Upcoming Plans
🕑 Added 2023-07-22 17:00:06 +0000 UTCSo, Wakespire is complete! You can look forward to seeing its release early next month, and I am gearing up for all the promotion and other work necessary for it. The actual editing and book preparation are hopefully done.
What happens to the Patreon in the interim? I intentionally set the tiers low to avoid barriers, and in the past I've stopped all payments during the break between books. Unfortunately, the people who primarily want chapters have in the past left anyway. If that is your position, I'm letting you know that there will be a few preview chapters, but it will be a while before the eighth book is posted in earnest.
I wanted this Patreon to be less about money than about providing a community for people enjoying my work, so I'm going to do my best to make this interim period interesting for everyone. Over the coming weeks you'll still get a post from me every weekend, they'll just include a variety of other TWC content.
Here's what you can look forward to:
- Species breakdowns for all Nine Worlds, starting with the image at the top of this post. So if you aren't sure what the different Arbaian species look like, can't keep some of the worlds straight, or want new info on details/species that haven't been revealed, look forward to the whole series!
- Updated soulhome diagrams. As we've done for every book, Lamsey and I will be working to get you fancy new blueprints for Theo, Fiyu, and Nauda.
- Most rewards will be for everyone, but there will be a few for $5 patrons, like this week's paperback preview.
- Book eight previews. I have plans for a post about my goals and approach with this book, plus there will be some preview chapters before the normal schedule begins.
- Short stories set in the Nine Worlds. We discussed these some time ago and I worked on a couple, but I don't think I ever shared them. These will sit alongside the main story, fleshing out elements, minor characters, or sides of the world.
- Maps... maybe. Many people voted to get maps of some of the familiar regions, and I've put a little work into them, but they're not close to ready yet. Some of these bonuses are ready to go, but others I hope to work on at some point during this time.
- New appendices. For example, I'm writing full appendices on Ichili titles and demonology. These will eventually go into new editions of the books, but before then they'll be patron-only.
- Hopefully there will be some book releases during this interim too. The re-release of Soulhome is waiting on cover art, Travis Baldree said he hopes to narrate Chasmfall this year, and there are potential special and combined editions.
- And finally I'll post about news and other tidbits, such as the new Street Cultivation fanart that was posted this week.
As I've said at various points, I'm afraid some delays are inevitable. I began The Weirkey Chronicles with a bit of a buffer and the current release rate has eaten through that. Given the schedule there's no time for breaks or to reread - some authors reread their entire series before starting each new book, but I've been relying on my memory and notes. Unfortunately, the eighth book is heavy on continuity and in my work on it, I realized that I made an error... maybe not something many readers will notice, but I really want TWC to stand as a unified whole, and fixing this will require more effort.
So that's what you have to look forward to! I've prepared a number of fun bonuses and I'm working on more while I do preparation for the big release. As always, thank you very much for supporting my career and the series. ^-^
Comments
Sarah Lin
It's an additional sensory organ! It can pick up vibrations and other changes in the air naturally, and do even more with soulcrafting.
Irakli Jishkariani
Wooow, antennas, no eyes and snakelike tongue. That was unexpected, good, I didn't imagine any difference other than cultural ones and eyes. I understand tongue, no eyes and sensitive limbs, but what function does antennas have? 🤔
Sarah Lin
One thing I worry I may not have made clear enough is that the sheet covers many different populations. Ichili with hair (like Fiyu) don't have antennae. Some Ichili have giant eyes, and some have no eyes, but Fiyu is from another population that has silvery eyes of medium size. She doesn't look too far off human, though internally she is indeed more different than just an ethnicity. That said, there are some populations with traits I don't think I've ever really described that we'll get into with later worlds!
Runcible Technician
For some reason I wasn't using alien world logic when thinking of these characters. I had a more star-trekish 'person but blue' view when they were described with the minor differences being more like a different ethnicity, but this makes way more sense. Theo has never described Fiyu as having anime eyes and no one has mentioned antenna or hentai tongue either. Is she from slender finger land?
Elliott
This post went full spectrum “Haha Elsa as Ichilili” to “OMG TONGUE Nauda, gurl you in danger!” 😨
Matt
Great job finishing another book! Way to keep at it.