Coming: Verse 6

Hi everyone, it's time for your seasonal commercial message! 

Just kidding. 

Half kidding.

It's been close to five months since we witnessed the release of Iron Mountain, the fifth major episode in my on-going isekai web novel epic, "A Hero Past the 25th", now fully available on Royal Road, as you doubtless well know. I hope everyone knows now.

Last month, our tale received a sizeable addendum in the shape of Side Story B,  exclusive to my esteemed patrons.

Hopefully everyone has found the time in their busy schedules to sit down and read, even outside toilet breaks, and is all comfortably caught up with everything that's happened so far in the story.

Because it's not over yet.

Ever since wrapping up the side story, I've been typing into existence the next major story in the series, dropping minuscule suggestions of progress at Twitter from time to time. If you don't follow me on Twitter, pray tell, what do you think I've been doing?

Never mind. Don't tell me.

I can tell you that I'm mega-super-hyper-insane-excited about the new story and would like nothing more but to tell everyone everything about it. But I've fortunately been able to hold back for now. No spoilers.

I had to do a lot of reading over spring and summer in preparation for the new book, and other type of research, because this tale deals with certain topics not previously so familiar to me.  And though this is only a free web novel series nobody out there takes seriously and barely anybody reads in the first place, I didn't want to simply wing it, and show to everyone better informed I have no idea what I'm talking about. 

Even if it's "just" fantasy, it has to play by the rules we all know, for it to have any meaning. So I did my homework.

I hope everyone can be pleasantly surprised by the result and recognize the effort that went into the little details.

As well as I tried to prepare, not everything went as planned with this story. Again.

Though you'd expect the author to know everything that happens in his own books, the characters and the story turned out rather different from my modest intentions.

I gave the cast some simple goals, thinking, just do this and it'll be alright; but they all went and showed me, "we can do better than that", and everything became crazy. 

But when all's said and done, I think we'll be able to agree that things not going exactly as planned is mostly only a good thing.

One thing that I completely failed to predict was the word count.

"Keep it short and simple" was the plan.

The initial draft of Verse 6 is already completed, and even this unedited version is longer than Iron Mountain, or any other story I've ever written in my life, divided into over 30 chapters (the exact count is not yet set). 

So, yes, it's huge. Not the plan.

I even considered splitting this book into two parts to make it easier to edit and post, but there was no practical, organic way to achieve that. So it is what it is. A whale of a narrative.

I should also tell you it's a bit of a rough ride in general.

I often fear I think too highly of my writing and the emotional impact it has on the readers, but some commenters at least have shared my opinion in the past, that these are quite emotional stories, overall. 

Still, what we've seen before has been basically only warm-up, and we're gradually reaching the stages of the story that got quite hard on the author as well. Not only because people die when they are killed, and not everyone can ride home happy and rewarded, but also because of the themes and developments involved. Several character arcs are reaching their brightest pinnacle in this part and the next, and if you've followed their journey for all these years, how could it not be emotional? So let's brace ourselves.

But don't worry too much. 

As I promised on Twitter, Verse 6 has an undeniably happy ending! Real Disney stuff.

Well, depending on the perspective, I guess. Opinions may be divided on this.

Now, ramblings aside, the one and only thing that actually interests anyone: when is it coming out?

I only just started editing last week, so it's fairly difficult to set a precise launch date just yet. There's still a lot of work to be done, before this ship holds water.

If held at gunpoint, I'd say I should be able to release it starting from early October. (Edit: not gonna happen.) But this is an important part in the series, and I want to make sure it's of the highest possible quality in every regard, and not rushed. So I must ask for your patience.

What about the title? 

Of course, it's already decided. Want to know what it is?

Well, I'm not telling yet.

The title, the premise, and more in a future update closer to the D-day!

As well as the real twist: the main protagonist of Verse 6 is not Izumi!

Stay safe, stay tuned, and see you all soon!