On September 27th, 2024 I posted about the Cycle Project. As it has been a while, allow me to refresh your memory. I never intended to write anymore stories in the world of Elan except the original six novels of the Riyria Revelations. I felt the ending was satisfying for those who like complete endings—not everyone does I discovered. So, when my wife asked for more Royce and Hadrian stories, I created prequels to accommodate her, which I wrote while I worked on the science fiction thriller Hollow World.
Then everyone wanted another fantasy series. Some hoped I would create a new world entirely, but I didn’t see the point in building a new reality when Elan still held plenty of potential and untouched real estate. The hardest thing about building an invented world is that before you can present a story you first need to educate the reader. In the past, there was the tried and true info dump that graced the start of many fantasy novels. This unpleasant habit was something diehard fantasy fans learned to accept, and which I felt prevented potential converts from joining the fun. Few casual readers appreciate a required course on geopolitical history before even finding out if the story, characters, or even the genre is for them. As the fantasy genre matured, however, writers learned to integrate world building with the story. But making world building entertaining isn’t as easy as some authors make it look. I personally find having to explain too much gets in the way of a good story in the same way that having to explain a joke after the telling kills the humor. For this reason I stuck with Elan as I assumed most of my potential readers would be familiar with it.
In the creation of Legends of the First Empire, I was forced to flesh out more of the world and in doing so, I discovered the potential for a sequel to Revelations. For more on this read the afore mentioned Cycle Post.
It has now been four years since the Exploratory Committee of One began their deliberation on the feasibility of a post Revelations series. The Cycle will consist of five novels, and as I have already finished drafts for books 1 through 3 as well as the prerequisite novel Blythin Castle, the committee has finally determined that there is a reasonable chance such a series might work. So, if you think I’ve been sitting in a lawn chair with an umbrella drink for the last four years while Lorian does all the heavy lifting, consider that I now have four unpublished Elan novels (aside from this year’s release of Out of the Ashes) waiting in the editing queue.
My intention at this moment, is to spend the summer editing Blythin Castle, working on the remaining necessary Cycle related short stories, and then prepping Cycle Four (C4), so I can start it in late summer/early fall. In addition, I will be working with Lorian on the second book of her series while fixing up the home we now have here on the island.
All that said, while I have a high level of confidence in C4, C5 remains the greatest threat to this series seeing the light of day as it still has problems I need to work out. As such, the Exploratory Committee of One (ECO) has officially moved the Likelihood of Release dial from zero to a fifty-one percent chance of sunshine.
Robin’s estimation may vary.