Welcome back! So far, Chaos Reigns has stayed ended so it might actually have ended at chapter 41.

You can read the last four chapters (38-41) from Chaos Reigns right now on Patreon or Substack right now. Chapter 41 posted yesterday!

That means the first chapters of the sequel will post this week!

Chaos Reigns didn’t go where Melinda thought it would for reasons I mentioned last week and the week before.

I might have taken some responsibility for it. I don’t do that often so I hope you didn’t miss that.

But the book is titled, Chaos Reigns, so we have to have some chaos.

Maybe my scribe got more than she bargained for, but it’s in the title! We have to do what the title says. The title is a sacred contract with you, the reader, promising stuff, and we have to do what it promises.

I don’t make the rules. I just enforce them when they benefit me.

So it’s really my scribe’s fault for titling the book, Chaos Reigns. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Now that I’ve presented my case, do you agree?

While we’re on the subject, I need to make one thing clear. I am not taking responsibility for the sequel, Chaos in Chains. It’s not starting where Melinda thought it would, and it’s already speeding right off the rails.

But again, I must recall your attention to the title, which mentions chaos. So we have to have some chaos and someone should probably get that chaos under control by the last page.

We don’t need the chaos contained before then though. The story needs to breathe and develop and go crazy!

Am I convincing you? I don’t feel like I am doing a good job of shifting the blame.

This is Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker Series, and I’m trying to get more page time in Chaos in Chains. I got a brand new scene in the sequel, so that’s good. But more would be better.

So that’s my plan for Chaos in Chain. I have no idea how I’ll do that since the story moved really far away from Mount Erederen where I live. But I could always summon my aunt and drag the story back there.

I would do that, but Melinda knew I might try that. So she set Chaos in Chains during the events in Curse Breaker Jousts.

Since characters aren’t allowed to be in two places at once and Curse Breaker Jousts takes place over the course of five weeks, it’s not going to be easy to get new scenes. But I’m up for the challenge.

Melinda will publish chapters 1-4 from Chaos in Chains starting Thursday!

She wrote 8 chapters from my aunt’s pov already to figure out if she needed to change anything in Chaos Reigns. Melinda wasn’t sure if my aunt or any of the characters traveling with her would do something that would force her to add something to the end of the previous book. They’re just crazy like that.

I could tell you who she’s traveling with. It’s not that big of a spoiler. I think I can get that information past my scribe. She likes to delete the really juicy spoilers.

Do you want to know?

I’ll just say this. The characters she teams up with first appeared in the Rogue Gods Trilogy. I’ll leave you to speculate who that could be.

So that’s what’s happening. Melinda is writing Chaos in Chains and if its predecessor stays ended and nothing needs to be changed for plot reasons, it’ll get edited, and we’ll send a copy to our Patrons and paid supporters.

It’s good for a book to sit for a week or two before editing. I’ve heard it makes finding typos easier. So we’ll put that to the test.

This week, Melinda recorded some podcast episodes and put the ‘& More’ part of the Fantasy, Lore, & More title to the test.

One of the episodes we can’t air until the publisher puts the book up for preorder, so it’ll come out sometime in August or September probably. The other episode went live two days ago!

In the latest episode, Melinda talks to David Deane Haskell about his book, The Solarian Deep, an underwater first-contact novel about hidden ocean intelligence, pressure, exile, and people trying to stay human when the world beneath them changes.

As always, she tries to tease out as many spoilers as possible. Does she succeed?

Listen to the episode now to find out.

That’s it for this week. Come back for more spoilers. I’ll find more things I can slip past my scribe. Until then, I hope you read a fun book and have a good week.

New Books & Special Editions

Song of the Solstice Child: A Deluxe Edition Fairytale

A festive no-spice short story retelling of The Singing Bone set in a wintery Christmas land. Limited edition hardcover and paperback. Follow the campaign to find out when it launches.

Don’t forget to follow our campaigns:

Riders of the Apocalypse: Complete Epic Fantasy Book Series

An angel, an ex-god, & a dragon take on the riders of the apocalypse in 4 humorous epic fantasy adventure books. Follow the campaign to get notified when it launches.

Curse Breaker Unleashed: A New Epic Fantasy Book Trilogy

An ancient army awakens and the only man who can stop them is the one who set them free in three new adventures full of heart and hope. Follow the campaign to get notified when it launches in 2027. My scribe will write these books next!