The Future of the Flying Wizard
- John R. Fultz
- 7 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Here we go into the last phase of 2025! Time for some blog-ulation and a look ahead. The fourth Scaleborn book, MAGNIFICENT EXILES, is finished and currently in the copy-editing stage. I recently started working with the mighty Brian LeBlanc on the cover painting. I expect another masterpiece. My goal is to get this book on sale by the end of January. Flying Wizard Press began with the Scaleborn series, and it's going full steam ahead for 2026 and beyond.
Going forward, I'll be doing more books set in the same universe as the Scaleborn books, but they won't be part of a series. I have envisioned a novel set in Carsonne, which would express a very different flavor to the books set in Yhorom. The thing about writing a series is that people don't want to read the books out of order, even when each book is meant to be a standalone adventure. I understand this reluctance, because I'm the same way as a reader--I will not read a book that's part of a series unless I've read the books that came before it. The only exception to this is when I don't KNOW it's part of a series.
Case in point: When I discovered Tanith Lee's DEATH'S MASTER, it hit me like a thunderbolt, and it remains one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels. I think I've read it at least three times at this point. However, I had no idea when I discovered it that it was the SECOND book in Lee's Flat Earth series. Which was a lucky stroke, because I never would have bought it at that seedy little used bookstore in the early 90s if I had know it was the second book in a series. No, I would have had to find book one, NIGHT'S MASTER, first, which may or may not have happened. When I finally did get around to reading the first book, I like it a lot, but I still like DEATH'S MASTER even more, so I'm glad I read it first. It hooked me on the Flat Earth series before I even knew it was a series. This highlights another problem with doing a "series" format: If the first book doesn't win you over, you're not going to bother reading the second book--or any of the rest.
The Flat Earth books are definitely standalone novels--you don't have to start with book one. And that's the same approach I wanted to try with the Scaleborn Saga. However, I've learned from this series--and my first series, The Shaper Trilogy, that each new book in series tends to bring in fewer readers than the one before it. The reasons for this are many. Most people will ignore all of the books until they've read book one--which they may never get around to reading. Also, the longer any series lasts, the more difficult it becomes to make each novel a "standalone" read. The mythic nature of the Flat Earth books (i.e. high fantasy) made them more conducive to being a series of standalone books. The Scaleborn saga is far less mythic and therefore more interdependent. As the fantasy world I'm writing about continues to grow and develop, each installment becomes more tied to previous continuity. So, while I'm glad I did four Scaleborn books in a row, I intend to take a new approach after the January release of MAGNIFICENT EXILES.
Instead of doing a fifth Scaleborn book, I'm going to do a novel set in Carsonne, a necromantic nation located in the same world as the Scaleborn books. This Carsonne book will grow out of the Carsonne short stories seen in OLD MOON QUARTERLY and NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY magazines. There is simply no need to do a "series" in order to keep exploring this expansive and ever-growing universe that I've created. Instead, I'll tell a new story about new characters in a new land, a fresh epic that may be related in some ways to the Scaleborn series, but without being a part of that series.
Overall, the result of this new approach will be novels that are truly standalone--complete storylines began and resolved in each book. This will also allow me to "travel" across the length and breadth of my imaginary world, as well as backward and forward in time, if I choose to do so. In other words, I can do various types of stories with no relation to one another except that they all take place in the same fantasy world. This will also allow me to invent whole NEW worlds if I want to do so. Doing a series ties your hands with threads that you've already woven, which eventually become ropes that limit your creativity and your freedom. The Flying Wizard must be free to fly.
All of this is a longwinded way of saying that I think I am "done" with doing series work at this point. However, I'm NOT done with the World of the Scaleborn. After MAGNIFICENT SCOUNDRELS, my next novel will most likely be THE BOOK OF CARSONNE. The Scaleborn books have explored the Empire of Yhorom in great detail, but there is much more of this ancient world to explore, and an infinite number of new characters to meet.
I will also be releasing an expanded edition of my WORLDS BEYOND WORLDS fantasy collection at some point, as well as a collected edition of my Magtone the Doomed stories, a six-story cycle that ran in WEIRDBOOK years ago.
OLD MOON QUARTERLY #9 should be dropping in Jan/Feb, featuring my Carsonne-based story "Down and Out in the City of Graveyards." Still no word on when LOVECRAFT'S DARK DREAMLANDS will be published, but it will include my swashbuckling Dreamlands novella "The Exodus of Sammon Hardbough." If all goes well, it should see the light of day sometime before the end of 2026.
I'll be serving on a couple of panels at the first-ever SMITH CIRCLE on January 10. This conference dedicated to celebrating the life and works of Clark Ashton Smith takes place in his hometown of Auburn, CA, and it should be a blast for any CAS fans as well as those who have yet to discover the Emperor of Dreams and his magnificent body of works. I'll be selling and signing copies of my big weird fantasy novel A FEW ODD SOULS there, and I'll have some Scaleborn books available there as well. It should be a blast.
In October of 2026, I plan to attend the World Fantasy Convention once again. It's finally coming back to California, this time landing in Oakland. Looking forward to seeing friends and fans new and old.
Peace & Broadswords,
John