June Schedule Update

I figure I'll make monthly schedule updates here with more details on my future plans, then refine them down to less regular updates for everybody else.

One of the problems I have with scheduling is that I'm always thinking far ahead, but I don't write/edit fast enough to do that. So you'll see some very long-term thoughts here alongside stuff that is more realistic. Feel free to ignore or comment on what you like, but I'll try to be clear about what I'm actually working on.

General schedule is:

July: HS3

August: Demon's Throne 2

September/October: Demon's Throne 3

Before end of year: HS4, Empire Reforged 3, hopefully DT4

- Heretic Spellblade 3 is in the final stretch and still fine for early July, but I'm editing a lot. As I've hinted at in a few comments, it ended up a lot bigger and complicated than I expected. The story of Books 3 and 4 are tied together, and I've never done something quite like it before. Pacing-wise, I've been comparing it to a volcanic eruption - Book 3 is everything leading up to the eruption, plus the very beginning, and Book 3 is the eruption itself.

HS3 isn't in editing hell (far from it), but Act 3 needs some serious finishing work and the pacing is very wonky. You'll continue to see the original version while I edit, to minimize confusion.

EDIT 26/6: Delayed this until Mid-July for commercial reasons. Extra editing time is also nice.

- I'll be focusing on Books 2 and 3 of Demon's Throne next. These are also tied together, like with HS, so it's been good practice. I'll likely post some DT2 chapters before HS3 is released, but there will be a small break after the book is out.

- Empire Reforged is kicking around.

- I'd like to release DT4 before Christmas, but that will depend on a lot of factors. Talking about six months down the track is getting ambitious for me.

I'm also kicking around future series ideas. Both HS and DT are six book series, so I likely won't be publishing a new series until early-mid next year, when Demon's Throne is close to finished (it will finish first). But I will be working on new series, in order to stay ahead of the curve for once.

That means I plan to do some Messenger-level Patreon votes and discussions about my ideas, and which ones to work on. Right now, they're separated into "friendly", which are ideas that largely match my current books, and "risky", where I still meet basic genre expectations but I'll switch a few things up like setting, protagonist etc.

Anyway, let me know what you think, and if you feel this sort of update has value.