...sort of. Not really, as a matter of fact, I don't actually have a Christmas present for you. Unless, of course, you're one of the handful of people for whom I did actually buy a Christmas present.

Uh, let me start over.

Book 2 of the Traveler's Gate Chronicles, Gardens of Mist, coming this month! Probably before Christmas! It's almost done!

Here, have an eye-catching image:

The observant among you may have noticed that I did not post last week. There were a few reasons for this: first, I was away working hard on City of Light. Second, I wanted to leave the Tower of Winter post up as long as I could, so that as many people saw it as possible. Third, I am a shiftless vagabond.

City of Light is underway, and I can now tell you that I am aiming for a February or March release date. I'm planning on getting the first draft finished by early January, spend the month of January editing, and release it in February when I think it's finished. The plan, after that, is to start my new series in Summer 2014.

My, how time flies when a chronomancer curses you and your descendants unto the seventh generation.

I will emphasize that this is my target. I might miss it. But I'm leaving it vague intentionally so that I have a little room for squirming, in the undesirable event that squirming should become necessary.

What's my next series, you ask? I'm not sure yet. I've been working on a few things, but it won't be Traveler's Gate related. I need a break before I come back to this universe (multiverse?). I have one idea that I like, featuring epic fantasy with slightly less fighting and slightly more...inventive combat avoidance, I suppose you'd call it. Currently, the title of the first book is The Ghost and the Spider.

I've got another idea for a post-apocalyptic style of novel, in which a modern-technology world becomes more and more magical until civilization breaks down, and a new world order arises. This series would center around magical experimentation (nobody knows how magic works, because it's new) and world-conquering. It's a fun concept, but it seems difficult to write, so I might hold off on that for a while.

I also have two stories with little more than titles: The House on Silver Hill and The Seven Lives of Solomon Priest.

I thought those titles sounded cool, and I'd like to write stories around them. This is often how I work: I come up with tons of random ideas at different times, and then when I'm trying to assemble a story, I reach into my grab bag and find pieces that fit together.

For instance, for the Traveler's Gate Trilogy, I thought of the "un-prophesied hero" dynamic: the friend of the One True Hero who would rather save the world himself. Another time, I came up with the idea of themed pocket dimensions from which wizards could draw power. On yet another occasion, I thought of a different magic system based around places called "Territories."

Now you know how I work. Ideas go into a big, jumbled mess, and when I'm trying to put a new story or world together, I fish around for ideas and fit them together like puzzle pieces.

The more you know!

-Will

So I have good news, bad news, and new news.

The bad news is that I forgot to put up a blog post yesterday. This was largely due to the fact that I completely forgot it was Saturday.

The good news is that I forgot it was Saturday because I spent the vast majority of the day writing. I got lost in the writing. Yeah, productivity!

So here's the new news:

When I announced that The Traveler's Gate Chronicles (a collection of Traveler's Gate short stories designed to show off some of the Territories that never really got the spotlight in the trilogy) would be released as a Kindle Serial, some of you brought up some great points.

The most common question I got was, "How do Kindle Serials work?" or some variation thereof. The second most common question was, "What about people outside the U.S.?"

Apparently Kindle Serials are only available on Amazon.com, not on other Amazon domains.

As a result of this confusion, I have decided to make things simpler, faster, and hopefully easier for everyone.

Instead of releasing the Chronicles as a Kindle Serial, with one new short story every two weeks between now and City of Light, I'm going to release them as three normal (short) Kindle books.

Each of the three mini-collections will have three short stories inside it, and I'm going to sell them for $0.99 each (which is the cheapest I can make them).

The first book of the Chronicles, entitled Tower of Winter, will contain stories about Helgard, Avernus, and Lirial.

I'll be releasing that collection this month (hopefully as early as next week; fingers crossed), the second collection next month (before Christmas), and the third collection in January.

Part 1: Tower of Winter, November 2013
Part 2: Gardens of Mist, December 2013
Part 3: The Lightning Wastes, January 2014

Let me know what you think in the comments!

I have heard your voices and made my decision: I'll be leading off the Chronicles with a story exploring Helgard, the Tower of Winter.

This means that those of you who voted for Option A were correct, and shall be spared.

On a related note, I know that some of you were concerned about the delivery of the Chronicles through Kindle Serials, particularly those of you who live in the United Kingdom, where apparently serials don't exist.

In that vein, I have an announcement. An announcement that I will delay until next week.

I am going to spend this next seven days in a furious writing frenzy, and in one week I will make an announcement with regards to The Traveler's Gate Chronicles. Stay tuned; same time, same channel.

Incidentally, every second is a constant battle to resist playing Cookie Clicker. Send help.

Once more, I have returned!

Sales have crossed the 46,000 mark, well on their way to 50,000. I stand in awe of you, and the zeal with which you press my ebooks upon your unwitting friends. You are an inspiration to salesmen and advertising agents the world over.

On the writing front, I'm steadily chipping away at both City of Light and the paperback version of The Crimson Vault. The paperback is on the way, I promise you that!

As far as The Traveler's Gate Chronicles goes, the writing is the easy part. But that brings me to my topic of the day:

I have three short stories that I'm considering putting first in the Chronicles, and you may get a peek at one of them next Saturday. I can't decide, however, which of them I should put first in the collection.

I thought you might help me make up my mind.

So, which of the following stories do you think should come first?

A.) This is a story that takes place in and around Helgard, the Tower of Winter. There may be some familiar concepts and landmarks, but it's narrated by a new character, and it takes place long before House of Blades. Here are the pros and cons of putting it first.
    PROS:
    --I set the right tone for the rest of the collection. If I start off with a familiar character as a narrator, a new reader might expect every story to be told from the perspective of someone they know, and that won't always be the case.
    --It's a very different look at Travelers and Traveling than you get in the Trilogy proper.

    CONS:
    --The connection to House of Blades and The Crimson Vault might not be immediately apparent to new readers, who do not have the benefit of this blog for their edification and betterment.
    --The information you get in this story, while compelling and interesting, has no obvious relationship to the main plotline of the Traveler's Gate Trilogy. It's just a look into another corner of this universe.
    --There's no Valinhall. This may actually be a good thing, since most of the stories don't deal directly with Valinhall, and we wouldn't want to start readers out on the wrong foot.

B.) A story in Denner's past, dealing with his upbringing in the Dragon Army and how he became the guy who dealt with flying creatures of all sizes.
    PROS:
    --It starts with a somewhat familiar character, and deals with Valinhall, so the reader starts out on firm ground.
    --The background is very closely related to the plotline of the Trilogy.
    --Lots of swords and sword-fighting.

    CONS:
    --I don't want people to expect the rest of the collection to have lots of familiar characters and revolve around Valinhall. For the most part, the Chronicles is about exploring the aspects of the Traveler's Gate universe that we DON'T get to see in the Trilogy.
 
C.) The story that motivated Valin to rebel against Damasca and form the Dragon Army. Also, why he called it "the Dragon Army."
    PROS:
    --This story holds lots of explanations for things I haven't yet explained in the Trilogy.
    --No Valinhall, just an explanation for how/why Valinhall was founded.
    --Valin's a fun, interesting character.

    CONS:
    --I still plan on doing a Valin novella at some point, which would likely reuse some of this exact same content.
    --Same drawbacks as the Denner story: it features a somewhat familiar character in Valinhall.
    --I haven't written this story yet. The other two I'm just putting the finishing touches on, but I still haven't begun this one. I know what happens, of course, but I haven't put pen to paper.



So I'm interested to know your thoughts. I plan on including all three of these stories in the Chronicles (the first two for sure), but I wanted to know which of these you would want to see first.

Let me know in the comments, you brave soldiers.

Not much to say this week.

Sales are still going strong; we'll crack 35,000 in a couple of days. I'm hard at work on The Traveler's Gate Chronicles and the pre-work on City of Light. I expect to have the first draft of CoL before the end of the year.

The release date of the Chronicles almost entirely depends on whether Amazon will let me do it as a Serial. Also, how long the Serial takes to initially release...and if I can't do it as a Kindle Serial, I'll have to come up with another delivery mechanism.

We'll see.

In other news, I was recently killed and replaced by a sentient alligator who wears my skin like a rain jacket. Florida, am I right?

It's been a pretty chill week. I'm mostly just truck truck trucking along.

How's your week going?

Oh, you want to know what the title of this post means? Please, allow me to delay by dancing around the issue for several paragraphs.

First, as I know many of you were wondering, the map is coming! I sent my crappy hand-drawn version off to a graphic artist today, so in the next few weeks I'll be uploading a map to The Crimson Vault and House of Blades.

At the very least, you'll be able to get a vague picture of the region. I know lots of you have asked for this, so there you go.

Second, I will be adding a Territory reference section as well (this will be included in the map update). It will have each of the Territories listed by name and attribute, as well as some bits and pieces about the Territory's history, cultural impact, and abilities.

Third, I have uploaded many typo, proofreading, and editing changes to The Crimson Vault. I've changed every mistake that has been pointed out to me, as well as several I found since first putting Crimson Vault on Amazon. These changes should take effect tomorrow, and if there's a particular editing issue that bothers you, please send Amazon an email sometime tomorrow afternoon asking for an updated copy. They'll be happy to send you the new, updated version.

Or, of course, you could wait a few weeks for the map/reference update. Whichever you prefer.

Finally, I'm elated to report that sales of the Traveler's Gate Trilogy have now crossed 30,000 copies.

You know how many writers sell 30,000 copies their first year? Not many. Four months ago, I didn't expect to be one of them.

-Will

P.S. Oh, right, the title. I'm also working on a collection of short stories set in the Traveler's Gate universe. The collection is entitled The Traveler's Gate Chronicles, and is tentatively set for release next month (it may take longer, depending on how long Amazon takes to process Kindle Serials). The first story or two will be available immediately, with another story added every two weeks until the release of City of Light. I intend for this to be a Kindle Serial, but if that doesn't work out, I'll figure out an alternative delivery system.

P.P.S. No, this will not delay City of Light. Not even by a day. I will be working the maximum amount of time possible on CoL, but I can't spend ALL of my time working on one thing. I would explode. The Chronicles can provide me with a healthy amount of distraction, as well as something fun for you guys to read between now and early next year.

The bear charged through the Elysian Gate, answering the Traveler's call.

Alin's voice hung in the air, demanding and rich with power. Where his summons had previously sounded no more insistent than a polite request, now it rang with all the authority of a king. The call promised everything the bear wanted: strong prey, a challenge, and a chance to ride into battle beside his brothers. He was all but powerless to resist.

Even though this summons hardly sounded like it came from Alin at all.