— A note from your author —
So ends another book. Thank you all for joining me on our little journey. Knowing someone is out there, eating up every chapter I write, motivates me to keep going.
Funny story. Once upon a time, the books Heretic, Exile, and Warlord were supposed to be a single volume of roughly 110,000 words. Some of the first scenes I wrote were Zaid's invasion of the desert. I didn't realize it at the time, but it would take a quarter million words just to get to that point of the story. Unexpected people kept showing up. Iraj tried to steal animals from Red Tower in the middle of the night. Parsa was discovered hiding out among the captured horses. Harrence joined the fight to get justice for his daughters. None of them were planned, but they all deserved their stories. The single book became three volumes.
If you've ever written software for a living, this should sound familiar. Something you hadn't planned on suddenly feels like the most important aspect of the project, and you're compelled to explore the possibilities. Scope creep, they call it. I call it more than I bargained for.
Taylor is now firmly installed as Hierarch Phillip the Younger, but his adventures will continue. Somehow, he has to fast-track an age of enlightenment. He must plumb the knowledge of the ancients and Tenobre's forgotten history. New technology will change everyone's hopes and expectations. Some old institutions must be reformed, while others must be destroyed. More and bigger monsters will appear. Some of those monsters will be people.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I know what you're thinking. When can I read more Isekai Veteran?
A new book is coming, starting in about four weeks. While you're waiting, I'm working on some things.
- Find my next story. I have a lot of new scenes drafted, moments I think are fun or interesting, but I don't yet have a story. Anyone paying attention knows I left plenty of quest hooks lying around, so there's no shortage of material to work with.
- Start a Patreon. When I start writing the next book in earnest, I'll resume my current pace of 6-10k words per week. I'll post a 2-3k weekly installment on RoyalRoad, while Patreon subscribers can read everything.
- Clean up and publish these two volumes. There are inconsistencies, timeline issues, and other work that needs to be done. Warlord needs a proper cover, and I'd like to add maps to the published works. None of this is particularly arduous, but it eats up calendar days. I want Exile and Warlord to be in a finished, consistent state before I drop any new chapters for the next book.
- Prepare to GM a new campaign. My gaming group has been playing together since the '90s. In all that time, we've never had an OP isekai adventure. I think we're past due. Lazy creature that I am, I'll locate the campaign in a future Tenobre when the burning sun is at its peak and monsters plague the world. The core rules will be 13th Age, but I'm going to add Otherworlder Powers to the mix. Patreon subscribers will have access to whatever sourcebook I put together for my players.
So stay subscribed, and I'll be seeing you soon.