I'm Back And So Is Raion!

For the last few months, I have been completely disengaged from my job, instead spending most of my time meditating under waterfalls and exploring the deepest reaches of outer space. When I came back on Monday, as you might imagine, I had a lot to catch up on.

The Knight releases next Tuesday, June 11th. Just a week after I got back! It feels like I wrote it forever ago, even though it's only been a few months. Now I'm back to being nervous about people's responses to the book, as is tradition.

I've also spent a lot of the last few days working on the script for the upcoming Cradle animatic, which has been extremely cool and encouraging (especially working with Travis as he recorded lines). As Travis read, I got to tweak and change my own lines.

Now I get to reconnect with you online! That was one of the things I missed the most while I was gone; I kept wanting to make a comment, or post a thought, or check fan comments. A couple of times Sam had to slap the phone out of my hand. Now that I'm back, I can engage with you all again, especially around the new book release!

But what did I do while I was off, you ask? Well, off the top of my head, here are some highlights:

Final Fantasy VII Remake
I know I'm years behind on this, because Remake came out in 2020, but the sequel (Rebirth) came out this year and I wanted to play that, so I had to start with the first one. I've been procrastinating on Remake because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the original FF7, and also because I thought Tetsuya Nomura was going to make it way too much like Kingdom Hearts for my taste.

When I heard it involved time-traveling ghosts, I was sure my assumptions were right. But now I've played it, and I thought it was great. They really hit that delicate balance between making a story that would accurately represent FF7 to new players and would have something new for veteran players, and (at least for me) they hit it dead-on.

Shout out to Andrew Rowe, who told me four years ago that I should play it. Andrew, I should have listened to you, as usual.

I'm only a few hours into Rebirth, and so far I like it even more. Also I hear Vincent is in this one and he was my favorite character when I was a kid, so I have high hopes for Vampire Bro.

Gyoza Ranking
As Sam already spoiled for you, I ordered all the gyoza within ordering distance of my house and ranked them in a text file. I tend to do this every once in a while--I did the same thing with Oreos a few years ago--because ordering fun snack food is serious business and should be taken very seriously.

The winner was Mayaki Sushi & Izakaya, though I also ended up with a recipe that I liked for making at home. At this rate, I'll soon be able to master Gyoza Magic and become the Pork Dumpling Elementalist I've always dreamed of being.

A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation
Some of you, like me, are extremely familiar with both Korean regressor novels and Chinese cultivation novels. Others of you have probably never heard the term "regressor" before in your life.

For the uninitiated, a regressor is someone who (essentially) dies and wakes up earlier in their own life, with a chance to do things differently. Like if you got hit by a truck today and woke up a year ago, memories of the future intact.

Of all the series I read on my sabbatical, A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation was my favorite. It's translated from Korean, and follows a character who is transported from modern-day Korea to a Chinese-style fantasy world filled with dangerous magic. All of his companions have extraordinary talents except for him, so he lives out his life as a normal peasant...until he dies of old age and wakes up back in the first day he arrived in this world.

I love this one for a few reasons, one of which is that it isn't afraid to cover LARGE amounts of time quickly. Like entire lifetimes. He really does learn, struggle, adapt, grow, and then take those lessons and try again in another life. Which leads into my other favorite thing: the author uses the main character's ability to come back to life to RAISE the stakes rather than lower them.

It's a fascinating take on two genres I love, so if you're at all interested, you should check it out.

The Treasure of Nan-Guluhr
Probably the most time-consuming of my sabbatical activities. You probably already heard about this on the news, but yes I did lead a team of miners to a forgotten cave network in eastern Spain, no I didn't know that my excavation efforts would unearth primordial spiders from the bowels of the earth, and yes, the queen of those spiders did offer me wealth beyond imagining in exchange for her freedom.

That has nothing to do with my decision to support her for President of Earth, I just think her ages of wisdom and ability to see into the spectrum of thoughts will help her govern us more effectively. I don't like talking politics, but I'm not going to hide the fact that I think Spider Queen Nan-Guluhr is the best candidate for a unified Earth government. Just because I now live in a spider-shaped temple made of solid gold doesn't mean my judgment is compromised.

And that's all I'll say on the matter.

So now to boring things I have been ordered to include in this post!

We are having a pre-release YouTube livestream for The Knight this coming Sunday, June 9th, at 6 PM Eastern! Come ask me questions about gyoza. And books. If I feel like it's getting too boring, I'll make Sam dance for your entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzIZnjYpFQo

Please preorder The Knight or I will fire one family member a day until our nonexistent quota is met. Starting with Rebecca.

https://tinyurl.com/Ebook-and-Paperback

https://tinyurl.com/Audiobook-Version

That's the end of the links! Now I must return to my golden temple before the spiders grow angry.

​-Will