Questions About Age of Legend (The Legends of the First Empire, #4)

by Michael J. Sullivan (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (16)

When is Age of Legends going to come out? Oh please please say soon. I told myself I would stop reading series that aren't complete after the whole A Song of Ice and Fire fiasco but was not able to keep my promise. I really enjoyed the Riyria Chronicles and at first was not sure abou this series with it going back in time and all. But I am really happy I gave it a chance as it is certainly worth the read.

Michael We are shooting for April 2019 (which will be 9 months after Age of War). Our hope is to release all three remaining books in a year and a half so the…moreWe are shooting for April 2019 (which will be 9 months after Age of War). Our hope is to release all three remaining books in a year and a half so the current release schedule is:

Age of Legend: April 2019
Age of Death: October 2019
Age of Empyre: April 2020

I'm also glad you gave it a chance. Thanks for the kind words!

To make that schedule I need to do the final tweaks, beta reading, and all the editing in short order. But I think it is doable. In many ways the series is two 3-book closely related arcs. So I'd rather have a little more time between War and Legend and shorter times between Legend, Death, and Empyre.(less)

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Will this book be published in 2018? Same year as "Age of War"?

Michael It depends. And the answer is kinda long, but here goes. So, originally Del Rey bought the first half of the series, and they tend to like to release …moreIt depends. And the answer is kinda long, but here goes. So, originally Del Rey bought the first half of the series, and they tend to like to release the books one a year. When it came time to negotiate for the second half of the series, we ran into a road block. You see, Penguin Random House (the parent company of Del Rey) had change in policy regarding "required rights." Previously they would "like to have" audio rights, but if they couldn't get them they would still write a contract. But with the new policy they absolutely will not buy a book where the audio rights are not available. Since I had previously sold the audio rights for all six books, that meant that the last three books were essentially locked out.

Once this was discovered, I started looking for publishers who don't require audio rights (which pretty much took out all of the big-five), and I negotiated a deal with Kensington Publishing (the largest non big-five publisher). While we have a "deal memo" for them to publish the books, we still don't have anything signed. I would have liked for them to put out the books on a six month schedule, they wanted to follow what Del Rey was doing (1 a year). I finally got a compromise from them where their first book (book #4) would be 1 year from book #3 but then the last two would come out more quickly.

So if the deal does get signed the release dates for the books will be:

Age of Legend (Book #4) - July 2019
Age of Death (Book #5) - March 2020
Age of Empire (Book #6) - October 2020

But, if we can't get this thing signed and put to bed, I'll go back to my original desired release dates which is every 6 months. So that would mean.

Age of Legend (Book #4) - Dec 2018
Age of Death (Book #5) - July 2019
Age of Empire (Book #6) - Dec 2019(less)

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Any connection between Gath of Odeon (the wise) and Gath the Dull of Dullgath?

Michael Haha, so I never thought of the ancestors of the Dulgath line as being "dull" but that derivation had to come from somewhere, right? Whether there is …moreHaha, so I never thought of the ancestors of the Dulgath line as being "dull" but that derivation had to come from somewhere, right? Whether there is "actually" a connection or whether someone "usurped" a connection I won't say ;-)(less)

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Yesterday I got to the speech (paraphrasing): "Oh, yes, how silly of me, Ive had a magic stone in my pocket this whole time. You just rub it and it gives unlimited wishes, and also creates pink bunnies!" Was this inspired by your dealings with the Big Publishing houses? :)

Michael Haha, no not at all. It's just what popped into my head as I was writing it.…moreHaha, no not at all. It's just what popped into my head as I was writing it.(less)

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Can these books be read as standalones or do you have to read them in order?

Michael It would be best to read them in order.

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