sarahlin

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 36-37

Oh wow, Patreon took away the scroll bar. This is lovely for long posts. -_- They wanted to get everything on one page, but they accomplished this by hiding various features in sub-menus, including tags and the parts they like to change randomly.

Anyway, we are barreling straight toward the end of the book, but there's no reason to slow down. As before, I am not sufficiently far ahead to ...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 34-35

I don't talk about it very often, but I have some news regarding my Discord server. We've recently added a new channel, splitting up discussion between conversations about the current chapters/plot and soulhome theorizing (people creating their own blueprints is a perennially popular topic). Usually I'm pretty hands off, but ...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 32-33

Sorry that this week's chapters are shorter than average, but you'll see why. If anyone doesn't like this idea as much as I do, know that the chapter after this is the longest in the entire series, this time for thematic reasons.

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Chapter 32

Instead of meeting in another dull Asplundat city, the group met in the Blacksilver camp within Movement territory. Thi...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 30-31

Politics time! One of my big things in progression fantasy (I even wrote an essay about it years ago) is that I think it's most satisfying when advancement doesn't mean fighting enemies with higher levels, but seeing the characters shift their fundamental position in the world. In these chapters, we see that the story has reached the point where our cast can begin negotiating with the true powe...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 28-29

Time for some unexpected twists this week, and I don't mean anyone suddenly being revealed to be a Fleshmasker. Though it's quite evident that my sense for what makes characters interesting over a long series is at odds with the genre at large, I hope people will enjoy some of the developments this time. ^-^

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Chapter 28

The dominant part of Theo was doing his...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 26-27

I was worried I'd foreshadowed the direction of this book too strongly, but I've seen a lot of discussion expecting very different directions. As I've said in past books, one of my goals with the series is to make the progression feel like more than the same thing with higher numbers/ranks. As the characters reach their current level, their relationship with the organizations of the world will ...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 24-25

Chapter 24

Sometimes Nauda struggled to believe that so much had happened while she was oblivious. Part of it might be that Siata had been untouched, the city around her as peaceful as always. Another part might have been that she had always fought alongside the others so it seemed unnatural that she had sat out.

She hefted another dark stone, told herself it didn't...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 22-23

Back into the thick of things this chapter, further entangling the plot threads of this book.

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Chapter 22

Fiyu was immensely impressed with Relative Guchiro, during her limited opportunities to observe him. He fought well and even synergized with Friend Theo, which pleased her greatly. Between the two of them, they had turned the tide and prevented Tymetron f...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 20-21

I've been chuckling over some of the discussions this book, waiting for this chapter. Anyway, some stuff happens. ^-^

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Chapter 20

When the battle started, Theo had every intention of attacking Jazin first, since he judged the lead Stronghold was the greatest threat. Yet to his surprise, the new arrival acted first - unlike most Asplundat Strongholds who gener...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 18-19

Writing an intentionally expansive setting is a tricky balancing act. Focus too much and entire worlds will go unexplored, but move across too many and each one will feel shallow. I've tried to do some of each, and these chapters you'll see the story become a notch more inter-world as it progresses.

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Chapter 18

Even though the Asplundat Movement was much more...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 16-17

Hello, everyone! I have been traveling a bit, but I am back now. I'm glad that people have been enjoying Crimsoncrest. ^-^

One popular way to construct stories is to have archetypical characters whose relationships remain relatively static, but I'm trying to do the opposite with TWC. Over the course of the story, while I do intend to do standard character growth, I also want to write the ...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 14-15

Chapter 14

Nauda honestly wasn't sure what to think about everything Theo had done between the convocation of souls and the current day. At the last moment on Deuxan, she had been convinced that he was willing to ascend to Stronghold regardless of the consequences. After that, however, he'd entered a cycle of refinement, polishing, and crafting in his basement.

Mayb...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 12-13

Chapter 12

Another day, another Asplundat city. The endless boxes had become wearying to Fiyu and she had the sense they were even more discomforting to Friend Nauda, who longed for more colors. But this was the path Ally Homez took them on, so Fiyu continued without complaint.

Most importantly, while they were in this city, Relative Guchiro had separated from them ...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 10-11

Chapter 10

After so long fighting against the Asplundat Movement, Fiyu had almost begun to think of them as enemies, so it was very strange to be traveling within their territory. Even stranger to be ordered to relax and enjoy herself. If Friend Nauda didn't seem so committed, she never would have managed it.

Despite the early conflicts, Relative Guchiro seemed to b...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 8-9

Chapter 8

For the first time in her life, Fiyu discussed the path of their journey with a relative, and it wasn't the achievement of adulthood that she had hoped. She helped decide with her companions, of course, but they were her peers and it simply wasn't the same. Now that she was finally deciding with an elder relative who had raised her, both now adults, it proved le...

Crimsoncrest: Chapters 6-7

It's April, so we're returning to the normal schedule. FYI, I will be doing some traveling. I have prescheduled all the upcoming chapters, so you should receive them as normal, but if anything goes wrong it may take me longer to fix it, and that's why I might be slower with responses.

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Chapter 6

After the giant ghostworm, the rest of the journey seemed harmle...

Crimsoncrest: Chapter 5

As a reminder, this is the last of my break month chapters. Starting next week, I'll return to the normal posting schedule, which I hope to maintain through the whole of Crimsoncrest.

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Working within his basement, Theo almost didn't care where his body was. Technically he could still look out in the physical world, as he could from anywhere in his soulhome, but in the basement he f...

Crimsoncrest: Chapter 4

Across the Nine Worlds, relatively few creatures could stand up to an Authority-tier soulcrafter. They were extraordinary sublime beasts, truly rare entities that were desired more than feared, not this bloated ghostworm. And so, as the Authorities of the Darkwheel Traders lifted into the air to attack it, they did so confidently.

Fiyu hesitated, and she did not believe her hesitation was...

Crimsoncrest: Chapter 3

Okay, here's the plan: I will take it easy posting chapters in March, but only March. As soon as we hit April, back to the normal chapter schedule. I don't know if I'll always do this between books, but I think this will work for me in terms of getting other work done, this time.

Speaking of other work, the paperback...

Crimsoncrest: Chapter 2

Everyone was very kind last week. ^-^ Often between books I've taken a break, or if I had time/energy, put out a series of informational posts like the soulcrafting tutorials or Nine Worlds anatomy (try those if you're new). I haven't tried posting chapters slower... I don't kno...

Crimsoncrest: Chapter 1

Hey, everyone. We just did the book launch last week and I am tapped, both in terms of energy and emotion. But I don't see any particular reason to delay, so let's start with at least one chapter of Crimsoncrest. We will eventually return to the standard weekly schedule.

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Chapter 1

Once more, Theo tested the heavens and stepped back.

He should have been...

Skyvenom Release Day!

The new book is out, everyone! Please check it out on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWXXLW2X

If you haven't read it yet, enjoy! If you already read on Patreon, please leave a review when convenient. ^-^ The tenth book (Crimsoncrest) is basically complete, but please be patient with me, as I am ...

Skyvenom Cover Reveal

There was some uncertainty over the timeline and various details, but it didn't amount to any problems in the end: we are moving toward a Skyvenom release next weekend!

Likewise, I don't anticipate any long delays before posting Crimsoncrest, but please be patient. I try to give my best to each release, which involves a lot of draining promotion. Probably less than I should do, but I don'...

Nauda's Blueprints Post-Skyvenom

And so we come to the last blueprints - Nauda had the biggest change this book, finally merging her two leg columns. It has been many books since the collapse of her soulhome, but her rebuilding plan is finally coming around. It's also been multiple books since the point where I indicated when she'd come into her own again, but we're getting closer to that point. Hopefully actually taking some ...

Fiyu's Blueprints Post-Skyvenom

Next up we have Fiyu's blueprints! It's tricky trying to do qualitative improvements throughout a long series, so I understand why many series either use incremental powerups or give characters never-ending portfolios of skills. I'm not completely satisfied with Fiyu's soulcrafting in this book, but I tried to make these non-ascension improvements have some weight and impact.

Meanwhile, t...

Theo's Blueprints Post-Skyvenom

Thanks again to Lamsey for keeping the blueprints updated! I also threw in the overall design for Theo's new cube in case you forgot from last book.

These will be tiding you guys over during the interim between books. However, the delay will likely not be as long as I thought! Though the negative factors I discussed earlier haven't changed, I made much more progress on TWC10 than I would ...

Skyvenom: Epilogue

And with this chapter, we conclude Skyvenom! More notes after.

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"-and we had hoped that the new initiative would increase Ruler recruitment for the House, but Blacksilver continues to outpace us in growth. House Crimson still has more resources per capita, of course. The problem is that their food and aid outreach in the outer regions has given them a foothold in recruiting all low...

Skyvenom: Chapter 52

I'm glad people generally enjoyed the climax last week. ^-^ This time we have the full conversation between Theo and Dave... while obviously it won't answer every single question, I didn't want it to be a "There's no time to explain why I don't have time to explain" thing. In terms of pacing, it's probably a bad idea to end a book with such a detailed conversation, but I hope people are investe...

Skyvenom: Chapters 50-51

Here are your chapters for this week.

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Chapter 50

Theo walked down the long corridor one last time to face the Deuxan council. The walls surrounding the central floor still loomed as though they might tumble down to crush him, but now he knew most of the Strongholds who sat in judgment. Many neutral, some opposed, some on his side. With the Demon Court callin...

2024 in Review

It's strange to try to describe how 2024 was a year of both highs and lows. The highs are obvious: I hit my new all time record for peak ranking with the Deathseed release and The Weirkey Chronicles found more readers than ever before. Great year in business terms.

At the same time, it has been a miserable year for me as a creative. I started writing progression fantasy with real enthusia...