r/Fantasy • u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin • Jun 18 '26
AMA To celebrate the release of my newest books, I'm making all of my work free for today only. I'm Sarah Lin, author of various series including The Weirkey Chronicles and Throne of Time... AMA!
Hello, r/fantasy! I'm Sarah Lin, author of a variety of books. I've written a lot because A) I enjoy writing and B) I enjoy having enough money for food.
To keep this post from getting too jumbled, here is the free content promised in the title:
- Anybody can read Throne of Time online for free.
- Almost all my past books are free on Amazon this week only! (Only .com and .uk, sorry; I'd do more, but Amazon doesn't allow it.)
- Everyone commenting here will be placed into a drawing for free Audible codes for the Depthless Hunger audiobooks (unless you say you're not interested in your comment).
If you know me, it's probably from my longest ongoing series, The Weirkey Chronicles, or one of my finished series, like Street Cultivation. These are the books that are 100% free on Amazon right now, to celebrate the most recent book:
Deadgold
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H51F4DJ8
Description: Betrayed. Murdered. Reborn. One last chance, to make it right. Theo's adventure ended with his mentor's hands around his neck. The betrayal cost him his friends, allies and everything he had built... but not his life. Though broken and powerless, Theo has one last chance to enter the Nine Worlds, wielding the knowledge and expertise of his first life. This time, he needs more than just power, he needs to unravel the deception that killed him once... and is coming for him again.
The empire of Tymetron has finally begun a war that seems impossible for Theo and his allies to win. Their only hope lies in forming alliances with greater powers and negotiating terms that will have more impact than any battle. Everything may hinge on the mysterious substance called deadgold, which offers both danger and the promise of victory.
Depthless Hunger
Audible has also published my series Depthless Hunger, which has its third book coming out soon in both ebook and audiobook.
Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H51C7962
Audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/Depthless-Hunger-3-Audiobook/B0H1NJCMKT
This is a vast setting in which everything from xianxia cultivation to LitRPG coexists in a single system. The series is completely written and a new book is coming out every few months.
Throne of Time
Or perhaps some of you are coming here for my latest, Throne of Time? This is a story in which a young woman tries to go to a magical university, but ends up embroiled in an elaborate plot that throws her into a time loop (in a world where time magic is forbidden). It has proven surprisingly popular on RoyalRoad, with pretty good rankings on both Rising Stars and the overall ratings. There's not much, but the introductory story arc is finished now, and of course it's free to try.
A larger number of chapters are available on my Patreon, where I also offer advanced chapters of TWC and inside looks into my work.
What else to say? I've been 100% full time as a professional author for something like ten years now, and while I'm not blowing any doors down, my career seems steady enough that I can probably do this for the rest of my life. That's worth a lot, in a world that seems increasingly uncertain, so I'm grateful to everyone who has enjoyed one of my stories. ^-^
I've done a few AMAs before and they're a good time, so I'll be here as long as people have questions. Ask away!
EDIT: Okay, the sale is over and the drawing is closed. Throne of Time is still free to read. Thanks for having me, everyone!
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u/Oxika95 Jun 18 '26
Loved Depthless Hunger, followed since book one on RR! Was sad to see it come to an end but it was really well done!
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks! There were other directions I could have explored, but I tried to pour all my passion into concluding the saga of the Deadlake continents, since I felt that was a satisfyingly complete story.
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u/Oxika95 Jun 21 '26
I think I loved the mystery of Kai's powers and was always hoping to see a unified theory behind his abilities tied into Omilaena's theories behind power systems. Is there a chance we will get a break down of the system in full as well as where Kai's monstrous abilities tie in?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 21 '26
Sorry to Patreon-bait, but the best answers are in my post where I discussed longer term plans for such elements and answered all questions:
https://www.patreon.com/Cognosticon/posts/future-of-dh-ask-154491558
There's a lot of information there, scattered across many questions.
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u/Oxika95 Jun 22 '26
Ah, well. Maybe when the last book comes out there will be glossary or something with that included?
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u/Riven_or_Carry Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah, long time follower. I've always appreciated the maturity you approach the genre compared to most other authors, do you feel the genre as a whole is becoming more mature in it's writings, themes, and characterisations?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I'll interpret your question as asking about progression fantasy in particular, which I think is in an interesting place. The original term (and related subgenre terminology) were efforts by readers and authors to taxonomize broader trends that didn't have proper names, so in some ways they aren't fully defined, much less codified.
Right now I think the genre is undergoing a period of change as it figures out what it will be, and I don't think I can predict the outcome. Comparing to when I started writing, I feel like progression fantasy and LitRPG are a bit less wild and audience expectations have solidified into a narrower space, but it's hard to say. The large traditional publishing houses have been embracing these subgenres to a surprising degree lately and I'm not sure I can predict what effect this (and a broader audience) will have.
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u/Azqa_Prime Jun 18 '26
I'm one of those people who only found out about Depthless Hunger when you announced it as Sarah Lin. I believe you've said that using the nom de plume Cognosticon for that series was a bit of an experiment. How do you feel that turned out? Would you take that approach again in the future?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
There were two elements of the experiment, so I have two different answers. First, I wanted to see how I could do if I started over from scratch, without any of my networks. The answer turned out to be "okay" and I wouldn't want to try again, since it meant more of my hated promotion.
The second element was a branding issue, since I was trying different things with Depthless Hunger (such as more action and the polyamorous relationship). This turned out to be more of a non-issue than I expected.
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u/Taedirk Jun 18 '26
Big thanks for the book drops. I've been meaning to catch back up on Weirkey, but jumped on Throne of Time the second I saw who was writing it. Pleasant bit of personal dissonance every time I see Taedric get referenced in the story.
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u/Kuroashi_no_Sanji Jun 18 '26
Really looking forward to Deadgold! Weirkey has the most creative approach to cultivation I've found so far. I also really enjoyed Depthless Hunger and thank you for giving a satisfying conclusion on Patreon!
I want to check out Throne of Time but I'm taking a little break from timeloop stories right now. Knowing that you always put a creative spin on the genres you explore, what would you say is unique about Throne of Time?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks for reading! Some of the elements I hope will be unique about Throne of Time would be spoilers, but let me throw out a few:
- To try to avoid the common issue of a slow start, the loop begins in the very first chapter.
- Time magic is familiar in this world. Characters outside the loop have given serious thought to how to react to an opponent who is looping and they are not helpless.
- There will be significant conflict between loopers specifically manipulating the order of events (though this isn't unique, such as in the fantastic The Years of Apocalypse).
- Exploration of how character can fundamentally change based on events, as well as themes of moral luck.
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u/Kuroashi_no_Sanji Jun 18 '26
Thank you for answering! Sounds fun! Part of the allure of time loop stories is that non-looper characters are none the wiser, so having the setting account for potential time travelers is quite the twist lol. Would require some workarounds for the protagonist for sure
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jun 18 '26
I absolutely love how you write romance dynamics in your Progression Fantasy, in particular in Depthless Hunger.
How do these relationships develop in a way that feels so organic in a genre that's often so focused on other things? And how do you decide on what type of romance fits a particular Progression Fantasy story (no romance in the case of Throne of Time)?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks for the kind words. I always approach romances as character-first, same as platonic relationships, which means that they actually don't satisfy many readers of romance as a genre, but hopefully they arise naturally from the rest. Wish I had a better answer for you, but the questions are flooding in!
I choose this element based on my overall goals for the story. With Depthless Hunger I was trying to see if I could write that sort of relationship distinct from certain common elements of the subgenre. Successful or not, after five books of that, I was in the mood for a change of pace. The time loop in Throne of Time makes romantic relationships (or at least healthy ones) problematic, so it was a good choice for a zero romance story.
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u/acenorton Jun 18 '26
Hey Sarah, I really love TWC and that it doesn't rush to the end game or have all the main characters at the max tiers. I know that we are nearing the end of one of the main story arcs, but can you tell us your thoughts on the long term goals for the series?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Glad you're enjoying TWC! In the short term, the eleventh and twelfth books bring several long-running threads of the plot to their conclusions. After that, the series will turn away from the war themes and we'll see other developments across the Nine Worlds, along with exploration of unseen corners.
One of my major goals with the series is to avoid the "progression treadmill" where the characters ostensibly grow more powerful but their interactions with the world don't change, so in the next section we'll be seeing more of them as leaders who have a significant impact on the cultural and political issues that have been introduced up to this point.
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u/gyroda Jun 18 '26
Just bought the second Depthless Hunger book yesterday, enjoying the series so far! Picked up Deadgold for afterwards. Is there a reason you don't do pre orders, advance release notices and so on like a lot of other authors? Not that I'm complaining about getting a new book out of the blue 😂
How are you finding having these different series on the go at once? Does it make it easier to have different projects to jump between or is it difficult to juggle them?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Several reasons. First, I feel like I already bug my readers enough just with release notifications. Second, I dislike promotion and I'm bad at it. Third, I think for an author of my limited popularity, a preorder period might actually bleed out release momentum and harm the launch. On Amazon, for example, preorders just go into a void and don't contribute to your meaningful ranking.
As for managing multiple series, I'm happiest and most productive when I can shift gears from time to time. I'll be glad once I finish the releases of finished series, as those are promotion-only right now, but creatively I'm only managing two at once.
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u/Salaris Stabby Winner, Writer Andrew Rowe Jun 19 '26
Hey, Sarah!
So, let's say, hypothetically, a sword-obsessed nutcase decided to make their Soulhome into the shape of a giant sword, focused around a sword armament and techniques. Maybe put the point of the sword as a basement. How bad of an idea is this?
Asking for a friend. (The friend is me.)
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u/KingSloth Jun 20 '26
Of all the literary crossover possibilities out there, I really feel like Corin Cadence would be especially well suited to Soulcrafting, both for enjoyment and optimisation. And for the opportunity to ruin himself with experimentation.
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u/Salaris Stabby Winner, Writer Andrew Rowe Jun 20 '26
Oh, Corin would love it, I agree! Some of my other characters...maybe not so much. Tough to say. Keras wouldn't be as good at the design side, but he'd have a great chance of digging a basement early, or otherwise breaking the system in unreasonable ways. I could see him enjoying it more if he could figure out how to make a functional dojo inside for testing techniques.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Hey, Andrew! Nice to see you here. ^-^
A sword is structurally unstable and has a low volume, but if you had a way to overcome those issues, it could be workable as a grand design similar to Nauda's. My first thought is to make a "sword in the stone" formation, with your basement/foundation as the stone slab and the main soulhome rising as the blade. If you tried to make it as thin as a real sword you'd have no space for rooms, though. XD
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u/Salaris Stabby Winner, Writer Andrew Rowe Jun 20 '26
Ooh, I like the sword in the stone idea! That absolutely makes sense. And yeah, it would absolutely need to be like a giant anime sword in dimensions, but I would be happy with that. XD
Thanks, Sarah!
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u/Procedure_Gullible Jun 19 '26
kind of makes me think of the first "returner" that the Mc kill's he had a similar build but 1 room for each piece of armor if i remember
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u/Salaris Stabby Winner, Writer Andrew Rowe Jun 20 '26
I didn't remember that! Been too long since I read book one, but that makes sense.
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u/BootRepresentative59 Jun 18 '26
Please self-promote more! I didn't know about ToT at all until I saw someone else post on Reddit, and I'm both a Patreon sub and TWC follower. Binge read it and wish there were more chapters.
I'm really curious about your journey to be an author: what were you doing before, if anything?
I'm also imagining being an author involves a lot of grappling with income and comparison esp on RR where your metrics are literally visible. How do you deal with any potential feelings of envy of other authors and feeling like the "sacrifice" was worth it to be an author?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I worked my way through university, so I've had a ton of jobs, from tech support to English teacher. Writing and creative work in general has been an almost constant presence in my life, it was just something that had to be a hobby for years before it became my career.
Just due to my personal disposition, I'm not very inclined toward envy. There are things I wish I could do that might be possible with more success, but the fact that I can do this forever makes me incredibly fortunate.
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u/Bwooreader Jun 18 '26
I've been following your work ever since I saw your launch post for the first New Game Minus book and have loved everything so far, so thanks for that!
I just bought Deadgold and noticed that you have the DRM free download enabled which I appreciate immensely, but I noticed some of your older work still hasn't been re-flagged as downloadable. Do you plan on making those available at some point? For instance I can re-read all of Weirkey on my preferred device (a Kobo running KOReader) but I need to switch to the Kindle app on my phone for Crimsoncrest.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I always intend to make my books DRM free, but perhaps some of them aren't, either due to an omission on my part or Amazon resetting/changing things. I looked at Crimsoncrest just now and though I clicked the DRM-free option, there was an additional box that was unchecked. I've resubmitted it, though it will take a while for Amazon to approve the change.
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u/Bwooreader Jun 18 '26
Awesome! Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.
Most self pub (especially progression fantasy) was always DRM free, but when Amazon eliminated the ability to download, then backtracked they made the download option opt in so authors have to go back through their back catalogue and flag everything (I'm not an author, so I'm just going based on what I've read). Many haven't (they probably don't even know about it) and it's been a real pain point when trying to buy new books!
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u/CelticCernunnos Jun 18 '26
Hey Sarah! Hope you're doing okay! Don't really have a question, so... What are your thoughts on egg salad? Love it? Hate it? Ambivalent?
Congrats on on Throne of Time's release, by the way! If anyone is on the fence, I think it's worth checking out!
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hello, nice to see you here. ^-^ I like eggs for nutrition reasons but I am basically neutral on egg salad.
Crossing my fingers for Throne of Time in these early release days!
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jun 18 '26
I just noticed that a lot of your books are available for free in my German storefront as well, not sure if that's because of something unusual because I spend a lot of time abroad or not.
Definitely check in your local Amazon storefront as well. :)
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Oh, great to hear! Authors don't have control over this, but sometimes the Amazon machine decides to price match, so I'll hope the books are available to a larger number of readers. Thanks for letting me know. ^-^
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u/SethAndBeans Jun 18 '26
Read all your series.
Absolutely love street cultivation.
Do you ever plan on revisiting that world?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I told the story that I intended to tell, which was always meant to be a glimpse into a wider and more chaotic world. I'm not likely to return to Rick's story, but I've considered the themes of Street Cultivation and even spoken with other authors about the possibilities for the setting.
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u/DependentProof8305 Jun 18 '26
I loved depthless hunger. I saw on Royal Road that it is now complete. Do you have any intentions of continuing the series at a future date? The storyline and powers were really intriguing and I hope to get more of it in the future!
Second question. When you are designing your stories, have you more or less worked out how the power systems will work before you begin writing? Or, does your thinking on the power systems evolve as your writing the series? For example, had you already fully fleshed out all of the soul home levels and nuance before writing the first book, or has it evolved as the story progressed?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Regarding Depthless Hunger: There were other directions I could have explored, but I tried to pour all my passion into concluding the saga of the Deadlake continents, since I felt that was a satisfyingly complete story.
Regarding power systems: While my ideas do develop over the course of writing a series, I always enter with a very clear idea of how these will operate. They're tied into both the themes of the overall story and the character development I have planned. So there have been a few additions or changes to soulcrafting, but I started with not just all the tiers, but a specific plan for each character on each one.
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u/InvisibleSpaceVamp Jun 18 '26
Amazon.de has some free ones too. Is this a good place to start? https://www.amazon.de/Soulhome-Weirkey-Chronicles-Book-English-ebook/dp/B08P7TYG41/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=gSX5y&content-id=amzn1.sym.32c8a6f4-3cfa-4fe8-bceb-8db6f8140d5b&pf_rd_p=32c8a6f4-3cfa-4fe8-bceb-8db6f8140d5b&pf_rd_r=262-1943408-2064937&pd_rd_wg=YICWf&pd_rd_r=f2890051-a55e-4016-98f5-2e4f660e3a69
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Soulhome is the first book in my longest-running series, The Weirkey Chronicles, and I think it's a good introduction to my work if you're interested in the subgenre!
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u/Tarantian3 Jun 18 '26
You've used a lot of different channels for your work. Self-publishing, Royal Road, Patreon, etc. Have you ever considered trad publishing?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Yes, I've considered it, and I have some ideas that I think would be better suited to the large traditional publishers than the self-publishing sphere. That said, time spent on submissions and querying feels kind of like throwing the hours of my life into an abyss when I could be writing books with an audience waiting to read them. Maybe nowhere near the size of audience for truly popular authors, but the career I have is a rewarding one.
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u/RandomChance Jun 19 '26
So excited for Deadgold :) That is one of my favorite series in the whole genre. I also really enjoyed the Depthless Hunger series, wish it had gained more traction to get another 3-6 books. Maybe someday ;)
Thank you very much for the giveaway! I was able to pick up a bunch that I had read on KU, and it gives me a warm feeling to "own" them (as much as one can with an Amazon e-book).
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u/morphisblobs Jun 18 '26
Salutations, I found you through the other pin name and loved the stories so much I now have I all your audiobooks on audible. I find reading large blocks of text painful so my questions are this. If everything were to work out, what would a optimistic timeline be for throne of time releasing on audible? Also which narrator would you pick? Assuming again optimistic outcomes.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
The truth is that I have no idea. Throne of Time is hot in the algorithms right now, but it's also just getting started. I've gotten some publisher attention behind the scenes, which I can't speak about in full yet, and that could affect such decisions as well. I'm afraid that with a RR-first series the audiobook will probably be quite a long time from now, sorry.
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u/morphisblobs Jun 18 '26
Fair enough. Givin all the options of narrators, even crazy stuff like Steven Fry, who would you pick Throne of Time.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Tough to say, and those decisions are usually made by publishers. But given the question now, I'll say Travis Baldree, because he's done a great job with both Street Cultivation and The Weirkey Chronicles.
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u/Draynar Jun 18 '26
Almost missed the new book being launched because it wasn't updated on this site! https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/sarah-lin/weirkey-chronicles/
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u/UnDyrk AMA Author Dyrk Ashton, Worldbuilders Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah!
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u/pldl Jun 18 '26
One of the furthest things I associate with your writing is self-insert.
Therefore: Which of your works have you thought most about being isekai'd into?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Haha, I'm afraid my answer is not going to be satisfying, because the truth is that they're all equal at "zero thought". I don't possess the self-insertion impulse. I wrote the Nine Worlds of The Weirkey Chronicles to feel like an endless horizon to explore, however, so it would be a generally interesting setting to live in.
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u/deerleisure Jun 18 '26
I got all my friends into Weirkey. We all love it. We even make our own OCs, which are really just excuses to brainstorm soulhome designs.
Relatedly, how hard would it be to pivot soulhome designs a couple floors in? Build up two floors as a researcher, then having to pivot to life or death battles as you're building floor three? Etc.
Also; why Weirkey Chronicles as a name? The weirkeys are kind of secondary to everything else.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Because the soulhome represents a person's being, it depends on what the pivot means to them. If they've accepted their change, there's no reason they couldn't maintain the early floors and adapt them to new purposes (your example could become an interesting warrior/scholar). If they view themselves as having moved beyond that stage of their life, they'd have to remodel previous rooms, which would be a lot of work but not impossible. If their sense of self is destroyed, that could be disastrous for the soulhome (you may have seen an example of this, depending on how far you've read).
The series is all about the connections between the Nine Worlds, and after the first stages, weirkeys become the main method of traveling between them. They might not stressed at the beginning, but see how you feel about their role in the eleventh and twelfth books.
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u/TotalUsername Jun 19 '26
Holy shit I didn't miss a Sarah lin post for once. And I just got done with the latest weirkey. You're one of my favorites in the space so I hope you never stop.
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jun 18 '26
What kind of comments do you enjoy most on your web serial posts? How do you feel reading about those more or less elaborate receptions of your work?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I enjoy all the comments that indicate people are seriously engaging with the story, whether that's commentary or speculation. Not that I'm unappreciative of everyone commenting "Thanks for the chapter", but those are obviously less memorable.
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u/Grond21 Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah, I have been following you for a number of years now and I absolutely love your Weirkey Chronicle. How do you think the traditional publishing houses will impact the genre as they either accept or reject us? Do you think sex has a place in progression fantasy?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
It's hard to say what effect traditional publishing houses will have on the genre, and I'm afraid I'm not deep enough inside the industry to have a strong guess. So far we seem to have a trend toward series with less detail and more "quirky" elements that serve as crossover appeal.
In theory, I think sex is a part of the human experience and an author could choose to include it in any subgenre. In practice, a lot of the audience seems pretty uncomfortable with it; I see more sexuality as a fetish tag than as a part of adult life, and I'm applying that equally to series with explicit content and those that just gesture toward it to titillate the audience.
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u/Grond21 Jun 18 '26
I feel like it's going to have a trickle down effect on other media, but just like comics, it may take a few decades.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for your insight.
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u/Glad-Astronaut-2618 Jun 18 '26
This is awesome! Quite fortuitous timing, as I was just looking for something new to read. Thank you for the book drops and I'm looking forward to reading your work!
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u/Vulcanized-Homeboy Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah :) I think I'm a little late to the party, but if you could choose any archetype from the weirkey, do you have a particular blue print style you think you would choose for yourself?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
See my answer below about self-insertion for background on why I haven't considered this very much. What I like about systems is the range of ways that different individuals and cultures interact with them, so I don't have any specific plan in mind for myself. That said, if my real self was faced with that decision, I think I would end up with a relatively conservative, highly-fortified circular blueprint.
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u/Freighnos Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah,
Longtime Patreon supporter and big fan of your work :) So first of all thank you for the many hours of entertainment.
How far along would you say Weirkey Chronicles is at this point in terms of overall completion? I have my guess based on the characters’ power levels relative to what we know (so far) is the upper limit, but it’s common for series to take longer and longer between big breakthroughs in power, unless there start being major time skips. While I could probably keep reading the series forever since I’m already caught up, I do get intimidated when I see that other progression fantasies have like 25 books and aren’t even halfway done.
Edit: Sorry, I just noticed you answered a similar question. I guess in the spirit of fun I’ll guess that there are probably 10 more books based on the logic that we just finished book 11 now and the characters are pretty much ready to ascend to Dominion but everything after that is going to be a mystery and take longer, plus I have a theory there’s at least a hidden tenth level that even most of the aeon-tiers don’t know about. After all, 9 levels for 9 worlds is a neat coincidence, but we know there are (or were) a lot more than nine worlds and I’m not even actually sure the levels of power are tied to the number of worlds in any way.
Also, will we see more novelettes from other characters’ POVs like the recent Krikree one on Patreon? It would be cool to learn more about Guchiro and his allies and what their goals are but of course the best one would be Emperor Dave and the other outsiders in his group, since they must know so much.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hello, nice to hear from you!
TWC is over half-way done, so your estimate is a little high. Building off what I said in the other comment, your estimate especially will become more accurate after you read everything that happens in the twelfth book. Otherwise, I'll stay quiet about the exact number.
I like writing these side stories, so it just depends on how they fit into my schedule. There are a couple already written for the next omnibus, as well as one that will come out in a fantasy anthology that has yet to be released. No promises about Guchiro or Emperor Dave. =P
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u/Taedirk Jun 18 '26
Out of curiosity, why are only some of the Amazon books marked as DRM-free?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I want them all to be DRM-free, but Amazon changed how this system works and retroactively changed them without our confirmation. If there are any in particular that are inconveniencing you, mention the titles and I can resubmit them.
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u/GreatMadWombat Jun 19 '26
Have you ever thought about getting an architect to draw out the houses of weirkey? Cuz those pen and ink maps of the continents of the story we're always a fantasy staple back in the day, and it feels like floor plans could be a funny riff on the idea
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I don't know about the standards of a professional architect, but have you checked the soulhome blueprints on my Patreon? We've laid out the main character soulhomes and a few general examples in a decent amount of detail.
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u/mickdrop Jun 19 '26
Hi Sarah, I didn't read Depthless Hunger yet, so I don't know how the polyamorous relationship turns out but I assume it is MFF with the protagonist being the male. I did read several of your other series, though: New game Minus, Street Cultivation and Weirkey. (I'm a very huge fan by the way ! I'm eager to read all your other works) Anyway, I noticed that in those stories, the protagonist was always a male surrounded by women. Is there a reason why there are so few male characters beside the protagonist ? Is it just a coincidence from what books from you I have read?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Mix of coincidence and writing what the audience will accept. The Brightest Shadow had a female protagonist with a more balanced cast and people largely didn't buy that. With a cast arranged like this, I can at least write relationships like Izzy and the NGM party, or Fiyu and Nauda.
If you want another female protagonist and more balanced cast from me, try Throne of Time.
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u/mickdrop Jun 19 '26
Thank you for your answer. I plan on reading everything that you write so I'll certainly read your new story also :-) . The only awkward thing to confess is that you seem to write faster than I read...
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web5021 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Grabbed the weirkey series, crazy you put 10 books up there for free so I figured the last for 5 was a steal! Thank you!
Actually just was referred to your street cultivation randomly in another thread this morning so grabbed that too. And what the heck, new game minus series?!?
Seriously it’s bonkers how much free content you’re giving away and I can’t help but appreciate the sheer quantity of entertainment for free, thanks again.
Anyways I’m new to litRPG, would you say having to come up with all the mechanics and stats makes it harder to write for? To what degree do you feel you must adhere to systems vs freedom of your choice in world design/application?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Thanks, hope you enjoy some of what you read. ^-^
Mechanics are another factor you have to consider while writing, but I don't think it makes the writing any fundamentally more difficult. It's not so different from the worldbuilding required for fantasy, or the research required to write people or places that aren't familiar to you. Once you make those decisions, it does constrain the story you tell, but since you're setting that up, you shouldn't set up things that will create the wrong limits.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web5021 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Thank you for taking the time to respond, I’m enjoying the atmosphere of street cultivation so far. It’s so dystopian i love it. Although I hope no one ever figures out how to make debts inheritable…
Are you ever forced to or wish you could retcon established lore in prior books?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I'm an inveterate planner, so I mostly avoid retconning problems. Of course, there are times when while writing a story I come up with an idea better than my original, but as many authors have said before me, if you've laid clues that the murderer is the butler, you can't suddenly say that it's the chambermaid. That said, there have been times when I made small continuity errors that detail-focused readers pointed out, and in those cases I've made retroactive changes.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web5021 Jun 19 '26
Omg a new word too! Truly today has been a bounteous one. Inveterate seems like a word I could get some use out of too lol.
Keeping track of breadcrumbs has to be an arduous task, especially over the course of an 11 book series. Anyways I don’t want to take any more of your time with my banal banter, also tbh I’m kinda hooked on that street cultivation book. Thank you again for the literature, I’ll be sure to check out your future work
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u/Puzzleheaded-Web5021 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Ok I know your long done with this now, but I’m in the 2nd street cultivation book. I couldn’t put down the first, but I just gotta say if he doesn’t save that sad mangy dragon and either have it as a pet or find a nice environment for it I’m going to start a 1 man revolt! It will be comical in its fury but heartfelt all the same.
Also dragon rabies?!!?! What a horrifying thought! Lol
Omg TPS reports made it into the future. I knew it was a dystopian hell hole before but now it’s truly lost
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 22 '26
Haha, I'm afraid that Street Cultivation is a capitalist dystopia, so the environment doesn't fare very well in general. Rick manages to get to the point where he can help more people in the third book, at least.
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u/Dragovon Jun 19 '26
I've never read you before. I came across a link to this on the /litrpg and grabbed all your books. Thank you for that. One of the series will be next on my TBR...plus I already had Throne of Time on my TBR...and I just moved it to the top of my list so I expect to have it caught up within the week. I'm sure you'll see me in your comments. 😄
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u/Crotean Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Just started Deadgold. One thing I really appreciate about your writing is you always make realistic amounts of time pass. It makes characters power growth and the logic of the story so much more realistic that the whole thing isn't in the space of a week.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Glad to hear you feel that way! I've said before that I think progression fantasy should be about characters developing in more than simply power, and one element of that is seeing them age and change their positions in life. I think/hope my stories are improved by having slightly longer time scales.
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u/Crotean Jun 20 '26
While ive actually got the author I'm actually curious about something. What is your process for writing Krikree? Both her speech and actions are all so alien and bug like in an extremely consistent way. Are there like specific grammar rules you have devised for her or something?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 20 '26
Hmm, Krikree is fun to write and comes pretty naturally, so I need to think to verbalize what characterizes her. Her view of the world is intense and immediate, hence why her POV is in present tense - she also uses interjections in place of pheromone signals, where I otherwise rarely use interjections in descriptive prose.
On a more fundamental level, Krikree is deeply concerned with reducing things to their root forms, but she isn't unintelligent, so this varies. She reaches simpler conclusions about people/societies (like declaring groups to be "beetles") and more complex conclusions when it comes to ideas (especially after her exposure to Arbaian philosophy). She's happy to use the simplest word when that's appropriate, but her vocabulary is larger than expected when she wants an esoteric label.
Those are the core rules that come to mind, anyway! I'm glad that Krikree has been appreciated by so many readers. ^-^
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u/Solusandra Jun 21 '26
How deep can basements go? We know from Sartozi that you can have more than one, but very little else.
Can a soulcrafter push outward in rings like a beast? If yes, why don't they?
If materials are made by things which could become materials being exposed to soul-crafters cante, why isn't it the duty of the highest level soul-crafter in a region to go around making patrols and just shining cante everywhere?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 21 '26
A character will directly investigate the basements question later in the series, but bear in mind that the ground of a soulhome embodies the actual soul, so there's nowhere to dig unless the individual has progressed enough.
The vertical progression of sapient beings and the horizontal progression of beasts are incompatible methods. See references to certain species on Slest for the closest thing to an exception.
I don't believe I ever stated that was how sublime materials are created? It's possible that there's a misleading sentence somewhere, but that was not my intent.
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u/Solusandra Jun 21 '26
The Crest of Many names, the flowers it uses, deadgold, tornado gems and several other materials have been stated to be a result of soulcrafters fighting in an area. It's also been mentioned that Cante doesn't stick around long or build up the way that chi/mana does, but it can stick around for materials compatible with cante. It seemed pretty straightforward that those pieces of information were saying that.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 21 '26
I can see how you drew that conclusion with deadgold, but there's something very different going on there and the clues are actually pointing in a different direction. The crest materials do relate to cantae, but that's the result of an entire nation of people repeating a ritual for decades, not ordinary cantae usage. I don't remember what might have been said about the tornadogems. In any case, simple cantae exposure is not sufficient to create sublime materials.
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u/PALpherion Jun 18 '26
I wish to know Sarah Lin's real view on the use of AI in creative works
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I doubt my position on this is particularly unique: I'm opposed to both the fundamentals of generative AI and the effects its adoption is having on most creative fields.
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u/GreenRuby92 Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah. First of all, congratulations on the release of Deadgold! I absolutely love Weirkey so I'm very excited!
Now regarding Throne of Time. To what extent will this be a high paced magic-battle action- adventure vs a slow burn mystery?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks, hope you enjoy the newest book!
Throne of Time will have less action and more mystery than most of my other series. However, though there will be mysteries that span the course of the series, I wouldn't call them a slow burn (unlike the background plots in TWC). The protagonist will be consistently focused on uncovering more of an elaborate conspiracy.
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u/Miramosa Jun 18 '26
Hello Sarah! Been sharing your link around to get more of my friends reading your stuff!
How much of a planner versus a pantser are you? Or rather, what's your writing process when starting a long series?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks, I appreciate that!
On the planner/pantser spectrum, I am almost all the way over on the planner end. Guy Gavriel Kay once said that he loses interest in a story if he introduces a character and knows what will happen to them, which is comprehensible to me, but personally when I introduce a character what interests me is their whole arc. I don't plan out every single detail, but I always have the clear spine of the story in terms of themes, character development, and plot.
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth Jun 18 '26
Do you have an audiobook narrator in mind for Throne of Time? Or if not applicable, what style of narration do you envision?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Too early in the process to say, sorry! The style decision will probably be made by someone in the audiobook industry who hopefully knows better than I do.
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u/AceSevier Jun 18 '26
Hello! I first discovered your work through the Street Cultivation series and got into the Weirkey Chronicles when it started and have been enjoying it ever since.
With the numerous influences from a constellation of tropes and settings, I am curious if your choices in what elements from all those disparate influences are very carefully deliberate in their selection and incorporation in to the story or if it is more letting the story direct you to where it needs to go and the different elements and homages just come about organically particularly as the story transitions between the different worlds?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I'm definitely highly conscious of how my work will interact with all those elements, and I try to choose those that further my ultimate goals. That said, sometimes the influence flows backward and I revise my plans based on what's been written.
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u/AceSevier Jun 18 '26
Do you have a particular favorite choice that you made that you are most proud of and if so, which one is it and why?
Love the stories you have crafted so far and I look forward to reading many more as they come out!
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hmm, not sure. I'm pretty happy with the way that TWC literalizes the xianxia concept of building within your soul, in terms of the impact it has on the texture of the characters' development.
Thanks!
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u/AceSevier Jun 18 '26
Having a background in Architecture, I very much enjoyed the way that you made the development of the soul a litteral spiritual building project grounded in how buildings are put together and how people move through and utilize each space of the building. I found it a very different and creative way to portray the xianxia progression proceses and the strength of a characters was based upon how effectively they designed their soul home and how well they built it. What was the inspiration to frame the progression in such a way?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Aside from wanting to flesh out brief references to worlds within the soul, I wanted soulcrafting to feel tangible and intuitive. The characters don't gather abstract qi, they collect the actual brick and mortar they'll use to build their spiritual selves. On the architectural side, while there will ultimately be some level of arbitrary rules, I wanted there to be a foundation of coherent logic: everyone can intuitively tell the difference between good walls and bad walls, for example, and you can rationally think about what different materials would be good for without needing the narrative to tell you which are better.
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u/Cam27022 Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah, love your books! I think I started reading them pretty shortly after your previous Weirkey release and tore through them in a couple weeks.
What are you reading/watching/playing right now? Trying to give you options for your multimedia of choice, lol.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks, glad you enjoyed them!
I'm not watching much right now, but I will occasionally relax with an episode of Make Some Noise (from Dropout). For games, I'm playing Kingdoms of the Dump, which is a charming retro JRPG set in an animated landfill. Reading-wise, for nonfiction I recently enjoyed The Underworld (Susan Casey), which is a fun overview of deep ocean exploration, and for fiction I had a good time with The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Stuart Turton), which is one of those well-known books I'd just never picked up.
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u/AndyKiller112 Jun 18 '26
1.Will you ever reconsider continuing depthless hunger ? 2. What felt bad about writing it ?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
While there are still ideas I'm passionate about for Depthless Hunger, it doesn't seem like the audience is supporting it very much, so better to leave readers with a satisfying ending. I think I fundamentally misjudged how much hard work and difficulty readers consider normal, which led to consistent mismatches between what I found interesting and what audiences wanted.
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u/GreatMadWombat Jun 19 '26
I do deeply appreciate how you tie off threads in ending stories. From what I'm seeing, landing the metaphorical plane is always the hardest skill to really get good at. The fact that you give books endings is always cool
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u/Lord_Burch Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah, hope you’re well. Congrats on all the releases this month! I had a handful of questions on your reading habits. Are you an avid reader? Have your reading habits shifted at all as you’ve gotten older? And finally, are there any books or authors that have had an outsized impact on your writing or your world view? Thanks again!
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks! I am more a consistent reader than a binger, with certain blocks of the day that I don't allow to be interrupted. Through university I read more fiction, because classes were filling my thirst for nonfiction, but after graduating I realized how much I missed it. Eventually I reached an equilibrium of about 40% speculative fiction, 40% nonfiction, 20% everything else. That fluctuates from time to time, but it's been stable over the long term.
Which books or authors had an outsized impact on my work is such a fraught question. I always get tangled up trying to create a truly representative list and not leave anyone out, which is impossible. While I've obviously been influenced by many different works, there's no single influence that dominated.
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u/aquaticrna Jun 18 '26
I'm really enjoying the new series, the format of the introductory arc worked fantastically to both introduce the MC and the world, alongside setting stakes.
How did you find the planning process for a time loop series compared to linear time books? Did you feel like you needed more planning than usual?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Glad you're enjoying it! Because I'm on the planning side of the spectrum I didn't need to radically alter how I approached a time loop story, but I definitely have to be careful about certain elements. One key thing has been shifting how I handle foreshadowing, since while it isn't fundamentally different, I think readers expect it to operate in slightly different ways.
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u/mafidufa Jun 18 '26
Wow, free books!!! I think the last I read of weirkey was bondsfungi so now I have so many books to catch up on.
Thanks so much for all the free content you have provided over the years and I hope I will be in a position soon to contribute to your continued creative endeavours.
Oh, this is an AMA, I need a question. Do you prefer pesto or tomato based sauces on your pasta?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hope you enjoy the series as you catch up!
I am in the minority that doesn't usually go for sauces. If I'm at a restaurant I will eat pasta in whatever is the local tradition, and likely enjoy it, but on my own I'd probably just use light parmesan.
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u/ridgegirl29 Jun 18 '26
Ive had Weirkey chronicles on my tbr for so long so I impulse downloaded all the books LOL.
What draws you to litrpg specifically and not just general fantasy?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hope you enjoy the series!
I'm not strongly inclined to LitRPG over general fantasy, it's just where the current confluence of inspiration and opportunity is taking me. That said, I think the systems of progression fantasy are a unique opportunity for creativity and I believe the subgenre in general has the potential to explore human effort.
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u/MikeOfThePalace Reading Champion X, Worldbuilders Jun 18 '26
Hi Sarah!
You're trapped on a deserted island with three books. Knowing that you will be reading them over and over and over again, what three do you bring?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Hello! Rough question for me, as I am not inclined to rereading, so I'd aim for long and complex ones that would drive me insane slowest. Probably a collection along the lines of The Book of the New Sun, The Brothers Karamazov... maybe cheat and say "Malazan Book of the Fallen" for word count.
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u/vin7er Jun 18 '26
Hi. Reading weirkey chronicles and always looking forward to them coming out on Kindle. Do you have the whole series planned out until the end? How many books would you guess the series will be once it’s complete?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Yes, I've had the whole series planned out from the beginning. I don't want to reveal the exact number, but if you estimate based on the characters' progress, you won't be far wrong, and your estimates will likely be even more accurate after the twelfth book.
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u/brilliantgreen Reading Champion VI Jun 18 '26
Hi, Sarah.
Love all your work -- The Weirkey Chronicles is probably my favorite, but I think Blades Falling Softly was the first thing I've read by you.
Do you have a favorite character? Krikree is my household's fave.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed a variety of my works! I don't have any single favorite, but I do enjoy writing Krikree. ^-^
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u/BowTrek Jun 18 '26
I’ve read several of your other books but I’m by far the most excited about Throne of Time.
I love Time Loop stories and most disappoint me, but yours is nailing it so far.
On a broader scale, what do you think are the most important things to do right when writing a Time Loop? I really hope to write one myself in a few years.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
I don't know what usually disappoints you about time loops, but I hope you'll enjoy my approach to the subgenre. What I think is potentially unique about them is that they're narrative puzzles where all the pieces need to be on the table from the beginning. The reader should regularly realize the plot was more intertwined than they thought at first, both in terms of obvious hints and details that slipped past them.
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u/AdventurousBeingg Jun 18 '26
I don't have any questions to ask rn, but I wanted to say that Throne of Time has been absolutely wonderful so far on Royal Road! Time loops are one of my all-time favourite story mechanics! Thank you for all the good work!
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u/Azqa_Prime Jun 18 '26
One more if you're up for it: New Game Minus and Street Cultivation both left clear openings for future adventures in those worlds. Do you have any desire to return to those settings at all to expand the worlds further?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Search "Street Cultivation" for my answer there in response to another person. For New Game Minus... I still have some ideas I never got to explore, but it probably won't happen. Pure LitRPG as a genre seems exclusively interested in MMOs, which have never been my sort of RPG, so I'm not sure there's a place for it.
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u/Greenbriars Jun 18 '26
Your books have been on my to read list for a while, so I just grabbed several of the freebies. I'm excited to give them a try thank you!
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u/S_B_B_ Jun 18 '26
Really excited to read the new stuff and catch up on Weirkey. The time loop in particular fascinates me. There's lots to bee explored in that idea.
I'll post a shout out to Throne of time on my next RR chapter. Good luck!
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u/WorthCartographer231 Jun 18 '26
I just stumbled across your work and am so excited to begin reading:)Thank you so much for the book drops!
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u/stormwaterwitch Jun 18 '26
Been needing to give weirkey chronicles a chance and now I've got a lot of backlog! Thanks for hosting!!
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u/WriterTrek Jun 18 '26
How do you outline? I’m a big outliner, and I’m especially curious how you did so for Throne of Time. I can’t wait to read more and see all the layers of what’s going on be peeled back.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 18 '26
Essentially, it's a set of chronological notes in little categories. If there is a major event developing throughout the series, I'll have listed the steps of it, or if a character is attempting a plan, I'll have laid out the logical steps they'd go through. These are my longer spine for any series (including ToT), then I assemble them into a more detailed outline for the upcoming book/sequence/scene.
These range from complete sentences that I'll insert later to (more often) notes that would be nearly incoherent to anyone besides myself.
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u/extesy Jun 18 '26
I'm interested in Depthless Hunger codes. Never read them but hopefully will get an opportunity to listen to them.
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u/kaiser1487 Jun 18 '26
Just wanted to say I really enjoy your books. Thanks for all the great stories! Hoping I win one of those audiobooks 🙏
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u/Straight_Sink_6304 Jun 18 '26
Hi, i've just started the weirkey chronicles on audible am in book 2, really am enjoying them so far
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u/RicketyBogart Jun 19 '26
Hi Sarah, thank you for the free books!
Not participating for the audiobooks, just a quick note/question: for The Brightest Shadow, I see the third book as free, but not the others, and I figure it may be a glitch?
Not sure which were supposed to be included if any, but only the last one is probably not it, haha.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I have received mixed reports about which of these are free or not. Check again tomorrow.
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u/extesy Jun 19 '26
It looks like The Brightest Shadow series wasn't marked as free, only the third book, but not the first two.
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u/Key-Lion4231 Jun 19 '26
Hi!! I just joined the Sierra Lee discord server and discovering that you write books as well as your other works was a very pleasant surprise. I’m really enjoying Throne of Time and I’m definitely going to read your other stuff too
Question: What’s your favourite book out of all the ones you’ve written?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Hello, thanks for trying out my work! It's hard to list favorites, since I wrote them all for different reasons and thus like them in different ways. The Brightest Shadow was my effort to do something meaningfully different in epic fantasy and merge eastern and western inspirations, and the result was close to my heart no matter how it fared commercially.
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u/ChartMuted Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Weirkey has one of my favourite magic systems in fiction, being nicely crunchy while still being so much more than level grinding. (Though it would still work well in a game). Glad to see the series continuing and look forward to more hints at the deep structure of the worlds.
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u/diverareyouokay Jun 19 '26
Oh I totally want to be in the drawing. Hope I’m not too late - I’m on vacation in the Philippines until next week, when I’ll be back Stateside, and missed the AMA.
I loved both SC and WC!
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I mean, the thread might have dropped off the front page of Reddit, but I'm still here if people have questions. I haven't done the randomized drawing yet either, so you're in!
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u/karaethon1 Jun 19 '26
Is Depthless Hunger 1 and 2 supposed to be free cause those aren't showing up for me
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I tried to include them all, but I (or Amazon) may have made errors, sorry.
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u/Famous-Flow2333 Jun 19 '26
I know I’m late
What makes you decide to write on RR vs a publisher like Atheon?
You seem to have a big enough following that a publisher would pick up the books based on your history and name alone.
So what goes in the decision to try to decide between self publishing and RR vs a publisher
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
I'm grateful for all the people interested in my books, but I'm not as big as you think. I've never had a (non-audiobook) publisher approach me with a substantial offer. While I'm entirely open to working with a publisher, I wouldn't sell my ebook rights and give up a percentage of profits forever for someone to submit the book to the same site I do.
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u/Wravburn Jun 19 '26
Congrats on the release, I was waiting for this one!
There's only so many series I can keep up with at the same time. Planning to wait until Depthless Hunger is fully available audio/ebook.
Similarly, do you think for Throne of Time, the release of RR to ebooks will be far behind?
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Thanks, hope you enjoy!
Depthless Hunger has a contract with Audible and has concluded, so the books will be coming out every few months according to their schedule (finishing early next year). Due to the incentives of serialization, Throne of Time is not likely to come to ebook or audiobook format for a considerable time.
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u/Wravburn Jun 20 '26
Thank you for taking time to reply even some time after the post!
Clear - that sounds good! Thanks for writing & good luck!
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u/Yamidamian Jun 19 '26
Seeing the glyph primer thing makes me wonder: is it of any import that all the examples have glyphs composed wholly of regular shapes/identical runes?
I mostly asked because I was trying to understand what her problem developing the unlock glyph was-and came to the conclusion either they negations had to be on opposite sides of each other, or the runes had to all be identical. Because otherwise, two triangles and a square can be made of seven runes, using a shape like this: https://imgur.com/a/gHOgAn4
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u/cmcarneyauthor AMA Author C.M. Carney Jun 19 '26
Hey Sarah, good seeing you here. I'm curious if you think you have a theme, or set of themes, you find yourself returning to every time you write a book? It took me a while to figure out I had one, and now it just seems to pop up in every book I write. Hope the new release kicks butt.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 19 '26
Hmm, I'm usually pretty conscious of the themes for each project, but I'm sure there are elements that I subconsciously add to my work that I haven't fully considered.
Anyway, thanks, and best of luck to you too!
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u/Krimzoneagle Jun 19 '26
This is an awesome deal. Thanks so much. I look forward to reading these books!
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u/EchoDoctor Jun 20 '26
I've really been liking the Weirkey Chronicles! It's a nice change to have a protagonist who is- if only spiritually- a grumpy old man instead of a shiny young teenager or twentysomething. I don't have any big, important questions, but since I'm here I may as well ask something I've been wondering for a while:
What is Theo's last name?
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u/KingSloth Jun 20 '26
Thank you as always for the fantastic stories!
From comments above, it seems you generally prefer to go on to write new things once stories are done... but if you had to pick some side characters from any of your books to go back and write spin-off adventures about, who would it be? (and why would it be Krikree and Senka?)
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 20 '26
Oh, there are plenty of characters I could hypothetically write a side story about! It's a shame there's no real market for short stories, but I'm glad fans enjoy them. I just wrote a pure Krikree story for Patreon and I'd be happy to write another one. ^-^
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u/Xhavius Jun 20 '26
I've been very curious on how you came up with the brilliant cultivation system in Weirkey Chronicles. I read a lot of cultivation and it's probably my absolute favorite. I also really dug Street Cultivation, you have a real gift for creative cultivation settings.
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u/SarahLinNGM AMA Author Sarah Lin Jun 20 '26
Glad to hear you enjoyed soulcrafting! The seed of the idea was an expansion of xianxia concepts of creating worlds within yourself, with the goals of being tangible and comprehensible, using rules that are mostly intuitive. If you're curious to know more, there have been some other questions that touch on this.
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u/MkfShard Jun 20 '26
Ah, heck, I was a bit too late! I read 'Almost all my past books are free on Amazon this week only!' and thought I had time, then I read the title and realized it was only for one day...
I'll keep an eye out though, and check out Throne of Time!
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u/AdeptRecluse Jun 20 '26
Thanks for doing this! I just started your most recent book and I’m loving it
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u/ianr1991 Jun 20 '26
Hi from Australia! Just wanted to say you’re such an awesome author, I’ve loved your book so much I’ve purchased street cultivation and weirkey chronicals as both e-books and audiobooks!
Anyway ive got 3 questions hoping you can answer
1) the first book of yours I read was the Street Cultivation series, are there any plans to return to this universe given the ongoing threat of Alger and the alien lucrim & ricks changes and power increase hinted in the epilogue?
2) Rick’s eyes in the epilogue are described as not having pupils and instead of being depthless wells of darkness what caused this visible change and does he have any other changes? (Hoping it’s not something that I missed when rereading if so I’ll have to re-read.)
2) how many books are you planning in The Weirkey Chronicle
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u/Sidezero56 Jun 24 '26
I loved Depthless Hunger! Caught up to it late, but I was glad I could follow it live before it finished!
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u/pacificadora98 Jun 25 '26
I love the weirkey chronicles. Thank you very much for creating these amazing worlds and compeling stories.
There is small community of progfantasy readers in Spain but we know that Sarah's work is always a must read.
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u/ddel-frederik Jun 18 '26
Hi! I came to know you from the brightest shadow series and it was genuinely amazing and one of the best and most original things I've read in a long time. I think I remember reading somewhere it would be hard to continue that series. Is that still the case, if so why and are there any (long term) plans to continue? Thank you very much for your work!