Axel Martens
Axel Martens asked Michael J. Sullivan:

What comes after Drumindor? Will you leave Elan? Any other projects in the pipleline?

Michael J. Sullivan That's a complicated question. So, first and foremost. I have more stories in my head than I have time left on this earth to write them. Because of that, I'm not stopping anytime soon.

Some stories are Riyria based (like a possible 6th Chronicle, which would take place in Blythium Castle - a place where Roye and Hadrian were locked up for more than a year). And at least one is a sequel to Hollow World. Then there is a horror story - that has been outlined and waiting for me to have time to write. And 6 or 7 other projects that are similar waiting to be told, but other things have gotten in their way.

But at the moment, I'm not working on any of those. You see when I finished the Riyria Revelations, I swore I would never write "past Heir of Novron" books. Why? Because I was so proud of how it ended, that I didn't feel it was possible to raise the bar any higher, and falling short of its excellence would do my beloved ending a disservice.

But since that time, I've written 20 books in the world of Elan (two of which aren't yet released - Esrahaddon (August 2023 & Drumindor (Summer 2024), and that allowed me fully explore the tapestry that was in my head of which Riyria was a small (but important) portion of.

With Legend of the First Empire and The Rise and Fall, I was able to provide the appropriate foundation that would make "going forward" in the Riyria timeline possible. But there's a huge caveat. Well, two, actually.

First, doing so would be a tremendous undertaking. If i did what I hoped to do, it would be a massive task - one that may take many years to complete.

Second, it wouldn't be until after I got the whole thing done that I'd know whether I accomplished my goal of clearing the very high bar that is the ending of Percepliquis). It's quite possible - even likely - that the whole thing would be a colossal waste of time, and as such, it would certainly end up in a desk drawer and never see the light of day.

So, my current focus is on this massive cherry on top of the sundae. It's too soon yet to know whether it's even possible. But, if I had answered this question 90 days ago, I would have given it a 1 in 10 chance of survival, and currently there it's about 50/50. If things continue to go well, then that is the direction I'll take. If it starts to fall apart, then I'll switch to one of those other books mentioned above.

So the TL:DR version of this is - I'm not entirely sure, but I have some ideas and I'm working on them.

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