...apparently!
As you may have figured out last time, when I shared the cover for Soulsmith (Cradle, Volume Two), that's the book I'm currently working on. I was going to write the final installment for Elder Empire next--in fact, I only wrote Unsouled to have something to release in the 6-8 month drought that it takes to a pair of books simultaneously--but the reaction to Cradle, Volume One has been so positive and enthusiastic that I jumped on to the sequel immediately. Case in point, it gathered 100 Amazon reviews in exactly one month. 88 of them are five-star, 97 are positive, and 99 are at least pretty good. The only really negative review just said "boring." Therefore, since installments of Cradle take half the time to write as installments of Elder Empire AND seem to create twice the goodwill, I decided it would be foolish to delay Soulsmith. Keeping in mind that this is a release estimate, that I'm not committing to anything until I finish the book and announce a specific date, here's the deal: Soulsmith in September, OKAK early next year, Traveler's Blade after that, Cradle Volume 3 squeezed in the cracks here somewhere, and short stories to the mailing list every month. This is looking uncomfortably like a full-time job. Curse you, adulthood! Thanks to everyone who read Unsouled, thanks for leaving reviews and recommending it to your friends, and thanks everyone reading this for giving me a full-time job that lets me make up stories about swords and monsters for a living! -Will P.S. I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but Of Dawn and Darkness has been available in paperback for quite a while now. Just in case you were waiting on that while I forgot to announce it. I would have made a post about it like two months ago, but Amazon crossed its wires after the book was released and deleted the Darkness paperback and replaced it with this. That took forever to resolve, but everything's correct now!
81 Comments
Jeremiah
7/15/2016 10:28:38 am
Ok but I demand a okok teaser of some substance. That is my demand!
Reply
Mike
8/8/2016 12:56:35 am
I'm glad that Unsouled is gaining popularity. It's a really good novel. I'm spreading the words to other xianxia readers on mobileread and wuxiaworld.
Reply
Joshua
7/15/2016 10:35:59 am
I'll buy them as fast as you put them out!
Reply
Dimitri
7/15/2016 11:14:03 am
Thanks for the update!!! Biting my nails waiting for the sequel...keep up the great job!!!!
Reply
Tren
7/15/2016 11:32:41 am
Woo! I've been excited for this sequel ever since I read Unsouled. No offense to you or anyone who prefers it, but Elder Empire just isn't my thing. Now I just need more Traveler's Gate/Blade and my Wight quota will be fulfilled. May the gates to creativity lieth open, &c.
Reply
James Johnson
7/15/2016 05:35:05 pm
I thought I was the only one. Will is pretty much a writing God made flesh but Elder Empire just didn't pull me in. I bought them to support the author, but can't get past the first chapter. Maybe it's the whole premise of the book.
Reply
Madeline
7/16/2016 07:27:54 am
I read them, but I am not entirely pleased with the whole concept because wither it's going to end with one group of characters losing, or with someone compromising their principles somewhere. I can see things which are wrong with both characters' approaches (how is having multiple leaders a good thing when power hungry leader can point at rival and say "THEY ARE CORRUPTED!!!"? how is having the person the elders WANT as emperor be emperor a good idea?) and while the hints towards the end of one of the books that there might be something keeping the elders there, I don't see either of the two groups of people putting their convictions aside to deal with that, because they aren't capable of the level of trust it would require.
I understand that reaction, Madeline, I really do. What surprises me is when people say "I couldn't get past the first chapter." I would have thought the first chapters for both Unsouled and House of Blades are FAR harder to get through. HoB, he's powerless until he hits Valinhall. Unsouled, he's powerless effectively until the tournament in the middle (and even after, arguably).
None taken, Tren! I like to write different things, and not everyone is going to enjoy everything.
Reply
Elfishpirat
7/16/2016 11:57:20 am
I loved the Elder Empire series! (Slightly biased towards Shera's side of the story, but hey, both are compelling). Really curious how you're going to conclude it without leaving half of your readers in a murderous rage.
It's going to be a balancing act, I won't lie. I know how I'm ending it, obviously, but how I tell the story is going to be the difference between "everybody's happy!" and "everybody's happy to lynch Will!"
Andrew
7/16/2016 09:42:00 pm
I formally petition to be part of this expanded pool of beta reading goodness.
Madeline
7/17/2016 01:08:50 pm
I also petition to be part of the expanded beta pool.
Elfishpirat
7/17/2016 08:05:16 pm
I volunteer as tribute!!!!
Jordan
8/11/2016 12:58:27 am
Feel free to throw me in there, just in case you felt the need tp add more mazong people to the pool.
Scott
7/21/2016 01:25:36 pm
Yeah same for me, am really looking forward to cradle now it really impressed me
Reply
Scott
7/21/2016 01:27:45 pm
Just for the record I've all of caldera POV, couldn't get into the POV for some reason .
Glad you enjoyed Cradle, Scott! 7/15/2016 11:46:23 am
While I'm disappointed that I'll have to wait on Of Kings and Killers, I'm happy that your new series, which seems quite good, is garnering such goodwill. Good luck writing!
Reply
7/18/2016 05:41:04 pm
That's a good point, and one that I had not considered. I do like that about your books- the deific forces are the perfect combination of impersonal force and driven personality.
P.S. Which story? I'd love to read an Emrakul/Jace interaction.
Lewis
7/15/2016 01:33:49 pm
So when can we expect elder empire 3? I'm dying.
Reply
Jason
7/15/2016 04:52:02 pm
Do you prefer Amazon over goodreads because its more popular? I rated Unsouled on goodreads (I was the first rating on there, smileyface) but don't really rate anything on Amazon.
Reply
Amazon reviews are more helpful to me, but I appreciate you reviewing the book anywhere! Most new readers find me by browsing for Kindle, so Amazon reviews have a direct effect on my sales. Goodreads don't directly, though they do help me look good online.
Reply
Matt
7/15/2016 09:45:25 pm
Next year for Elder Empire?! I just died a little inside. I see quite a few people on here saying they can't get into them, but don't let that dishearten you. They're my favorite series of yours. No more delays!
Reply
Sean M.
7/16/2016 09:17:56 am
Hey Will! Congrats on the success of unsouled. I'm the guy who wrote the top review of unsouled on amazon (my first review!). Im super psyched you are getting great feedback for the book but I'm now upset about the okak delay. I wrote that review hoping people would read it and buy all your stuff but it had now backfired by delaying my favorite series (elder empire). Curses :(
Reply
Thanks for the review, Sean! It's not your fault that everyone ignored your advice and clamored for a Cradle sequel immediately. You tried.
Reply
Micah
7/17/2016 05:52:54 am
I bought the travelers gate trilogy twice over (2 kindles) and i think it was still cheaper then buying one paperback book in Australia (approx $20-$30). I think that's a good thing though. I don't want to devalue your books or anything, art shouldn't be judged by monetary value! Whether you end up raising the prices or not I still think it's cool that you kept them this low to begin with.
You know, I just saw Thunderbolt Fantasy on Crunchyroll, and I'm sure I'll get into it at some point. Urobuchi Gen is one of my favorite writers of all time, and this is his pet project. But it just seems so weird. I have no context for a puppet martial arts show.
Micah
7/18/2016 12:59:08 am
If someone wasn't entertained by your book they should get their money back, and if they enjoyed it so much it changed their life it should be priceless? I don't know about that. I think in business these days the price is charged at how much people are willing to pay. Therefore the customer decides the products worth in their decision to pay. I hate that mentality, yet I can't disagree with it. There's a 60 minutes clip about how ray-bans went from being $30 to $150 and became widely popular. The reason people thought they had worth was because they had more monetary value, not higher quality. I simply think art should be separated from such thought.
"If someone wasn't entertained by your book they should get their money back, and if they enjoyed it so much it changed their life it should be priceless?" - I'm not saying that at all. Almost the opposite. My books are entertainment, where they can be priced and measured next to other, similar products. A movie is art, but a DVD has an MSRP. 7/18/2016 05:51:57 pm
I suspect that some people's skepticism of low book prices comes in part from the whole spam-$0.9-romances-to-get-the-edge-on-amazon's-pricing-and-promotion-programs-thing a few years ago, and in part from the mainstream publishers slowly pushing prices upwards. I don't have an issue with the last one, except that at the same time the authors with those publishers seem to be writing shorter and shorter books, that seem to be of a lower quality as well. Perhaps my standards have simply changed from a few years ago.
Crazy
7/18/2016 06:16:48 pm
I love EE and I felt like I died inside when you said next year and I am beginning to feel like you do this just to spite me
Reply
Jeremiah
7/20/2016 03:18:13 am
He does it just to spite us. Of this I am sure. Forget the badgers, Will your getting the sofa next!!1!!!11one
Reply
Jordan
8/11/2016 01:08:03 am
Phew, I thought he was trying to make me sad at first. But if he's trying to male you angry, then he's not trying to make me sad, and I'm ok with that.
Austin
7/18/2016 08:41:28 pm
I read a lot of translated online wuxia novels, so Unsouled was super cool to read. It had all the components that make a wuxia story, but with a cool will wight twist to the whole thing. I particularly enjoyed the quick description of the flying sword (I shall seal the heavens reference?). So I am incredibly excited to read the next installment, there won't be a REMNANT left unread after I'm done with it.
Reply
Madeline
7/19/2016 11:02:51 am
Omg someone else who thinks Will Wight should write a book about wights.
Reply
Austin
7/19/2016 09:08:26 pm
omgosh, we should start a fan club, we can call ourselves "Will Wight's Wights" or "Wight Empire" or maybe "The Will Wight Fanclub". I'm fine with any.
Madeline
7/19/2016 10:12:50 pm
Will Wight's Wights looks better because yay apostrophe changes things.
bh
7/29/2016 03:54:49 pm
It should be Will Wight Writes Wights
Austin
8/4/2016 09:54:37 pm
Austin adores alliterations
John
8/5/2016 05:43:20 pm
Tongue twister (say 3 times fast):
It wasn't necessarily an ISSTH reference, because flying swords are pretty common staples in wuxia and xianxia, and also I can't stand ISSTH.
Reply
Madeline
7/28/2016 05:17:37 pm
Yes. Your readers need wights badly.
Austin
8/4/2016 09:54:05 pm
I feel you, I guess I just can't remember another story that flying swords were featured quite as prominently, the main character was a pretty big fan of those...I liked ISSTH until someone turned out to be a giant talking turtle, and then in hindsight I realized it wasn't that great. Sort of like how I was pretty into National Treasure until National Treasure 2 came out.
Jordan
8/11/2016 01:13:17 am
ISSTH? Random names not wight related earlier?!?!? So many things I do not understand, too many things. All of y'all need to stop.
Anand
7/20/2016 12:07:04 am
The travellers gate trilogy was excellent. Best series I have read so far this year. I really hope you explore more of the world in a future release (which was definitely hinted at).
Reply
I'm wondering if I should start writing Cradle two books at a time, so I can stockpile them and then release them even more regularly. It's worth considering.
Reply
Emily
7/21/2016 11:34:43 pm
So how many reviews of elder empire do I need to write to get it bumped back up?
Reply
Yeah, there's a lot more meat on those bones, but they are very challenging to write. There's this interesting balancing act where I want to release books that are long and satisfying, but I have to release books quickly enough or people will forget about me and I will wither away and die.
Reply
Jordan
8/11/2016 01:15:34 am
Will you wither like a Wight, so we no longer fear a bite, on these cold, dark nights?
Jordan
8/13/2016 02:27:57 pm
It's all good, there wasn't really a good way to respond to that, looking back its kinda a weird post.
Aaron
7/22/2016 05:09:02 am
"Btw i read all those short stories you told me about now. Is there any other books with nearly as much badassery in it because now my life feels incomplete."
Reply
Aaron
7/22/2016 05:58:07 am
Thats supposed to say I had him read house of blades, and he just took off from there
Reply
That's awesome, Aaron! And the answer is no, there is nothing else out there with as much badassery because I have a monopoly on it.
Reply
Stewart
7/25/2016 03:57:27 am
Ok so damn you Will Wight. I just finished Unsouled and I really enjoyed it. If it wasn't bad enough that I had to sit patiently (not so patiently really) for the next instalments of Elder Empire I now have to sit and wait for new Cradle. (this isn't a hurry up kind of thing btw). You are like the fantasy self-pub crack dealer - "oh you liked that did you, why not try some of this? Its new stuff I just knocked up, just try this little bit, you'll be fine."
Reply
John
8/2/2016 08:16:17 pm
If you see a young man down there with a mouth like a puckered anus, tell him Preacher says hi.
John
8/3/2016 10:26:10 am
I haven't read the comics, but I'm told that the first season of the show all happens before the comic story even begins. But it is not a prequel because the showrunners have changed many things from the comics.
Crow316
8/4/2016 11:30:09 pm
So this is my first comment on here! Yeah me get down with your bad self (proceeds to trip over air) first I must say great writing finished unsouled working on book one of traveler's gate. Second after reading all of these comments I have this these are my people feeling inside so just saying you all are awesome looking forward to the rest of your work Mr. Wight thank you for what you do.
Reply
Jordan
8/11/2016 01:22:00 am
I have realised, at 3:17 a.m. that these are my people. The wights of Will Wight's comment section, are where I belong. It is possible I sound mildly disturbed, that's probably becaise I am awake and reading the comment section at what is now 3:19, so forgive me for that. Also, the colors from above me some distance remind me of a different book series some of you may enjoy, the first book being called The Darkest Minds. I haven't read the rest, so don't judge if they're bad, but try them.
Reply
Madeline
8/13/2016 10:16:50 pm
I approve of the mildly disturbing post because it calls the people who are posting here the wights. That makes up for a great deal of disturbingness.
Reply
Fernando
8/15/2016 05:39:03 pm
Hi Will! This is my first comment on here, first off gotta say I'm a big fan of all your books, I love the cool magic systems in all of your worlds, they're unique and intricate and make your stories exciting. Keep em coming! I can't wait to read OKAK, the elder empire is my favorite series of yours so far.
Reply
Aaron
8/17/2016 07:27:10 pm
Did I miss something this month because I never got the short story on the 1st.
Reply
Nope, Whitehall was wrong. He was assuming only an Iron could survive the attack based on limited, incorrect information and his own assumptions. Lindon isn't even Copper, as will be made absolutely clear in his first scene of Soulsmith.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Threshold Progress:
Waybound Last Written: "Eithan smiled." Amount Complete: 99% Archives
October 2024
Want to get short stories and book releases before anyone else? Sign up below!
|