Progress on Crystal Empire has been slow and not very steady. Work’s been a bit of a mad dash lately, and it’s been harder to get back into this crystalline state of mind. We did hit 73% of the projected word count with about 10 chapters left in the outline. I have a feeling Imperial Heart is going to come in a bit above its planned 100,000 words.

We’re also making some progress on the Constellara Project’s first anthology. I’m excited to be lauching a few sample stories on the website. We’ve created a Patreon for anyone interested in sponsoring the project!

Gosh I should set a reminder or something…

My professional life overshadowed my authorial one most of May. Between sick kids and making up a new job role as a I go, I didn’t get much writing done. Though what I did write I’m pretty proud of. These are some of the best chapters of Crystal Empire I’ve written yet.

I also spent some time with the Starchasers crew in May. It’s good to be back with that chaotic group of ragamuffins, doubly so since it was just a fun little side-story.

Weekly updates were not it. Sorry if you were excited about weekly updates, maybe they’re something we can do in the future. For now, end-of-month updates will be the goal.

Progress on Crystal Empire has been slow. Things at my day job have been crazy, and I’ve been feeling the same kind of pressure for my time and metal energy as I did before The Gap. Don’t worry, we’re not looking at another one of those this time around. We push on. I’ve made some changes on the professional front that should have some positive benefits over the coming weeks.

Between a busy day job and some sick toddlers, finding the time to write’s been harder the past few weeks. Luckily, the words are flowing in the time I’ve been able to carve out.

Crystal Empire (Epic Fantasy Trilogy) Writing has been progressing really well on Crystal Empire’s second book, Imperial Heart. This sequence has been one of the most difficult to get right, having been through three iterations already, and I think everyone’s really going to enjoy this sequence in the final book. I’ll just say this: Demara and Kinro have never faced this kind of danger while Mal was around to look out for them.

Been quiet here lately.

Not for lack of love, life just got busy in the New Year. Lot’s of changes happening professionally that have, unfortunately, slowed down progress on some of my writing projects. Mostly good things, but change is often painful while its happening.

I’ve recently been submitting short stories to literary magazines again. I’ll be incredibly excited to share the news of any success if or when that finally happens. There are a few other things in the works, hopefully some good fiction for y’all to enjoy soon!

Hello out there my weary Way-walkers!

If this message has made it to your eyes, ears, tongue or any other sensuous sensory input that tickles your brainstem, find yourself some place to settle in a little while, we’ve got good things coming your way. Thank you for tuning in Constellara, you’re here with Pathwadio.

Come with us for a stroll through the university gardens of Astrent to set the mood. Then we’ll head on over to Ginvaris for dinner at Zarani’s, the sauteed bo-ash nuts are out of that world. Next we dance with the train across Bera. We’ll hit a DUFC-ees on our way out to the edge, try not to lose your head. And don’t worry, before the night is through we’ll catch ourselves a ride back to Astrent with a Star Sage.

This has been a hard review for me to write. Not because I didn’t enjoy the book or have unkind things to say; in fact its the opposite, it’s difficult for me not to gush about this book. Another concern was some statements I am going to make that I needed to wait until the end of the year to confirm. Let’s begin.

Introduction

Genre: High Fantasy Word Count: 3700 Words

Banished and betrayed by his homeland, the Exile searches for redemption in the wreckage of a world he failed to save.

The Exile was first published in December 2024. This story is set in the world of Crystal Empire.

The Exile

Turquoise, Reign of the Second 994th God Emperor

The gentle rocking of the little wooden rowboat in the lake along with the soft splashing of oars in the water that evening was almost relaxing. It had been two months since escaping the Labyrinth, and tonight was normally the night of the Turning. Nobody was quite sure what to expect this evening, and Mal was just as ignorant as everyone else on this side of the Wall. He rested in between the boat’s first two benches, back against the hull, watching the stars and listening to the lapping of the water. Once, he would have gleefully dozed off in a boat like this, but sleep did not come easy lately.

A Slow Walk Through a Beautiful Garden.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is a wonderful, beautifully written book. I was bored through most of it. That isn’t necessarily the fault of the author, I suspect it has more to do with my own expectations and preferences for pacing. However, I felt as though a large portion of the book was spent watching characters naval-gaze. This book definitely qualifies as a slow burn in my categorization. I’m a guy who reads Brandon Sanderson and that guy is famous for the long drawn out books then a big climactic ending, but the Jasmine Throne, in my opinion, only really got exciting in the last 15 chapters. I wish that there’d been more to the book earlier on.

Writing is hard. Not in the way that manual labor is hard, or even in the way that a puzzle or a level in a video game can be hard. Instead, writing is hard like getting in shape is hard, like therapy is hard, like your job is hard. Sometimes success pours out of you, and others you can’t get even the simplest of results. You get stuck, and making progress might as well be impossible. And yet in all of these things there are people who do them every day, succeeding consistently where you most often fail. How? What separates success from failure?