”

-Sam

Since I’ve been working on The Pilot, we’ve had most of our beta reader team read at least one draft, so I thought you might be interested in hearing what they thought!
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Anonymously, of course. I wouldn’t want to embarrass them.
~~~
“It was a bold choice writing this entire book without Varic and making the whole thing a flashback to Omega’s past instead, but it paid off.”
~~~
”My favorite scene was probably the six-page instructions on how to craft and polish your own cabinets. Really made me feel immersed in the space fantasy universe.”
~~~
”Too much Lemon.”
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”It’s about time! You’ve finally taken my advice and replaced the Bloopers with a PSA for a rare medical condition. Engorged Face Syndrome doesn’t get the attention it deserves.”
~~~
”You broke the rules, Will. You failed to repost my review to all your social media accounts, so you will suffer my curse. Now you are doomed to wander The Halls until you defeat Gathmat, Duke of Rotting Things.”
~~~
”This book tastes disgusting.”
~~~
​”This science fantasy action-adventure novel is okay, but you’re really missing your calling as a writer of Victorian era teen romance vampire murder mysteries.”

Actually, this month has gone by pretty slowly.

In addition to being beaten with sticks, I've spent a long time working on The Pilot this month. We had a full Hidden Gnome meeting, where we hid a bunch of gnomes in a room and challenged visitors to spot as many as they could. And I've been playing League of Legends again, after a long hiatus.

Playing League was the hardest part.

Anyway, we'll be releasing news about The Pilot very soon! Then I get to work on a [SECRET PROJECT] that will remain [TOP SECRET] for the time being, but I'm looking forward to it.

And for now, since I finished a draft about fifteen minutes ago, I get to go collapse into my couch and eat popcorn! That's my favorite activity!

More soon! Thanks for reading!

​-Will