EDIT: Hey, would you look at that? It's up!

THE UPLOAD HAS BEGUN!

I will update this blog post, as well as Facebook and the mailing list, as soon as the link goes live on Amazon. So make sure to let me know when that happens, as I'm sure you'll see it first with your thousands of eyes, you monstrous creature.

​-Will

Soulsmith comes! Flee for your lives!

I'm uploading it tonight, which means it should go live tomorrow morning. Set your alarms to "early."

Also, starting tomorrow, Unsouled will be on sale for free for the duration of the next five days. It's a good time to get started on the series, if you haven't already.

For those of you on the mailing list, I'll be sending you a message about the release shortly. Then, when the book page is live, I'll send you another one with an accurate link.

​And that's one long story, delivered as promised before the end of the month. But I'm aware that I owe you two short ones.

​-Will

The first round of beta readers has read Soulsmith in its rough, unpolished form, giving me a new handful of cracks to fill in before the second wave seizes it in their filthy jaws.

And just listen to the praise from these discerning, steely-eyed critics who have analyzed the book thus far:

"Soulsmith was really good, and I loved the conversations between Lindon and Yerin, but it's so fast-paced and there's so much going on that I couldn't take a break and I couldn't breathe and it really stressed me out."
-My mom

"Your characters sound slightly less like they're quoting dubbed anime at each other."
-Devin

"You have to write a romance this time, Will. You can't avoid it. Don't hang up on m--"
-My sister

"This was the best unreleased, half-finished book based on Chinese mythology and written by you that I've read this month. So far."
-Devin again

"Stop using me as the butt of all your jokes. I'm a real person, and I have real feelings."
-Your mom

Once again, I return to Atlanta for DragonCon! If it so happens that you're in attendance as well, let me know! We can meet up and stare meaningfully into each others' eyes (also I have signed books and a limited number of shirts).

Soulsmith update: still working on it, though I was hoping to be finished before DragonCon for a faster release. Still on track for September, just not as early as I'd hoped.

Short story update: I have failed you again, Lord Megatron. It's late, but it's coming, probably after I'm satisfied with the state of Soulsmith.

Spoiler-ish specifics, if you've read Unsouled:

I was all but finished with Soulsmith, but I decided to make a fairly substantial story change. I'm spending slightly less time on Suriel than I'd planned, and more on Lindon.

While she's dealing with her own interesting things, they don't overlap with Cradle much for the time being, so we'd effectively be reading two entirely disconnected storylines for several books until they intersected again. Everything I plan for the future is subject to change, and those plans could easily be tossed into the fire and re-written, so don't try to read too much into the implications of that.

We're still keeping an eye on Suriel (or rather, she's keeping an eye on us), but it's more like checking in every once in a while than actively following her cosmic conflict. I'd rather keep the story filtered through Lindon, so you can gain a broader perspective on the world as he does.

TL;DR - Suriel down, Lindon up, requiring liberal application of elbow grease on the author's part. Writing is fun!

It's shaping up, though, and the events of Soulsmith set the stage for even bigger conflicts in the future. I think you'll enjoy it!

Thanks for reading!
​
-Will