The Cycle

Welcome to the official home page of The Cycle: the sixth (and most-likely last) series in Michael J. Sullivan's world of Elan. This page is your "go to" place for all things about what will surely be Michael's magnum opus.

When Michael started writing his debut novel,  The Crown Conspiracy (which would later become the first book in the Theft of Swords omnibus), he could have never dreamed how that seed would grow. What it turned into is a 31 - 33 book epic saga including:

• The Riyria Revelations (completed - 6 books released)
• The Riyria Chronicles (6 books written, 5 books released, 8 books possible)
• Legends of the First Empire (completed - 6 books released)
• The Rise and Fall (completed - 3 books released)
  
• After the Fall (1 book written, 3 books planned)
• The Cycle (2 books written, 5 books planned)
• The Elan Shorts (a compilation of 10 - 13 short stories)
• The Elan Compendium (1 book planned)

For those unfamiliar with Michael's work, when he finished the Riyria Revelations, he vowed never to write a sequel. Why? Well, the series ended on what he considered to be the absolute perfect note, and anything that would come after would pale in comparison. Not wanting to risk spoiling a great thing, he instead opted to go back in time, to expose lies, examine legends, and provide information about his overarching tale that only he knew about.

With that task completed — once Michael's entire tapestry had been unfurled — it opened the door to the possibility of something post-Riyria Revelations. A series that could have a conclusion that would top the ending of Heir of Novron . . . something that could literally pull plots and characters from all the books that had come before it. In short it opened the door to . . . The Cycle.

Michael started work on The Cycle in early 2022, and I (Robin) was sworn to secrecy for more than two years. Why? Well, the task was more than daunting. At the time, he had 19 books written, and their were characters and plot arcs that not only spanned books in a single series but also extended between series. To do The Cycle justice, it would mean that he could include characters from any book and time — a timeline that included 3,000 years and would occur after many of the major players were long dead. 

For those who have read the Legends of the First Empire series, you no doubt see why those books opened a door. But it was the titles Farilane, Esrahaddon, and Drumindor that started laying the most important foundational pillars. Seeds were planted and if they were given room to grow, the story arcs could be nothing short of amazing. But there was a problem — well actually two.

The first was a big one that could make the task an impossibility. What I'm referring to is there were certain aspects of world building throughout the nineteen books that created a cannon that couldn't be altered. So that presented a number of roadblocks that needed to be solved without violating what had come before. There were several possibilities posed, but one by one they were knocked down. It took nearly two years to finally find a satisfactory solution to that conundrum.  

The second problem was that Michael had set an exceptionally high bar.  As I mentioned, the conclusion of Heir of Novron would be a tough act to follow, and not only did the ending of The Cycle have to surpass it, but it had to clear the bar by a wide margin. If there was any doubt that he could accomplish such a seemingly impossible feat, then it wouldn't be worth trying. This was an interesting dilemma. On one hand it seemed insurmountable, but on the other, the sheer daunting nature presented a challenge that was extremely enticing. 

It was only after the first book was written and the second one was well on its way that the scales tipped from "unlikely" to "maybe." So in September of 2024, Michael had enough confidence to break his silence and announce the possibility of The Cycle, which you can read here.

To set appropriate expectations, there are a few things to note. First, this is not a work for someone who is new to Michael's writing, nor one for people who have only read one of his series. To truly appreciate The Cycle, it will require knowledge of all that came before. From a purely fiscal standpoint, this is a ridiculous notion. We are purposefully limiting the audience to the smallest possible number. After all, there are plenty of "just Riyria" or "just Legends" readers but it's only the truly dedicated who have read those books AND The Rise and Fall series. In essence The Cycle is a love letter to Michael's most ardent fans, and while it's readership may be small, those devoted few will be highly rewarded.

Second, the publication of this series isn't guaranteed, but it's finally far enough along that it seems all but certain (baring Michael's death). But as with Revelations and Legends, the series cannot be published until all the books are written. The mere fact that Michael is allowing this webpage to be created is indicative of how positively he feels about the progress he has made. Currently the first two books are written, and they have come out better than either I or Michael had hoped. So the needle has moved from "maybe" to "probably."

Third, there will be a compendium book created that will be a kind of "reference guide" or "memory refresher." It will contain short stories, an extensive (and spoiler filled glossary), book recaps, chapter summaries, maps, and other background information. So, if you come across a name or place and it sounds familiar but you need help jogging your memory, that will be an invaluable resource.

We expect there to be a lot of excitement, and more than a little speculation, about exactly will be in and what will be out of  The Cycle. If you would like to chat with others regarding the series, you can do so on this discord server.

Because this is such a long project, and nothing can be released until the final book is written, we'll be posting regular updates to this page to keep you in the loop. We hope you are as excited as we are about the prospect of The Cycle. I personally have read the first two books, and the second one is truly in a category that defies classification. Not only is it my favorite book by Michael, but it's by far the best book I've ever read by any author. I can't wait for you all to experience it.

Book Status

• Book 1: 33 chapters (152,667 words) 08/01/23 - 05/01/24
• Book 2: 40 chapters (178,045 words) 05/05/24 - 03/04/25
• Book 3: 5 chapters (20,000 words - in process) 09/09/25 - ??/??/??

Series Status

• 10/24/25 - approximately 20,000 words written - things had been going well, but I hit a bit of a snag. Realized I was going down the wrong path and had to throw away about 2,000 words. But the good news is it revealed the right way forward so that's an improvement.
  
  
• 10/01/25 - Book #3 writing begins
  
  
• 09/09/25 - Blythin Castle completed - return to work conceptualizing The Cycle
  
  
• 05/10/25 - alpha read complete
  
  
• 04/05/25 - Writing hiatus starts - switching to Blythin Castle 
  
  
• 03/22/26 - The Eternal Winter completed
  
  
• 03/06/25 - Started writing one of the required short stories - The Unending Winter. this will be included in a anthology created by Peter Orullian, which is being used to raise funds for his cancer treatment in the same way that Shawn Speakman did with Unfettered.  There will be some heavy-hitters in this book including Brandon Sanderson and Terry Brooks.
   
• 03/04/25 - And done with book #2! 
  
  
• 02/18/25 - 02/23/25 - This should be the last of the writing hiatus for awhile. This one was for Con Nooga - which will be the last convention we will be attending.
  
  
• 01/14/25 - 01/20/25 - Writing hiatus - my brother took ill so we rushed to Michigan, and unfortunately he died. It was quick and painless, which wasn't the prognosis, so we were grateful for that.
  
  
• 12/17/24 - 120,000 words into book #2
  
  
• 12/04/24 - 12/09/24  - No writing as we were attending DragonSteel Nexus in Salt Lake City.  It should be much shorter than the last hiatus.  
  
  
• 12/03/24 - Work has been going well I wanted to get a good amount done between the work for Drumindor's release and the Dragon Steel Nexus trade show, and that has happened. I have 38 chapters outlined (although that may increase or decrease a bit as I finish things up.  I'd say I'm around 2/3rds done with book #2 at this point.
  
  
• 10-20/24 - 10/26-24 - No writing as my wife and I were attending a writer's retreat in Pennsylvania. 

• 10/02/24 - After a 2-month hiatus writing has begun once more on The Cycle. Book #2 word count stands at 45,000.
  
  
• 09/23/24 - The Cycle is officially announced in the pre-release of the Drumindor ebook for the Drumindor Kickstarter.
  
  
• 08/05/24 - All work has been halted due to Worldcon 2024, a vacation to Isle of Skye in Scotland, the last pass reading edit, and proofing of Drumindor, and the review of the audio files. Work is scheduled to resume on 09/22/24.
  
  
• 06/02/24 - "The Storm" short story released for editing. This is the first short story for the series, and will be initially published in the Unavowed anthology edited by Shawn Speakman and released by Grim Oak Press.
  
  
• 05/05/24 - Book #2 writing starts
  
  
• 05/01/24 - Book #1 first draft is completed.
  
  
• 12/05/23 - 1/2 way point - approx 75,000 words written
  
  
• 09/22/23 - Dominos fall into place prior to this date there was a 95% chance of this being DOA.
  
  
• 08/01/23 - Book #1 writing starts
  
  
• 02/23/22 - The "exploratory committee" is formed to investigate the "possibility" of a post Revelations series - it's a small committee - it has just one member.