I know you always want to know exactly when the next book is coming out, but I'm allergic to commitment, so how about a rough plan instead?

Now that Bloodline has been tossed out into the wilds of Amazon to fend for itself, I'll be working on Cradle 10. I can't be sure when I'll finish that, because the Parrot Who Sees the Future will no longer speak to me, but typically Cradle books tend to come out about 6-7 months after the last one.

That's not a commitment on my part, just an observation. Don't mark your calendars just yet.

After that, depending on how much time Cradle 10 took me, I'll either immediately dive into Cradle 11 or start something shiny and new.

It's been five years since I've written a new series, and I'm looking forward to it!

Either way, it's looking like Cradle 12 will be the endpoint, after which we abandon Lindon and company to their own devices. I'd like to have a new series begun before then, but if that doesn't work, oh well.

If the "new thing" is the second Traveler's Gate trilogy, then great! Whatever I begin after that will be more original.

If it isn't, then I'll go back to Traveler's Gate afterwards.

...at least, that's the plan.

But without the divine support of the Parrot Who Sees the Future, how secure can any mortal plans be?

​-Will

First, I just want to thank all of you that have already picked up Bloodline. And there are a LOT of you!

It feels like just yesterday that we were watching House of Blades sell a few copies, hovering over our calculators and saying "Okay, if we can manage to sell a few books every day, maybe I can actually write full-time. But how long can we keep that up?"

Well, I'm pleased to report that we haven't run out of new readers yet.

We hit #1 on the Kindle Store again, for the second time this book, and we stayed there for an entire day*. Even now, we've only "fallen" to #2. That's...incredible. I never know what to say to that.

*Correction: two entire days.

I will say that all these people devouring the book, and discussing it online, really fires me up to work on the next book. I'm refreshed and revived, and excited to get writing!

And that'll probably last until about halfway through the next manuscript, at which point I'll have my regularly scheduled panic attack.

But such is writing.

Once again, thanks so much for putting up with me all this time! I can't wait to see where we go from here!

-Will

In case you've missed it somehow, Bloodline's coming out tomorrow!

Well, April 6th. And it's April 6th in some places very soon. 

The paperback is up for pre-order in most places, but I guess not everywhere? I'm not sure, Amazon rollouts are weird. It's supposed to be up everywhere.

Tonight at 9 PM Eastern, I'll be doing another traditional release stream as I play some slow-paced game and answer questions. Check it out at <twitch.tv/willwight> if you're interested! If you're not interested, check anything else out instead.

And now, as is tradition for all releases, I get to stew in my nerves until the book comes out. Usually for a few days after, too. Let the emotional distress begin!

​-Will

There aren't too many deleted scenes from Bloodline, but this small scene was cut pretty early in the process because it didn't make much sense. But even though it's both unedited and declared unworthy, I still thought you might enjoy reading it!

But before we get to that, a couple of reminders!

First off, in case you didn't know, Bloodline​ (Cradle #9) is going to be released this Tuesday, April 6th! It's supposed to be available at midnight in your time zone, but apparently that's unreliable, and it can sometimes be minutes or even hours later.

Amazon is a fickle mistress.

Second, I'll be streaming on Twitch to kick off Bloodline's release from 9 PM - 12 AM (EST) on April 5th, just like I did for the last couple of books. Check out Twitch.tv/willwight when the time is right if you want to see me answering questions while halfheartedly playing some random game. Probably Valheim this time.

Aaaaannnd that's about it! Without further ado, here's the tiny little micro-scene that might have blossomed into one of the first scenes of Bloodline, if I hadn't pruned it away with my relentless shears of judgment.

***

Eithan eased his broken, bruised, and blood-caked body down to sit on a chunk of rubble. His tender wounds and spinning head aside, he was feeling rather good.

Not far away, Lindon was straining his will to exercise his newfound authority, and that was going to be the fastest way out of this crumbling tower. Sophara’s body was still warm outside—he knew from experience that it took dragon corpses entirely too long to cool—and the Blood Sage had scuttled off.

But that didn’t mean the tower was clear of enemies.

Rubble shifted next to him, and Yan Shoumei crawled out from beneath a pile of timbers, coughing dust. Eithan instinctively shifted to the side, only for his ribs to scream protest. Gritty gray clouds landed on his robes.

Trying to stay clean was like sweeping sand at this point. The only thing that kept his robes decent was his blood sticking them together.

The girl leaned on Eithan’s chunk of masonry for support, still hacking her lungs up, black hair powdered gray-brown from her time in the rubble.

Even weak as she was, she could have burst forth in a show of power. She could have used her sacred arts to protect herself, and made her life a lot easier.

Instead, she had wrapped herself in layer after layer of veils. She was thoroughly cocooned, having wisely deduced that using blood madra here would draw attention far more than filling the halls with hacking coughs.

She was wise. His students were so preoccupied with their situation that they hadn’t done more than a cursory sweep with their perception. They had overlooked her.

He corrected himself when he saw a pair of red eyes, all the way across the other side of the tower, locked on his location. Yerin should only see blank stone in front of her, but she was frowning and looking straight at him, her scarlet blade-arms flexing.

Well, one of his students was too preoccupied to make a proper search.

“I’m impressed,” Eithan said to Yan Shoumei, and the Redmoon artist stumbled away from him in shock.

Her spiritual sense was completely deafened by her veils, and her eyes were still gummed shut with blood and grime. He had assumed she would have at least noticed his presence, but from the way she rapidly blinked and swiped at her eyes, she’d had no idea anyone was there until he spoke.

He smiled brightly at her. Surprises were always fun, as long as you were the one doing the surprising.

She froze, and he could practically see the thoughts crawling across her mud-caked face. Should she run? No, he’d catch her. Should she fight while he was injured and weak? No, he was too advanced. Should she scan him to see if he was too injured to fight? Maybe unleash her Blood Shadow? What if that drew Lindon and Yerin down on her?

While she was paralyzed between fight and flight, he gave her a gentle wave. “I mean it, I’m impressed. I know how hard it is to keep yourself restricted when you’re in danger. It was the right call.”

Yan Shoumei’s voice scraped out, even more dry and ghostly than usual. “Don’t toy with me.”

“Why not? Isn’t that better than killing you? I hope you realize that you were part of an assassination attempt against a Monarch’s children. The survival rate for such a failed operation is…not high.”

“Then kill me.”

That time, her voice shook. There was something of a quiver to it, so it came out more like a plea.

He read danger in that tone. Not danger to him, but danger nonetheless. If he left this situation alone, she would draw a blade and lunge at him, trying to force him to kill her.
She knew better than to be caught by Malice.

Maybe light banter hadn’t been the best approach.

Eithan frantically shook his head. “No no, I’m sorry, this is a bad time for jokes. I do apologize.”

She stared at him as though she couldn’t believe he’d just used the word “joke.”

“Yes, I see that I have failed to uphold the gravity of this situation. Let me cut to the bone: you should run away. I will cover for you with the Monarch.”

She crept warily a few steps closer to the entrance. “Why?”

“Because if I chased down everyone who was bullied or bought into doing Reigan Shen’s bidding, I would be a grim black-clad specter of vengeance rather than the bright, fresh-faced soul you see before you.”

He spoke more gently, now that he didn’t have to worry about a suicide rush. “You had no choice. I know that’s the coward’s favorite defense, but in this case it is literally true. You had to choose between killing and dying, which is no choice at all. Go home.”

With an underhand toss, he threw her a void key.

Not his, of course. He’d scavenged this one from a Redmoon Overlord, and there was nothing interesting inside.

“I don’t know what’s in your key, but in that one has several weeks’ worth of rations, scales, and other supplies. Keep your veil on, your head down, and your Blood Shadow quiet until you’re out of Akura territory. You can make it.”

She stared at the void key in her hand until a tiny whisper of her spiritual perception leaked out of her veil, so she could sense inside the storage and verify his words.

He had responses prepared for her distrust, for her gratitude, and—most likely of all—for another expression of stunned disbelief.

So he was caught with his mouth open and no idea how to respond when she said, “Come with me.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before she filled the silence herself. “You’re not the son of a Monarch. You can walk away.”

“I really, really can’t.” He gave her his best smile. “But I am truly flattered by the offer. Alas, it is the curse of the truly gorgeous; I can never escape attention from anyone who sees me shirtless.”

He expected rolled eyes.

But she nodded sadly, wearily, as though he had told her he planned to work himself to death in an iron mine. He suspected she might be reading too much into his words, but all she said was, “Thank you.”

In a sudden flurry of motion, she dashed off, leaving Eithan alone with his thoughts.
For a moment.

Yerin appeared next to him in a flash of white light from her Moonlight Bridge. “Letting her leave, are you?”

“She’s not our enemy, really, and if you’ll—”

“Good job.”

Eithan had prepared himself for a lecture on the foolishness of leaving his enemies alive. Once again, he was left wrong-footed.

“…I have been surprised by young ladies too often in too short a time. I’m not certain my heart can handle it.”

Her brow creased in a frown. “Don’t talk like you’re three days from dead. Archlords can live a thousand years. You’re not much more than a screaming baby.”

“I hear that a lot. And I admire your optimism in assuming we won’t be murdered tomorrow.”

“You know me, all bright and shiny,” she muttered. “Now let’s go. Back of my neck itches when you’re not where I can see you.”

Recently, we've been hearing from a few parties interested in potentially adapting Cradle into a series of movies. We're excited for the opportunity, but in order to make the series more market-friendly, we've been asked to make a few minor tweaks.

Nothing that should affect the series too much, I'm sure.

--First off, they were concerned that Lindon was too intimidating and large, so they decided to cast a scrawny kid with glasses. His black hair and pale skin will remain the same.

--The system of sacred arts in the books tends to be pretty complex, so instead of learning from a bunch of different sects and schools, we decided to set it in one big school so that the viewer can learn along with the reader.

--The violence was a little much, and I had to agree, so techniques will now be used through pointy sticks instead of actual weapons.

--The CGI budget couldn't handle a giant turtle, but we didn't want to re-cast Orthos as something else, so instead of a large black turtle, Lindon will now be mentored in his Path by a small white owl.

--Now that Lindon's a lot shorter, there's a bit of concern that he won't stand out as well on screen, so they've given him a distinctive mark on the face so you can recognize him immediately. Some kind of scar on the forehead, I think, or maybe a facial tattoo. I'll have to check on that one.

--Eithan being only a little older than Lindon didn't test well with audiences, so we've now made him incredibly old and wise, with a long white beard and some half-moon spectacles.

--Lindon and Yerin were too serious by themselves, so we're giving them a third friend, a red-headed sidekick who exists mostly as comic relief.

--Yerin is now Hermione.

​-Will