Hello everyone! Been a while etc etc. But I’m here now, because I have a new book out: THE THIRD SCOUR: The Cycle of the Scour #4—and it’s the finale of the series, the story of the sorcerer Cally’s life as a young man. You can get it on Kindle, audiobook, and paperback.
And for the next few days, #1 in the series is free on Kindle. Some more about the book below.
I have spoken before about how much I love finishing a series. I love writing their endings, they usually unfold before me like a dream, with little to no effort at all—which is absolutely not the case for, oh, any other writing I do. It is also a genuine joy to know you’ve just finished a whole story for readers who’ve been following along for years in some cases. Between this one and The Cycle of Galand, I just finished two series back-to-back, which is something I’ve never done before. That part: great.
The ungreat part, however, is that The Third Scour marks the last book in the world of Rale, possibly for some time, but possibly forever. I’ve spent the last few months building a whole new world to write in, but after spending 17 years in 17 books across 3 series in this one, it’s feeling pretty strange to wave goodbye to it. At this point these characters are like friends of mine. Back when I was a kid, I had a love-hate relationship with The Chronicles of Narnia, because while I thought they were great, it made me insanely frustrated whenever one of the characters aged out and couldn’t return in the next books.
I wouldn’t say I’m frustrated to leave my own characters behind. But it isn’t exactly fun, either.
Even so, it was great to spend some time with Cally when he was no older than Dante and Blays were when they first started their own adventures—and to tie the end of his story to the very beginning of theirs. I laughed out loud when I thought of that part. Cally always knowing more than he let on fits him perfectly.
So. If you’re a reader, the obvious question is, “What’s next?” To that the answer is: another probably gigantic epic fantasy series, though in a very different world. Way back in 2011, I wrote a novella set in roughly the same world, and the concept just wouldn’t get out of my head. By 2015, I knew I had to write a full series in it. By 2016 I tried to start it, but I was still working on Breakers AND the Cycle of Galand—and Rebel Stars, I think; I have no idea what I was thinking—so that was a no-go. Around 2019, with two of those series down, I tried to start it again, but it soon became clear to me the scope of it was so big I wouldn’t be able to start it until I’d cleared everything else off my plate.
Well, here it is 2025, and I’ve done that. In fact I’ve been working on the outline and background of the new one for four months, ever since I finished the first draft of The Third Scour. I am closing in on 150 pages of this background material—about five or even ten times as much as I normally have when I start a new book—and I’m just about ready to finally start writing the damn thing.
That’s what the near future holds. In the right now, please go grab The Third Scour, or give the first book a try if you haven’t. Because I may need a little more time than normal to do this next one the way it needs to be done.
Oh—and my heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s followed this world to the end. I’ve mentioned it before, but when I couldn’t get an agent (or hence a publisher) for The White Tree, I was so disappointed I wouldn’t get to write about Dante and Blays again.
Instead, I got almost two decades with them. I couldn’t have asked for more.
– Ed
Hello everyone. The end is here. THE CYCLE OF GALAND, the final book of The Cycle of Galand, is now live.
You can get it on Audible, Amazon audio, ebook, and paperback.
A part of me is very sad to bring this series to an end. But I am also very proud of this one. In it, I tried to answer as many remaining questions in the series as I could. Including some I didn’t realize I was asking until the very end. Nor could I have asked for anything more from the characters. They gave it everything.
There is a lot more I could say, but you can find most of it in the afterword to this book. But a few things. First, thank you so much for following these characters through to the finish. You guys gave me a career, and along with the Breakers series, Arawn and Galand are the reasons why. Thank you.
As for the most obvious question: Will there be any more books about Dante and Blays? For now, the answer is I don’t know. I wrote the first book, The White Tree, back in 2007, 17 years ago now. Once the last Cally book is done later this year, I’ll have written 17 novels in this world. And I was actually writing about an earlier form of Dante way back in 1997—when I was the same age he is at the start of The White Tree. A part of me can’t imagine leaving these characters behind. They’ve been with me pretty much my whole life.
But I’ve put Dante and Blays through so much. I think it’s important to give characters a proper ending to their story, and I’ll never be able to write a bigger ending for them than this. It might be their time.
Then again…there are more stories that could be told. You’ll see what I mean.
At the very least, if there are any more, it won’t be for a few years. First, there’s another universe I’ve been wanting to write for a long, long time. I need to explore that world first. And frankly, I think Dante and Blays have earned a much-deserved break.
In the meantime, reading my new books is more than enough, but if you’d like to help support me and ensure I can keep doing this for another 20+ years, I have started a Substack you are welcome to subscribe to:
https://edwardwrobertson.substack.com
I will be publishing my short fiction new and old there, along with occasional updates, maybe excerpts from upcoming works, etc. It’s only just getting started, but I’ve posted the very first Dante and Blays story that was ever published there, and there will be some more tales about them in the future. Who knows, maybe that’s where the idea for another series might come from.
Anyway, that’s it, I think. Thank you, one last time. And for now, here’s one last trip into the dream.
Outlaw
IN THE YEAR 2010, an alien virus nearly wiped out the human race. A thousand years later, mankind has recovered and ventured into space. There has been...
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