When I finished The Riyria Revelations series back in 2010, I was ready to put Royce and Hadrian and the entire world of Elan behind me. It was a single story after all, not a life’s calling. By now, you’ve likely heard how my wife, Robin, complained that she wanted more time with the love of her life?—?Hadrian?—?and how she did not appreciate me standing between them. She wanted more, but I had no intention of enabling her love affair with another man. However, while Orbit was in the process of ramping up for the re-release of The Riyria Revelations, I was required to take down my self-published versions. This resulted in several months when I had no books available for sale. Robin felt this was a marketing blunder, and she aimed to fill that gap with a short story?—?one intended to promote the re-issued series. In this way, she coaxed me into writing “The Viscount and the Witch.” I wrote it because I felt it made for a decent self-contained event: how Royce and Hadrian met Albert Winslow, which occurred in the second year of their partnership. It felt like the start of a novel, which got me thinking about writing the rest of the tale.

  At the time, the new novel I had been working on, Antithesis, was failing miserably, so I began writing The Rose and Thorn. Note: the officially released title, The Rose and the Thorn, was decided by Orbit for reasons I’ll never fully understand or agree with, but it wasn’t something I had a say over. In any event, before finishing that book, I realized it was stupid to write about the second year without showing the first. I felt I had no choice but to write Riyria’s origin story. I set The Rose and Thorn down and wrote The Crown Tower, then came back and finished the book that I had originally started. My wife was happy, even if Orbit was not?—?they don’t like prequels and would have tried to talk me out of writing one if they had known that’s what I was spending my time on. Those who know me realize that discussion wouldn’t have gone well.

  After completing these two novels, I was free to leave Elan and the fantasy genre behind and move on to other types of writing?—?for, you see, I never planned to be a fantasy author.

  Except I wasn’t free of Elan. Not yet.

  I felt obligated to tell the truth about Elan’s backstory and began a six-book series, The Legends of the First Empire (another set of prequels), which Penguin Random House was eager to publish. However, by the scheduled release date for Age of Myth, over four years would have passed since the last Riyria book. And according to the new contract with Penguin Random House, I wouldn’t be allowed to publish another Elan book until their books were released. This would have been in 2021, making it close to a full decade after The Rose and Thorn that anyone would hear from Royce and Hadrian again. That would have been far too long. Then Robin got the idea that I could publish a new Elan book before the contract started.

  “How fast can you write a new Riyria story?” she asked.

  The answer, it turned out, was sixty-eight days. The Death of Dulgath was published in late 2015, just a few months before Age of Myth.

  Stolen story; please report.

  After I finished writing The Legends of the First Empire, and while I was waiting for those books to be published, I toyed with the idea of a set of “bridge books” to span the enormous gap of history between Legends and Riyria. This would later become The Rise and Fall series, but, working on that would once more mean a long time between Riyria tales, so I took a break and wrote The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter. Then because of a policy change at Penguin Random House (requiring that they retain audio rights, which we had already sold), we weren’t able to license the final books in The Legends of the First Empire to Penguin. What’s more, the division broke awkwardly (four with them and two with us). Given that that particular series is more akin to two closely related trilogies, Robin managed to regain rights to Age of Legend and tip the scales back to a three and three combination. The happy byproduct of that renegotiation made it possible to publish The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter in limited release as early as 2017.

  What this all boils down to is that the last Riyria book was published six years ago. Given this, would it be worth the time to write another? Was anyone still interested in Royce and Hadrian? Did anyone care?

  As it turned out, I had posed this question in several prior books and listed my email address to obtain the answer. Several people took the time to write. Here is some of what they said:

  “I have heard you say in introductions to your books that you want to know if we want more. I just wanted to tell you: Yes! More Royce and Hadrian, please.”

  “Your books with these characters are tremendous! You asked if readers want more to let you know. I want more!”

  “So, I just finished Death of Dulgath and I’m confident I could read 100 more Hadrian and Royce adventures.”

  “I’m just wondering if there are any more recent adventures for Hadrian and Royce? Miss those guys.”

  There are hundreds of others along these lines, which made me think that maybe . . . possibly . . . it was time to write another.

  There was an additional factor influencing the writing of this novel. Readers who had just finished The Legends of the First Empire series and the three books of ?The Rise and Fall were a bit stressed out. The stakes had gotten higher, the drama more . . . well . . . dramatic. And there were more than a few heartbreaks along the way. They longed for a respite and asked for something fun, something more “slice-of-life,” something that didn’t include world-ending stakes or the death of a beloved character. What they longed for was a good old-fashioned Riyria holiday. Now, I never write in response to readers’ desires. I have always only written the stories I want to read?—?best that way, really. Writing for other people would make my time at the keyboard a labor instead of a joy. Except . . .

  There is one person who has the power to sway me. And she wanted?—?no needed?—?a little happiness brought back during some trying times. So that’s what I set out to write, a little book that appealed to my wife’s desire to just spend some time with two characters that she loved: Royce and Hadrian.

  Problem is, these two can’t help themselves. Trouble has a habit of

  finding them.

  Here then is Drumindor, another story that many already know the end to, which began as a fun, carefree romp, which somehow grew into so much more, something wholly unexpected, and something I hope you will enjoy.

  But before you start, I have an announcement . . . please stay tuned.

  Michael J. Sullivan

  September 2024