Happy New Year! And new short story!

12/31/2016

Deathmatch #2 - Return of the Death went out to the mailing list just a few minutes ago, right before midnight my time (although sometimes it takes a few minutes to get the email, so if you don't have it yet, just wait)!

By definition, that will be the last story of 2016, so Happy New Year!

And it will be the tenth piece of content I sent to mailing list subscribers since I started the mailing list, ten months ago: nine short stories and one preview of Unsouled.

Great year, everybody! Thanks for sticking with me, and I'll do my best to make all the stories in 2017 the best so far!

-Will

P.S. If you're signed up for the mailing list but you're not getting the stories, it's likely because your email provider is eating them. Gmail is especially bad about this. Check your junk mail and your promotions tab, and if they aren't there, add [email protected] to your Contacts list. That will make sure you get future messages.

P.P.S. And then after you've done all that, let me know what stories you're missing, and I'll send them to you. Happy New Year!

38 Comments

Fieryblue

12/31/2016 09:43:06 pm

That was pretty great, and the expected outcome. It would have been nice to see the Ragnarus, Elysian, and Valinhall incarnations involved as well simply to see the results, though I can understand why they weren't included.

Will link

1/3/2017 09:09:47 am

Yeah, they make the story a lot longer, and they add some confusion to the results. Would have been a better fight, though.

Jacob

12/31/2016 10:11:28 pm

I loved it! Much more entertaining (in my opinion) than the first one. Good job, sir. Good job

1/3/2017 09:10:20 am

Glad you liked it, Jacob! These are a lot easier to write than other stories with new characters and more complex situations.

Azqa

12/31/2016 11:31:50 pm

Happy New Year! That was pretty hilarious to read, and makes me want to see more Elder Empire. Looking forward to OKAK!

1/3/2017 09:10:35 am

Me too, Azqa. Me too.

Adarsh

1/1/2017 12:32:32 am

The way the Emperor fought made me think of something.

The Emperor vs the Godking from Warbreaker.

Sean K

1/1/2017 06:12:30 am

THAT would be scary! I didn't think about him facing someone with the 10+ hightening.

Still, I am pretty sure the Emperor would win, as the God King is NOT a fighter. Now, if you took his queen from him...

1/1/2017 04:06:04 pm

Ok, I understand the point about him not being a fighter, and he does lack a lot of experience, so how about the Emperor vs Vasher when Vasher has all the breaths the Goading has.

Malcolm

1/3/2017 04:27:31 am

Heck yea, now that would be a fight, especially if he had Nightblood too.

Benjamin

1/1/2017 02:52:17 am

Happy New Year Will. Here's to us readers getting more of your great work to read, and to you raking in those sweet sweet Cradle bucks.

1/3/2017 09:11:21 am

Happy New Year, Benjamin! May I be rocked gently to sleep in my Cradle.

Elfishpirat

1/1/2017 05:18:13 am

Not surprised the Emperor won in the slightest, but I would love seeing how he fares against the last three incarnations. Methinks it would be an even closer fight.

How's progress going on Blackflame? Any hints on a release date? Pretty please?

1/3/2017 09:11:47 am

It would be a much closer fight, I can tell you that.

And I'm hoping to have a release date for you either this week or next.

1/3/2017 09:38:10 am

...you'd better not be messing with me, Will.

Once you post a release date, it's a blood oath

1/1/2017 06:13:27 am

OMG, I didn't expect the Emperor to DOMINATE the fight. None of the incarnations even damaged his clothing...

1/3/2017 09:12:45 am

The Emperor doesn't play.

I mean, he does. He did in the fight. But uh...he doesn't...screw around?

He's a scary guy.

Andrew Luscomb

1/1/2017 08:20:15 am

Wouldnt the rangarus or ellysian incarnation have been a better matchup for the emperor? Its a fun story other wise i always wanted to see the emperor go to war lol

1/3/2017 09:13:44 am

I did kind of regret that I didn't get to write a real scene of the Emperor fighting someone big, like Estyr Six or a Great Elder or a bunch of Champions. Maybe in a future short story.

James G

1/1/2017 12:21:07 pm

Whew, that was ummm... harsh. Definitely not a bright idea to mess with the Emperor. One would have thought Lirial would have known better.

These deathmatches have been interesting, but don't forget we still want to see Simon deal with Winter and New Year's party surprises. The last social function was hilarious.

Thanks so much Will and Happy New Year!

Still wouldn't mind seeing Suriel vs. Q from Star Trek TNG. That could be intriguing...

Tacroy

1/1/2017 02:12:07 pm

Why do you think Q spent so much time hanging out with Captain Picard? Suriel kicked him out of the tesseract and told him to be back by dinner :)

1/3/2017 09:16:04 am

In a scenario that doesn't involve them being supernaturally compelled to fight to the death, most of these Incarnations wouldn't have fought at all. Lirial would have observed him from a distance and then noped right out of there.

I still want to do Simon at the Winter's End dance (which is basically a mix between Christmas and New Year's for them), but it takes a lot more time to write than the Deathmatches do. If I can keep a handle on Blackflame, I'll try and do it this month.

Happy New Year!

1/1/2017 02:08:47 pm

Once you've received one email from the list (aside from the subscription confirmation email), you can actually get to the previous stories by clicking on "view this email in your browser" and then clicking on "Past Issues". The "Confirmation TEST!" email helpfully contains all short stories published up until that point.

1/3/2017 09:16:21 am

Oh, really? I'll have to try that.

Asterion

1/2/2017 02:23:15 am

I don't think the Emperor would've had trouble even with Elysia, Valinhall, and Ragnarus there. Also, did anybody else notice that the Incarnations were different people? This raises the question of from "when" in the Traveler's Gate universe they were taken. Before Cynara? Or after Leah has been crowned?

1/3/2017 09:16:59 am

Bwahahahaha!

That's an excellent question.

Madeline

1/2/2017 07:32:00 am

... does anyone else want to see Incarnated Indirial fight Incarnated Valin?
Maybe it's because we saw Indirial's point of view, but Indirial seemed to be more intelligent as an Incarnation than Valin did. At the least his advisor seems more helpful in a fight.

1/3/2017 09:17:59 am

Valin was a lot crazier, as he'd been sealed for a long time and was torn between his impulses as an Incarnation and his own obsession with Damasca.

Jessiah

1/2/2017 08:22:39 pm

Hahaha Wow the Emperor is badass indeed !!!

1/3/2017 09:18:27 am

The Guilds follow him for a good reason.

1/2/2017 08:39:28 pm

For a future death match, what about Valin vs. the Sword Sage?

1/2/2017 09:56:07 pm

Is the old man from Ragnarus a dreadlord? (Or whatever they are called, been playing world of warcraft a lot more recently than reading Unsouled)

1/3/2017 09:19:09 am

Well, he's not part of the Burning Legion, but he's also not an Underlord because he's not from Cradle.

OR IS HE?

...no, he's not.

1/3/2017 12:46:15 pm

Not an Underlord, the thing that's going to hit sacred valley in whatever many years

Jeremiah

1/3/2017 05:19:04 pm

I didn't receive any of the stories you've not managed to write down yet... can you send me those? ;)

As an aside: Is Valin more dangerous as Founder or as Incarnation of Valinhall?

I'm curious as I wonder which would present more of a challenge to the Deviation...

1/4/2017 07:41:05 pm

Does anyone else kind of feel sorry for the Emperor now? One of his first thoughts was that if he can extend diplomatic overtures to the Abidan, they'll deal with the Elders once and for all.

He doesn't know his entire world is the prison the Abidan made for the Elders, and their suffering at the Elders' hands is the permanent solution.

1/6/2017 08:50:37 am

I feel sorry for the Emperor, Madeline.

A lifetime of absolute power aside, he's been dealt a pretty crappy hand. Fighting an unwinnable war, essentially alone, against unstoppable alien forces of chaos. Taking the blame for everything that goes wrong in the entire world.

1/6/2017 08:51:06 am

*he's been dealt a pretty crappy hand...

...by me. I dealt him a crappy hand.

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.