Of Roaming and Reading

9/30/2025

I haven’t read Elder Empire, my own second series, since I finished writing it five years ago.

That’s not unusual. Reading my own writing can be painful, so I tend not to re-read until it’s time to write a sequel. Since the series is complete, no need to re-read.

But this time I did, and to my own surprise, I enjoyed it!

I roamed around Disney World (which is only a few minutes from my house), listening to the Elder Empire audiobooks. That’s a lot of why I was able to have fun with it. Emily Woo Zeller and Travis Baldree do an amazing job of bringing the story to life, and that helped me to separate myself from the fact that I’m the author. Plus, you know, it’s been five years.

The downside is that now I want to write more Elder Empire, dangit.

I won’t! At least, not now. I have other things to write. But I want to!

Really I guess this means that I should re-read whatever series I need to get hyped about. It has been a long time since I’ve read Traveler’s Gate too, but uh…I’m not sure I’ll be able to enjoy that one as much. It was some of my earliest writing, after all.

Maybe Travis’ golden voice will soothe me through it.

-Will

P.S. Also I played No Man’s Sky a ton. Way too much. I made it to Galaxy 110 and now we’re searching for the perfect system to make Cradle.

26 Comments

Jeryd

9/30/2025 05:39:29 am

That’s pretty fun. I hope you find a good one for it. Also I’m glad you got to enjoy your own books. Reading what you’ve written is the part that keeps me from being a productive writer. I hate knowing what’s gonna happen, which makes editing a borderline homicidal activity.

Bridget

9/30/2025 05:41:56 am

A classic case of working on something to procrastinate doing something else. I'm pumped for whatever comes next!

Urzaia's #1 Fan

9/30/2025 05:44:40 am

"Somehow, Urzaia returned."

...also, please reread Traveler's Gate.
The world needs Traveler's Blade.

Alex

9/30/2025 06:19:13 am

Please, please write more Elder Empire!
"MORE ELDER EMPIRE!"
The world needs more Shuffles.
"MORE SHUFFLES!"

Scott

9/30/2025 06:20:30 am

What type of system are guys looking for as a NMS location for cradle?

Somebody that I used to know

9/30/2025 06:58:16 am

I enjoyed Travelers Gate more than Elder Empire myself; i felt more connected with the characters.

Plus giant swords are cool.

Paul Stiles

9/30/2025 07:09:38 am

I only listened to the Travis side of Elder Empries, it was great. I tried the other half right after, and couldn't do it.. not because it was bad, but I think it was because it was too soon. I am planning to go through the Emily Woo Zeller side soon, since it has been a while now.

I have the original Will Wight narrated versions of Traveler's Gate. I cherish them!

Shawn

9/30/2025 07:26:36 am

I love all of your writing, early writings and all. Traveller's gate is amazing, I do hope for and wish for more content in both Traveller's gate and elder empires, or maybe a cool crossover (with cradle, maybe...), but im enjoying the last horizon as well. Every one of your series' is on my re-read list every year. Right up there with sanderson and Jordan.

Andy

9/30/2025 07:41:01 am

Do I get a vote? I’m voting for more Travelers Gate! I love that series.

Fox

9/30/2025 07:41:37 am

YYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!,!!,?!!!!

*ahem*

Hey that’s cool! I’m happy for you- as an Elder Empire fan I am always happy when someone enjoys reading it. Just the hint that you might do more Asylum stories has made my day, thanks!

Godking of the Outer Lithosphere

9/30/2025 08:28:03 am

Good... good... now reread Cradle!

Don't worry, you don't have to write Cradle. Just something suspiciously similar to Cradle.

You can name your protagonist Lynden, with a 'Y', and instead of being from a fox village he's from a wolf village. And instead of practicing the sacred arts he practices the infernal arts.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story from there.

Sierra

9/30/2025 08:37:15 am

Oh my god galaxy 110? Wow that must’ve taken a long time. I hope you didn’t repair all your gear every hop lol.

Patrick

9/30/2025 11:06:01 am

Traveller's Gate was my introduction to your writing and it was amazing. I've been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, but I don't usually see the scene as I read, at least on a first read. Traveller's gate was one of the first time I was able to vividly see the scene described as I was reading. It has a special place in my heart because of that.

Jeremiah

9/30/2025 05:33:03 pm

You know sweeter words have I never heard. Of course you could write some elder empire world stuff and shove it into fathom. That could be entertaining. The commander wonders what this thing is that keeps bellowing the worst thing that Omega said right before he died!

Adam

9/30/2025 08:38:54 pm

I would love to read more about Calder!! Also when you find Cradle you gotta put the coordinates on the Reddit!

Dave

10/1/2025 04:56:12 am

There is no such measurement as "Toom much No Man's Sky"

Alexis

10/3/2025 10:40:56 am

I loved the Elder Empire. It might be a time to dip back in and relisten as well! Also, thanks to Cradle and the rest of your work, I have discovered a bunch of other great listens that Travis Baldree performs!

Kevin

10/3/2025 08:40:08 pm

This is crazy. I just finished re-reading Elder Empire start to finish bouncing back and forth between paired books at the end of each major event. It was just as incredible as I remembered. I love this series! What are the chances you are wandering around Disney in late January?

The Funisher

10/5/2025 01:03:11 pm

Hear me out, continuing Elder Empire would be pretty cool. So I've heard...

"AWAKEN." Shuffles said calmly.

Jared

10/9/2025 03:37:05 pm

Love your stuff man. I’ve read everything you’ve got out there. Just saw the trailer for the anime, what are your thoughts on teaming up with open ai’s Sorra to push it forward?

WhizGug

10/14/2025 07:24:47 pm

Hi it's been awhile I delved into your space... If there's anyway CRADLE can come back, I'd love it, but if you've got to go back I'll pick TRAVELERS GATE over ELDER Empire anytime any day...

I've missed reading

Zack

10/22/2025 05:49:04 pm

I loved Travelers Gate! That one and the Cradle series seem like they’d be fun mmos or just single player rpgs, I would have so much fun trying out different types of characters in those worlds. I will have to read Elder Empire next. Keep being awesome!!

Andrew

10/23/2025 09:23:41 pm

I just finished a re-read of travellers gate, it stands up quite well over time actually.

Melissa

11/2/2025 07:56:33 am

My son and I are listening to Waybound and we're talking about how fun it would be to play a Cradle RPG. That is why I came to your website, to see if there was one available and I am super excited by your last paragraph that says you're looking into it! Please add me to that Kickstarter email list!

Sebastian

11/15/2025 02:26:19 pm

Read Travellers Gate. I can absolutely recommend it.

Sam

11/21/2025 08:26:29 pm

The travelers gate had soooo much more potential…I always imagined that you were going to bring out some lost traveller who has been stuck at a secret level for 50 years. He or she is showing off their new earned powers.

So much potential….

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