When will Underlord be released?
This was by far the most common fan-submitted question.
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The time approaches when ravens cry with the voices of men. I see a day when lakes and rivers reverse their flow, when dogs and cats merge into the perfect pets, and when the moon cackles and stares at the people below while blood leaks from the corner of its mouth. Ia! Ia! These are the signs that the time of Underlord is nigh!
What is your favorite knock knock joke?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
To.
To who?
To whom.
What five things could you not live without?
1.) The four elemental crystals that keep nature in balance, without which all of humanity would be scoured from the face of the planet by constant natural disasters.
2.) The ring I inherited from my great-grandfather that tells me what every child wants for Christmas.
3.) My artificial heart.
4.) The collar that keeps me from transforming into a werewolf every night.5.) Terraria on PC.
If you could only have one app on your phone, what would it be?
I don't know, Safari? I'm not very good at these social media-type questions. If www.WuxiaWorld.com had an iOS app, it would be my most-used app and the one I would keep above all others. I spend most of my time on Safari reading web novels.
Who is your favorite Disney character and why?
Disney owns too many characters now. I can't be certain my own characters aren't owned by Disney somehow. But my real answer: Carl Fredricksen from Up. I aspire to be him when I am older, but with an even more tragic backstory.
I'M quite curious how Lindon's father would react, if he were to discover that he was never a genius to begin with.Would this knowledge be more devastating or could he easier let go of the past.Isn't he so miserable, because he thinks that without his injury he could have become someone great, accomplished many great deeds.But by knowing the standard of the rest of the world, he would be aware that the strongest he could have gotten, would be the strength of children of teenagers.What is your opinion?
Also, Mathew, you've raised a good question. Lindon's father would be devastated at the knowledge of how far behind they are in Sacred Valley, and would resist the truth as long as possible.See, he KNOWS that the world outside the Valley is more dangerous, and therefore the people there must be more advanced. But he's picturing a wily, skilled Jade.If he learned that Lowgolds outside were more common than Irons in Sacred Valley, he would feel like he'd wasted his life.
Does Malice acknowledge all of her children?
She has a system by which she acknowledges them as her kids or not. She has dozens of children (not hundreds only because she chooses not to), but only acknowledges like...six or seven as her true-born kids.
Basically, some of them don’t inherit awesome power.
Sucks to be them, but people still are reluctant to mess with them. You never know when their goddess mom might decide to unmake you.
wait... so she can choose if they get the bloodline ability?
No, she doesn’t choose. If they’re born with the bloodline ability, then they’re acknowledged as her kids.
Is Eithan a virgin?
He is not, but he is not currently in a relationship. This has been alluded to in the books, but basically his home blew up. Yeah, it’s just hinted at but hasn’t been shown yet BUT MAYBE SOON but not yet.
Why people from sacred valley are so weak?
I think the weakness is easily explained by their isolation. There is much less danger in the sacred valley, and it seems the best way to advance is to be put into danger and have to find a way to survive.As for why a band of lowgolds has not come and stolen all their good artifacts (the schools seem to have some really nice ones), I was wondering that myself. Apparently the entrances to the valley are hidden / difficult to find, but I would think that some of the golds would just climb it to get in, or perhaps use some flying construct that can do better than one of those skimmer clouds.
John is right about their isolation. As for why some random guy hasn't wandered into the valley and ruled like a king, there is an explanation for that, and it will be shown to you clearly in future books.
Maybe the valley is protected somehowlike some ancient master probably the missing OZRIEL grew up there and he protected it or shielded it somhow
I can neither confirm nor deny your theory, Avinash.I do want to point out that Suriel didn't say anything about Ozriel growing up in Sacred Valley, just in Cradle somewhere.So maybe he did, maybe he didn't. You don't know. IT'S A MYSTERY!
Hey Will just finished the book, enjoyed it as always. I love reading your books I think they are always fun action packed fantasy that really makes me like the main character they always act a bit different from the standard hero's journey protagonist and I always really like that. I think your writing is getting better as well. My only problem is now you have so many series I want to read more about and you only have so much time :'( . Also honestly charge more for the books, I think they are worth more even though you may think they are short they last longer than $3 and I would hate to see you stop writing because its not economically viable. Can't wait for the next one great Job!
I'm glad you're enjoying them, James!I'm probably giving off a misconception about my income here, so let me clarify: I am not on the verge of bankruptcy. Nowhere close. I am making a very comfortable living for a single guy living alone.That said, the income from writing is not steady. It has extreme peaks and valleys. In one month this year, let's say March, I made about a thousand dollars. In July, I made about thirty thousand.So you see, it fluctuates rapidly.However, there are quite a few expenses that go onto the business end that most readers never see, and I obviously don't get any benefits: I pay all business expenses, insurance, fees, taxes, etc. out of my own pocket.Also, the way Amazon works rewards rapid releases. Two books released three months apart get WAY more attention than those same books released nine months apart. Which means they make more money AND they make it more steadily.TL;DR - I am in no jeopardy whatsoever, it's just complicated. As long as things continue as they are, I'll continue being able to write full-time.
In Soulsmith it looks like Lindon is just advancing fast.
He's developing insanely fast compared to where he started. More civilized people wouldn't think it's weird to go from nothing to Iron in an afternoon.
Are there tens of billions of lowgolds on Cradle? Since 1000 x 1000 x 10,000 = 10 billion, either the odds that Eithan quoted are incorrect, or else there must be a heck of a lot of lowgolds around somewhere.
This may or may not surprise you, but I actually have an answer for this.First of all, Eithan is using those numbers rhetorically. He begins it by saying "I've heard it said..." indicating that this is idiomatic, and not literally correct. It's really just a saying about how difficult it is to advance; it's not based on accurate census data.That said, it's not high. It's low.Cradle has a population far greater than that of Earth and more spread out. The planet is larger, the gravity is higher, and the sacred arts developed as a way to survive in environments that would kill any real human. Even though the populace is spread out, there's basically no region that isn't inhabited by SOMEONE, including deserts at the center of many continents and large stretches of the ocean.But, of course, the only people who know this are the Abidan. And now you.
Just powered through Soulsmith after rereading Unsouled! Was a great read especially the later half of the story! I've been enjoying your writing a lot recently!Wondering what you imagine the length of the series to be and if we'll get to see all the awesome places you've shown glimpses of? So far its been one location per book which excites me if that's an indication of more to come!
I'm definitely planning a bunch of cool locations for Cradle. As it stands now, I intend to establish a home (outside of Sacred Valley) for him soon, so that'll be a recurring location. But we're still exploring somewhere new every book.
Although I have to say, now that we have a better grasp on how strong the sword sage was, his death seems kinda lame. I mean, they were jades and hes... something a lot stronger.But, I guess that it kind of shows that whatever level he was at, it wasn't something one should call a god or immortal yet. Still very much human and susceptible to death.
Everything you said is absolutely true, but I'm going to respond with a mild spoiler.[MILD SPOILER ALERT]Under normal conditions, a bunch of Jades would not have been able to kill him even if he were poisoned and asleep.I tell you this so you know that I'm aware of this apparent contradiction, there IS an explanation, and it WILL be shown to you in the future.
Hey Will! I've been reading your books since you published House of Blades, and I'm a big fan. Now, question: The Arelius family in Cradle and the Aurelian empire in EE. Is that a connection or a coincidence?
I am very glad you asked that question, because it IS a coincidence. I knew someone would notice, and I'm glad you pointed it out.
Here's the deal: originally it was the Orelius family, because I thought "Eithan Orelius" sounded cool. But the first round of readers conflated Ozriel (the missing Judge that Suriel is hunting) with Orelius, and they became confused.
Basically, when you're making up a bunch of names, you want to make them sound as different from one another as you can, or people get confused. That was one too many similar-sounding O-names, but I liked the sound of "Orelius." I couldn't go with "Erelius" because then Eithan Erelius sounds like the fake name of a wizard, and I ruled out Eithan Irelius for reasons that probably made sense at the time but I can't recall now, and settled on Arelius even though I knew people would assume there was a connection to the Aurelian Empire.
There isn't. Just a coincidentally similar-sounding name.
The only character I use in smash is ma boi ganon
Yeah, I’m a decent Ganondorf. He’s my go-to heavy
The fight was not that long, the books are just shorter than standard novels (no memes)
No they're not. Other than Skysworn, most are about standard novel length.(edited) Sorry Skysworn
Skysworn is too. Same length.
Nuh uh, I counted before I said that!
Skysworn is 86,607 Soulsmith is 86,476
#rekt
It's there to placate people like you! People who care about cool moments over the overall narrative.
No, it was there for the purpose of the overall narrative. Not for the moment-to-moment payoff. It was there to have Lindon lose, to show the gap between him and a Truegold, to have him lose an arm, to advance Eithan's plan, to change the landscape with the Jai clan, and to demonstrate Eithan's existing relationship with the Skysworn.
I mean, I understand not liking the fight itself
But it was there for a reason
I was being glib there.
What I meant was "people would feel robbed if they didn't get a cool fight for that."
And I feel that's unimportant.Has anyone gone to the moon?
In an early draft of Cradle, not proto-Cradle, there was a moon base. Essentially sects that had made it to the moon and set up a livable environment there. So at the time when I answered that question, I was trying to decide if that still exists in Cradle or not. Then I thought, “is martial arts NASA too crazy?” Then I thought, “No it isn’t.” But I still wasn’t sure if I wanted it as part of the setting or not.
Are there moon spirit animals?
Rabbits.
