I guess the cat has been debagged.

Several of you have seen and shared the news that, yes, I am returning to Osten Ard for a series of books called (collectively) “The Last King of Osten Ard”. It will feature many of the same characters a generation later (and many new ones as well). The book titles will be (as of now):

The Witchwood Crown
Empire of Grass
The Navigator’s Children

This is assuming I don’t do my normal try-to-squeeze-two-books-into-the-last-volume trick.

I haven’t gone back to my old worlds very often, precisely because I never wanted to be doing so simply to be doing it. (That’s called “franchising” and I don’t like it much, personally.) I always said, “If a story ever comes to me that wants to be written, then yes, I’ll consider it.” And it finally did. In fact, it sprang out of a conversation with wife Deborah Beale late last spring, and it’s been coming together for most of a year now, so we kept it secret pretty long.

I believe I can now write a story worthy of those much-loved settings and characters, one that people who haven’t read the originals can enjoy, but which will of course mean more to those who know the original work. More than that, I feel I can do something that will stand up to the best books in our field. I have very high hopes. I’m excited by the challenge. And I’ll do my absolute best to make all the kind responses I’ve already had justified.

-Tad