Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Once again, we have the pleasure to have a Q&A with Michael J. Sullivan - the author of Age of Swords. If you have any comments or questions for Michael, here is the place to ask!

If you want to see the previous Q&A with Michael, you can find it here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Michael am I correct in connecting Nimbus from Riyria to the mysterious man outside of the Fhrey door and also the mysterious person Esrahaddon is talking to during the Riyria flashback scenes to the fall or Percepliquis? I was actually thinking a step further that it could be Ferrol or a direct descendant as well.

Hey Scott, thanks for stopping by. You don't REALLY want me to answer that question, do you? It'd kinda take the fun out of discovering for yourself the answer, yes?

Generally when I do an author Q&A I'll answer questions about just about anything...except if it is going to spoil a book that isn't yet released. So, I'm going to have to respectfully decline to answer.

That said, I'm glad your mind is mulling over the various possibilities and I PROMISE your question will be answered through the course of the series.

Sorry to be evasive, I just don't want to spoil the fun.

Michael wrote: "You don't REALLY want me to answer that question, do you?"

Want and expect are two different animals. :)

I figured I'd get a reaction and at least see if I was onto something. If you're ever in the need for more beta readers I'd be more than willing to offer my humble services. :)

Thanks for spending time with us here, Michael. You've got a great fan base in this group.

I need to come up with some questions to ask.

Couple of questions here in regards to how you've set up the series'. With Chronicles, it seems like the stories are standalone stories but still follow the path of Royce and Hadrian beginning to know each other and understand how each other work and it seems as though you might continue writing Chronicles as you've got a new book coming out in December, however, with Revelations, it seems as though you left it with giving the reader a feeling of completion and that it's the end of that path of the storyline. Do you foresee yourself continuing Revelations at all (view spoiler)[(maybe what Royce and his daughter end up doing) (hide spoiler)], and also, do you foresee yourself continuing Chronicles further than Winter's Daughter?

Love your works and I'm sure I'll come up with more questions to ask before this ends. Thanks for doing this!

Mat, please don't post spoilers without tags warning folks that haven't read the books yet..

Fixed. Sorry, forgot there are people asking questions who might not have read them all.

Thanks, Mat.. :)

Scott wrote: "Want and expect are two different animals. :)
I figured I'd get a reaction and at least see if I was onto something. If you're ever in the need for more beta readers I'd be more than willing to offer my humble services. :) "

I do think it's good you are "thinking" about such mysteries and how they will play out. As for beta reading...are you a member of the "The Dark Room?" If you say, "the what" you probably aren't. It's a secret and private group on goodreads and if you aren't currently a member, I'd certainly send you an invite. This is the place that I post when the beta sign up is posted. That's the best way to get into that program. Let me know if you need an invite.

Chris wrote: "Thanks for spending time with us here, Michael. You've got a great fan base in this group."Thanks for all your help.

Hey Chris <> always nice to see you. I hope Robin is treating you well in the betas.

C.P. wrote: "I need to come up with some questions to ask."

No pressure! You can lurk as well. It's all good.

Hey Mat. Thanks for asking about the Riyria books. The answer is going to be a bit long, so bear with me.

Okay, so first. When I conceived of Riyria Revelations it cameo me as a complete story told through individual episodes and I knew where I would start and where I would end...and the ending was, in my opinion" the perfect place to end the tale...everything nicely wrapped up. New roles for various people, and the reader could decide for themselves where things went from there.

Well, my wife, and more than a few readers wanted more Riyria. Because of the ending I came up with I thought that continuing on in that timeline would be "tacking on" and possibly spoiling something that was really good. So I decided to go the "other end" of the timeline. Royce and Hadrian had been together for 12 years as of the start of the Riyria Revelations so why not show how they met and formed their little "rogues for hire" enterprise.

Long, long ago, my wife had me write a little short story that I could give away for free, and it was called The Viscount and the Witch. It acts as a good little "introduction" that people could try out Riyria to see if it's to their liking. Well, in it we see how Royce and Hadrian met Albert Winslow and how he became their liaison to get jobs form the nobility. So, I started the "early adventures" with that short and I wrote The Rose and the Thorn. When I was almost done with it I realized I hadn't gone back far enough because I still didn't show Riyria's actual meeting, nor their first job. Doh! So I also wrote The Crown Tower and with those two books completed, the "origin" story was complete.

At that point, I could walk away from the pair feeling I'd done my job (a) my wife and the readers got another 2 books with their favorite rogues, and I gave full details on an important time in their backstory. So I didn't really expect to write more Riyria. After all, we were now up to 8 books and I figured that would be enough. Still, I left the door open such that if people REALLY wanted more the pair, I'd certainly oblige.

Well, people did want more, so The Death of Dulgath came into being. Since I was self-publishing it and using Kickstarter it was important for it to be standalone. To make it so that people could start there and didn't matter if they had read any other Riyria books. That technique worked well. And once again I left the door open in case people wanted more. And they did...and that's where The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter comes in. Like Dulgath, it's a standalone book and no prior knowledge is required, but it also fills in a piece of backstory for people who have read Revelations as you see how they got to know the Duke and Duchess of Rochelle...just as The Rose and Thorn showed how they met Albert Winslow.

Now, by this time it's becoming clear that as long as I don't screw up terribly, there is still going to be a good number of people who will want "more Riyria" so when I wrote the Disappearance of Winter's Daughter I left one small threat dangling that could easily be the seed for a 5th Chronicle. As I did leave such a thread, I'm about 95% sure there will be another book to tie it up. But if for some reason there isn't....for instance if the overwhelming feedback is....STOP WRITING THESE BOOKS. Then I'll at least write a free short story to tie up that thread. So I think that answers one of your questions about more Riyria Chronicles. But how about the question about more books that would take place after the events of Riyria Revelations...well .... to explain that requires some more information, so bear with me.

In Revelations there was one thread that wasn't completely sowed up. It relates to a person just barely mentioned (Yolric) and his desire to determine if gods exist. He basically tips the world into chaos, and when it self-corrects it makes him wonder if there is an "invisible hand" correcting the wobble. Also in Revelations we keep hearing about a fair number of historical characters: Novron, Persephone and we learn some details about how the First Empire was formed. Well, as is the case, history is written by the victors and so what the people know about the events of 3,000 years ago is probably not accurate and is greatly distorted.

That's what brings us to Legends of the First Empire. What started out a s trilogy became six books and they are all written but need to go through the editing/publication process. The plan is to release #3 & #4 in 2018 and #5 and #6 in 2019. These six books tell the true story of the founding of the empire.

With that written...my next plan its tell the story of the empires fall. Which will provide the backstory for Esrahaddon, Nevrik, and Jerish. That is the next project I'm writing and while I plan on it being a trilogy...it will probably come in at six books (which is what both Revelations and Legends is at). The plan is to have those books come out between 2020 - 2022.

Okay...now we finally get to your questions about something future in the Riyria Revelation timeline. As I've been fleshing out all this "ancient history" I still would like to give final conclusion to Yolric and his search for the invisible hand. To do this story justice it would have to be beyond the Revelations timeline. The question is how far? Does it take place soon after Heir of Novron where some Riyria characters yet live? Or is it farther out in history where some long-lived characters still live but others have passed? Or is it really far out whereas all the Riyria people are dead and buried? The answer... I just don't know. I have several ideas and for now they are being jotted down but I can't even think about writing them that book until probably January of 2019 so for right now I just can't give any specifics...except to say, that there is a pretty good chance there will be at least one post-Revelation book. And who will be in it...I just don't know yet.

Okay, that's the whole bailiwick. I told you it would be long.

So the TL:DR version.

1. Yes, it is highly likely there will be a 5th Riyria Chronicle.
2. Yes, it is fairly likely there will be a post-Revelations book(s). But I'm not sure who will be in it as it depends on "how far" beyond Revelations it would take place.

Michael great answer. I look forward to wherever you decide the post Heir of Novron era goes along with the rest.

Wow, that is a great answer. I have heard some of that, but much of it was first time for me.

Which does make me think of a question. Once your rabid fans stop hounding you for more Riyria (won't happen) and you've wrapped up these other ideas, what's next? That is, what non-Elan kind of stuff do you have floating around in your head that might be a new bunch of goodness for readers? I remember you saying that you intend to do a Hollow World sequel, but is there anything else at this point?

And yes, Robin's been great to us beta subjects :)

I've always thought it would be fun if you and Mark Lawrence wrote a book together agreeing on plot and alternating chapters where you write the hero's perspective and he writes the anti-hero perspective. Talk about a clash of worlds.

Ugh I want to participate in this, but I'm on the last volume of Riyria Revelations and I really don't want any spoilers for myself by reading the questions haha.

Just wanted to say thanks to Michael for being so willing to interact with us. Seeing the way you spoke to everybody when Age of Myth came out is one of the reasons that made me want to read your books. You were always respectful, even towards people who rated your books harshly, and that left an impression on me.

I have kind of a general question to ask. At what point did you decide to write the Legends of the First Empire series? Did you already have plans for it when you started Riyria, or did it develop later as you expanded the world?

@Scott - thanks!

@Chris - glad to hear Robin has been treating you guys/gals well. Yes, a sequel to Hollow World is one of the non-Elan projects. I also have...a horror story I want to write, and a sci-fi trilogy which I've outlined. I have notebooks filled with "potential stories" but until I get closer to actually solidifying them, they aren't worth mentioning. Bottom line. I have more stories lined up than I'll have time to write before I croak off. But I try to keep an "active" pipeline for a number of years.

Scott wrote: "I've always thought it would be fun if you and Mark Lawrence wrote a book together agreeing on plot and alternating chapters where you write the hero's perspective and he writes the anti-hero perspective."

Wow, that would be an interesting book, for sure. Long, long ago (decades before I was published) I had a kind of a "chain story" that I wrote with a number of friends. One person would write a chapter, pass it on to the next in line and so forth. It was fun, except I couldn't keep my hands out of the other sections (because I would need certain foundations to write my next section). I'm sure that frustrated the other people and eventually it was just me doing the writing ;-).

I'm somewhat envious of people who can co-author books, but I think I'm one of those "don't play well with others" kinda guys. And in the long run it would probably be a bad experience for me to try to partner up with anyone. I'm just too set in my ways and too much of a control freak, and ultimately I think that would make any co-authorship really, really, hard.

@Liam - I totally understand. Don't want you to hit any spoilers. Especially given you are in Heir of Novron and that's where everything is revealed.

I love talking to people about books, all kinds of books, so imagine how much fun it is for me to interact in this way about my own scribblings!

Bad ratings are part and parcel with being a writer. You have to grow thick skin. And I've learned that reading is very subjective experience where each person brings their own personal preferences to the process. What one person likes, another doesn't. To me it's not a matter of "this is a bad book." It's more along the liens of "This book wasn't a good fit for me." Taken with that perspective it's easier to take a bad review. Still, I do feel badly when people don't like my books, if for no other reason than their time/money wasn't well spent. I think setting expectations is a big part of the overall enjoyment. If people are looking for grimdark, Martin, Abercrombie, or Lawrence would probably be better fits. If they're in for a good old-fashioned adventure where people rise to the occassion....well, that would bode well for them checking out my books.

C.P. wrote: "I have kind of a general question to ask. At what point did you decide to write the Legends of the First Empire series? Did you already have plans for it when you started Riyria, or did it develop later as you expanded the world?"

Great question! When I wrote the Riyria Revelations I had a very big world and extensive history (4,000 years or so). But 90% of all that "world building" never made it onto the page because I use the "iceberg approach" which means there is a lot of stuff lurking under the waterline. So, I "knew" a lot the past and the mythology and various other aspects, but, no, I had no intention on writing that stuff down. It was mostly just background and research for me to add flavor here and there.

Keep in mind that when I wrote Riyria Revelations I had NO intention on publishing the books. I'd spent more than a decade failing at publishing and just figured I'd never make it. So those books (the Riyria ones) were really just me writing a story I wanted to tell and also providing a potential to hook my dyslexic daughter into a love of reading.

Eventually when Revelations was picked up by Orbit, and publishing became a very real part of my life, then I started thinking about "the next series" - and all that great background was a good place to start. Along the way a few things distracted me, Hollow World is an idea for a novel that once it came into my head I couldn't write anything else until I purged myself of it. Then Robin wanted some more Royce and Hadrian, so the Chronicles distracted me. Once I got Riyria's origins "out there" I could do some serious writing on Legends and so I started fleshing out the series in detail. Thanks for asking.

Thanks for the answer! It's great that you had so much world building to pull from for more stories.

Yeah, it ended up being very helpful. Didn't expect it at the time, but glad I had it.

I haven't asked any questions this time and none are immediately coming to mind, but there are some great answers in here with a lot of things I didn't know. Thanks for the great answers!

You are very welcome, Jenna. I love coming by group reads and being available for questions. If you think of anything. You know where to find me.