sarahlin

TWC Lore: Fiyu and Nauda

I'm back with two new blueprints and a preview! These were made thanks to patron Lamsey, who has really gone above and beyond. ^-^

First, we have Fiyu's soulhome, with her known chambers as of the first book listed. The style is meant to be an etching, since Ichil doesn't generally use standard paper blueprints. You can see how her soulhome is a balanced fusion of several materials, and there will be much more information about this in future books.

Meanwhile, Nauda's is meant to ...

Street Cultivation 3 is out!

It's time! The third book in the trilogy is now available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NFJWWBF 

As always, please leave a review if you want to support the book. Those of you who are most passionate about Street Cultivation, this is the time to show up! Regardless of future decisions made about spinoffs or continuations, I want to focus on this release, since it resolves the initially prom...

TWC Lore: Theo's Blueprint

In lieu of a chapter, I have something fun: a visual representation of Theo's soulhome. You guys expressed way more enthusiasm for this sort of thing than I expected, and thanks to some help from a supporter, I'm able to present something better than my scribblings. ^-^

I hope my written descriptions in the book were enough for everyone to understand the basic shape, but this one fleshes out some positioning details. For example, Theo's defensive and strengthening chambers are only brie...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 28-30

Let's get right into it.

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Chapter 28

As if the sun wasn't bad enough, it remained perfectly still overhead, hour after hour. Its burning light continually sapped their will to keep moving, and especially to keep sprinting. When next they slowed down to recover, Fiyu was covered in sweat.

"I thought... the Tatian sun..." She stopped to wipe away sweat beading along her mask. "...was horrible, but this... is it always there?"

"I'm surprised it has...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 26-27

I've paused Patreon charges, as we're closer to the ending than you might think. At minimum for one month, but I'll review that decision later.

That said, I hope everyone will enjoy the climax of the first book and there's some other stuff in store! In addition to the Street Cultivation launch, we might even get some nice blueprints and other soulhome material.

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Chapter 26

After the feast, the three of them began to soulcraft together more frequently,...

Street Cultivation: World History

Surprise! SC3 is done, but the content isn't quite finished! This is going to be an appendix in the third book, so I thought I'd show everyone here. The introduction below will be part of it, but I'll just say that setting this up was a fun exercise... but also a tricky one, because I didn't want to blunder straight into serious issues in world history or modern politics.

I hope it's interesting to everyone, anyway!

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Street Cultivation isn't an alternate history, as there's...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 24-25 + TBS Giveaway

The Brightest Shadow audiobook comes out today, and I'm giving away free copies on r/fantasy! Click here if you're interested:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jjfrsd/the_brightest_shadow_audiobook_release_party/ 

Meanwhile, we have some important character moments in today's TWC chapters. I've been surprised by some of the responses ...

Street Cultivation 3: Epilogue

Brief epilogue, so let's get straight into it.

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Epilogue: Street Cultivation

Luke walked down the street, but he wasn't going anywhere. As he reached one pothole, he turned around and went back the other way, doing his best not to look to the side of the street. The Advanced Lucrim station glimmered there, promising easy wealth in moments.

It would work, he knew that, but he'd seen what it did to others. His parents, first of all. Every bit of money t...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 21-23

The RoyalRoad version of this story continues to skate along, though frustratingly it's stayed just below the front page on many days. I'm surprised to see that the average rating is still fairly high, but today the chapter where Theo's first blueprint fails will go up. As you guys advised, I'm going to post double chapters today, but we'll see if that has any effect.

Meanwhil...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 49-51

Triple chapter time!

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Chapter 49: Rick vs Raggest

"Finally finished your dawdling?" Josiah smoothed down his bristling mustaches. "Step into the ring, Richard. And do send a servant to summon Raggest! My lands, the cock crowed hours ago!"

Most of the other immortals watching looked apathetic about the delays, and while Rick had been standing there, several others had arrived. Clearly, starting on time was not as much of a priority for them as it was f...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 19-20

First up, Podium made an animated cover for the new Audible release of The Brightest Shadow! That's a downgraded version, because Patreon won't let me upload the bigger one. The pre-order is up, so if you're interested, check out the direct or geni.us link for other countries. As I've mentioned, it's decent value for a credit a...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 47-48

We are close to the end of SC3. It will take time for the non-patron readers to catch up, and I scheduled the Amazon release further out from that, but you guys are going to see the final twists and culminations relatively soon. This is what I've been writing toward for quite some time.

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Chapter 47: Community

Over the course of several weeks, Rick began to find the other side of withdrawal. His fever subsided and his body only trembled involuntarily on occa...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 16-18

If you have an account on RoyalRoad and want to support TWC, please check out the public version and give ratings/reviews/follows/upvotes! This week is my best chance of hitting the trending page or the top list, so building up momentum and total ratings is essential. We're in the top 25, so hitting the front page isn't impossible.

This week's set of three chapters is one reason I don'...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 45-46

And so we begin the recovery. My goal with this was to show that Rick finally has the capacity (and support circle) to get out in front of what's screwing him over instead of getting blindsided by it. This is nearly the last lull before the big climactic sequence, but we have a bit to go yet.

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Chapter 45: Dependents

Melissa paced back and forth across the floor of her room. It should have made her feel like her brother, scowling about something, but instead...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 14-15 + Character Art

Character art! Look at it! I hope you can tell exactly who each character is without labels, though this isn't necessarily how they look as of the first book. Rather, the art represents an ideal form of the characters once they acquire their main equipment and core appearance. Theo doesn't have that spiffy coat and hasn't chosen a white and black aesthetic yet, for example, and you guys don't even know why he's floating.

These three are the core series characters, though many others wil...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 43-44

There are some significant shifts in these chapters. Due to the intended differences in this series, it was never going to be Rick going from zero to immortal omnipotence. But I wanted to show his growth in multiple ways, beyond just strength. Hopefully it feels both earned and satisfying.

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Chapter 43: Casual Drinking

The Nokan guards stepped away, bowing in respect as Teragen walked forward. Soon it was only the two of them outside the arena, the street tr...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 11-13

Another three chapters this week! I'll probably have character images to show you next time. I hope people enjoy this set, which has a mix of many different elements.

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Chapter 11

An entire month passed more quickly than Theo had expected. After stumbling from place to place, always concerned that he would be eliminated by someone targeting him, it was good to focus and make substantial progress. Though being directly attacked seemed unlikely, he remembered ...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 41-42

Time for more locations to appear and more old characters to resurface! Though Street Cultivation is intentionally more loosely paced, this third book is still meant to bring a number of major elements full circle.

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Chapter 41: Indecent Proposals

The first fifteen minutes with Damian were a whirlwind, riding along with him in an expensive limousine into the city. Thankfully, the women he used as accessories didn't try to engage with Rick in any way. Damian ...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 9-10

I'd kind of hoped to have images of the main characters for you to look at by this point, but they're still WIP. I haven't worked with this artist before, so I can't predict exactly how long it will be yet. Quality takes time, though, and I hope you'll enjoy the eventual glimpse of the characters.

Anyway, two chapters this week, covering some important character and soulcrafting elements. I hope you enjoy them!

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Chapter 9

By the time all the students ...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 39-40

Before the chapters, what do you think of this WIP for the third cover? I tried to contact the artist early and he just... went to town putting this one together. Like the others in this series, the cover doesn't represent a specific moment, it embodies the spirit of the book, in this case Rick and Melissa pressed hard.

Anyway, this set of chapters includes yet more worldbuilding stuff I've been waiting to include, moving the setting yet again. Plus, it's time for an older character to ...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 6-8

Last weekend I asked if anyone advised using any websites other than RoyalRoad, and I don't believe anyone said anything. Are none of them worth using? I'd welcome that if it's the case, as I'm not fond of more work posting, but I figured I'd check one more time.

Anyway, these chapters try to move the plot along quickly while getting in a lot of soulcrafting and worldbuilding. Hope you enjoy them!

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Chapter 6

When Theo woke up, he felt so good he immed...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 37-38

I've started posting chapters of The Weirkey Chronicles on RoyalRoad, so that ball is rolling. More chapters here on Tuesday, as usual. But I wanted to ask: would any of you guys recommend I post on any other serialized fiction sites? I didn't pick RoyalRoad for Street Cultivation as a thoroughly considered decision, it was just the one I knew best. Are there others that you think would be w...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Chapters 3-5

Second set of chapters! I'll keep posting 2-3 of them per week until the book is done, which will be sooner than with a SC book. Though I prefer posting weekly, I'll post chapters more frequently on RoyalRoad starting... sometime soonish. My plan is for patrons to stay roughly five chapters ahead of the public postings, but that amount will vary throughout the week.

That said, chapters first, blurb stuff later.

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Chapter 3

Eventually everyone had gathe...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 35-36

I was glad to see the positive response to the first chapters of TWC. ^-^ But I'll generally save updates on that for Tuesdays, as I'm sure you all want to wrap up the cliffhanger from last time.

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Chapter 35: Bone Contract

Melissa let out a gasp that was suffocated by the sudden force wrenching her from the world. She suddenly found herself adrift in an expanse o...

The Weirkey Chronicles: Prologue + Chapters 1-2

Okay, chapters of The Weirkey Chronicles will be posted every Tuesday, starting today! This day of the week was chosen by popular demand, and hopefully it will work out. There's no concern of scheduling or falling behind, I'm only worried that I'll just plain forget. Tuesday is not a major day of the week for me.

In any case, expect chapters for several months until book one, titled Soulhome, is complete. My goal for this story is to write a fast-paced, light series with a different ang...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 33-34

I'm juggling a bit much at the moment, but I intend to start posting TWC chapters next week or the one after. Meanwhile, more SC3 as scheduled! This sequence is too long not to have a cliffhanger, sorry.

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Chapter 33: Ancient Ruins

Over the next week, the two of them met with Uncle Frank when they could, and just chatted or trained when he was too busy. The conversation didn't seem endless the way it had during the first couple days, but it was still great t...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 31-32

Haha, I posted the Katenka cliffhanger on RoyalRoad and joked about it, but to my surprise it motivated a lot of new people to join us! Glad to have all you folks here, and I hope you enjoy these new chapters. ^-^

In other news, I'm glad that some people are excited for The Weirkey Chronicles, but no one had opinions about when it should post. I was thinking of posting bundles of chapters on Wednesdays, perhaps. This wouldn't slow down the posting of SC3 chapters at all, regardless of t...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 29-30

Different sort of pre-chapter note today! I've been looking beyond the completion of SC3 toward my next project for a while, but consider this the official announcement.

TWC is xianxia-inspired, but in a different direction than SC. Instead of modernizing certain cultural and narrative tropes, it will draw more on xianxia power tropes (like discrete tiers) in a wholly original setting. I tried ...

Street Cultivation 3: Chapters 27-28

The audiobook release seems to be going fairly well, but I am not cut out for promotion and this process in general. Just creatively wiped over here. That's why I work ahead, of course, so I hope that you enjoy these new chapters. ^-^

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Chapter 27: Post-Contract Negotiations

"You wouldn't want the government spying on our fun, would you?" Katenka swayed toward him, eyes still as hard as before. "You see, there's just one little thing..."

Her f...

Street Cultivation 2 Audiobook

The sequel is out in audio format! You can check it out here:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Street-Cultivation-2-Audiobook/1541438302

I haven't received my free codes yet, but everyone who made a request in last weekend's thread is officially in the running! As of this post, entries are closed. I'll send codes as soon as I receive them.

Meanwhile, please review the audio...