Ryan Cahill's Blog
December 22, 2024
The Chronicles of Cahill – 2024
The end of 2025 has finally come.\n
This has been a strange year for me. It’s been one of the greatest years of my life, both personally and professionally. But it has also been filled with challenges and despite writing a metric fucktonne of words, I didn’t actually release anything this year except for a short story by the name of The Blood that Burns the Winter Snow. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It’s about 5,000 words and is a look into the eyes of Vars Bryer on a winter’s night in The Glade. You can grab it here for 99c\/99p or the equivalent in whichever lovely country you reside.\n And yet, I have watched The Bound and The Broken continue to grow and build since Of War and Ruin’s launch back in January last year. It’s been something special. To see that you all trust me so much that I have the space and time to truly craft a book I’m proud of. Not every author has that luxury and I appreciate it to no end.\n I launched Of Blood and Fire on March 17th 2021. Before that I was working in a lab in Dublin. In the three and a half years since that day, I have written 1.5 million words in\u00a0The Bound and The Broken, spanning four full novels, three novellas, and two short stories. When I look back and really take a minute to let that sink in, it fills me with an immense sense of fulfilment and thanks. I’m also coming up to the 400,000 books sold mark. Which is just mind boggling.\n I want to use this as an opportunity to say: follow your dreams. It’s not always easy \u2013 in truth, it’s never easy \u2013 but I’ve learned something truly important over the last few years.\n Doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever could.\n You can never fail at something you don’t attempt, and there is a comfort in that. But we have a short time on this earth and each and every one of us owes it to ourselves to take the shot. One of my favourite quotes of all time is by Michael Jordan.\n I\u2019ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I\u2019ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I\u2019ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I\u2019ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.\n I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Those words have followed me for a long time. And that’s why I’m sharing them with you now. If you have dreams you want to follow, allow yourself to fail. If you have a child, a sibling, a parent, a friend, who wants to chase those dreams, support them.\n I would never be here without the support of my wife, my family, my friends, and of course you. Your belief, support, passion, and trust is what keeps my dreams flowing.\n Now, this is the end of my preachy, ‘believe in yourself’ segment. But I think it’s an important thing to say when I look back and reflect on everything over the last year.\n Okay, projects and special editions that have started in this year and are carrying on into 2025 and beyond. *cracks knuckles*\n 2024 has been a big year of building. A lot of things have been started this year that I’m incredibly excited about.\n The Broken Binding Acquisition of The Bound and The Broken print rights\n This was probably the biggest thing to happen in 2024. For those of you that don’t know, The Broken Binding stepped into the publishing world this year with the creation of the very special The Broken Binding Press.\n Their first acquistion? The prints rights for the entire The Bound and The Broken series in a blockbuster six figure deal. I could not be more excited about this and I think this is a good place to explain what exactly this means.\n\nThe print rights are the only things sold. This means I am still fully in control of ebook rights, with my audiobook rights sold to Podium Audio.\nSo am I still an ‘indie‘ author? Yes. I think the term is technically ‘hybrid’ but I personally believe that is the future of publishing anyways. Being indie while having a print rights deal is kind of the dream as far as I’m concerned. I have full control over the story and its publishing.\nThe entire series will be republished in Hardcover \u2013 and eventually in Paperback \u2013 with new covers designed by the truly incredible Tom Roberts (I’ve already seen the covers for\u00a0Of Blood and Fire and\u00a0The Fall and they are absolutely stunning).\nThe books will be available worldwide with\u00a0much better availability and pricing. They should also be in bookstores near you \u2013 as long as the launch goes well, hah. Which is something pretty incredible for me.\nOf Empires and Dust will be published like normal in March 2025 (that date might shift sliiightly, but I’m thinking it won’t) and the new covers will transition over later.\nThe fifth book and fourth novella in the series will be published in the new editions\u00a0and the self-published editions at the same time.\u00a0My new print publisher has agreed to do this because they are amazing people and we both want to make sure that my readers who have been supporting me all along can still get a full matching set of all the books in their original cover style. Don’t worry, I got you.\nThe current cover editions will stay on sale until we start announcing the pre-orders for the new editions. I will give you a heads up when that is coming because I know some people will want to have the original covers on their shelves.\nDoes this affect the\u00a0Broken Binding special editions we have been doing? No, not at all. They will continue to go to press on a yearly basis (with some wiggle room) as normal. I’ll give an update on that further down.\nWe are doing our best to make these new cover ‘Traditional’ releases as best value for money as possible. There will be new black and white art, new maps, stunning new covers, and all the bells and whistles \u2013 foiling, embossing, debossing, sprayed edges, etc.\n\n The Bound and The Broken Tarot Deck\n This is definitely one of my favourite projects that’s started across 2024. For those of you who don’t know, a Major Arcana Tarot Deck for The Bound and The Broken is already under development, and is scheduled for a potential Kickstarter release in 2025! In fact, I have three new reveals for you! One for November, one for December, and one as my Christmas present to you all!\n Farda as Death\n Rokka as the Wheel of Fortune\n And our beloved Dann as The Fool\n Feast your eyes![image error][image error]\n [image error]\n And for those of you who haven’t seen them all together, here is every revealed card so far!\n [image error]\n The Broken Binding Special Editions\n \n I’ve had a lot of questions about this, so I’m going to keep it brief.\n Of Darkness and Light special edition is basically ready. We’ve just had a few small snags right at the end that have stopped us from keeping to our regular November\/December release schedule. We have the cover, we have 18 unbelievable pieces of art, including an internal piece that will blow your socks off.\n We’re just waiting on a few small pieces, and we will do the cover reveal\/pre-order very soon! I don’t want to give a precise date right now but I’m hoping it will go on pre-order in January!\n The other question we’ve had has been: will we do a reprint for Of Blood and Fire and The Fall?\n In general our answer to this has been no. Why? Because we sold these books as a limited print run to those who bought them, and it feels disingenuous to then turn around and say ‘no, actually, because we can earn more money we’re going back on our word’. Now, saying that, we are working on a way that this could work. It would involve bringing down some of the specs, no numbering, and some other bits. It’s not 100%, but we’re looking at it. Also, there are some other Special Editions coming that I think will make you very happy.\n And don’t forget, I promised I wouldn’t do a big fancy edition of these books myself until the series was finished. And I’m keeping to that word. So when the series is finished I absolutely will be creating extremely gorgeous editions that will be something truly special.\n There are quite a few projects that started this year that I actually still have to keep under wraps. So what I’m going to do is give you some small hints:\n What would you say if The Old Tongue was a fully usable language, with a dictionary of words, a complete phonology and pronunciation guide, full grammar and syntax, rules for complex sentences and multiple clauses, complete documentation on historical linguistic developments, changes in phonology, grammar, and lexicon spanning 2000 years of history? That would be pretty cool, wouldn’t it? *wink*\n And wouldn’t it be really cool if The Bound and The Broken had a board game? Like one with resin cast miniature dragons and stuff? That would be sweet.\n And what if every dragon had a full illustration? With comparative sizes and detailed sketches? That would be cool as well.\n How about a full world guide with characters, places, events, timelines, and a boat-load of new illustrations? Yup. Cool. Kewl kewl kewl.\n There are a\u00a0a lot of projects happening in the background that started this year and will be flowing through the next few years to come.\nTour and Conventions\n This year I had the immense pleasure to go on the longest tour I’ve ever had. Six full weeks, 18 flights, and events in the UK, Ireland, USA, and Denmark.\n I attended DragonCon, WorldCon, Fantasy Festival Denmark, and had multiple sold out signing and Q&A events in London, Dublin, Arlington Texas, and DFW Texas. It was incredible and it was so special to get to finally meet so many of you in person. It truly was a highlight of the year for me. I just wanted to give this its own section so I could say a special thank you to every single one of you for making the incredibly journeys to meet me in person. People travelling 18 hours across the US to meet me at DragonCon and my texas events was incredible. And one amazing reader who flew all the way from Prague to meet me in London.\n Thinking back on those moments right now has me smiling ear to ear in my office chair, and has me looking forward to more events across the world in 2025!\n I also just wanted to say a special thank you to Patrick at Barnes and Noble Southlake, Morgan at Pantego Books, Laura at Forbidden Planet, and all the team at Fantasy Festival Denmark for being so genuinely incredible.\n This was just a little something that I was prompted to write after recieving a few emails from people asking me where they can get signed books (particularly in the US), and cool merch for the series.\n So, if you’re liviing in the UK, my go to place to get signed The Bound and The Broken hardbacks and paperbacks is The Broken Binding (they currently have all the hardbacks in stock, but there’s not many left). You can grab them here: The Broken Binding\n Forbidden Planet Megastore in London should also have some signed copies left on the shelves!\n If you’re in the US and wanting to get your hands on signed hardbacks and paperbacks, Pantego Books in Arlington still have stock of all the signed books except for Of War and Ruin (that one always sells out fast). Pantego are amazing and deserve all your support! You can find them here: Pantego Books\n For merch, my merch partner RealmOne is run by two readers of the series who reached out to me way back in like 2022? Lou and Pete. They are angels of human beings and they put so much work into creating amazing hoodies, pins, stickers, t-shirts, punny mugs, and everything under the sun. There are some really cool pieces of TBATB merch still available, including some exclusive\u00a0Day of the Dragon bits that are almost gone. You can get some merch here: RealmOne\nWhat to expect from 2025?\n At the end of last year, I predicted that 2024 would be even more hectic than 2023. That prediction was absolutely true. 2024 was the most hectic year of my life. What about 2025? I’m predicting much of the same for 2025, except this time I’ll have a few book releases to go with it.\n The first thing to expect? The fourth book in The Bound and The Broken smashing open your bookshelves! This will be the longest book in\u00a0The Bound and The Broken, and I firmly believe that each word is earned. But I’ll just have to wait and see what you think, won’t I?\n [image error]\n I predicted Of Empires and Dust, would be around the same size as Of War and Ruin, and that turned out to be a pretty accurate prediction. Of War and Ruin finished at about 437k words, which Of Empires and Dust is currently standing at 480k words. I think Of Empires and Dust will come down a bit to about 460k\/470k.\n However I did predict a May finish for the draft and a late 2024 finish for the book launch. That didn’t go to plan for a myriad of reasons. But all in all, I was just far too optimistic with how much writing I’d be able to get done in a time where a lot was happening. But it’s still a 480k word book written and ready to publish in 2 years. So I’m pretty happy with that.\n This book, for me, is where a lot of the threads start coming together for the finale. It’s where the crumbs that have been laid throughout the series start to actually mean something, where the character arcs begin to really come to power. The characters here should be almost unrecognisable from those we knew in Of Blood and Fire. As the saying goes: You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.\n I’m very excited about this book. This is what I wrote last year:\n There has been a lot building throughout the series, so many threads being weaved, seeds being sown, and this is where everything starts to come full circle. I have some major reveals lined up for you, some epic scenes, and dragons \u2013 a lot of motherfucking dragons.\n Now that the book is finished, I can confirm all of this is true.\n Okay, important questions and answers:\n When can you expect to see\u00a0Of Empires and Dust hit shelves? Will all formats be released at the same time? Are there any things readers should note before reading Of Empires and Dust? Well, the first thing I’ll be jumping into is the last key novella in the series that will be hitting your shelves before the year’s end.\n I’m not going to give any hints on what this specifically is, because I want it to be a surprise.\n I will also plan to work on a lot of short stories this year, and will be including them in the new Patreon I’ll be setting up (don’t worry, they will be released outside Patreon eventually but my Patreon subscribers will get first dibs and a lot of involvement). I’m not going to talk too much about Patreon as that’s something for future emails.\n I will also begin planning and writing for the fifth and final book in The Bound and The Broken \u2013 *GASP*. Don’t worry, I have a lot more plans for the world, which I’ll talk about a little below. Some of you might not this, some of you might now, but the title for the fifth book has already been revealed!\n [image error]\n I know. I know. It’s a bit crazy to think about the series coming to an end. But I’m a firm believer that all good things must end. Nobody wants to have the series and characters you love overstay their welcome and live long enough to become the villains.\n But I promise, I will handle it with care and love. With that, I need to also state that the liklihood is we won’t be seeing this book until late 2027\/early 2028. I know I had hoped for it to come a bit earlier, but that needed to change.\n Why, you ask? Well, honestly, I’ve absolutely killed myself with this pace over the last few years and I have my first little baby coming into the world in January and I want to make sure I’m there both for them (yes, ‘them’ is the correct terminology in the singular. We don’t know the gender and they\/them is used when the gender of an individual is not known. My baby is not an ‘it’, they’re not an inanimate plastic rod), but also for my wonderful wife. I want to be as good a father as I had. And that’s going to require slowing down slightly, or at the very least, taking the pressure off my shoulders a tiny bit.\n I could just not say anything and work away at my own pace, but I believe in accountability and honesty with my readers. I’m going to take a little longer with this last book, but I’m going to put my absolute heart and soul into it. I absolutely promise you.\n You will still get the next novella in between then and now, along with some short stories, and I’m not going to stop writing Of Gods and Ashes. I will be writing it every single day, just at a slightly slower pace. And I’ll also be taking a bit longer once it’s finished to make sure I can get all formats launched togeher \u2013 including audio. And really make a big event of it, because I think this series deserves an event.\n Now, some of you might be asking ‘but what next, Ryan? Are we leaving Epheria and the world around it forever?’\n Well, dear reader, let me tell you: abso-fucking-lutely not. The isn’t\u00a0the end, it is simply\u00a0an end.\n So together, why don’t we all fold our legs, pinch our fingers together in that yoga pose we always see on TV, and\u00a0breathe.\n I did say this in my end of year wrap up, but it’s worth saying again for those who never saw that: This will not be the last series I write in the world of The Bound and The Broken.\n Last year, I gave you some titles of the prospective new series and let you guess what they would be about. This time, I’m going to give you some more information and I’m going to add another one! All of these titles are tentative \u2013 just as an FYI.\n \nDawn of the Wolf\n Dawn of the Wolf is the tentative title I have for the series that will be set 3,000 years in the past when humans and druids first set foot on Epherian soil. I am very excited about this.\nThe Age of Honour\n Set a 1,000 years after Dawn of the Wolf, this series will explore the beginnings of the Age of Honour and the state of the world at that time.\nThe Exile and The Huntress\n A series set around Dayne and Belina in the time they spent together from when they meet in The Exile to when Dayne finally goes home. I envision this almost as a fantasy style, Jack-Reacheresque serial.\nThe Chainbreaker Saga\n A story based around Vars Bryer and the legendary Cassian Tal.\n As well as \u00a0as these series, I have plenty of ideas for books and series that are completely unrelated to\u00a0The Bound and The Broken. So I think it’s safe to say that there is\u00a0a lot more to come.\nConventions and appearances\n At this moment, the conventions I’m absolutely planning on attending for 2025 are\n I am definitely planning on visiting some more conventions and events, but this is the short list I’ve put together at the moment.\n I do also plan on holding more bookstore events like I did this year in Texas, Ireland, and the UK. I’ll leave a note in my newsletter about this, but if you’d like me to visit your country\/city, I’d love to know where you are!\n
Projects and Special Editions \n
Signed Books and Merch\n
\nThe 31st of March 2025 is the scheduled release date!\n
\nI intend to have ebook, paperback, and hardback live at the same time (thought sometimes the physical books can have a slight delay). The audiobook however will take a little bit longer as we have to chase the wonderful narrator down and trap him in the recording booth.\n
\nYes. I would very much encourage people to read the novellas before continuing into\u00a0Of Empires and Dust. Is it absolutely necessary to follow the plot? No, but it will massively improve your enjoyment. I consider the novellas to be major parts of this story. I’ve written them so the plot can carry on without them, but they will add major depth to the characters and the richness of the world. They also allow me to go on a lot less ‘side quests’ in my main novels. All three of The Fall, The Exile, and The Ice\u00a0will make a big diference to your reading experience with Of Empires and Dust. It’s a tricky thing to integrate novellas into a series like this, but I do feel it’s the best way to tell this story.\nWhat are my plans ‘writing wise’ for 2025?\n
December 20, 2023
2023 The Year According to Cahill
Here we are, sauntering towards the end of 2023, ham, turkey, and cookies in sight. Well, sauntering might not be the correct word for most of us. I’m pretty sure what I’m doing would be more accurately described as ‘scrambling manically’. He is beauty, he is grace, he has a psychotic look on his face (wow, I’m a poet).\n
My bad jokes aside, it has officially been 2 years and 9 months since I first launch Of Blood and Fire. 2 years and 9 months since I started this journey and my life changed in its entirety. In that space of time I have written over 1 million words, published ~966k words, and officially passed 200,000 books sold. That last one is something I only realised recently and I quite literally did a double take. That’s a pretty amazing thing to reflect on, and I have to say it has me very\u00a0thankful.\n 2023 itself has been both an amazing and hectic year from start to finish.\n In January (has it really been that long?), I publised the third book in The Bound and The Broken \u2013\u00a0Of War and Ruin \u2013 which was by far the longest book I’ve ever written, beating\u00a0Of Darkness and Light\u00a0by a whopping 187k words. To say I was nervous about this release would be one hell of an understatement. I was absolutely terrified. What if it flopped? What if I’d just written a 437k word pile of steaming turd? What if my dreams just fell apart?\n All you have to do is talk to my wife to find out how I was nothing but a ball of nerves. But then something magical happened: January 19th rolled around and I was flooded with the most overhwhelmingly incredible wave of support. Of War and Ruin was recieved better than my wildest dreams could have conjured, and I was a little bit shellshocked.\n It’s all but impossible to describe how special it is to put literal blood (papercut), sweat, and tears into a book and then see it resonate with readers. All I can say is thank you.\n Fast forward to September, and after a horribly cruel (and spectacularly hilarious) April Fools’ prank, The Ice finally entered the world.\n That’s one (massive) novel and one (not really a novella) novella out in the world in 2023. And not only that, but in a day or so my first short story \u2013 The Blood That Burns the Winter Snow \u2013 will hit kindles as part of the Advent of Winter Anthology.\n That’ll do pig, that’ll do.\n (For those of you who didn’t back the Advent of Winter Kickstarter, and want to read The Blood That Burns the Winter snow, I do believe the ebook will be available as soon as possible in the new year.)\n Aside from these releases, what else have I been upto this year?\n Well as many of you will know, The Broken Binding special editions of The Fall went on sale at the end of Novemeber and sold out straight away. That was pretty incredible. Add that to the fact that the leftover copies of\u00a0Of Blood and Fire sold out in precisely 3 seconds, and it’s all a bit surreal.\n To put it into perspective for you, when I first launched the series I created 50 numbered copies of each hardback. Just 50. It took me probably two months to sell those 50 copies for Of Blood and Fire (And many of them were bought by family and friends). Fast forward to when I released the 50 numbered copies of\u00a0The Fall and I distinctily remember sitting in Amy’s parents spare room with my legs folded beneath me, hand painting the page edges with metallic gold paint. You have no idea how long that took me.\n Now, not only have we sold 1,500 special editions of both Of Blood and Fire and\u00a0The Fall (3,000 total \u2013 quick maths), but those editions sold out at insane speeds. We never could have anticipated how quickly they would sell or how many people would want them. And do you know a small thing that really blew me away? Thinking of how I hand painted gold paint onto the edges of the first copies of\u00a0The Fall and these editions have actual gold leaf and silver gilded edges. It’s crazy to see how far everything has come from where we started.\nConventions\n I had the immense pleasure of going on my first ever mini tour this year which took me from New Zealand, to the US, and to the UK. I was given the opportunity to sit on panels with incredible authors at DragonCon, FantasyCon, and Featherston Booktown. What was more, I got to meet so many amazing readers and people I’d chatted to online for so long but never had the chance to meet in person. It was a special experience and one I don’t intend on being my last.\n \n I’m expecting 2024 to be no less hectic than 2023. Who’d have figured?\n [image error]\n From a series perspective Of Empires and Dust,\u00a0Book Four in The Bound and The Broken, is going to be my primary focus for 2024. The draft is currently sitting at about 65k words and I’m exepcting the final count to fall in a pretty similar range to Of War and Ruin. So only about 372k words left to go. *cracks neck and rolls up socks*\n With that in mind I am aiming to have the book out in the world in the latter half of the year, so that’s going to be a lot of writing on my part. If all goes to plan, the draft will be finished by April\/May, then I will be moving onto the Beta Reading, revisions, line editing, and proofreading.\n I’m very excited about this book. There has been a lot building throughout the series, so many threads being weaved, seeds being sown, and this is where everything starts to come full circle. I have some major reveals lined up for you, some epic scenes, and dragons \u2013 a lot of motherfucking dragons.\n My writing has been slower than I’d wished towards the latter half of this year (there’s been a lot going on), but I’m pretty certain that will change as we enter 2024. It’s been nice to ease off the throttle a little bit, but I’m more than ready to sink my teeth back into the world and charge forward like a dwarven Bersekeer.\u00a0\nOther things to get excited about\n So there are actually quite a few special little projects brewing for 2024. Unfortunately, I actually can’t tell you much about some of them yet! I know, I know, I’m a tease.\n For now what I can say is I will be part of a very special anthology that I am genuinely still not sure I belong in, and I will also be a part of a pretty damn cool Kickstarter (oh yes) that is going to bring you something beautiful! I also have a potentially MASSIVE project that I’m hoping to hear more about in the early new year.\n Something I can tell you? I will be starting the art briefs for the special edition of\u00a0Of Darkness and Light very soon. Just like with\u00a0Of Blood and Fire and The Fall we will be expecting to see this go on sale around November. And I’ve been given a long leash for packing it full of amazing art!\nConventions and appearances\n As of right now the only convention I’m more or less confirmed for is WorldCon 2024 in Glasgow. I will be doing more planning and seeing what is feasible for me in what is going to be a very busy year \u2013 hoping to visit the US and Australia. But if there is a convention near you that you’d love me to appear it, please let me know! Comment below or send me an email!\n Of Empires and Dust is the fourth and penultimate book in The Bound and The Broken series. After that comes the fourth novella, and then after that comes the fifth and final book. Oh, and did I mention, the fifth book has a title?\n [image error]\n I know I’m biased but I think\u00a0Of Gods and Ashes is a pretty badass title. I revealed this title on social media recently as an apology for being so busy recently and the reaction I got was both incredible and heartbreaking.\n What was the most frequent comment?\n “I can’t believe it’s all coming to an end.”\n Damn, that got me. I’ve been writing this story for almost three years now, and with\u00a0Of Empires and Dust releasing in late 2024, the liklihood is that the fifth and final book won’t hit shelves until late 2025 or perhaps 2026. So we do have some time before the series comes to a close, but it’s still a bit devestating, isn’t it?\n The first thing I will say is I absolutely have plans to write some short stories about these characters. So, breathe.\n Secondly, I’ve said this before in an unoffical capacity, but now I’m setting it in stone: this will not be the last series I write in the world of The Bound and The Broken.\n Once this story is told, it is told. I’m not a fan of dragging stories out. But I do have some tales I’m very excited to tell \u2013 some that are thousands of years in the past, some that are much more recent.\n To continue being the tease that I am, I will give you three tentative titles for some of those stories with no context. I’m looking forward to watching you guess what these might be about!\n So I think I can firmly say,\u00a0this is not the end.\n The inevitable question after this is, “Are you ever going to write books outside the world of\u00a0The Bound and The Broken?” And the answer is\u00a0yes.\n Aside from these new series I plan to write within the world, I also have a list of series I’d love to try that are completely unrelated to TBATB. I have concepts for a Sci-Fantasy and a fantasy-horror blend. So, long story short, you’re stuck with me for a little while yet!\n Okay, you’ve read through all the updates and now you’re here. This is where I open up a little bit and let you into my brain before I turn the lights off and go enjoy my Christmas.\n This year has really felt like the year my author career became something tangible, and it will be a year I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Saying that, as an author it’s difficult to not always be thinking about the next book, to not always be feeling like you’re chasing your own tail. Even with a novel, a novella, and a short story this year, my brain has already turned to panic mode over “how quickly can I write Book 4 so people don’t forget about me?”\n I’ve also been in a weird headspace where I was worried that The Bound and The Broken had reached a blurry place where maybe it was popular enough that people would feel it no longer needed their support, but not popular enough to survive without that support. That’s a scary place for a series. I’ve seen many series reach that place and then slowly fade into obscurity. This inevitably feeds into my last point, where I feel a crushing need to get the fourth book written as quickly as possibly to make sure my dream doesn’t die. (If my projections are correct, by the time Book 5 is written, that will be about 1.8-2 million published words in four-and-a-half-to-five years)\n Why am I telling you all this? Because I think it’s good to show both sides of the coin, to show you the human element behind all the writing. I may be doing what I love, but that doesn’t mean its not the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life. And also, I’m telling you because time and time again, you \u2013 my readers and my friends \u2013 have shown me that you have my back. We’re on this journey together, just as we always have been.\n I can say with my hand on my heart that the community that has been built around\u00a0The Bound and The Broken\u00a0books is a special one and I’m very lucky to have it. When I get worried or scared about what the future holds for the series all I have to do is drop into my discord server for five minutes to see how passionate everyone is.\n I know I’m behind on answering my emails this year. Life has been non-stop and more than a little overwhelming. But I do my absolute best to read through every single one I get and reply to as many as I possibly can. I love getting emails. I love hearing how these books have affected people, how they’ve helped people. It really does make everything so worth it.\n So to my readers, with 2023 coming to a close, what I want to say is thank you for your kindness, your patience, your generosity, and your time. Thank you to everyone who has sent a message or an email. Thank you to everyone who has travelled far and wide to meet me at conventions. Thank you to everyone who has told a friend about the books. Thank you, thank you, thank you.\n You have given me the ability to live my dream and for that I promise you I will never stop doing all I can to share that dream with you.\n There are also a few people in particular who have given me a truly surreal amount of support this year and I wanted to acknowledge that here. The Booktubing community, Instagram community, and (a small part of ) the TikTok community have really gotten behind the series this year, and in particular Petrik Leo, Mike (from Mike’s Books), Johan (from Library of a Viking), and Zoranne have been instrumental in helping The Bound and The Broken go from strength to strength this year.\n I honestly cannot count the amount of emails and messages I’ve recieved quoting those names to me as the reason they’ve started the series. So for that, I just want to say an extra special thank you. And I want you to know that all those videos you make, all that content you create, it really does make a difference. I know because it made a difference to me.\n Speaking of support, I don’t think I could close out the year without saying thank you to Matt and the team at The Broken Binding. At every turn, they have been pushing me forward. The faith they have shown in both myself and in the series has been an integral part of everything this year and I don’t want to imagine where I’d be without them.\n I could go on naming people until my website runs out of bandwidth (is that how the internet works?), but eventually this would just turn into the acknowledgement sections of my books.\n So I’ll do two more.\n This year I spent time with some amazing colleagues (face-to-face) and it really lit a fire under me. Seeing your passion in person, getting to talk craft with you, it was something I hadn’t gotten to do at this point in my career. I couldn’t possibly name you all, but Ronnie Virdi, Taya Latham, Justin-Lee Anderson, Stephen Aryan, Dave Wragg, Zack Argyle, Tao Wong, Janice Andrews, Dyrk Ashton, Davis Ashura… thank you for keeping me inspired this year, thank you for allowing me to use your fire to keep mine blazing.\n Lastly, something else happened this year that moved the centre of my world. I got married to my Ayar Elwyn. I have nothing to say, because I’ve said it all a thousand times. And I know I shouldn’t admit this as an author, but there are some things that words just cannot capture (at least not in the english language). Amy, Myia elwyn er unira diar, I den\u00edr vi\u00ebl ar altinua.\n Now, we’ve reached the end of 2023’s The Year According to Cahill (I’m trying to find something catchy, bear with me. I’m open to suggestions).\n So I’ll leave you with this.\n If you love someone, tell them. If you have a dream, chase it. If you want another slice of ham, eat it.\n This life is far too short for regrets.\n As always, you keep reading, I’ll keep writing.\n Thank you for a year I will never forget.\u00a0Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and enjoy the Blood Moon!\n Your biggest fan,\n Ryan","tablet":" Here we are, sauntering towards the end of 2023, ham, turkey, and cookies in sight. Well, sauntering might not be the correct word for most of us. I'm pretty sure what I'm doing would be more accurately described as 'scrambling manically'. He is beauty, he is grace, he has a psychotic look on his face (wow, I'm a poet).\n My bad jokes aside, it has officially been 2 years and 9 months since I first launch Of Blood and Fire. 2 years and 9 months since I started this journey and my life changed in its entirety. In that space of time I have written over 1 million words, published ~966k words, and officially passed 200,000 books sold. That last one is something I only realised recently and I quite literally did a double take. That's a pretty amazing thing to reflect on, and I have to say it has me very thankful.\n 2023 itself has been both an amazing and hectic year from start to finish.\n In January (has it really been that long?), I publised the third book in The Bound and The Broken \u2013 Of War and Ruin \u2013 which was by far the longest book I've ever written, beating Of Darkness and Light by a whopping 187k words. To say I was nervous about this release would be one hell of an understatement. I was absolutely terrified. What if it flopped? What if I'd just written a 437k word pile of steaming turd? What if my dreams just fell apart?\n All you have to do is talk to my wife to find out how I was nothing but a ball of nerves. But then something magical happened: January 19th rolled around and I was flooded with the most overhwhelmingly incredible wave of support. Of War and Ruin was recieved better than my wildest dreams could have conjured, and I was a little bit shellshocked.\n It's all but impossible to describe how special it is to put literal blood (papercut), sweat, and tears into a book and then see it resonate with readers. All I can say is thank you.\n Fast forward to September, and after a horribly cruel (and spectacularly hilarious) April Fools' prank, The Ice finally entered the world.\n That's one (massive) novel and one (not really a novella) novella out in the world in 2023. And not only that, but in a day or so my first short story \u2013 The Blood That Burns the Winter Snow \u2013 will hit kindles as part of the Advent of Winter Anthology.\n That'll do pig, that'll do.\n (For those of you who didn't back the Advent of Winter Kickstarter, and want to read The Blood That Burns the Winter snow, I do believe the ebook will be available as soon as possible in the new year.)\n Aside from these releases, what else have I been upto this year?\n Well as many of you will know, The Broken Binding special editions of The Fall went on sale at the end of Novemeber and sold out straight away. That was pretty incredible. Add that to the fact that the leftover copies of Of Blood and Fire sold out in precisely 3 seconds, and it's all a bit surreal.\n To put it into perspective for you, when I first launched the series I created 50 numbered copies of each hardback. Just 50. It took me probably two months to sell those 50 copies for Of Blood and Fire (And many of them were bought by family and friends). Fast forward to when I released the 50 numbered copies of The Fall and I distinctily remember sitting in Amy's parents spare room with my legs folded beneath me, hand painting the page edges with metallic gold paint. You have no idea how long that took me.\n Now, not only have we sold 1,500 special editions of both Of Blood and Fire and The Fall (3,000 total \u2013 quick maths), but those editions sold out at insane speeds. We never could have anticipated how quickly they would sell or how many people would want them. And do you know a small thing that really blew me away? Thinking of how I hand painted gold paint onto the edges of the first copies of The Fall and these editions have actual gold leaf and silver gilded edges. It's crazy to see how far everything has come from where we started.\nConventions\n I had the immense pleasure of going on my first ever mini tour this year which took me from New Zealand, to the US, and to the UK. I was given the opportunity to sit on panels with incredible authors at DragonCon, FantasyCon, and Featherston Booktown. What was more, I got to meet so many amazing readers and people I'd chatted to online for so long but never had the chance to meet in person. It was a special experience and one I don't intend on being my last.\n \n I'm expecting 2024 to be no less hectic than 2023. Who'd have figured?\n [image error]\n From a series perspective Of Empires and Dust, Book Four in The Bound and The Broken, is going to be my primary focus for 2024. The draft is currently sitting at about 65k words and I'm exepcting the final count to fall in a pretty similar range to Of War and Ruin. So only about 372k words left to go. *cracks neck and rolls up socks*\n With that in mind I am aiming to have the book out in the world in the latter half of the year, so that's going to be a lot of writing on my part. If all goes to plan, the draft will be finished by April\/May, then I will be moving onto the Beta Reading, revisions, line editing, and proofreading.\n I'm very excited about this book. There has been a lot building throughout the series, so many threads being weaved, seeds being sown, and this is where everything starts to come full circle. I have some major reveals lined up for you, some epic scenes, and dragons \u2013 a lot of motherfucking dragons.\n My writing has been slower than I'd wished towards the latter half of this year (there's been a lot going on), but I'm pretty certain that will change as we enter 2024. It's been nice to ease off the throttle a little bit, but I'm more than ready to sink my teeth back into the world and charge forward like a dwarven Bersekeer. \nOther things to get excited about\n So there are actually quite a few special little projects brewing for 2024. Unfortunately, I actually can't tell you much about some of them yet! I know, I know, I'm a tease.\n For now what I can say is I will be part of a very special anthology that I am genuinely still not sure I belong in, and I will also be a part of a pretty damn cool Kickstarter (oh yes) that is going to bring you something beautiful! I also have a potentially MASSIVE project that I'm hoping to hear more about in the early new year.\n Something I can tell you? I will be starting the art briefs for the special edition of Of Darkness and Light very soon. Just like with Of Blood and Fire and The Fall we will be expecting to see this go on sale around November. And I've been given a long leash for packing it full of amazing art!\nConventions and appearances\n As of right now the only convention I'm more or less confirmed for is WorldCon 2024 in Glasgow. I will be doing more planning and seeing what is feasible for me in what is going to be a very busy year \u2013 hoping to visit the US and Australia. But if there is a convention near you that you'd love me to appear it, please let me know! Comment below or send me an email!\n Of Empires and Dust is the fourth and penultimate book in The Bound and The Broken series. After that comes the fourth novella, and then after that comes the fifth and final book. Oh, and did I mention, the fifth book has a title?\n [image error]\n I know I'm biased but I think Of Gods and Ashes is a pretty badass title. I revealed this title on social media recently as an apology for being so busy recently and the reaction I got was both incredible and heartbreaking.\n What was the most frequent comment?\n \"I can't believe it's all coming to an end.\"\n Damn, that got me. I've been writing this story for almost three years now, and with Of Empires and Dust releasing in late 2024, the liklihood is that the fifth and final book won't hit shelves until late 2025 or perhaps 2026. So we do have some time before the series comes to a close, but it's still a bit devestating, isn't it?\n The first thing I will say is I absolutely have plans to write some short stories about these characters. So, breathe.\n Secondly, I've said this before in an unoffical capacity, but now I'm setting it in stone: this will not be the last series I write in the world of The Bound and The Broken.\n Once this story is told, it is told. I'm not a fan of dragging stories out. But I do have some tales I'm very excited to tell \u2013 some that are thousands of years in the past, some that are much more recent.\n To continue being the tease that I am, I will give you three tentative titles for some of those stories with no context. I'm looking forward to watching you guess what these might be about!\n So I think I can firmly say, this is not the end.\n The inevitable question after this is, \"Are you ever going to write books outside the world of The Bound and The Broken?\" And the answer is yes.\n Aside from these new series I plan to write within the world, I also have a list of series I'd love to try that are completely unrelated to TBATB. I have concepts for a Sci-Fantasy and a fantasy-horror blend. So, long story short, you're stuck with me for a little while yet!\n Okay, you've read through all the updates and now you're here. This is where I open up a little bit and let you into my brain before I turn the lights off and go enjoy my Christmas.\n This year has really felt like the year my author career became something tangible, and it will be a year I'll remember for the rest of my life. Saying that, as an author it's difficult to not always be thinking about the next book, to not always be feeling like you're chasing your own tail. Even with a novel, a novella, and a short story this year, my brain has already turned to panic mode over \"how quickly can I write Book 4 so people don't forget about me?\"\n I've also been in a weird headspace where I was worried that The Bound and The Broken had reached a blurry place where maybe it was popular enough that people would feel it no longer needed their support, but not popular enough to survive without that support. That's a scary place for a series. I've seen many series reach that place and then slowly fade into obscurity. This inevitably feeds into my last point, where I feel a crushing need to get the fourth book written as quickly as possibly to make sure my dream doesn't die. (If my projections are correct, by the time Book 5 is written, that will be about 1.8-2 million published words in four-and-a-half-to-five years)\n Why am I telling you all this? Because I think it's good to show both sides of the coin, to show you the human element behind all the writing. I may be doing what I love, but that doesn't mean its not the hardest work I've ever done in my life. And also, I'm telling you because time and time again, you \u2013 my readers and my friends \u2013 have shown me that you have my back. We're on this journey together, just as we always have been.\n I can say with my hand on my heart that the community that has been built around The Bound and The Broken books is a special one and I'm very lucky to have it. When I get worried or scared about what the future holds for the series all I have to do is drop into my discord server for five minutes to see how passionate everyone is.\n I know I'm behind on answering my emails this year. Life has been non-stop and more than a little overwhelming. But I do my absolute best to read through every single one I get and reply to as many as I possibly can. I love getting emails. I love hearing how these books have affected people, how they've helped people. It really does make everything so worth it.\n So to my readers, with 2023 coming to a close, what I want to say is thank you for your kindness, your patience, your generosity, and your time. Thank you to everyone who has sent a message or an email. Thank you to everyone who has travelled far and wide to meet me at conventions. Thank you to everyone who has told a friend about the books. Thank you, thank you, thank you.\n You have given me the ability to live my dream and for that I promise you I will never stop doing all I can to share that dream with you.\n There are also a few people in particular who have given me a truly surreal amount of support this year and I wanted to acknowledge that here. The Booktubing community, Instagram community, and (a small part of ) the TikTok community have really gotten behind the series this year, and in particular Petrik Leo, Mike (from Mike's Books), Johan (from Library of a Viking), and Zoranne have been instrumental in helping The Bound and The Broken go from strength to strength this year.\n I honestly cannot count the amount of emails and messages I've recieved quoting those names to me as the reason they've started the series. So for that, I just want to say an extra special thank you. And I want you to know that all those videos you make, all that content you create, it really does make a difference. I know because it made a difference to me.\n Speaking of support, I don't think I could close out the year without saying thank you to Matt and the team at The Broken Binding. At every turn, they have been pushing me forward. The faith they have shown in both myself and in the series has been an integral part of everything this year and I don't want to imagine where I'd be without them.\n I could go on naming people until my website runs out of bandwidth (is that how the internet works?), but eventually this would just turn into the acknowledgement sections of my books.\n So I'll do two more.\n This year I spent time with some amazing colleagues (face-to-face) and it really lit a fire under me. Seeing your passion in person, getting to talk craft with you, it was something I hadn't gotten to do at this point in my career. I couldn't possibly name you all, but Ronnie Virdi, Taya Latham, Justin-Lee Anderson, Stephen Aryan, Dave Wragg, Zack Argyle, Tao Wong, Janice Andrews, Dyrk Ashton, Davis Ashura... thank you for keeping me inspired this year, thank you for allowing me to use your fire to keep mine blazing.\n Lastly, something else happened this year that moved the centre of my world. I got married to my Ayar Elwyn. I have nothing to say, because I've said it all a thousand times. And I know I shouldn't admit this as an author, but there are some things that words just cannot capture (at least not in the english language). Amy, Myia elwyn er unira diar, I den\u00edr vi\u00ebl ar altinua.\n Now, we've reached the end of 2023's The Year According to Cahill (I'm trying to find something catchy, bear with me. I'm open to suggestions).\n So I'll leave you with this.\n If you love someone, tell them. If you have a dream, chase it. If you want another slice of ham, eat it.\n This life is far too short for regrets.\n As always, you keep reading, I'll keep writing.\n Thank you for a year I will never forget. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and enjoy the Blood Moon!\n Your biggest fan,\n Ryan"}},"slug":"et_pb_text"}" data-et-multi-view-load-tablet-hidden="true"> Here we are, sauntering towards the end of 2023, ham, turkey, and cookies in sight. Well, sauntering might not be the correct word for most of us. I’m pretty sure what I’m doing would be more accurately described as ‘scrambling manically’. He is beauty, he is grace, he has a psychotic look on his face (wow, I’m a poet). My bad jokes aside, it has officially been 2 years and 9 months since I first launch Of Blood and Fire. 2 years and 9 months since I started this journey and my life changed in its entirety. In that space of time I have written over 1 million words, published ~966k words, and officially passed 200,000 books sold. That last one is something I only realised recently and I quite literally did a double take. That’s a pretty amazing thing to reflect on, and I have to say it has me very thankful. 2023 itself has been both an amazing and hectic year from start to finish. In January (has it really been that long?), I publised the third book in The Bound and The Broken – Of War and Ruin – which was by far the longest book I’ve ever written, beating Of Darkness and Light by a whopping 187k words. To say I was nervous about this release would be one hell of an understatement. I was absolutely terrified. What if it flopped? What if I’d just written a 437k word pile of steaming turd? What if my dreams just fell apart? All you have to do is talk to my wife to find out how I was nothing but a ball of nerves. But then something magical happened: January 19th rolled around and I was flooded with the most overhwhelmingly incredible wave of support. Of War and Ruin was recieved better than my wildest dreams could have conjured, and I was a little bit shellshocked. It’s all but impossible to describe how special it is to put literal blood (papercut), sweat, and tears into a book and then see it resonate with readers. All I can say is thank you. Fast forward to September, and after a horribly cruel (and spectacularly hilarious) April Fools’ prank, The Ice finally entered the world. That’s one (massive) novel and one (not really a novella) novella out in the world in 2023. And not only that, but in a day or so my first short story – The Blood That Burns the Winter Snow – will hit kindles as part of the Advent of Winter Anthology. That’ll do pig, that’ll do. (For those of you who didn’t back the Advent of Winter Kickstarter, and want to read The Blood That Burns the Winter snow, I do believe the ebook will be available as soon as possible in the new year.) Aside from these releases, what else have I been upto this year? Well as many of you will know, The Broken Binding special editions of The Fall went on sale at the end of Novemeber and sold out straight away. That was pretty incredible. Add that to the fact that the leftover copies of Of Blood and Fire sold out in precisely 3 seconds, and it’s all a bit surreal. To put it into perspective for you, when I first launched the series I created 50 numbered copies of each hardback. Just 50. It took me probably two months to sell those 50 copies for Of Blood and Fire (And many of them were bought by family and friends). Fast forward to when I released the 50 numbered copies of The Fall and I distinctily remember sitting in Amy’s parents spare room with my legs folded beneath me, hand painting the page edges with metallic gold paint. You have no idea how long that took me. Now, not only have we sold 1,500 special editions of both Of Blood and Fire and The Fall (3,000 total – quick maths), but those editions sold out at insane speeds. We never could have anticipated how quickly they would sell or how many people would want them. And do you know a small thing that really blew me away? Thinking of how I hand painted gold paint onto the edges of the first copies of The Fall and these editions have actual gold leaf and silver gilded edges. It’s crazy to see how far everything has come from where we started. I had the immense pleasure of going on my first ever mini tour this year which took me from New Zealand, to the US, and to the UK. I was given the opportunity to sit on panels with incredible authors at DragonCon, FantasyCon, and Featherston Booktown. What was more, I got to meet so many amazing readers and people I’d chatted to online for so long but never had the chance to meet in person. It was a special experience and one I don’t intend on being my last. I’m expecting 2024 to be no less hectic than 2023. Who’d have figured? From a series perspective Of Empires and Dust, Book Four in The Bound and The Broken, is going to be my primary focus for 2024. The draft is currently sitting at about 65k words and I’m exepcting the final count to fall in a pretty similar range to Of War and Ruin. So only about 372k words left to go. *cracks neck and rolls up socks* With that in mind I am aiming to have the book out in the world in the latter half of the year, so that’s going to be a lot of writing on my part. If all goes to plan, the draft will be finished by April/May, then I will be moving onto the Beta Reading, revisions, line editing, and proofreading. I’m very excited about this book. There has been a lot building throughout the series, so many threads being weaved, seeds being sown, and this is where everything starts to come full circle. I have some major reveals lined up for you, some epic scenes, and dragons – a lot of motherfucking dragons. My writing has been slower than I’d wished towards the latter half of this year (there’s been a lot going on), but I’m pretty certain that will change as we enter 2024. It’s been nice to ease off the throttle a little bit, but I’m more than ready to sink my teeth back into the world and charge forward like a dwarven Bersekeer. So there are actually quite a few special little projects brewing for 2024. Unfortunately, I actually can’t tell you much about some of them yet! I know, I know, I’m a tease. For now what I can say is I will be part of a very special anthology that I am genuinely still not sure I belong in, and I will also be a part of a pretty damn cool Kickstarter (oh yes) that is going to bring you something beautiful! I also have a potentially MASSIVE project that I’m hoping to hear more about in the early new year. Something I can tell you? I will be starting the art briefs for the special edition of Of Darkness and Light very soon. Just like with Of Blood and Fire and The Fall we will be expecting to see this go on sale around November. And I’ve been given a long leash for packing it full of amazing art! As of right now the only convention I’m more or less confirmed for is WorldCon 2024 in Glasgow. I will be doing more planning and seeing what is feasible for me in what is going to be a very busy year – hoping to visit the US and Australia. But if there is a convention near you that you’d love me to appear it, please let me know! Comment below or send me an email! Of Empires and Dust is the fourth and penultimate book in The Bound and The Broken series. After that comes the fourth novella, and then after that comes the fifth and final book. Oh, and did I mention, the fifth book has a title? I know I’m biased but I think Of Gods and Ashes is a pretty badass title. I revealed this title on social media recently as an apology for being so busy recently and the reaction I got was both incredible and heartbreaking. What was the most frequent comment? “I can’t believe it’s all coming to an end.” Damn, that got me. I’ve been writing this story for almost three years now, and with Of Empires and Dust releasing in late 2024, the liklihood is that the fifth and final book won’t hit shelves until late 2025 or perhaps 2026. So we do have some time before the series comes to a close, but it’s still a bit devestating, isn’t it? The first thing I will say is I absolutely have plans to write some short stories about these characters. So, breathe. Secondly, I’ve said this before in an unoffical capacity, but now I’m setting it in stone: this will not be the last series I write in the world of The Bound and The Broken. Once this story is told, it is told. I’m not a fan of dragging stories out. But I do have some tales I’m very excited to tell – some that are thousands of years in the past, some that are much more recent. To continue being the tease that I am, I will give you three tentative titles for some of those stories with no context. I’m looking forward to watching you guess what these might be about! So I think I can firmly say, this is not the end. The inevitable question after this is, “Are you ever going to write books outside the world of The Bound and The Broken?” And the answer is yes. Aside from these new series I plan to write within the world, I also have a list of series I’d love to try that are completely unrelated to TBATB. I have concepts for a Sci-Fantasy and a fantasy-horror blend. So, long story short, you’re stuck with me for a little while yet! Okay, you’ve read through all the updates and now you’re here. This is where I open up a little bit and let you into my brain before I turn the lights off and go enjoy my Christmas. This year has really felt like the year my author career became something tangible, and it will be a year I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Saying that, as an author it’s difficult to not always be thinking about the next book, to not always be feeling like you’re chasing your own tail. Even with a novel, a novella, and a short story this year, my brain has already turned to panic mode over “how quickly can I write Book 4 so people don’t forget about me?” I’ve also been in a weird headspace where I was worried that The Bound and The Broken had reached a blurry place where maybe it was popular enough that people would feel it no longer needed their support, but not popular enough to survive without that support. That’s a scary place for a series. I’ve seen many series reach that place and then slowly fade into obscurity. This inevitably feeds into my last point, where I feel a crushing need to get the fourth book written as quickly as possibly to make sure my dream doesn’t die. (If my projections are correct, by the time Book 5 is written, that will be about 1.8-2 million published words in four-and-a-half-to-five years) Why am I telling you all this? Because I think it’s good to show both sides of the coin, to show you the human element behind all the writing. I may be doing what I love, but that doesn’t mean its not the hardest work I’ve ever done in my life. And also, I’m telling you because time and time again, you – my readers and my friends – have shown me that you have my back. We’re on this journey together, just as we always have been. I can say with my hand on my heart that the community that has been built around The Bound and The Broken books is a special one and I’m very lucky to have it. When I get worried or scared about what the future holds for the series all I have to do is drop into my discord server for five minutes to see how passionate everyone is. I know I’m behind on answering my emails this year. Life has been non-stop and more than a little overwhelming. But I do my absolute best to read through every single one I get and reply to as many as I possibly can. I love getting emails. I love hearing how these books have affected people, how they’ve helped people. It really does make everything so worth it. So to my readers, with 2023 coming to a close, what I want to say is thank you for your kindness, your patience, your generosity, and your time. Thank you to everyone who has sent a message or an email. Thank you to everyone who has travelled far and wide to meet me at conventions. Thank you to everyone who has told a friend about the books. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have given me the ability to live my dream and for that I promise you I will never stop doing all I can to share that dream with you. There are also a few people in particular who have given me a truly surreal amount of support this year and I wanted to acknowledge that here. The Booktubing community, Instagram community, and (a small part of ) the TikTok community have really gotten behind the series this year, and in particular Petrik Leo, Mike (from Mike’s Books), Johan (from Library of a Viking), and Zoranne have been instrumental in helping The Bound and The Broken go from strength to strength this year. I honestly cannot count the amount of emails and messages I’ve recieved quoting those names to me as the reason they’ve started the series. So for that, I just want to say an extra special thank you. And I want you to know that all those videos you make, all that content you create, it really does make a difference. I know because it made a difference to me. Speaking of support, I don’t think I could close out the year without saying thank you to Matt and the team at The Broken Binding. At every turn, they have been pushing me forward. The faith they have shown in both myself and in the series has been an integral part of everything this year and I don’t want to imagine where I’d be without them. I could go on naming people until my website runs out of bandwidth (is that how the internet works?), but eventually this would just turn into the acknowledgement sections of my books. So I’ll do two more. This year I spent time with some amazing colleagues (face-to-face) and it really lit a fire under me. Seeing your passion in person, getting to talk craft with you, it was something I hadn’t gotten to do at this point in my career. I couldn’t possibly name you all, but Ronnie Virdi, Taya Latham, Justin-Lee Anderson, Stephen Aryan, Dave Wragg, Zack Argyle, Tao Wong, Janice Andrews, Dyrk Ashton, Davis Ashura… thank you for keeping me inspired this year, thank you for allowing me to use your fire to keep mine blazing. Lastly, something else happened this year that moved the centre of my world. I got married to my Ayar Elwyn. I have nothing to say, because I’ve said it all a thousand times. And I know I shouldn’t admit this as an author, but there are some things that words just cannot capture (at least not in the english language). Amy, Myia elwyn er unira diar, I denír viël ar altinua. Now, we’ve reached the end of 2023’s The Year According to Cahill (I’m trying to find something catchy, bear with me. I’m open to suggestions). So I’ll leave you with this. If you love someone, tell them. If you have a dream, chase it. If you want another slice of ham, eat it. This life is far too short for regrets. As always, you keep reading, I’ll keep writing. Thank you for a year I will never forget. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and enjoy the Blood Moon! Your biggest fan, Ryan
Projects and Special Editions \n
What to expect from 2024?\n
Plans for The Bound and The Broken going forward \u2013 is this the end?\n
Projects and Special Editions \n
What to expect from 2024?\n
Plans for The Bound and The Broken going forward \u2013 is this the end?\n
Projects and Special Editions
Conventions
What to expect from 2024?
Other things to get excited about
Conventions and appearances
Plans for The Bound and The Broken going forward – is this the end?
The post 2023 The Year According to Cahill first appeared on Ryan Cahill.
The post 2023 The Year According to Cahill appeared first on Ryan Cahill.
November 20, 2022
Of War and Ruin – Prologue
Well, here we are.
The release for Of War and Ruin is going to be pushed back by 30 days to the 19th of January.
This isn’t a decision I make lightly, even though it’s only 30 days. I really wanted to get this book out for December 20th and I’ve pushed so hard to get that done (I’ve now written 87,000 words in the last 25 days. That’s a lot of words). And what’s more, I actually met all my writing targets and deadlines, but the story grew and needed more. Which means it takes longer to write.
It’s now looking as though Of War and Ruin will be right up there, word count wise, with the likes of Way of Kings, and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson – it’s looking like 400-420k words. This increase in length is the core reason for the release being pushed back.
As a token of my appreciation for how amazing you all are, and how sorry I am, I’ve decided to give you a sneak preview and release the Prologue!
I hope you’re ready to jump back in!
Of War and Ruin PrologueEasterlock – Earlywinter, Year 3081 After Doom
Captain Teera Linar folded her arms, dragging a lungful of frost-touched air in through her nostrils. Even armoured in her full plate she felt the sharp bite of the storm winds moving inland from the Lightning Coast. Above her, clouds of obsidian-black blanketed the sky, blocking out all but a few stray strands of pale moonlight. Shadows flickered along the battlements, soldiers moving about in the dim glow of the lanterns that hung from poles.
Easterlock was ringed by two walls, each fronted by a spike-filled trench that sank thirty feet into the ground. The city’s walls were manned night and day. Always ready, always waiting. The elves rarely strayed from the cover of Lynalion, and only ever in small numbers. But Easterlock was the first line to hold back the tide should that ever change.
A dense layer of fog coated the land that lay before the city’s outer walls, tendrils of grey snaking over the River Hurin, creeping ever closer. The river was almost six hundred feet wide, running from the mountains of Mar Dorul and outward into the Veloran Ocean. No bridges traversed its breadth, no fixed point of crossing – it wasn’t meant to be crossed.
On the other side of the river, the immense woodland of Lynalion rose through the thick fog, each tree climbing hundreds of feet, their branches sweeping outward, thick with leaves of dark green. The woodland was as vast as an ocean, stretching over a thousand miles around the foothills of Mar Dorul, hugging the coastline on the other side.
“It never gets any easier, does it?”
Teera turned at the sound of the familiar voice, nodding to Galow as the man ascended from the shadow-covered stairs and stepped into the light of the lantern that hung on a pole to Teera’s left. Galow was no taller than her, with a thick beard of black stippled with white and a helm strapped firmly under his chin. He wore a steel breastplate emblazoned with the black lion of Loria, a sword at his left hip. He too was a captain of the guard, though he was ten years Teera’s senior. He had been a captain when she had first arrived at Easterlock. She had only seen eighteen summers then. “Not when you never get any younger, old man. You’ve come from the inner wall?”
Galow nodded, casting his gaze out at the oozing layer of fog that crept across the ground before the city walls. “Aye, ‘tis quieter there than a funeral. I left Duris in charge. Thought you’d appreciate the company. How goes the watch?”
Before Teera could answer, a shiver ran the length of her spine, a faint sound touching her ears, like a whistle in the wind. She tilted her head sideways. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Galow asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I’m not sure. Something.” Teera unfolded her arms, stepping closer to the battlements, narrowing her gaze as she studied the creeping fog. She looked along the ramparts. Lanterns illuminated the length of the wall, spots of warm orange light stretching off into the distance until they were nothing but dim flecks, partly obscured by the silhouettes of the soldiers who huddled around them.
“The night’s playing tricks on you, Teera.” Galow laughed, clasping his hand on her shoulder.
“Maybe…” Teera continued to stare along the ramparts as she spoke, not bothering to shrug away Galow’s hand.
“It’s what this place does,” Galow said, leaning against the battlement, staring out at Lynalion in the distance. “Here.” Galow produced a small metal flask from within his cloak, taking a swig before passing it to Teera. “Something to warm the body and soothe the mind.”
Teera took the flask, raised the opening to her nose. The smell of the sharp spirit burned her nostrils. She knew the noxious liquid would do little to soothe her mind, but she would take every drop of warmth she could find. Lifting the flask to her lips, she took a long draught, relishing the burn as the spirit slid down her throat. She tilted her head back and let out a long sigh, watching her breath mist in the air.
“That stuff isn’t cheap, you know,” Galow said, laughing. He snatched the flask out of Teera’s hand, took another swig, then slid it back inside his coat.
“I know,” Teera said, smiling. “That’s why I drink yours…” Teera’s voice trailed off, the hair on her arms and neck standing on end as she saw one of the lanterns go out further along the wall. Her heart stopped. Had she just seen that or was the night truly playing tricks on her?
“What is it?” Galow asked, following her gaze into the distance. A sense of urgency picked up in his voice. “What are you looking at?” As though in direct response to Galow’s question, another light went out, another lantern snuffed. Then another, and another. “Did that just…”
“We need to sound the alarm!” Teera yelled, pulling at the horn that hung around her neck.
“Teera, hold on we need to—”
Teera whipped her head around at the sudden stop in Galow’s words. She found herself staring into her friend’s eyes as they bulged. Galow’s hands were clasped either side of his throat, his fingers wrapped around the shaft of an arrow that had punched through his neck from right to left. He stood there for a moment, surprise painting his face, blood pouring over his fumbling fingers, his lips moving but no sound escaping his throat. Then, he stumbled sideways, the surprise in his eyes supplanted by fear before they rolled to the back of his head and he fell from the ramparts.
Dread slithered through Teera’s veins, her blood turning to ice as she watched her friend fall into the darkness. She staggered, resting her hand against the battlements, steadying herself. Taking in a deep breath, she pulled the horn to her lips and blew as hard as her panicked lungs would allow.
A chorus of horns answered her call.
After a few moments, the deep, sonorous ringing of the city bells echoed through the night, joined by the sound of armoured boots as the city’s garrison mobilised. Thousands of soldiers emptied out into the streets, reacting to the alarm with an efficiency bred from repetition and time, flooding the ramparts of both the inner and outer walls.
Shouts and screams rang out all along the walls, lanterns going dark, soldiers plummeting to their deaths. Her mouth going dry, Teera pushed herself away from the battlements, standing to her full height as soldiers swarmed around her, bows gripped in their fists, swords at their hips, taking up their positions.
It took Teera a moment to gather herself, pushing the images of Galow from her mind. She cast her gaze over theflickering mass of torches that now filled the city and illuminated both the inner and outer walls.
“Steady!” A voice called in the night. “Hold your positions!”
Teera turned to see a tall man marching towards her. He had a face that looked as though it had been chiselled from rock, and a long black cloak with silver markings billowed behind him as he moved. “Captain Linar, report. What’s happening?”
“Exarch Dradkir.” Teera inclined her head, as was proper, shifting so some of the soldiers could take up position along the walls. “I…”
“Spit it out, Captain.”
“I don’t know, Exarch. Everything was quiet, and then… We’ve taken casualties from arrows. But visibility is too low to tell how many.”
The Exarch narrowed his eyes, held Teera’s gaze for a moment, then nodded. “Nock arrows!”
Dradkir strode over to the battlements, his eyes fixed on the fog-covered ground below. Teera didn’t have to look to know that more Battlemages had taken up position along the length of the wall.
Orbs of light burst into existence across the landscape at the base of the walls, floating off the ground, slicing through the thick fog, illuminating the night. Teera’s heart hammered against her ribs. Within moments, every inch of ground within a hundred feet of the city walls was bathed in white light as though it was mid-day. But there was nothing to be seen, no attackers, no army, only damp grass and shrubs.
The echoing clang of city bells pierced the heavy silence. But after a few moments, even the bells faded; the garrison was roused, the people sheltered.
Exarch Dradkir looked to Teera, but she was as perplexed as anyone else. She had seen the arrows. She had seen Galow fall to his death, blood spurting from his neck. She had seen the lights go out.
“Exarch!”
Both Dradkir and Teera turned at the sound of the soldier’s voice. It took a moment for Teera to realise what the man was pointing at, but then she saw it. On the ground below, standing at the edge of the orbs’ light, was an elf.
It was nearly impossible to gauge the elf’s size or build, but it wore a full suit of smooth-flowing golden plate that glittered in the light of the orbs, a red cloak knotted at its shoulders. The elf held a teardrop shaped shield in its left hand that stretched from its neck to its knees, a long shafted battleaxe in its right fist.
“What’s it doing?” one of the soldiers whispered.
“Waiting,” Dradkir answered, causing the soldier who had spoken to jolt upright, straighten his back, and stare ahead. “But the more prudent question is what is it waiting for?” Dradkir stared at the elf for a moment, casting a cursory glance further along the ground. No other elves stood in the light; Teera had already checked.
“Should we wait?” Teera asked, glancing towards Dradkir.
Dradkir held Teera’s gaze for a beat. Around him, the soldiers’ erratic breaths misted in the air, their eyes fixed on the elf, their hands twitching on their bowstrings. “This is not the time to wait and see, Captain Linar. Draw and loose!”
The sound of hundreds of arrows being loosed cut through the air, and Teera watched their flight, the light from the baldír on the ground below dispelling any shadows. Anticipation knotted in her gut. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked when she saw the arrows parting before the elf, splitting like water breaking against the bow of a ship. One after another they plunged into the ground around the elf, leaving it unscathed and unmoved.
Fear set like ice in her veins. She had witnessed the Spark being used countless times. She had grown up around it. She had been trained around it. But it had only ever been the mages who had wielded its power. She had seen the Battlemages rip holes through enemy lines, Healers set broken bones, Craftsmages build bridges in minutes. But she had never seen an enemy wield the power of the Spark. She had never had to face it in battle.
As Teera’s eyes remained fixed on the armoured elf, arrows studding the ground around it, more elves stepped from the fog-obscured darkness, their golden armour sparkling like stars in the white orb light. In a matter of moments, one became ten, became a hundred, became thousands.
Teera swallowed hard, her throat tightening. A shiver swept through her, starting in her chest then moving through her arms and legs, until even her fingers trembled. She could hear the shuffling of armoured feet around her, the mumbles and gasps.
“What are they waiting for?” Teera whispered, more to herself than anyone else but she saw Dradkir glance towards her, trepidation in his eyes. That worried her even more. She had never seen Dradkir so much as flinch. In fact, she had never seen any Battlemage show even the slightest hint of hesitancy.
Whoosh.
Teera’s blood turned to ice.
Whoosh.
She had heard that sound before, many times.
Whoosh.
But she had never heard it come from behind enemy lines.
The air felt heavy. The night was still. Nothing but breaths and wingbeats. Then the world shook.
A blood-chilling roar ripped through the sky. Teera’s heart plunged into her stomach, her limbs stiffening. The dark erupted with a series of blazing flashes as orange-red fire poured over the ramparts, sweeping from east to west, snuffing out hundreds of lives in the blink of an eye.
It was only then Teera connected everything: why the elves had feigned the first assault and why they had waited. They were drawing us out, pulling us onto the walls.
All around her, soldiers scattered, screaming, shrieking, running for the stairs, knocking each other to their deaths. Teera stood rooted in place, her gaze fixed on the sky. There was no point in running. Two blazing orange eyes stared back at her, glistening in the light of the roaring fire as the great dragon plummeted, its jaws open wide. Wisps of flame formed in the creature’s gaping maw, flickering.
Taking a deep breath, Teera exhaled through her nose, then closed her eyes.
Heraya embrace me.
The post Of War and Ruin – Prologue first appeared on Ryan Cahill.
The post Of War and Ruin – Prologue appeared first on Ryan Cahill.
