I know. The Lordless City was supposed to be out by now. Late last year I was telling anyone who asked that the book was finished, the only thing left to do was to sort out some final details around publication — cover, maps, that sort of thing — and that they could expect to see a release sometime around February or March. But here we are in May and the book is nowhere to be seen. What happened?

The answer is that I’ve had some major delays with one of those last details — specifically, a new map of the city of Spyridon. Towards the end of last year I lined up an artist to draw the map, and they agreed to a timeline that had me pretty confident I could meet the planned release date. But unfortunately that artist turned out to be overcommitted with other work, leading to repeated delays as I waited for them to start working on the map. By April, with no end in sight, I was left with no choice but to cancel the commission and look for an alternative artist.

The good news is that I’ve been able to find an outstanding replacement artist who has stepped into the breach and is making excellent progress on the new map. I’ve seen some drafts and I’m excited at the work that’s being done. Frustrating as the delays have been, I’m pleased to say that there’ll be no loss of quality — the new map will be every bit as good as those that appeared in The Unbound Man.

That’s all well and good, you say, but that still leaves the main question unanswered. When will The Lordless City be published?

Right now I’m eyeing August as a likely release month. Having been burned once, I’m reluctant to be any more specific until I have the finished map in hand and am completely sure that I can meet a particular date. But I’m as keen for this book to make its way into the world as you are, and I’ll be doing everything I can to make that happen as quickly as possible.

I’m sorry for the delay. I’m grateful for your patience. And I hope to be able to announce a firm release date soon.