Series

Currently I have twenty-one novels published (20 in the world of Elan spread across four series). They are available in a number of formats including: paperback, hardcovers, deluxe edition hardcovers, ebooks, audiobooks, and graphic audio audiobooks.

 

To learn more about each book, see this page. I should also mention that you can buy SIGNED copies directly from my store. Doing so cuts out the middlemen (so a higher percentage of your money will stay with me), and you can get your books signed. 

A complete listing of my titles is here:

• The Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords | Rise of Empire | Heir of Novron
  
  
• The Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower | The Rose and the Thorn | The Death of Dulgath | The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter | Drumindor
  
  
• Legends of the First Empire: Age of Myth | Age of Swords | Age of War | Age of Legend | Age of Death | Age of Empyre
  
  
• The Rise and Fall: Nolyn | Farilane  | Esrahaddon
  
  
• Hollow World (standalone sci-fi thriller)

Reading Order

Because I have so many books, people often ask me what order they should read them in. Personally, I prefer order of publication, as that was how I meant you to exposed to the story, and if you choose to take my advice the reading order would be:

• Revelations (1 - 6): Theft of Swords | Rise of Empire | Heir of Novron
• Chronicles (1 - 2): The Crown Tower | The Rose and the Thorn
• Legends (1 - 3): Age of Myth | Age of Swords | Age of War
• Chronicles (3 - 4): Death of Dulgath | Disappearance of Winter's Daughter
• Legends (4 - 6): Age of Legend | Age of Death | Age of Empyre
• Rise and Fall (1 - 3): Nolyn | Farilane | Esrahaddon
• Chronicles 5: Drumindor

For those who insist on reading the books chronologically, then the reading order would be:

• Legends (1 - 6): Age of Myth | Age of Swords | Age of War | ge of Legend | Age of Death | Age of Empyre
• Rise and Fall (1 - 3): Nolyn | Farilane | Esrahaddon
• Chronicles (1 - 5): The Crown Tower | The Rose and the Thorn |  Death of Dulgath | Disappearance of Winter's Daughter | Drumindor 
• Revelations (1 - 6): Theft of Swords | Rise of Empire | Heir of Novron

You may be wondering why Revelations is indicated as six books, but there are only three titles listed, that's because when Orbit republished the formerly indie novels they created three, two-book omnibus editions so they break down as follows:

• Theft of Swords:  The Crown Conspiracy | Avempartha
• Rise of Empire: Nyphron Rising | The Emerald Storm
• Heir of Novron: Wintertide | Percepliquis

Series Timelines

All of the fantasy books take place in my fictional world called Elan but at different historical times. 

• Riyria Revelations - furthest forward in the timeline
  
  
• Riyria Chronicles - a prequel to Revelations that starts 9 years before Revelations
  
  
• Legends of the First Empire - 3,000 years before Revelations
  
  
• The Rise and Fall - 1,000 - 2,000 years before Revelations.

Prequels / Sequels

Some people call Legends a prequel (because it happens before the Riyria books), but that's not accurate. First, the characters (the heart of the book) are very different between the two series. Also, the events in Legends take place in the distant past when the cultures and technology were dramatically different. Most importantly, no knowledge of Riyria is required to enjoy the Legend books to their fullest. As such, these are two independent series that just happen to share the same geography. The primary connection between the two is that characters who are mentioned in historical terms in Riyria are met face-to-face in Legends. 

Because the Rise and Fall books fit between Legends and Riyria it could also be thought of as a prequel to Riyria and a sequel to Legends, but again, this would be inaccurate. Like Legends and Riyria, this trilogy tells its own self-contained story - and while there are mentions to people and events in the past, it's not necessary to have read Legends to enjoy the Rise and Fall series.  If you have no interest in Legends, then you can certainly start with Nolyn (Book #1 of Rise and Fall), that said, it WILL contain spoilers (such as who won the First Great War, who lived, and who died).  So if you "think" you will be reading Legends, I highly recommend you read that series before starting with The Rise and Fall.

Chronicles vs. Revelations

Unlike Legends of the First Empire or The Rise and Fall, The Riyria Chronicles truly are a prequel to Revelations. I know many people shy away from prequels, and I think that's unfortunate as there are some great stories in the Chronicle novels. I will say that I'm pleased that so many people refer to Chronicles as "prequels done right." To understand why I wrote a prequel (rather than a sequel) some background may help.

When I wrote the six novels of the Revelations, I completed the entire series before publishing any of the books. This technique allowed me to create a story with interwoven plot threads and a satisfying conclusion.  I didn't expect there to be any more stories with Royce and Hadrian, but pressure from my wife (who has a crush on Hadrian), and outcries from my readers, encouraged me to write more. I feared that "tacking on" by writing a sequel would have the very real possibility of ruining an ending I was exceedingly pleased with.  So I decided to go to "the other end" of the timeline. Since Royce and Hadrian had been together for nine years before the first page of the Riyria Revelations, it made sense to go back in time and explore the full details of how they met and formed their little thieves-for-hire enterprise.

When I started writing The Riyria Chronicles my first goal was to provide the origin story of the pair.  This was accomplished in the first two books (The Crown Tower and The Rose and the Thorn). Upon finishing them, I thought any additional Chronicles would be standalone tales similar to the Sherlock Holmes novels by Doyle. Doing this would provide me freedom to end Royce and Hadrian's tales at any point if it seemed as though their presence had become stale or unwelcome. As the years went by, people growing weary of Riyria wasn't a factor, so I started utilizing these books to weave in thread from times gone by - such as events and/or characters from the Legends of the First Empire or The Rise and Fall. Currently, The Riyria Chronicles is my only "ongoing" series, and the number of final books is six to eight.

Below I'm going to discuss each of my series, but because Chronicles and Revelations are so closely related, I'll lump them together. 

Riyria (Revelations and Chronicles)

For those who don't know, Riyria is elvish for two. It's also the name adopted by the rogues-for-hire enterprise consisting of Royce Melborn (a cynical ex-assassin), and Hadrian Blackwater (an idealistic ex-mercenary). The best way to describe these books is classical fantasy infused with humor, witty banter, and a quintessential bromance. The best comparisons I could provide for these books would be Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards or Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.

The series starts out as a light fantasy romp where the stakes are the lives of the two main characters. But over the course of the series the stakes are raised and it become much more "epic" in scope. When writing the tale I wrote all six books before publishing the first and this allowed me to go back to prior stories and insert the foundations for new plot points as a great idea occurred to me later on. As such the Revlations has a tremendous finale.

Legends of the First Empire
As mentioned, this series is completely separate from my other books, and no prior knowledge of Riyria is necessary to enjoy Legends. 

For those who do read both, they'll find many Easter eggs related to the truth behind historical figures. After all, history is written by the victors and they dictate what future generations will remember about their exploits.

Like Revelations, all six books of The Legends of the First Empire were written before the first book was published. Del Rey released books #1 through #3 on a once-a-year schedule, but the last three books are self-published by myself (learn why that is), and they are released on an accelerated scheduled (all three books in a 10 month span). The release dates for each are here:

• Age of Myth - June 2016
• Age of  Swords - July 2017
• Age of  War - July 2018
• Age of  Legend - July 2019
• Age of Death - February 2020
• Age of Empyre - May 2020

That's six books in less than 4 years, which is a pretty good track record (actually it's 7 books, because The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter came out in December of 2017 (buy direct) and October 2018 (standard retail).

The Rise and Fall

The title of the series pretty much tells it all.  If the Legend of First Empire shows the events leading up to the founding of the greatest empire in the history of Elan, then this series shows how its assertion and decline.

While this is technically a series, each book shows a particular point in time as seen through the eyes of a legendary historical figure. As such, each is more "standalone:" than say The Riyria Revelations. In other words, you won't follow the same characters over a short period of time, instead you'll cover several hundred years by "peaking" at a particular important aspect in time.

The Cycle

This is my current work in progress, and there is no designated date for when (or even if) it will be released. Like Revelations, Legends, and Rise and Fall, all of these books will have to be written before the first one can be released. It's timeline will be set post-Revelations, and it will draw from all that came before. In other words, it will pull from Riyria, Legends and the Rise and Fall and may contain characters from any of those books. 

At present, I'm anticipating this will be five books. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the second. If you want to be kept up to date on writing progress for these books you can click on this link.