Excerpt of Ashes of Khormund-ur, Book Four of the Stormfall Cycle. (Coming soon)

At the foot of the Black Mountains of Khormund-ur, thousands fought for a chance at victory. The beasts had been driven back, but fresh reinforcements sprinted and lumbered from the gaping tear in the mountain, steadily overwhelming the Northerners and eviscerating their ranks.

A soft pattering of rain fell from dark clouds, swept and pushed by powerful winds that carved shifting patterns in the sky, like mesmerising murmurations. But the battlefield below was anything but serene.

Weapons slipped from aching hands. Boots skidded over mud slick with blood. And the beasts fared no better. Towering forms toppled in the churn, only to be hacked by waiting soldiers with their swords. Their fiery cores flickered defiantly, but the rain dimmed their light and made their movements sluggish. Yet, even struggling, they were far from defeated.

Death cries echoed across the battlefield, voices pleading for an end to the agony. Some were granted swift mercy with a quick thrust of a blade; others were left to be torn apart by ravenous beasts. But the outcome was the same for all: death called, and they answered.

Jonas slammed his fist into a Xyldorath’s warped face, his breath coming in ragged gasps of a fevered mind. Mud and rain plastered his hair to his head, and his stomach growled louder than the storm. The beast gurgled something incomprehensible, its glowing eyes dimming.

‘If you’ve got something to say, then say it!’ Jonas shouted, rage crawling through his mind while he dragged the creature across the churned ground. He threw the beast against a boulder, his feet slipping in the muck. Teeth clenched, he raised his boot and stomped down hard, snapping its neck with a sickening crack.

Jonas straightened and tilted his head back, letting the rain fill his mouth. ‘Hey, Oldrick!’ he shouted after swallowing, his voice sounding strained. ‘You got something to eat?’

Oldrick fended off a dagger strike from a Vargul with his bare hands, dodging and slapping its arm away. ‘A little help here?’ He jumped away at the swoosh of an axe cutting through the air, and the Vargul pitched forward when a thud rang out, its spine severed. Oldrick stepped back and retrieved his axe from the ground, panting. ‘Thanks,’ he muttered as Jonas wrenched the axe free from the beast. ‘Lost mine in the fight.’

Jonas smirked. ‘These things are easier to kill once you know where to hit ’em.’ A lightning strike lit the sky, and rain whipped into their faces.

‘The World Storm is upon us. If these beasts don’t kill us, then it will,’ said Oldrick before handing him some hardtack from his pocket.

Jonas stared at the biscuit with disgust and said, ‘You don’t have a pot of clastra to go with this, do you? Don’t like the taste of maggots in the morning.’

A chuckle left Oldrick. ‘Sure, just let me set you a table, my good sir. Want some mead with that as well?’

‘I’d love a good mead, ’specially a warm one.’

They were part of the back markers that rotated out to take a break from the heavy fighting at the front ranks, getting rid of stragglers or those that made it through the main force. Many a man had lost his life already, and with their numbers dwindling, they were slowly being overwhelmed. The Northmen were now on the back foot, getting pushed to the cliff edge where a huge drop would see them killed on the sharp rocks of The Undying Swell with its tempestuous water.

‘We might as well head to the front line. No point in dying on the rocks below,’ Jonas said as he bit into the hardtack with a loud snap. ‘We are too few to win this war now.’ A blinding flash of lightning exploded a tree to their right, shards of it spraying, branches flying into the demon horde. 

‘I’m not dying here . . . I will find my little girl and hold her, even if it is just one last time. No creature here will stop me.’ The earth groaned and trembled with an ominous rhythm beneath their feet. The ground heaved and deformed, pushing up mounds in places, with fissures spreading from the mountain. Plumes of dust erupted as entire sections of earth fell away.

‘What the hell is that?’ asked Oldrick.

Ashes of Khormund ur Release Delayed but Nearly Ready

This is not the release update I hoped to write, but it is a good one in the end: Ashes of Khormund-ur is finished, and the finale of The Stormfall Cycle is now very close to being ready for release.

The delay came from the least glamorous place imaginable. Not lore complications. Not a last-minute plot collapse. Not a cursed artefact whispering from beneath the floorboards. I caught pneumonia during the winter germfest, and it knocked me flat for long enough that the release schedule had to move.

I am sorry for that delay. I know some readers have been waiting to see how the cycle ends, and I do not take that patience for granted. Winter can be rough at the best of times, and with kids in day care it can feel like the house is running a small disease exchange program. This year, it got me properly.

The final pages are written, even if the road there was rough.

The delay was frustrating but necessary

Pneumonia is not the kind of illness you work through by making more tea and pretending the cough is dramatic atmosphere. It took time, rest, and a bit of humility. For a while, the sensible thing was also the annoying thing: stop pushing, recover properly, and accept that the book would need to wait.

That was hard because this book is not a side story or a quiet bridge between bigger volumes. It is the finale. It carries the last weight of The Stormfall Cycle. Every thread that needed tying, every promise made across the earlier books, every scar left on the characters had to matter.

Trying to rush that while sick would not have been fair to the story or to the people waiting for it.

So the release moved. I hate that. I also know it was the right call.

The book itself is now done

Here is the part I am very happy to say plainly: the manuscript is complete.

The story of Ashes of Khormund-ur has reached its end. The final chapters are written. The last scenes are in place. The book has gone from “nearly there” to “done” in the most meaningful sense.

There is still publishing work around it, and that work matters, but the creative mountain has been climbed. The finale exists as a full book now, not as scattered notes, half-polished battles, and chapter files glaring from a folder.

At this stage, the work is about refinement. The bones are set. Now the edges are being cleaned, the rhythm tightened, and the small errors hunted down before they can sneak into the finished edition.

A fitting mood for the last road into Khormund-ur.

The cover is close to final

The cover design is also moving again, and it should be finalised by mid September if all continues to go well.

Covers are strange things. They have to carry mood, genre, promise, and identity all at once. For a finale, that pressure feels sharper. The cover needs to feel like it belongs with the books before it, while also signalling that this is the last door in the hall.

I am looking forward to sharing it once it is ready. I do not want to rush that reveal before the final version is locked, because a cover is often the first thing a reader sees. It deserves the same care as the pages behind it.

The aim is simple. When the cover appears, it should feel like The Stormfall Cycle has arrived at its reckoning.

The editors are now sharpening the blade

While the cover is being completed, the manuscript is also being polished and scrutinised by the editors.

That means the book is in one of the least visible but most valuable stages of the process. This is where clumsy phrasing gets cut. Continuity is checked. Pacing is tested. Sentences that looked fine at midnight are asked to defend themselves in daylight.

Editors are both blessing and terror. They catch the things a writer can no longer see because the writer has lived inside the book for too long. They question what needs questioning. They make the book stronger, even when the process involves a few winces along the way.

That work should be finalised soon as well. Once it is done, the remaining steps become much clearer: final files, final checks, and then the release path.

The last stage is all about care, patience, and sharp eyes.

I know the wait matters

Delays are common in publishing, but that does not make them invisible. When a reader has followed a series, especially through multiple books, the ending matters. Waiting for the finale can be exciting, but it can also be irritating when the finish line moves.

So I want to be clear and direct. I apologise for the delay.

I also want to reassure you that the delay has not come from the book drifting into uncertainty. It has not stalled. It has not been abandoned. The opposite is true. Ashes of Khormund-ur is nearly ready, and the final work happening now is the kind of work that helps a book land properly.

The extra time is not being wasted. It is going into the cover, the edits, and the final polish.

The Stormfall Cycle is almost at its end

Writing the finale of a series is a strange emotional state. Part of you wants to sprint to the finish. Part of you keeps looking back at where it all began.

There are characters who have been with me for a long time now. Some arrived almost fully formed. Others changed as the story grew around them. Some made choices I had planned. Others forced my hand, which is one of the best and most inconvenient parts of writing fiction.

A finale has to do more than answer questions. It has to feel earned. It has to carry the cost of everything that came before it. That has been the focus with this book, especially in the final stretch.

I cannot wait for readers to have it in their hands.

The end of the cycle is close now.

The latest release outlook

The short version is this:

• The manuscript is complete.

• The cover design should be finalised around mid September.

• The editors are polishing and scrutinising the book now.

• The final release steps should follow once those pieces are locked.

  
  

I will share firmer release details as soon as they are ready. For now, thank you for your patience, your understanding, and your continued interest in The Stormfall Cycle.

Winter did its best to derail the finale, but the book is done. The ash is settling. Khormund-ur is waiting.