In August, I informed my patrons and newsletter subscribers that I was putting my monthly serial, Seven Forsaken, on hiatus. My main reasons were a) I had been struggling with the direction of Seven Forsaken and b) I was burning out just a bit trying to keep three serials running simultaneously.
To replace Seven Forsaken, I bumped the more popular of my Patreon serials, Gunpowder Magnolia, up to a monthly (instead of once-every-two-months) release schedule and have started releasing it for free to the newsletter.
So, this is what the new release schedule looks like:
- Newsletter Subscribers get a chapter of Gunpowder Magnolia every month.
- $1 patrons get the same chapter of Gunpowder Magnolia two or more days ahead of the newsletter and 3-4 chapters behind the $3 patrons.
- $3 patrons get a new chapter of Gunpowder Magnolia EVERY month (instead of once every two months) in addition to a Sazuma chapter once every two months.
- Seven Forsaken will pick back up as soon as one of the other serials has run its course or when I feel like I have the space to competently execute three simultaneous serials again.
More about Gunpowder Magnolia
At the edge of an empire, a battalion that was never supposed to see combat faces a magic that was never supposed to exist.
Gunpowder Magnolia is probably the closest thing I’ve got to a Sword of Kaigen successor. At least as far as swords, warfare, themes of family, and loosely East Asian inspiration. Other than that, it’s a very different story—broader in scope, heavier on political intrigue, more traditional in structure—but if you loved the battles and weapons of SoK, I’m hoping you’ll enjoy this one too.
When Gunpowder is a finished book, it will involve 2-3 converging POVs that fully flesh out the magical and political conflicts of the story. The serial version will largely only include the main POV. This should create a linear and complete story that I can later contextualize through the accompanying POVs in the final product.
You can read the first chapter here!
What about Seven Forsaken?
Despite some rough patches, I’m actually still very excited about my weird snake-shifter serial. Far from being down on it, I have a lot of ideas for revamping the plot, improving the pacing, and making slight changes to those early chapters that will make the story stronger going forward. Hopefully, the hiatus gives those ideas the time they need to marinate. In the meantime, the fourteen chapters I’ve already published will remain available to my patrons and newsletter subscribers.