The Ghostwater paperback now exists!

6/19/2018

In an attempt to cater to those who still read paperbacks--like book-burners, grandmothers, and witches--we released Ghostwater's paperback edition a little earlier this time! It's available now!

Also, today through the 23rd, the Unsouled ebook is free! Of course, if you have Kindle Unlimited, it's free all the time. But uh...now you can keep it!

For those of you who haven't heard from me since the Ghostwater release, let me fill you in: Ghostwater is selling very well. We've sold over fifteen thousand copies, which is quite fast, and there are over 290 reviews on Amazon. Which is blazing fast. That's much quicker than any of my other titles have ever collected reviews.

Plus, it's currently rated a 4.9/5. Which is pretty great.

So thanks for all your support! It's been a very exciting book release for me, and I'm already hard at work on my next project: a historical romance in which Victorian-era London itself has been murdered, and only an ex-detective prostitute can solve the crime.

(Jk, it's Kings and Killers.)

-Will

47 Comments

Sean K

6/19/2018 11:31:08 am

Calder is the one selling himself, isn't he?

Jeremiah H

6/19/2018 11:51:56 am

LOL, I don't know if I can see that or not, but it's certainly funny!

Madeline

6/19/2018 11:39:57 am

I kind of want to see a story in which Victorian era London itself has been murdered and only an ex detective prostitute can solve the crime.

"Murdered" in the context of a city has... so many shadings. Every living creature within city limits killed, every living creature with a home within city limits killed, whether they were within city limits at the time or not, all the buildings and people removed from the planet leaving scoured bare earth... or replaced with foliage as if it never existed... suddenly no one outside of it even remembers it existed, with the exception of the ex detective prostitute...

So many possibilities.

6/19/2018 12:04:12 pm

Also, are they an ex detective prostitute because the new job pays better or because they had some life event that made their previous career path... impractical?

Chandlersmoney link

7/2/2018 03:09:04 pm

Law enforcement doesn't get paid very well for alk that they go through. Nobody likes to get screwed for free! She peobably saw it as a pay raise with additional benefits.

Tacroy

6/20/2018 03:46:34 pm

Go play Fallen London! It's kinda like that.

The Dragon Sage

6/19/2018 01:48:40 pm

*minor Ghostwater spoilers ahead*
-Copied from Will's original post
(Don't worry, it won't literally be Sally.)

To no one's surprise, the winner of the Cradle bow-naming poll is Sally. Now one of the most dreaded shadow artifacts of the Cradle world will be named like a baby girl.

EDIT: Also, there were 720 votes in the thread! That's a lot of votes. It reminds me of the time when I had to count up votes manually, and then wept tears of blood.

Here's Paden's winning suggestion, copied from the original thread:

A female name as if it was sentient.

umm..."Sally"

potential character dialog: "what's the name of your bow?"
"sally."
"sally???"

So, per the spirit of the suggestion, I'm going to come up with a simple female name that fits the setting. Which won't be Sally, but could be something like Sali, Sari, Sa Li, or Jim.

Maybe in this culture Jim is a woman's name. You don't know.

-Will

potential dialogue between Yerin and Mercy

"This is Eclipse, the Ancient Bow of the Soulseeker."
*insert lots of dialogue about what the bow did here*
"I know it's just a bow, but I call her Jim," said Mercy.
"Really?" asked Yerin. "Jim? For a girl, that's the most stereotypical name there is! If only it was a boy, the only name as stereotypical would be Sally!"

Arthur

6/19/2018 02:35:20 pm

When can we expect the book after ghostwater?

6/19/2018 03:34:17 pm

I second this request for information!! Also Will I am still interested to know how you get paid for Kindle Unlimited.

A Less Fortunate Author

6/19/2018 07:42:58 pm

Kindle Unlimited pays authors by the page read, with a bonus if you're in the top 100 in any particular market place (Amazon.com, .uk, .ca, ect.)

Currently the price is about a half cent per page in USD, though it will vary from month to month.

Oren Velciter

6/19/2018 04:40:42 pm

Will has said he doesnt have a release date for the next cradle book. Give a few months more for EE, then 6 months at most likely for the next cradle book ( probably subtract time around Christmas/thanksgiving) and it should be out by May of 2019 at the latest. Earlier if Will can write faster. Assuming he goes back to Cradle right away

Walter

6/19/2018 04:50:18 pm

You’re the monster that made me believe October 2018 for ghostwater!!! OUT!! HIE YEE FROM WHENCE THOU CAME

6/19/2018 07:46:23 pm

Almost a year out for Underlord makes me very very sad...

6/20/2018 07:24:20 am

@JR Keep in mind that’s my pessimistic guess. Could be much sooner :)

@Walter Lol in my defense there was that whole soul oath about not doing anything else before finishing EE

6/19/2018 04:10:58 pm

Good job authoring Will! Keep up the good work. I enjoy success vicariously through you.

stephen e

6/19/2018 09:06:17 pm

I have been too and I'm not even an author, nor want to be.

Darkest

6/19/2018 04:35:20 pm

Gotta agree with Madeline, even as a joke the premise sounds intriguing and with you writing it it'd be great. :)

John

6/19/2018 06:43:24 pm

Wasn't there a movie made about that (that never actually seems to get released)?

Okay, not exactly, but it made me think of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUCNqLG9ZD0

6/19/2018 09:07:14 pm

So, is lindon gradually becoming the fist of the North star?

6/20/2018 06:38:28 am

Ok I missed something there... what is the fist of the north star?

Caemos

6/20/2018 09:38:51 am

Fist of the North Star is an old anime where the main character would travel the wilderness exploding bad guys by hitting them a certain way. The resemblance to Lindon is a little faint though, except for his one touch attack.
To be honest though, I remember the unfinished youtube anime parody far more than the actual series.

Stephen

6/21/2018 01:11:44 am

It is faint,but lindon apparently always looks like he's ready for a fight and he has an imposing build so the fists's likeness always creeps into my head when i picture him. also, there is an anime quality to this story. It's what i imagine what the people around him that that don't know him well see him as. He keeps beating people above his stage. Whether he is lucky or not,that's going to garner attention.

Shuffles

6/20/2018 12:03:12 am

Give me ELDER EMPIRE!!!!

……………

Please. :)

Garbagiel

6/20/2018 07:33:39 am

The city of London has been murdered? Sounds like Will has been playing Sunless Sea...

manty05

6/20/2018 07:35:03 am

Any ETA you can give on City of Light audiobook

6/20/2018 09:40:47 am

Just chiming in to say that Ghostwater was my favorite yet. I loved the development of the characters and I am extremely hungry for the next book. But I will respect your commitment to advancing your OKAK series and will look forward to your release there as well.
Also, 15,0000 copies?? Rock on man!

6/20/2018 03:50:04 pm

Yeah it seems like Ghostwater is the point where Lindon's awful Magicarp build finally evolves into a Gyrados. And then he gets a super useful Portal 2-reject companion on top of it too.

6/20/2018 07:03:13 pm

Is it sad that I understand that perfectly and that my wife is looking at me funny because I do!!?

6/21/2018 01:04:28 am

I was thinking wheatly too. That's what you're getting at,right?

Adam

1/3/2019 12:48:24 pm

loved the LindonxYerin moment so much! I see these books as an anime in my head and it always irked me how the characters in animes never hug after being seperated. so their adorable moment made me fuzzy inside

Ben

6/20/2018 10:14:21 am

Will, you might not remember,but I was the one on Discord asking for the last fight to be rewritten for Harmony's point of view. If you are still willing to do it in the future, would it be in the next Cradle book?

Enkidu

6/20/2018 04:10:38 pm

This would be an EPIC short story/email blast like the deathmatches were. I upvote this so hard that my left mouse button has a crack now.

6/20/2018 07:05:34 pm

If he did write a scene as a prologue in the next book in Harmony's viewpoint that would make a great Segway into him surviving in some form and coming back!!! I think he said Harmony is totally dead but hey maybe he will have a change of heart..?

Chris

6/21/2018 11:02:10 am

Lets be honest though, has the word "No" ever been so unbelievably perfect before...

Path of Twining Ivy

6/21/2018 02:30:25 pm

Where to start, thanks for writing these books! Ghostwater managed to be the best in the series (so far!), which is never a given (looking at you, P-Roth). I've been reading electronically, but I may upgrade to the physical world if the set looks nice.

This blog has been awesome to read and to search for tidbits/background on the Cradle universe. Its really awesome seeing comments from you, especially the old posts about the Abidan (parts 1-5), and the blackflame empire. That being said, I have 3 questions...

1) Are these more informative Cradle posts grouped into a category??? I can only find them through google.

2) Do you go back and read any of the older posts? Without getting into the nitty gritty/technical side, if I posted a followup question on an old blog post(think 2016-2017), is there greater than a zero percent chance of it being seen?

3) Your posts starting "Ask me a question!" (or however they were titled) and your responses are the best (also seems like a great way to get around writers block, we're on to you, which I guess if I haven't found one recently means you are writing without issues, so great! even though I really like reading through those). Question (finally): Has a question/comment from a reader/commenter ever changed a plot point in your book? Specifically, Enkidu's theory- that had Lindon's fate not been changed, he would have ended up as Jai Long's brother in law. Then Lindon clearly/awkwardly recognizes her but cant place where....could that scene have changed added/adapted because of the comments here?! Can we change the Fate of Cradle? Should we be worried about Makiel bringing down the hammer? Or had that already been fortold...

ps. there is a hilarious pun on reddit (not mine, about which door the emperor couldn't fit his wings through) that should totally be in your next book (delivered by Eithan of course)
sorry for the wall of text, sorry for asking more than 3 questions

Twinning

6/25/2018 02:00:02 pm

Answering parts of my own questions in case someone else reads this and is also curious,

1- looks like no
2- looks like no

3 -(from a past reddit post from will)
"I do change my mind based on reader response, but it's usually not a direct correlation.

When I hear from readers, it gives me an idea of what they expect from the series. Which helps me better understand how to play on those expectations.

For instance, let's say I was planning to kill Lindon in Book 3 and have a new main character take over (I was at no point planning on this). Reading all of these comments might at first make me go "Ha! No one expects this! I'm doing the unexpected!"

...but I would very shortly realize that the reason they weren't expecting it is because they're reading for Lindon's progress. If he stops making progress, they'll stop reading.

Then I would change my mind.

As for suggestions, I can't remember ever hearing someone suggest something that I hadn't already considered. However, sometimes hearing it out loud makes me reevaluate; maybe someone will suggest an idea I've already rejected, but they make it sound workable, so I'll consider it again. Or they'll suggest an idea I'm actually planning on doing, but hearing it from someone else makes it sound lame, so I reconsider.

It's a very fluid process."

Will link

7/17/2018 02:22:03 pm

Twinning is correct, but I'll add my own brief comments:

1.) No, but the subreddit has compiled a Word of Will document available on reddit.com/r/Iteration110Cradle

2.) There is a greater than 0% chance. I get notified on my phone every time someone responds to any post, not just the recent ones.

But it's getting hard to respond to every comment and message on every platform, so I've been getting less responsive recently. Now that there are way more platforms AND more pressure for me to write faster.

Scott Nichols

6/22/2018 12:26:11 pm

Everybody calm down, Will just made a little spelling error, what he meant to say was this: "Victorian-era Lindon itself has been murdered". Alternate reality Lindon who is genderless gets murdered and the only person who can solve it is young Gesha Fisher. A talented but somewhat misguided young detective with a tragic past who will never stop fishing for details.

Lavenderfudge

6/22/2018 06:28:53 pm

I have to say, I loved this novel and the entire series. It’s not just setting, but the contrast of strengths in the world. We see our main character waltz ahead through levels of power, at some points being strong than those seen as his equal, but still know he is a gnat when compared to the titanic power he wants to achieve. He is constantly put in the presence of people who could crush him, yet he still trundles through, always getting strong and better. God I love these books

DesperateFan

7/1/2018 10:19:20 am

At this point I'd usually be complaining about wanting a new blog post, but you've been pretty active on Reddit so I'll let it slide.

This time.

0.0

I'm stalking you Will.
(In a non-creepy way)

Coldsteel

7/2/2018 02:30:37 pm

Yeah, it's actually been exactly one month since Will responded to any of the posts on his blog here. He's responded about a hundred times to comments on Reddit during that same period.

I think it's safe to say the blog comments here are pretty much dead at this point. It's a good place to come to for announcements and whatnot but I spend my time over on the Reddit site these days because that's where all the interaction and information is coming from. Of course I really don't want to have to create a Reddit account to post over there so I just lurk. This place was nice because you didn't need an account to post.

It makes sense that Will can't be expected to write and also frequent and post on two different sites at the same time so he should probably just shut the comments over here down and just post announcements and news.

7/5/2018 03:05:29 pm

He also talks a lot on the fan discord. I just lurk there but he does answer questions over there as well.

Plus you can watch him play League of Legends, which is fun.

Will, you should stream on Twitch for us.

7/17/2018 02:18:49 pm

I've set up to stream before, but only so that I could show my friends a single-player game. I don't know that I would be a very entertaining streamer.

Lightsyde

7/6/2018 12:44:28 pm

Blackflame was great Will!! I really enjoyed it!! Keep it up!!

Liam link

7/7/2018 12:34:09 pm

Are the Elders the same things as the dreadgods, but on different worlds? (I know this has nothing to do with this post, but Will hasn't put up any worldbuilding post in a while, and I really want this answered.

Stephen e

7/10/2018 04:27:39 pm

I saw the best seller tag on whitewater in the Amazon store. Congrats, Will

stephen eric sorensen

7/10/2018 07:44:41 pm

Wow, posted in the wrong thread and with a typo. Way to go me.

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