New Release: THE THIRD SCOUR (The Cycle of the Scour #4)

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