Author Michael J. Sullivan's Official Website

Milestone

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Mon, 04 May 2026 14:28:00 +0000

I started this blog on January 9th 2009. My wife, agent, editor, and publicist insisted I start writing one as a means of helping potential readers discover my work.

“What should I write about?” I had asked her.

“Doesn’t matter,” she replied. “Write about anything. Write about your books, write about your day. Whatever. Just write so people can get to know you, so they can know you exist.”

That was more than seventeen years ago. I never thought much of these little posts I began doing under duress—I’ve never felt comfortable self-promoting. I struggled to come up with ideas to write each week. Some were silly, others a bit sad, revealing the mindset of a guy chasing a dream he never thought he’d catch. Looking back, I can see that all these posts are essays chronicling the experiences I’ve had as a novelist—an ongoing history of my career. Some are pretty good. A few reminded me of things I’d forgotten, but mostly they are my footprints left on a sandy beach—(a metaphorical easter egg for long time readers of this blog.)

The general theme promoted by my wife was the idea of the Little Engine That Could. To mark my progress as I chugged along the tracks, I wrote essays detailing events that I saw as mile posts—indicators that I had risen another rung. The first such essay I posted on February 13, 2010 entitled “I Must Be Someone Now” revealed how thrilled I was to find I had a Wikipedia page. About a year later, my next noted milestone was how I could finally support my family with my writing.

These posts were born from my early experiences on Internet forums where aspiring writers gathered in the hopes of learning how to turn hobbies into careers. One of the topics was "when exactly can you call yourself a writer." This had touched off a massive and contentious debate. Some said that if you write, and wrote a lot, then that was good enough. Others argued that you can call yourself a writer when you feel you are. Still more insisted you had to be published. Because of the nascent but growing self-publishing trend, this then brought forth more perimeters and arbitrary requirements saying you are only a writer when you’ve been published by a traditional publisher. Still others feel you are not a real writer until you’ve written ten novels and support yourself with your writing. As such, I suppose I felt these milestone posts might help new writers gauge their progress. At the very least, they provided me something to write about, and now look back at.

By now, you’ve likely realized, I’ve hit a new one.

When the Riyria Revelations was first published, an Amazon reviewer, who did not like my books, made the disparaging comment that the positive reviews must all come from friends and family. Robin and I laughed at that since no friends and no one in her family or mine had ever read any of my books despite my providing print, ebook, and audio versions. Obviously, this was disappointing, especially when I hit the New York Times Bestseller’s list on three separate occasions, and still it seemed my family wondered when I would stop this nonsense and do something useful with my life like maybe sheet metal wall art—not kidding, that was a suggestion.

All in all, it’s probably a good thing. Realities like this keep me from thinking too much of myself. I’ve met a few too many writers whose inflated sense of self-worth is appalling. Better to have a good solid anchor reminding me that my success still rests below that of tin-snipped sailboats welded to wire. After two decades, I hadn’t merely accepted this odd family circle authorial anonymity, but forgot about it. Then, a few months ago I hit a new milestone. The truly curious aspect is that the milestone coincided with a visit from my sister and her husband.

Robin and I moved from our home state of Michigan to Vermont when I was twenty-seven. We continued to move several more times, each one farther and farther away from Detroit. As the years ticked by, I visited less and less, and my family, being homespun midwesterners, rarely left the state. This meant I hadn’t seen my sister in years. Recently, both my mother and brother died. This reunited my sister and I—the last two survivors of the original six Sullivans—and I invited her to visit. As such, she recently came to the cabin in Shenandoah. Besides seeing her in a hospital room, I really hadn’t seen my sister in a decade.

While they were staying with us, Robin and I took my sister and her husband to lunch at a small, wood fired pizza restaurant over the mountain. We were seated in the dining area discussing what pizza to order when a man approached the table looking awkward and apprehensive. He wasn’t the waiter. Not only did he not have the required apron, I had seen him sitting at a table across the room with his wife. The two had been staring at me and speaking softly to one another for sometime.

“Excuse me, are you Michael J. Sullivan?” he asked, and our meal conversation stopped as everyone looked up concerned. When a stranger approaches you publicly and asks who you are, addressing you by your full name the immediate impression is that their next words will be, “You are under arrest or at the very least this summons is for you.” I'm all but certain that’s what was going through my sister’s head. I, however, had seen this look before on the face of many a reader at many a convention.

“Yes,” I said, and the man showed not the slightest surprise. He was pretty certain or he never would have made the long, exposed trip from his table to mine.

“I’m a huge fan of your books.”

With that sentence, there were gasps at my table. You see, one of the great milestones for any author is to catch sight of someone in the wild reading their book. It is such an uncommon thing, that few authors have ever experienced it. I still haven’t. But the rung above that is the even more rarefied event of a reader recognizing an author in the wild. As such, Robin and I were shocked. My sister and her husband were astounded. The two sat eyes wide and open-mouthed as I agreed to a photo, and the man expanded on how much he and his wife loved my books.

When he left, my sister, still looking stunned, told me, “That was like something you’d see in a movie!” That this first time event coincided with her being there was all the more incredible. I’ll admit, it would have been nice if it had happened a few years earlier when she might have told the tale to my mother and brother, delivering news I somehow never managed to properly convey: "That I could, indeed, consider myself "a writer." But I did receive a consolation prize. Before leaving, my sister and her husband requested a set of my books.

Banana Tree In The Backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:08:00 +0000

I have a banana tree growing in my backyard. I didn’t plant it. The thing took root like a weed. Now it’s three feet tall with leaves like something you’d gather in your typical video survival game. I bring this up to illustrate how strange our new home is, at least how strange it is for two old folks from Michigan.

For those just joining us, my wife and I moved to Key West a few months ago, and we're still adjusting. We’ve lived in Michigan, Vermont, North Carolina, the Washington DC area, and for the last ten years, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. One of the things I learned is that it takes about six months to transition mentally from visitor to resident, when the shiny veneer wears off and the truth of a place is revealed. The gloss dulls, but the reality is richer. I’m still in the honeymoon stage with this island life, and as such I notice all the things I won’t register in another year.

For example, there are no insects here. Okay, that’s an overstatement. There are certainly termites, a fair amount of tiny ants, and I have seen a butterfly, and two completely unrelated house flies. I have also been bitten by a mosquito, although I didn’t see it. This constitutes “no insects” because in Virginia our cabin is routinely swarmed by wasps, hornets, bore bees, gnats, several varieties of flies, stink bugs, warring tribes of ants, and lady bugs (cute until they cluster inside your house.) We've even battled with Japanese beetles that insisted on turning all of the leaves on our wonderful trees into something akin to fine, laced doilies. Honestly, we had whole "insect seasons" that ran all year because those bugs I just listed were the ones that came to life inside the house. Plenty more buzzed outside. As such all windows required screens, and doors needed to be closed immediately upon passing through. But on this island, the grand total of insects are negligible, falling well within the margin of error. People everywhere leave their doors and windows wide open to let the ocean breeze blow through. It’s nice—disconcerting, but nice.

Then there is the time disorientation. The length of days are slightly different due to being closer to the equator than Virginia, but the distortion I speak of is more calendar related. There are seasons here, just not the meteorological ones I’m used to. Winter, spring, summer, and fall, have been replaced with wet and dry seasons. (Winter is dry, summer is wet.) While the temperature never fluctuates too much, always roaming around the seventies and low eighties (21-29 Celsius), the summer humidity makes it feel much hotter. I’ve been told it almost never gets into the 90s but recently it has from time to time. And then there are the two non-meteorological seasons defined as the busy, or high, or snow bird season, and the opposing slow, off, or low season. These mostly align with the dry and wet periods and are defined as when the island fills up with tourists and part-time residents which can boost the population by the tens of thousands. And the weather doesn’t change, it is always between 72 and 82 degrees and sunny, and has been since late November creating a Truman Show/Paradise vibe with its unerring perfection.

The disorientation, however, comes from it always being what I view as spring or summer. On vacation, such a bizarre shift in climate is isolated, a momentary blip. You step through a wardrobe into an imaginary world that is out of sync with your own. You bask, tan, look around, and then you head back through the wardrobe and everything returns to normal. Remaining in Narnia, things get weird. Seeing decorations and hearing Christmas carols in the shops and on the radio during what appears to be the Fourth of July, is bewildering. And the weather, the warmth and sunshine never changes. It’s sort of eerie.

When I stopped my nine-to-five job to write full-time, days of the week lost their meaning. I no longer keep track, and never know what day it is. Not knowing the day was odd, but not knowing the time of year is disturbing. I was riding my bicycle, looking up at the blue sky and thinking how it felt like spring, almost like Easter. I thought a moment, did a mental check, and was shocked to realize it was spring and Easter was the next Sunday.

Something else that’s different is how our adopted cat Loki (named because she has proven herself the god of mischief) doesn’t bring home dead mice to prove her worth. She wanders the yard with a dead lizard in her mouth. I don’t know if it’s the same one, if she eats them or practices catch and release, or has a dark corner where she dresses the GEICO mascots up in clown suits, sets them in little stick chairs, and pretends to hold macabre tea parties by moonlight. I mean, well…Loki—right? There are also small dragons the locals call iguanas, and of course wild roosters roam the island constantly competing in the chicken version of The Voice.

The people here are extremely friendly—really friendly, like Pleasantville nice. I feel less like I bought a house and more like I joined a fraternity. In all the places Robin and I lived, we tried to engage neighbors by greeting them on the street and inviting them to dinner and parties. Nothing worked, and we had really nice dinners. Since we arrived on Cayo Hueso (Bone Island) we’ve been repeatedly accosted and inundated with invitations by absolutely delightful people who want to welcome us to the neighborhood. One man, who lives across the street took us out to the theater for world class chamber music, then had us over for dinner. A woman we passed who was eager to meet us, refused to reveal anymore than her name because we learned the neighbors all along the street were conspiring to have a get-together in our honor and she wanted to save all her best topics for then. The local bakery had been slipping me free pastries because I showed an interest, and the bartenders have a bad habit of bringing two drinks to my wife when only one was ordered.

The entertainment is non-stop. Bands, stage shows, comedy performances, parades, contests of such diversity they are hard to describe, and too many to catch them all. And the other day Robin met a bewildered man who asked her, “So, what do people do here?” As if he’d booked a five day vacation to the restroom of a Denny’s. Robin replied with an incredulous stare.

Not everything is wonderful. I have more chores here. The house needs far more upkeep. The date this house was built is not entirely determined. It's possible it was erected in 1892, with an upgrade to indoor plumbing in the mid 1920's, but it is in great shape because previous owners looked after it. I don’t want to be the lazy one that ruins the thing. Just keeping the the jungle that surrounds the house watered is time consuming. I never lived in a jungle, and I don’t now, but this tropical climate has the foliage of one. While lush and beautiful, it sheds a lot. I’m accustomed to trees dropping leaves in autumn. Here they do it constantly -- while never seeming to change the number of leaves on the trees. Leaf raking is a daily activity. On occasion a huge palm frond will fall, sometimes coconuts. It’s like living in the world of Riki Tiki Tavi, or a Johnny Quest episode.

And then there’s that banana tree.

In Detroit, Vermont, Carolina, and Virginia, we had all sorts of uninvited things grow in our yards. Dandelions, picker-bushes, wire grass, maple trees, kudzu, even trash tossed from passing cars or blown by wind, but never a banana tree. Its mother across the fence already dropped a bunch in our yard. They’re good, as are the avocados from the tree in another neighbor’s yard.

So, in conclusion, no insects, cute geckos instead of mice, and tropical fruit trees instead of weeds.

Adjusting might take longer than usual.

What's the most popular Live Kickstarter right now? I'm glad you asked

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:46:00 +0000

Robin suspected that the Unbroken Kickstarter would break big - but it's launch surpassed even her high expectations.

On launch the data was coming in so fast, it was difficult to tell exactly how long it took to fund, but it was well under the first minute. Here are some other stats:

The $100K goal was passed in less than 4 minutes
The $200k in less than 15 minutes
The $300K around the 40 minute mark
The $400K hit at just a few minutes past the first hour
The $500K hit at a few minutes past the 2nd hour
The $600K hit minutes after the 4th hour - so things we slowing down greatly :-)

Robin and I would like to thank any of my readers who backed this anthology. It's for a great cause, and it'll be an amazing book. For those who don't know what this Kickstarter is all about, well, click here to learn more.

Well, it's almost here - Unbroken launches in 2 days!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:35:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. Well this project has been delayed a few times, but we are now just days away from launching the Unbroken Kickstarter - an anthology like no other. Well, that's not quite true, it's actually a lot like Unfettered, which was an anthology launched to help Shawn Speakman get out of medical debt. This time the worthy cause is for author Peter Orullian who has amassed a huge financial burden due to both him and his wife being inflicted with cancer. But while UnFettered (Shawn's anthology) was amazing, Unbroken raises the bar even higher. I've never seen an anthology of this scope before.

832 fantasy filled pages
275,000 words
36 masters of fantasy
21 New York Times best selling authors (7 of which have hit #1)
4 artistic geniuses
1 award-winning narrator

Peter is an American fantasy author, writer, and music industry veteran best known for his epic fantasy series The Vault of Heaven. His debut novel, The Unremembered (2011), was awarded the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. It introduced readers to a richly built world where music and magic are deeply intertwined, a theme that reflects Peter's own background in music. To that end, he has a new series coming out (Songs of the Dead) that has been co-written with none other than Brandon Sanderson!

The lineup of authors for this anthology is nothing short of amazing - take a look!

As for Michael's short story, it is called: The Eternal Winter - and here is the teaser description for it:

It all started with a “new thing” called war that heralded the death of thousands. Famine and disease followed. Then the world of Elan was lost to an eternal winter, a dark and bitter cold that lasted years. Those struggling to survive walked upon the face of what they considered to be a corpse. But for the one known as Muriel, the worst thing to happen was learning that the white wolf had found her.

While this story can be read without any prior knowledge of my other works, it is first
and foremost a foundational tale for those eagerly awaiting The Cycle series.

But it's not just these amazing authors who have donated their time and effort to make this project so great. Check out these amazing collaborators who have lent their skills to produce this amazing work:

Artist: Donato Giancola
Artist: Todd Lockwood
Artist: Allen Morris
Artist: Julia Maddalina
Narrator: Travis Baldree

And what's really nice about this Kickstarter is that there is an edition to meet any budget.

$15 - ebook
$25 -audiobook
$50 - trade hardcover
$150 - PNW Edition (partially signed)
$350 - Fully-signed edition
$1,000 - Leather edition with Clam shell protective box

So when does this all start? I'm so glad you asked: Tuesday April 21st, 11:AM ET / 8 AM PT. We've already had 8,650 sign up to be notified - click the link and add yourself to the list.

The Elan Saga

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:57:00 +0000

Hey there Robin here. Recently, I've been working on some graphics for The Cycle, and while doing that I wanted to create something that could completely illustrate "The Elan Saga" - What I was looking for was something that visually explained individual series that were interconnected and how They Cycle ties them all together. This is what I've come up with.

If that looks like one too many series, then you've not kept up with what is in the works now. So, for those who don't know . . .

After the Fall is the 5th series in the Elan Saga - and the first book: Out of the Ashes will be our 2026 release (coming October 6th). No cover reveal for it yet, but hopefully soon. And yes, there will be a Kickstarter for it which will have hardcovers (regular and deluxe) as well as ebooks. As for the audiobook, that is already up for pre-order and you can reserve a copy of it now.

Getting Old

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:39:00 +0000

Not too long ago, I was out on my front lawn smelling an old fence post and thinking what an odd job I have. I wasn’t limiting my sniffing to the fence. I also went about the property putting my nose to the bark of trees, and even a bush. Luckily, this was when I was still in Shenandoah where my neighbors are too far away to see my odd behavior. The reason I was imitating the typical dog out on a walk, was entirely due to a scene I was writing. A character was scaling a wall, their face pressed to the surface. No chance the character wasn’t getting a nose full of old wood. Only, what does old dry wood smell like?

If you’ve ever seen the movie Stranger Than Fiction where the author Karen Eiffel (played by Emma Thompson) goes to great lengths to understand how her characters feel in order write about them, then what you just read might make more sense or merely increase your bewilderment. Most of the time I can imagine sights, sounds, and smells, but I was stumped on wood. This wasn’t old musty attic, nor mushroom laden decaying wood. The best description I had was “earthy.” This would have worked fine if such a word existed in Elan. Only it doesn’t.

One of the annoying drawbacks to writing invented world fantasy is how so many absolutely perfect words, phrases, and common references aren't allowed. Try describing an earthquake without the word earth, afternoon, without the word noon, or the midday meal which used to be called dinner. Some have even questioned the feasibility that people applauded or clapped their hands to show appreciation. What’s worse are words that are legitimate yet they are seen as inappropriate such as shoot, drive, or explode. Incidentally, it is amusing to me that explode comes from the Latin explodere to “drive out or off by clapping or making noise,” as in an audience’s reaction to a theater actor’s performance. I have long chaffed under these and other restraints that hamper my sense of free flowing expression, and force me to backspace over perfectly good sentences and ideas.

I never wanted to be a fantasy writer. I’d mostly walked away from that section of the bookstore the same time I left high school. I was lured by the vivid relatability of more contemporary stories, the sort where I could simply go to a place and write about what I saw. The hours I spent describing people in coffee shops, or transcribing their conversations into dialog, was thrilling and so much easier than trying to imagine what a princess’s bedroom might look, smell, or feel like. Writing Hollow World had been a blast despite most of it taking place in a distant future. At least the point of view character possessed the same frame of reference as the average American. I didn’t need to explain or omit anything. I could free associate to my heart’s content. And yet, in my grass-is-always-greener mentality I failed to see that despite these limitations and draw backs, the invented world fantasy offers one attribute that all other genre’s lack. It alone possesses the intrinsicly super power of timelessness that bestows at least the chance at on-going relevance for future generations.

Recently, I have been re-reading a few of my favorite Stephen King novels such as The Stand and It. They are still wonderful, filled with inspiring prose and stunningly crafted characters, but they’re getting old. Set in the real-world, and locked in time and place, these grand tales are becoming dated. References are lost, and contemporary terms—like the ones I wasn’t allowed to use in fantasy—are acting as lead weights tied to the legs of a world class swimmer. Given enough time, it is possible these novels will acquire a nostalgic allure, and then perhaps even a historic charm. I recently discovered I owned a first edition of Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, and found it fascinating to read a book that was both written and printed nearly a hundred years ago. To me the slang, lifestyle, references, and customs were more compelling than the story itself. Hopefully, this, too, will be King’s legacy.

It was, in fact, Mr. King who first alerted me to this idea of fantasy’s timelessness. I read something he wrote about how mega bestsellers from years ago having been almost entirely forgotten and how only fantasy seems positioned to be resistant to this aging sickness. Nothing is immune.

Given my first book was published in 2008, my works are creeping up on their twentieth birthday and receiving their AARP invitations from readers who post reviews that speak of my stories as established and even enduring. I am forced to acknowledge my accidental good fortune. The world has, and continues to change at such breakneck speeds that not merely references and slang are victims but also fundamental beliefs, attitudes, and ethics. Had I been writing closer to the bone, wading in deeper cultural waters, perhaps I might have made a bigger splash. The cost would have been the ephemeral nature of such fame and the loss of the example my characters appear to have provided to a weary world looking for safe harbor. In another decade, my readers will likely have moved on to greater writers and my books would have been used to steady a table leg or be set out on the curb like a velveteen rabbit. But if I have any chance at all of securing that highly competitive space on the occasionally visited dust-covered top shelf it may well be due to having written fantasy rather than aiming for the great American novel. I think this is important because I suspect people will continue to suffer troubling times in the future, and the next generation may again find a need for refuge from dark skies and turbulent winds.

THE CYCLE: Preliminary Committee Results

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:34:00 +0000

On September 27th, 2024 I posted about the Cycle Project. As it has been a while, allow me to refresh your memory. I never intended to write anymore stories in the world of Elan except the original six novels of the Riyria Revelations. I felt the ending was satisfying for those who like complete endings—not everyone does I discovered. So, when my wife asked for more Royce and Hadrian stories, I created prequels to accommodate her, which I wrote while I worked on the science fiction thriller Hollow World.

Then everyone wanted another fantasy series. Some hoped I would create a new world entirely, but I didn’t see the point in building a new reality when Elan still held plenty of potential and untouched real estate. The hardest thing about building an invented world is that before you can present a story you first need to educate the reader. In the past, there was the tried and true info dump that graced the start of many fantasy novels. This unpleasant habit was something diehard fantasy fans learned to accept, and which I felt prevented potential converts from joining the fun. Few casual readers appreciate a required course on geopolitical history before even finding out if the story, characters, or even the genre is for them. As the fantasy genre matured, however, writers learned to integrate world building with the story. But making world building entertaining isn’t as easy as some authors make it look. I personally find having to explain too much gets in the way of a good story in the same way that having to explain a joke after the telling kills the humor. For this reason I stuck with Elan as I assumed most of my potential readers would be familiar with it.

In the creation of Legends of the First Empire, I was forced to flesh out more of the world and in doing so, I discovered the potential for a sequel to Revelations. For more on this read the afore mentioned Cycle Post.

It has now been four years since the Exploratory Committee of One began their deliberation on the feasibility of a post Revelations series. The Cycle will consist of five novels, and as I have already finished drafts for books 1 through 3 as well as the prerequisite novel Blythin Castle, the committee has finally determined that there is a reasonable chance such a series might work. So, if you think I’ve been sitting in a lawn chair with an umbrella drink for the last four years while Lorian does all the heavy lifting, consider that I now have four unpublished Elan novels (aside from this year's release of Out of the Ashes) waiting in the editing queue.

My intention at this moment, is to spend the summer editing Blythin Castle, working on the remaining necessary Cycle related short stories, and then prepping Cycle Four (C4), so I can start it in late summer/early fall. In addition, I will be working with Lorian on the second book of her series while fixing up the home we now have here on the island.

All that said, while I have a high level of confidence in C4, C5 remains the greatest threat to this series seeing the light of day as it still has problems I need to work out. As such, the Exploratory Committee of One (ECO) has officially moved the Likelihood of Release dial from zero to a fifty-one percent chance of sunshine.

Robin’s estimation may vary.

Literary Sidewalks

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:35:00 +0000

In case you were concerned by the cliffhanger ending of my last post…I’m still alive. I successfully reached the island, where Robin gave me a Hollywood reception under sun-bathed palms. Now that I am here, and have a rudimentary office, allow me to explain a bit about why we moved because I’m both optimistic and arrogant enough to assume you want to know.

There are many reasons we have semi-moved to Key West. The motive almost everyone who transplants here gives is the weather. Three hundred days of sunshine and a tropical climate that has never known frost or snow makes it highly desirable, but that's not number one on our list. For us it's because the people on this island are…well, different - and so are we.

The inhabitants of Key West have tried on several occasions throughout its history to secede from its mother country (and actually did so on April 23, 1982). The short story about that is they (a) officially seceded (b) declared war on the United States (c) surrendered one minute later, and (d) requested foreign aid. That said, they did not secede when Florida left the Union on January 10, 1861. So, yeah, the island has been known to be a magnet for mavericks, eccentrics, pirates, and those that are just plain "odd." But a common thread to all these groups is that they are fiercely independent and free-minded. Those who know me, or have seen the Indie Author movie, understand why I find this appealing.

And yet the instigating reason for choosing Key West was far less philosophical and more practical. It is the farthest south we can get to by car. I’m not a huge fan of air travel, not too keen on driving either, but there is also an auto train that cuts the trip down by more than half, which is quite nice. Just having three options makes me happy since we are keeping the cabin in "the Valley" and plan to migrate. Am I concerned that the island may be literally underwater in forty years? Not particularly because we won’t be alive to see it.

What I am embarrassed to admit is that there was another reason for me to move here that I only recently discovered—Key West is a literary Mecca. Unbeknownst to me, this is where writers go to work and live, and have for over a hundred years. I’ve long known that Ernest Hemingway had a home here—still does, only now it’s a museum. He, however, was only one of many. The list is ridiculously long, but notables include (in no particular order) the likes of Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Richard Wilbur, Tennessee Williams, Thomas McGuane, John Hersey, Alison Lurie, Robert Stone, Judy Blume, Jimmy Buffet, Shel Silverstein, and Truman Capote.

How I came to learn this common bit of knowledge is odd, and therefore typically Key West. Just this last autumn, I was walking out near the lighthouse on the 900 Block of Whitehead Street. Robin and I were returning from a lovely dinner, when I saw something beneath my feet. Written into the concrete of the sidewalk were words. This wasn’t a child’s scrawl, these letters were carefully inscribed. So, I stopped, and in the light of a late night street lamp, I read a poem by David L. Sloan.

Who goes to the effort to inscribe literature into a nondescript sidewalk? I was impressed enough to snap the above photo and walked on. The following day on the way to brunch, Robin and I happened upon another bit of seemingly random etched graffiti, this one a distinctly appropriate poem by Eden Brown:

At this point I was more than impressed—I was intrigued. The next day, Robin and I swam at the Casa Marina pier where I found Tennessee Williams swam there every morning and was quoted as saying he wrote best in Key West. At this point I had to investigate, and learned the island was drowning in a legacy of writers.

I quickly discovered David L. Sloan was a local author by virtue of his many books featured at the city’s bookstores. I purchased Quit Your Job And Move To Key West by Christopher Shultz & David L Sloan just in case there were other things I ought to know about before buying a place on the island. Eden Brown is also a local poet. This led me to discover that the concrete verses were the result of The Key West Sidewalk Poetry Project conducted by the city’s Art in Public Places Board. More than 200 Florida Keys writers submitted poetry, prose, lyrics and haiku, in a contest that granted a cash award and a place in the city’s history.

It would seem this tiny island at the southernmost point of the continental United States, with it’s tropical climate, ocean breezes, roaming roosters, and creative, quirky, and artistically minded residents, attract writers like Reese's Pieces pull in lost and lonely aliens. And the island has embraced this tendency for writers to settle here, by establishing yearly seminars and other organizations and events. It would seem artists, musicians, and writers are the island’s more respectable mascots.

I suppose if I had the chance at put words to sidewalk, it would be a simple question posed to me by Robin. “What took us so long to get here?”

Fingers Crossed . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:24:00 +0000

My wife and I are moving to Tur Del Fur. Not entirely, and not exactly, but she’s already there and I’m leaving to join her today. Truth is we bought a house in Old Town Key West, and if my last novel, Drumindor were to be made into a movie, Key West is where they should film it. Truthfully, the architecture would be all wrong, and the time period completely off, but the essence, the spirit, and the feel are a perfect match. To a large degree, Key West was my inspiration for the setting of that novel: independent, artistic, freewheeling, and a culturally diverse city of Tur Del Fur where Ghazel, Dromeians, and Fhrey bumped elbows without a thought – a happy place, a unique watering hole where lions and antelope drink side-by-side in a tranquil paradise.

I said we aren’t moving entirely because we are keeping the cabin in Shenandoah, and will return to it in the summers. This will make us “snow birds” a term for lucky old people who have the means and the wisdom to understand why birds migrate.

You see, Robin — she’s my wife, and I feel silly explaining that because most know her by now, and she’s certainly more beloved—suffers from the winter blues. She becomes depressed when the leaves fall, spirals downward when we “close up the pool,” and it gets worse as days shorten and grow colder. We don’t know if it is a true case of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or not, but it happens each year and appears to grow more pronounced with age. Even I’ve started to feel it. Short, dark, cold days have a way of making a person focus on that unpleasant topic we all prefer to not think about—how few years you have left. Less years, more focus, greater morbidity in winter.

Over the years, we’ve traveled to the Keys for at least a week in various winters. I even did a blog post in March of 2019 about how we’d take the auto train down to Orlando, then jump in our Jeep and drive the rest of the way to the islands. The trips clearly helped, so this last November we tried an experiment. Sure, it’s fine for a week, for a vacation, but how would it be to live there? For a test we rented a house for six weeks in the Old Town section of Key West.

For those of you who don’t know, Key West is the last inhabited island at the end of the overseas highway. A 113-mile stretch of road that connects more than 40 small islands utilizing 42 bridges including one that is 7 miles long. The island itself is quite small just 4.2 square miles (approximately 4 miles long and 1 mile wide). In 1829 it was even smaller than that (just 2.5 square miles but it’s been “added onto” over the years the biggest project of which happened during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Key west also has the distinction of being the southernmost point in the contiguous United States. It is closer to Havana than Miami, and it has a tropical climate. The surrounding water tends to mitigate huge temperature swings keeping it mild for most of the year, and it enjoys 300 days a year of sunshine. It really doesn’t get cold there; it’s record low was set in 1886 (41 degrees F), and I have been told it is the only place in the continental United States that you can drive to that has never known frost.

As you might imagine, the island is quite crowded there are about 3000 buildings many of which date back to the 1800’s; it looks like Main Street Disneyland if Walt had decided on a tropical garden theme.

After our six weeks, we discovered that we loved it. The bad news (as you might have already guessed) is that we loved it.

You see, Key West is not cheap.

A realtor showed us a house with a separate building that was being rented to a ship’s captain. It was one room with a low ceiling, no windows or running water, (there was an outdoor shower and toilet nearby). I think it must have been about 10 feet by 15 feet, and the captain paid $2000 a month in rent! But it’s not just the cost of housing that’s expensive there. Since so much is brought in by the Overseas Highway, or by boat, most things are pricey. Living is Key West these days was a crazy (and we thought) unobtainable dream.

But a funny thing happened over the last two decades. A lot of people bought my books. And because Robin and I grew up poor, we never spent very much of that money. And as the shorter, darker days keep reminding us, we don’t have that many years left. So we bought a little piece of paradise.

We closed on a little yellow shipwright cottage in “the Meadows” at the start of February. No not the one I described above. The “house hunt” was an adventure in its own right, and maybe Robin will post about it. The plan was for Robin to go down, get things “setup” and then I would follow soon after. Little did we know that Virginia (and a wide swath of the east) was inundated with snow and crippled by seriously cold temperature turned the “white stuff” surrounding our place into “snowcrete (a new Virginia term for really thick and immovable ice).

In early February, we were like borrowing field mice not peaking our heads out of the cabin at all, but we did have to get the closing papers notarized so we took a trip to do that. While I parked the car, Robin walked toward the cabin and went down hard. I rushed after to help, and fell as well. The result was an acute transverse fracture through the surgical neck of the proximal humerus extending into the greater tuberosity. In other word, she fractured her upper arm where the ball of the bone sits in the shoulder.

The prognosis of her arm wasn’t great, but the weather predictions were worse. Temperatures were going to be below freezing for weeks so none of the snow was going to melt. To make matters worse another huge storm just came through south of us so travel through that area was “dicey.” Now, anyone who knows Robin knows that she is not one to be daunted. If you put obsticles in her way she’s going to go around, over, or under them so she threaded a needle found a few days when setting out might be possible and so I loaded up the Jeep with essentials that had to go by car (including or cat Loki), and she and our daughter Sarah set out.

So, she’s been down there these last five weeks. Winged as she was, there wasn’t a lot that she could do, but Lorian (my co-author for After the Fall), and her husband came down to help. Sarah was able to stay for a few days, and one of our oldest and dearest friends, Cheryl, came to the rescue. So she’s not been alone for the entire time—thank Maribor.

This is the longest the two of us have been apart in forty-six years by a margin of four weeks. It hasn’t been pleasant. We honestly like each other’s company (something our daughter refers to as co-dependency).

I’ve stayed in the cabin working to finish the third book of the Cycle, because I didn’t have an office at the new place yet, and I didn’t want to stop while I was “on a roll.” Alone in the snowbound Shenandoah Valley, in the short, dark, cold days I thought I could get a lot done, and I have, but it has been miserable. Not nearly as nice as Stephen King made it out to be in The Shining. I didn’t have a helpful ghostly bartender to cheer me up.

I don’t watch much television, but I started to when night fell as that’s when I noticed Robin’s absence the most. The late lonely hours are especially nasty and get worse as you get older. So, I watched a Ken Burns special on Hemingway, about how he killed himself in a remote cabin. I followed this up with the new Michael Caine movie Bestseller about an aging writer at the end of his life who credits his wife with making his career by her wonderful editing, but who passed away and now everything is bullshiite (an actual word used in the film.) As you might imagine, neither of these helped. No, not at all.

The phone has been our lifeline. We talk almost every night (exceptions held for when people were visiting). Maybe that’s what denied me my rightful bartender, I don’t know. What made it bearable was how happy she sounded. In some weird way, it was like she was dead, and I was making phone calls to heaven. I was either still alive or in hell. I’m not sure which. These days it’s hard to tell the difference.

But the book is done. The snow is gone. I have a backpack filled with my notebooks, iPad, a portable hard drive, and a plane ticket. And in 15 minutes my plane will be boarding, so I’m going to see my wife in paradise.

If my plane crashes, this post is going to sound weirdly prophetic. But for now my fingers are crossed.

Time to Celebrate!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:28:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. I'm writing today because it's time to . . .

What do I have to be so happy about? Well a few things.

First and foremost, I have some important news about the third book in the Cycle series. When Michael started writing it, he put a "target date" of May 1st, and his computer gave him an estimate of how many words each day he had to write to finish by then. Some may know that we were in Key West from Late November until Early January, and while I thought that would slow him down a lot (and therefore push that date further back), it turns out he was able to keep to his normal writing routine while in paradise, and his required word count per day actually came down rather than going up.

When we got back to Luray, I started hinting that a REALLY nice birthday gift would be if Book #3 could be finished by April 8th. Since there were only a few months until then, I thought it was a lot to ask, but hey, if you don't tell the one you love what present you want more than anything else then there is no hope of getting it.

Well, Michael did a bit better than April 8th. As of March 10th, the book is officially finished!! I can't wait to get my hands on it - which leads me to the second reason why I'm here to celebrate.

You see, for the last 35 days, Michael and I have been apart from one another -- separated by about 1,200 miles. There has been times when I was in one place and him another, but in more than forty-six years, I can count on one hand the number of times we've not been "attached at the hip" -- and on those occasions it's rarely been more than a week in duration. Well, in about 34 1/2 hours that will be rectified, and we'll be together once more. And yeah, I'm counting the hours and grinning from ear to ear just thinking about our reunion.

What has caused this separation? Well, I'll leave that to Michael to explain. I asked him to write a blog post about "recent events," and he sent it to me last night. So, stay tuned. There's more on this tomorrow. But suffice to say I have a lot be happy about.

The Storm - The First Cycle Story now Available to all

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:33:00 +0000

As many may be aware I'm currently writing "The Cycle" - a five-book post-Riyria Revelations series which will pull characters and plot points from all 20 books written in Elan including:

6 books of the Riyria Revelations
5 books of the Riyria Chronicles
6 books of the Legends of the First Empire
3 books of the Rise and Fall

As part of The Cycle, there are a number of "foundational works" that I wrote to provide added context - and to leak clues as to what to expect in my current work in progress. The first of those is "The Storm" - a short story that takes place in the timeline of The Riyria Chronicles, but introduces a character and some "concepts" that will be expanded upon in The Cycle.

This short story was published in an anthology created by Grim Oak Press to spotlight Indie authors. As for availability:

The physical book is still being printed, but pre-order is available.
Backers of the Kickstarter received the tale on January 11th,
But the ebook is now available to everyone: Amazon | Grim Oak Press Site

So if you've been excited about getting into The Cycle - pick up a copy of Unavowed, and read The Storm!

Theft of Swords ebook on Sale - $1.99

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:42:00 +0000

From time to time Orbit, my publisher for the Riyria Revelations, puts the books on a deeply discounted sale. This is one of those times. The book is currently $1.99 (previously $6.99 originally $12.99) and the price change happened on February 1st. I'm not sure how long it will be at this price, probably for a month, but if you haven't started this series . . . or more importantly if you know someone who has expressed an interest but needed a good reason to start . . . now is the time.

Here are some links from some major retailers:

Robin down - expect some delays.

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 16:03:00 +0000

For anyone who has been watching the news latel,y you'll know that there was a massive storm that came to our neck of the woods a week ago. All in all it wasn't as bad here as other places - 5" of snow but some freezing rain on top of it which made all surfaces outside treacherous. Our approach to this was to "huddle inside" and not venture out. Well, there were some really important documents that needed a notary so Robin and I did set out to do that. Well, on the way back into the house she fell and when using her hand/arm to brace the fall the "snow" (which is really solid ice at this moment) didn't give an inch.

Those who know us, are aware that we never go to the doctor, but the day it happened she thought a trip to urgent care was warranted. Turns out the only urgent care in the area didn't have x-ray facilities, so we turned back. The next day, she got an appointment with our local "multi-disciplinary" clinic and the x-rays did, indeed, indicate that she fractured the ball of her arm that fits into the shoulder. They gave her a sling, which helps a lot with the pain and got her an appointment with an orthopedic specialist for the next day (yesterday).

The orthopedic specialist confirmed what the general practitioner said. And while there may be some "soft tissue" damage as well (like a torn rotator cuff) none of that can be addressed until after the bone has enough time to mend such that it won't "slide apart" and cause more series problems.

As for the warehouse - it's pretty much "snowed in" until we an get some melting - not even going to attempt accessing it as the effort would be too great based on it's location (very far back and divided from "civilzation" by crossing a bridge to get onto the property and a long distance and large parking lot that is 100% buried.

The good news, is most of the shipments were taken care of just prior to this. But for those that haven't (mainly overseas orders) you can expect some further delays.

Life just got harder for writers - New scams to avoid

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 12:35:00 +0000

Being an author has never been easy. It's difficult to write a book, and nearly impossible to create one that is "good" (defined as a story that after reading others will tell their friends about it). Then there are always a mountain of rejections, being taken advantage of by retailers and publishers who take the lion's share of the profits leaving them crumbs, and then there is the whole issue of how to "get the word out" so that people know your books exist.

But lately it's been even harder. Anyone reading my posts knows just how much Robin does for me. One of the most annoying jobs as of late is organizing the email. She goes through it every day and puts fan mail to my attention, and takes care of any "logistics" stuff like contracts, shipping issues, coordination with copyeditors and Tim (our narrator), and so forth.

With the advent of AI there has been an explosion of what I can only assume are AI generated emails. One category are people who "run bookclubs."

They are remarkably similar and always include some "generic praise" such as:

"The dynamic between Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater is so good. The contrast between cynicism and idealism, and the moral tension woven into such a concise Riyria tale, sparked great discussion among our members.

They bring up being "featured" but usually don't mention money - not yet. But Robin likes to "play along" and tells them I'd be happy to join the group for an Author Q&A. Then they do ask for cash (either to cover the logistics of setting up the feature or to pay for "snacks" for the group."

It's all a scam of course, and the simple thing would be to just ignore them, but Robin doesn't like the fact that they are besmirching the bookclub's name without them even knowing it's going on. So she's been going the next step which is:

Contacting the real bookclub to verify they didn't send the request (so far none of them have)
Filing a abuse report to Google because these people are impersonating others

It's a time consuming process, and it's no doubt "tilting at windmills" but she feels like she's making a difference in some small way, so who am I to stop her.

But there was a recent email that has been even more nefarious. This one is from a guy (Rob Cox) - with the email robcox.bookpublicist@gmail.com. He offers various "marketing services" that run from $550 - $6,750. Robin hopes there is a real person and not just an AI because she keeps asking for "more information" to burn his time. At one point, he offered up an reference: Mark Lawrence with an email address that is NOT Mark's. But Robin was like a cat with a mouse so she wrote to it with the subject "Hey Mark, is this really you."

And of course a response came back!

Hi Robin,
Yes, this is Mark.
First, congratulations on Michael’s works in progress! The Cycle, After the Fall, and Blythin Castle all sound like exciting projects, and it’s impressive to see such a strong lineup coming together.

I want to clarify upfront that I don’t work with multiple marketing people, I only work with Rob Cox and his team. They are the ones who have handled all of my marketing and consistently delivered results.
We first connected by email when I engaged them for marketing support for my books. Since then, Rob and his team have been my sole marketing partners, managing everything from strategy to execution.
Before we go further, could you let me know who provided you with my email for a reference? I want to make sure my contact information is only shared appropriately.
If you would like to verify their work or get more details on the results they’ve achieved, you can reach out to Rob directly. I’m confident he and his team can provide all the information you need.
Best regards,
Mark Lawrence

Oh the "balls" on this guy. Now Robin also sent an email to the real Mark Lawrence, and hopefully he can take action against these guys for using his name to defraud others. But I can't believe how much effort this guy has put into this. He's later sent Robin three other authors as references, and she, of course, hae told them how they are being used.

For many years critics of my writing say that my glasses are too rose-colored. And I'll admit, I try to think better of people than worse - but Dear Maribor, this kind of scum make something that is so hard to begin with so much worse that it's more than a little disheartening.

Okay, I'm off my rant and back to writing.

Cradle Animatic - Now on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:21:00 +0000

Back in March of 2019 I made a post on our blog about Will Wight. This was the first time I saw an indie published book hit the top 5 on Amazon's overall list, so I wrote a little note of congratulations to Will, someone who I had never met. I should note that Will went on to hit #1 on Amazon - and multiple times!

It wasn't until I was watching Adam Grandy's Indie Author Documentary that I learned just how much that post meant to Will (and his family). Years later, I did some mentoring of Will and his team to get him to (a) run Kickstarters and (b) move from print-on-demand for his books to doing print runs and getting them into mainstream brick-and-mortar distribution.

I've been nothing but thrilled with Will's success, and just about exactly two years ago he surpassed my capabilities at "taking it to the next level" by launching an initiative to animate Will's Cradle series. His Kickstarter brought in more than 1.25M and a few months ago I flew out to Los Angeles for the animatic premier.

I WAS BLOWN AWAY!

Not only was it entertaining, but it as a testament to the quality and stewardship of an author's vision when they had full creative control. For those that didn't back the Kicksarter here is a bit about what was produced (text from Will's team):

This is the two-hour animatic movie adaptation of the first two books in the Cradle series funded by the Kickstarter campaign we ran in 2024! Enjoy this journey through Unsouled and Soulsmith.

This animatic was directed and hand-drawn by veteran animators Jay Oliva and David Hartman of Lex + Otis Studios. It includes an original score and a top-notch voice cast featuring Matt Mercer, Steve Blum, Travis Baldree, Kari Wahlgren, Phil LaMarr, Baraka May, Sumalee Montano, Matthew Yang King, Morla Gorrondona and Maxine Phoenix.

The script was written by Will Wight himself with the help of Cradle fanatic and writer/producer Cory Gustke. Original score composed by Frederik Wiedmann. Even though it is black and white and hand-drawn, we would rate this as PG-13. There is quite a bit of violence.

An “animatic” is the step before full animation. Since it is hand-drawn, the character designs aren’t perfectly consistent from scene to scene. If we were able to pair with a studio to fully animate this project, the characters would be “on model” and look consistent and the motion would be fluid.

Recently, Will's team posted the animatic on You Tube, so I'm here to share it with you. Yes you can watch all 2 hours and 10 minutes of it (be sure to stay through all the credits as there are some great bloopers)

But to truly appreciate the "vision" of what this could be - you MUST see the full-color fully animated trailer:

I'm sure you'll enjoy both.

The next logical step is for some big studio (like Netflix or HBO) to build on what Will and his team have started and produce an animated series or movie. I do hope that happens. But more than that, I have a dream that Will can continue to maintain "his vision and involvement," something that is definitely not an easy thing to do when "Hollywood" is involved. Will and his whole team have proved time and time again their abilities - if anyone can do it, I think they can.

J.A. Andrews says, "If you only back ONE Kickstarter this winter . . . this would be AN EXCELLENT choice

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 15:46:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. I'm reaching out to you today for two reasons.

I'm a big fan of J. A. Andrews (both personally and professionally) - and if you don't know her work, then I definitely think you should check it out.
When a fellow author is in need, I try to do what I can to help.

Over the years I've heard a lot of people say that they find similarities between J.A.'s writing style and Michael's. It's even a topic on one of our discord servers. Instead of trying to summarize the comparison myself, I used the dreaded AI (yes, it is good for some things - namely taking large amounts of data from the Internet and summarizing it) to help make a case as to why people who like Michael's writing might also like J.A's books.

So I asked chatgpt:

"Do people who like Michael J. Sullivan's writing also enjoy J.A. Andrew's books?"

And it replied with the following:

Yes — many readers who enjoy Michael J. Sullivan’s books also tend to like J.A. Andrews’ works, especially if they’re drawn to classic, character-driven epic fantasy with a generally optimistic tone. Here’s how they overlap and why fans often cross over:

🔹 Classic epic fantasy style

Both authors write in a traditional epic/high fantasy vein, with clear world-building, engaging quests, and a focus on adventure. J.A. Andrews’ The Keeper Chronicles and related series fit this mold well.

🔹 Character growth and camaraderie
Like Sullivan’s Riyria books (which balance witty dialogue, layered friendships, and engaging character arcs), Andrews’ books emphasize character relationships and growth over grimdark violence. Reviewers note that Andrews’ series is “meant for an adult audience, and have high stakes, but don’t need graphic gore or sex scenes” — a tone many Sullivan fans appreciate.

🔹 Light and hope balanced with real stakes
Andrews mixes hopeful, optimistic storytelling with real consequences — not a grimdark world, but one where characters are tested and changed by their journeys. That’s similar to the way Sullivan balances danger and humor in his work.

📌 Who might especially enjoy both

Readers who like:

Adventurous epic fantasy with clear stakes and structured world-building
Strong friendships and team dynamics
Balanced tone (not overly grimdark)
Accessible prose and satisfying quests

are likely to enjoy both Sullivan and Andrews.

I'm sorry to say that I've yet to read any of Janice's works, to be honest, I've not read much of anything except Michael's works for years), but I have backed every single one of her Kickstarter (sometimes during the project and other times as a late backer) and she's created some really great looking additions to our library.

I'm also in a writer's group with Janice and have met her personally on several occasions. Not only is she a talented writer, but she's also a wonderful person. When Janice reached out to ask me to help her friend and fellow writer Mellissa Wright, well, there was no question that I would do what I could.

As some of you may know, Michael and I helped Shawn Speakman through his Unfettered Anthology, and we are also helping Peter Orullian with the Unbroken Anthology (launching on Kickstarter April 21st) both projects were used to pay medical debt after cancer diagnoses.

Mellissa's problem isn't cancer but rather a long ordeal due to a spinal injury in 2019. If you want to read more about it, Janice does an excellent job here. But the long and the short of it is comes down to s surgery that could bring her back to 80% - 90% of being fully functional. So, she's launched a Kickstarter for A Necromancer's Guide to Grave Mistakes Deluxe LE Hardcover, and some of these proceeds will cover the travel and uncovered medical expenses.

Here's a bit about the book: It’s this cozy, hilarious story of Cinder Ella, a necromancer who can’t seem to put the dead back into their eternal rest once she’s raised them. Prince Charming, whose name is Silas, is the most charming prince ever put into print. He’s long-suffering and calm in the face of Ella’s increasingly unorthodox plans to find her father’s killer and keep her evil stepmother from sabotaging the royal family.

Michael and I have already backed the project, and it's doing well. (Over $25,000 raised to date). So please check it out, and if it looks like something that will scratch your reading itch, join us and pick up a copy.

As always, Michael and I thank you for your support and for supporting indie authorship.

Robin.

Indie Author Documentary - now available on YouTube!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 07:43:00 +0000

As some of you may know, Adam Grandy approached us about doing a documentary about our lives. We didn't think anyone would be interested in such a thing, but Adam persisted. We finally relented but only on the condition that he expand the scope to talk about Indie Authors across the board and add some insights from other Indie authors (many of whom are our friends).

This was Kickstarted, it "made the documentary circuit" but didn't get any awards - boo...but it is now available on YouTube, so if you didn't get the movie as part of the Kickstarter, you can now watch it FOR FREE. I hope you'll give it a look.

Who is in the movie? Well, myself and Robin (of course), but also Andy Wier, Travis Baldree, Will Wight, Bryce O'Conner, A.C. Cobble, Emilie Nikota (also known as delemhach), Lorian Ellis (co-author of Out of the Ashes), M.L. Wang, Lydia and David Sherrer and other!

Audiobooks: 4 Series, 8 bestsellers, 1 on sale, 2 ownership changes

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 19:51:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. Michael and I are fresh back from an extended vacation in Key West (more on that at some point in the future). But there have been some shuffling of audiobook titles recently, so I was taking a look at one of the fantasy bestsellers lists, and I was happy to see at least one book from each of Michael's 4 series hitting the list, and that there are currently 8 titles in total!

Another surprise is that Age of Myth is currently part of Audible's monthly deal sale so if you don't already have that title in your library - pick it up while it's discounted nearly 70%!!

Okay, so what do I mean about "shuffling of titles." Well, what I'm referring to is that in the past, we have licensed the audiobooks through one of two sources:

Recorded Books - the largest audiobook distributor
Audible Studios - the publishing arm of Audible and an Amazon subsidiary

And recently, we added a new distribution strategy to our mix

Self-publishing through Riyria Enterprises, LLC.

Unlike print and ebook rights (which are sold for the life of copyright (which means 70 years after Michael dies), audiobook contracts expire after a fixed term (usually 7 or 10 years). As such, these rights become "available" from time to time. This recently happened with two titles - which you may see in your audible library as "new releases" - even though they aren't new - they have just changed hands.

Age of War - previously licensed to Recorded Books is now released through Audible Studios
The Death of Dulgath - previously licensed to Audible Studios is now released through Riyria Enterprises.

In the case of Age of War, Recorded Books wouldn't sub-license the narration, but don't fret, as Tim Gerard Reynolds re-recorded it. Nothing in the book has changed, but the new version may be slightly longer (or shorter) based on how fast or slow he did the reading the second time around.

For The Death of Dulgath, Audible Studios sold us the sub-license to the narration, so that recording is exactly as it has always been. That said, at some future date we plan on making a "10th anniversary version" of this audiobook, and we'll offer a slightly enhanced version through a Kickstarter campaign including a new author's note, an updated afterword by myself, and we'll bundle some bonus material such as a few Royce and Hadrian short stories, and a "behind the scenes" making of the book that some might find interesting.

Michael and I want to thank you for your continued support of his writing. It's great seeing books from all four series making the bestseller list. This is especially encouraging as it's only people who have "read everything" who will truly appreciate The Cycle series (a post-Riyria Revelations set of books which he is writing now). The fact that all four series are selling well bodes well for a good number of people being eligible to read that when it comes out. More books coming soon!

Unbroken Update

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 13:36:00 +0000

Happy 2026 all! As you may have heard, Robin, I, and Shawn Speakman are helping Peter Orullian with the Unbroken Anthology. In the same spirit as Unfettered (which was created to relieve Shawn Speakman of medical debt from his second cancer diagnosis), this anthology will (hopefully) do the same for Peter and his wife, neither of which have medical insurance (and both of whom have incurred high debut from cancer). A big part of this situation is because earning a living wage and healthcare as an author isn't an easy feat.

We were planning on launching the Kickstarter in January, but for a number of reasons, it's been pushed to April 21st. More than 7,000 people have signed up to be notified about this pre-order and there is a free gift if you back it within the first 48 hours, so if you want to sign up for notification, then you can sign-up from this link.

Since the anthology was originally announced, some authors couldn't participate, and others have been added. Here is the full list:

As you can see, there are some "heavy hitters" on this project including Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, Christopher Paolini, Brent Weeks, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, and R.A. Salvatore. Some of the most recent adds were a number of notable indie authors such as Matt Dinniman, Will Wight, and Ryan Cahill. This will be a must have anthology, and what's even better is it's for a good cause.

For my own contribution, it'll have a short story from The Cycle: the highly-anticipated post-Riyria Revelations series. If you are anxiously awaiting those 5 books, then you'll want to nab a copy.

A belated Christmas Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:27:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. Since the end of November, and continuing for another week or so, Michael and I have been in Key West Florida, soaking up the sun, biking, playing tennis, and really enjoying ourselves. Being away from the cold and "the kids" has made it an odd holiday - it was weird hearing Christmas songs while sipping on Margaritas and eating shrimp and oysters.

We didn't even exchange gifts! So I thought I'd give one to all of you instead (albeit a little late).

Unfortunately, I don't have a new story to send your way (although I did just take back control of The Jester audiobook and you can get it free from us from this link). WhatI have instead is an update on "The Cycle" (shh . . . don't tell Michel, I'm posting this while he's out for a walk).

If you don't know what that is, then you'll want to learn more about it from the link above. This will be Michael's magnum opus, and it is a love letter to his most ardent fans. In short, it's a 5-book sequel to the Riyria Revelations, and it will utilize characters and tie in plots from EVERY book (and short story) that is based in Elan.

If you are already familiar with The Cycle then you know it won't be released until it's 100% written and Michael has been working on the project for almost 4 years now. A lot of that time was spent just trying to figure out if such a feat was possible, and after a few filed attempts hit the vertical filing system, writing has been going pretty steady with 2.66 books completed - that's over half way!

Book 1: 33 chapters (152,667 words)
Book 2: 40 chapters (178,045 words)

As for the current book, Michael's at 89,608 words and he started it on 09/09/25. The plan is to get it completed before May 1st, and he's well on track for that.

Book #1 took about 9 months of writing
Book #2 took just a bit over 10 months
Book #3 is presently at 3.75 months and if the pace continues he should be done by March 1st which would make it the "fastest one yet" - just 5.7 months!

I've read the first two books and they are nothing short of amazing. I hope you are as excited about this project as I am, but I should warn you, it'll be best if experienced by people who have read all four series. So, if you've not done that yet, well you'll have some time to catch up.

Happy 2026 all!

Less than 6 days to get Nolyn Audibook at 68% off

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 14:13:00 +0000

New York Times Audio best seller | Amazon Editor's pick | Audible Editor's pick

December is almost over and Nolyn has been on sale on Audible for just $7.99. That's 68% off the list price and about half the price as a subscription based credit.

This is the first book in the Rise and Fall series, and if you've already read the Legends of the First Empire series, this is an excellent place to continue your journey through the adventures based in Elan. More than 110,000 audiobooks of this title have been sold since it's release and it's well loved:

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, and here's hoping for a fabulous New Year!

Going Indie with audiobooks - The Jester (short story) #4 Bestseller

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:35:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. Most are probably aware that Michael is a hybrid author (meaning some of his titles are released with big-five publishers like Penguin Random House (Del Rey) and Hachette Book Group (Orbit) while others are 100% controlled by us). When it comes to audiobooks, we have never done any self-publishing. All our titles have been released by either Recorded Books Media (the largest non-big five audio book producer) or Audible Studios (the audio production arm of Audible.com). Until now . . .

And yes, of course, it's narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds - in fact, we purchased the original recordings from Audible Studios and reposted them using Amazon's ACX platform which is what is used for self-publishing. Considering we didn't "announce" this, we were quite surprised by it's reception. 342 copies have been purchased in the first few days which has driven it to #4 on the bestselling charts:

For more than 10 years this title was an "Audible Exclusive" meaning that it could only be obtained on that single platform, but now that we control the distribution, we are "going wide" which means it can be distributed by oher platforms. As such, we're using the amazing BookFunnel to distribute the audiobook for free for those who sign-up to my email list. You can, of course, opt-out of the email list after signing up, but typically we email infrequently - in fact, it's been more than a year since our last newsletter.

Cyber Monday Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:27:00 +0000

Because our warehouse is being used to ship out a huge number of books for a fellow author's Kickstarter, our store is presently closed. But we have moved a bunch of books to our secondary storage facility and we are running a Holiday sale. A few things to note:

All orders that come in before December 9th will be shipped by December 12th which should ensure delivery for the Christmas season.
All orders over $50 will have free US shipping.
All orders over $50 will have 50% subsidized non-US shipping
Selection is limited

The books involved in the sale include:

Savings includes:

$80 off Deluxe Riyria Chronicle boxset (5 books) - including Drumindor
$60 off Deluxe Riyria Chronicle boxset (4 books)
$30 off Regular Riyria Chronicle hardcover box set (5 books) - including Drumindor
$20 off Regular Riyria Chronicle hardcover box set (4 books)
Most out of print Legends Hardcovers just $10 each (N/A for Age of Myth and Age of War)

Shop the sale from this link

Drumindor 2025 Earphone Award Winner - and on sale this month only!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 13:17:00 +0000

Hey all, Robin here. Things have been more than incredibly busy at the Sullivan household, but I wanted to take a moment to announce that Drumindor won an earphone award! And if you don't yet have a copy of the audiobook, you can get it through the end of this month for just $6.99 that's 82% off the regular price, and remember . . . even if you leave Audible's membership any books purchased for credits or cash are yours to keep forever!

Here is what the exceptionally intelligent people at Audiofile Magazine had to say about the book:

Tim Gerard Reynolds gorgeously narrates this Elan world novel, the fifth in the Riyria Chronicles. In this prequel, a disgruntled dwarf has been fired and threatens to wreak havoc on the towers of Drumindor, thus destroying the lavish town of Tur Del Fur. Royce and Hadrian, friends who together form Riyria, are hired to find the dwarf and stop him. Reynolds brings depth that adds texture to the story: Dwarves have Scottish brogues and raspy voices; evil leaders have deep, slow voices; and the most evil character has a whispery, low voice that is sure to give listeners nightmares. Reynolds manages to make the heroes human as they experience fear and courage in equal measure. L.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2025

A big congratulations to Tim! And in other news, the next book in the Riyria Chronicle series (Blythin Castle) is already written! Unfortunately, we don't have a release date for it yet. Why? Well we are trying to "fill the void" between this year's Drumindor and the release of The first book in The Cycle series. For those who aren't familiar with this "post Revelation's sequel, you can learn more about it from here.

As for next release dates, Tim will be recording Out of the Ashes, the first book in the After of the Fall series in June of 2026 so we are hoping to have the release of that title soon after that.

Store is open once more!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael J. Sullivan) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:01:00 +0000

So, we're done shipping packages for the Indie Author Movie, the Riyria Chronicles, and Drumindor Kickstarter, so we've opened up the store once more. And because we purchased extra books (for hurts, damaged/lost in the mail etc. We're making them available on the store - and at discounting to help us clear out the warehouse before we start shipping our next big project - Will Wight's Cradle books #7 - #9 are arriving in port any day now!

We couldn't be happier with how these books turned out. Without question, these are our best deluxe sets yet. So if you missed the Kickstarter, be sure to pick up your set. We are offering them in both 4 and 5 book configurations (with and without Drumindor), and there are regular and deluxe hardcovers available.

4 Regular Boxset ~~$196~~ save $17 now just $179
5 Regular Boxset ~~$226~~ save $27 now just $199
4 Deluxe Boxset ~~$340~~ save $41 now just $299
5 Deluxe Boxset ~~$415~~ save $46 now just $369

As with all books in our store, these are signed (and the deluxe books are numbered). So get them while you can!