SWORD TRIUMPHANT cover & pre-order, next books, Tolkien ramblings, such matters
The cover for THE SWORD TRIUMPHANT, the final book in the Lands of the Firstborn trilogy is out.
‘Tell the Lammergeier that Blaise has need of him for one last service. Tell him to bring his sword.'
In his youth, Aelfric slew the Dark Lord and saved the world, only to find out, many years later that his heroic deeds had served only to preserve the corrupt rule of the Erlking. As keeper of the dread sword Spellbreaker, Aelfric was drawn into a desperate rebellion against the immortal elf who had been secretly manipulating humanity since the dawn of time.
When it was done, he left the sword and the title of hero behind and went home. His tale should have been over.
Decades have passed. But when a figure from his past brings a cryptic message from one of the Nine, it seems the Lammergier is needed again. Does the old hero have one last quest left in him? Can his broken sword be reforged - and at what cost?
The third book’s set another two decades or so after The Sword Unbound. If the first book was “what do heroes do after the Quest?” and the second was “what if the Quest was actually a horrible mistake in the first place?”, the third is “can you make things right?”
And also “how can you end a trilogy, when the point of the books is that ‘endings’ are very much a thing of fiction, and the world keeps going after you ‘save’ it, so where now, Hero?"
And also also, a fight with a giant manticore and some suitably epic mass battles.
It’s available for pre-order now from all good bookstores of your choice, and eternal gratitude etc.
Since finishing that, I’ve sold another two books to Orbit. Both are standalone fantasies; one’s very different to anything I’ve done before, the other is, I suspect, concentrated weirdness. The first book’s just about half-done in 0th draft, and I’m having a lot of fun with it.
Official announcement, titles and more details to be revealed when appropriate or at a convention bar - I’m at Warpcon at the end of the month, Eastercon at Easter, probably UK Games Expo…
In the rpg writing rotation
- a Swords of the Serpentine adventure book, including one called Dead Men Sell No Sails, which is the most swashbuckling swords and sorcery scenario about naval procurement contract due diligence that can be imagined.
-a One Ring supplement that’s nearly finished; I’m at the stage of trying to trim down quotes so I can cram in more Landmarks.
A bunch of Trail of Cthulhu bits, some of which I’ll be play testing at Warpcon
Waiting for feedback on Shires Out!, my halfling murder mystery game
-many other pits and bieces.
Over on Bluesky, which is my main social media outlet these days, I’m doing a Tolkien day by day, taking each entry in the Tale of Years and writing about whatever thoughts or connections it suggests. Gandalf just fell into the abyss in Moria, and the Fellowship get to Lorien on the 17th. The whole thing crashes to an end in late March, so we’re approaching the really crazy days.
(I had a paragraph in here about current events, but I wasn’t saying anything you haven’t heard elsewhere, so I deleted it. But ‘we’re approaching the really crazy days’ also works for that.
Let’s hope the late March bit isn’t equally apt.)
Gar