Derek asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Whats next for you after Blackguards?

Michael J. Sullivan It's a little hard to know what order various projects will come out in. I don't always control the release cycles. What I can tell you is what I'm working on ... and as the dates of each one gets a firm deadline then I'll post more about it.

So...let's see I do have a few completed stories that will be going out in various anthologies - again not sure of the timing.

* Unveiled - which was originally titled "Neverland's Shadow." It's being put out by Shawn Speakman and Roger Bellini. I have that short story 95% done, and would have finished it by now but I'm pretty consumed by my current novel...which I'll get to in a moment.

* Unfettered II - a follow up to Unfettered, of course. I've already written this story. The thing about Unfettered is we don't get paid for it...all the money goes to raise funds for authors who are suffering huge medical debut issues. The first one raised more than two-hundred thousand dollars to erase Shawn Speakman's debt from fighting cancer. He's going to do it again but now for others.

* Fantasy Faction Anthology - This project has been languishing for a few years now, and I submitted the story eons ago. Again I don't know the final release date, but the project seems to be moving again so I'm hopeful.

Okay...on to novels.

The First Empire is my newest four book fantasy epic. It's set in the world of Elan, but three-thousand years in the past. It's designed so that anyone can pick it up...in other words no prior knowledge of Riyria is necessary. That being said...those that HAVE read Revelations will have some bonuses as they'll learn more about the mythology and history of the world of Elan. I've not been exactly truthful in what I've said so far...myths being much different than reality after all. I'm really excited about it. I've written the first three books, and the first one is, hopefully soon, going to beta readers. My wife is giving it one last editing pass...and in so doing she decided I needed to change the ages of some of the players. This propagated a bunch of changes and slowed things down, but I think her instincts were right. Hopefully it will start after this weekend.

What I'm working on is the last book and it's going really well. I find myself a bit obsessed with writing right now, which normally happens in the fall...it's always been my most productive writing time...something to do with colder weather, less time spent outside, and memories of returning to school. I'll admit I got a burned out with the series which had started off as a trilogy but grew in to a quadrology. I had other projects I wanted to get to and when it morphed into a bigger project I felt a bit overwhelmed. For the first time in years I took some time away from writing and spent the summer recharging my batteries (and training for the ride to conquer cancer). I think that helped a lot. As for when it will come out? I made a post about this on my blog. here is a link for those interested.

Then I have two more novels waiting in the wings. One is a standalone. That came to me nearly fully formed one night when my wife's snoring woke me. I got up around 2:00 am and wrote way past sunrise writing out the plot. It's kinda like Hollow World in that I had no intention of writing this but the story was just so compelling that it's been nagging at me for a long time...this was one of the reasons I was sorry that The First Empire turned into four books...but now that I've had some feedback from Robin on books 1 - 3, and with some really good ideas coming up for book #4 I'm not as anxious about it as I once was.

Last and not least, is the third Chronicle book. Which is being written because people are still asking for more...and I still have good stories to tell with Royce and Hadrian. From this point on they will each be very standalone and I'm being careful not to have the two overstay their welcome. So I'll release a book, take a pulse, rinse and repeat as necessary. This one just may come out before the books in the First Empire because my plans are to self-publish it...and the First Empire books will, I hope, be traditionally published. One of the reasons I want to self-publish the third chronicle is it will provide me a means to get something "out there" much sooner than traditional publishing can. Writing entire series takes a lot of time, but really helps with plot cohesion, so it makes for long times between releases. By putting out my next novel myself I can get it to the market much quicker and help to fill the gap while the publisher is working on the larger series.

Thanks for asking...Oh and something I should mention....I do have a giveaway right now for the the version of Rhune that will go to the beta testers. If you want to enter, Here is the link. And here is a bit more about the book:

In the land of the Rhune, trees can tell the future, raow can’t sleep before adding more human bones to their bed, crimbals steal children through secret doors in the forest, and the gods are beyond reproach. But Raithe does the unthinkable when his father is slain...he fights back. From this act of aggression rises the legend of the God Killer, the seeds of a rebellion, and the question of whether the gods are really all powerful after all. Discover a new world by Michael J. Sullivan, the best-selling author of The Riyria Revelations and The Riyria Chronicles.

NOTE:This is an extremely limited edition advanced reading copy. The actual book released may vary from the copy sent as part of this giveaway.

flag