So. After about three thousand years, the Wolfskin finally has an official release date:
March 3, 2026.
And yes, it is available for pre-order.
(The copy description has massive spoilers in it, so unless you’ve finished Blindspace, I do not recommend reading it!)
I do not exaggerate when I say that Wolfskin is the best thing I’ve ever written. The character arcs, the storylines, the set-pieces, even the prose, just works. Never before have I written something so epic, so brutal, so heart-wrenching. It is, in my humble and totally unbiased opinion, a damn good book.
Yes, it’s taken a long time to come out. But that’s given me the time to make sure that what I’ve put down is my absolute best, and my exact vision for the story. Again, it is my best book.
However, because of various reasons, including things that are totally beyond my control, my career is not the best place at the moment. Wolfskin is still coming out, but after that? I don’t know. Things are unclear. I’ve suffered a lot of sleepless nights because of it, and there have been days where I’ve contemplated giving up this gig for good.
I’m not giving up. But that also means that I cannot afford to hold back, either.
So. I am going to ask you all to please pre-order Wolfskin.
Pre-orders are disproportionately helpful for authors. It helps the book trade to gauge the interest on a book, or a series. The more pre-orders there are, the more copies get printed. The more copies get printed, the more the publisher has to work to sell said copies, and the greater likelihood of those copies selling.
I kinda hate that I have to weigh all these things up instead of, you know, writing. But that’s the business we’re in.
So, any and all pre-orders and support is much, much appreciated.
If you cannot pre-order it, then there’s a lot of other things you can do for Wolfskin and for the Common series. You can buy them. Ask your local library to purchase them. Tell others about them. Review them on Amazon and Goodreads. Sacrifice goats on an altar of black stone in their name.
Not sure about the last one, but you can always give it a go.
If you are a reviewer with a blog/review channel/BookTube/Instagram account, please get in touch with me and I’ll get my publisher to send out a review copy to you.
It’s been a hell of a long journey, for me and Vakov both. But we’re nearly at the end of his story. I hope that you’ll all stand by my side and see it through to the end.
2024 wasn’t the worst of years. Nor was it the best of years.
As many of you know, in late 2023 I impaled myself with a nailgun in my left hand, missing the bone by less than a millimeter. If it had connected, I’d have shattered the digit. It did not connect.
But that didn’t mean I got away scot free. Oh, no. The incident gave me complex pain regional syndrome, nerve damage and ulnar nerve damage, which led to a slew of pain management therapies, new medications, weekly doctor visits, constant appointments, required exercises, and dealing with the red tape of it all, which triggered further mental health issues and gave rise to other health issues that were simmering away beneath the surface.
I don’t like to talk about this much, because I live it every week, and I really don’t want to be one of those Professional Pain Sufferers, as my GP calls them, who can only talk about their own agonies. But it’s safe to say that 2024 was a very stop-start year for me, and no one wants to spend the last year of their 20s dealing with a critical hand injury, not knowing how much longer it’ll continue on for.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve been going through some rough patches, mentally, due to the stresses of publishing, and how the writing has suffered as a consequence. As you can imagine, the injury has not helped. I wasn’t able to publish Wolfskin in 2024 like I wanted, and so sometimes it’s felt like publishing has been moving on without me, like I’ve fallen overboard on a ship and I’m stuck floating in the water, watching the ship move further away from me, leaving me behind until it’s an inscrutable speck on the horizon.
To watch authors who debuted after you get proofs and cover art and special edition deals for their next series while you’re still stuck on the one feels extremely disheartening, especially when compounded with a whirlwind of other doubts and stresses (is anyone even reading my stuff? Does anyone care? What’s the point of this?). Doubly so when all of your peers keep talking about how much fun writing is and how another day at the keyboard is another day doing the best job ever, and you feel like setting your computer and your face on fire. There’s been times when I’ve seriously considered leaving publishing for good, unable to take the anxiety and pressure (and anger) that stems from the meatgrinder of the publishing industry and how it feels like it poisons the passion you have for your creative work.
This isn’t a “woe is me” post. But I do believe in honesty, both on a professional and personal level, and this is the narrative I’m telling.
But I won’t be quitting of course. Because I’m a writer. And this is what I do. And there isn’t a single person on earth or heaven that’ll stop me. (Where do you think Vakov gets his stubborn streak from?)
While those feelings have not always disappeared, 2024 has seen them become far less intense and overwhelming, especially towards the latter months. Things have been better. Much better. Sometimes, all you need to do is to take a step back, stay in the shade, reframe your thinking, and then step forward again. Attitude and positivity matters. A lot. Fighting off the Raging Demon Voices isn’t always easy, but the less space I give them, the smaller they get.
And because of all that, I’ve had a very, very productive year. Which brings us to….
Publishing
The only project I published in 2024 was independently publishing Broken Stars in Nov 2024. All these stories were previously published except two, but I still consider the entire collection to be an original publication. It’s picked up some really solid reviews, and has been stocked in a few local bookstores and libraries, which always makes me happy.
Interestingly, releasing a new book means that your previous titles get a fresh wave of attention. I’ve had a few people say that they wanted to check out my traditionally published books because of Broken Stars being released. I mainly put Broken Stars out so I could keep my name in the spotlight between major releases, and to dust off some of my older works and give them a bit of new life, so I’m pleased to see that it’s all going to plan.
The majority of my year has seen me work on a new project. I don’t want to say too much about it, only that it’s science-fantasy and is set some 20,000 years in the future. It’s somewhat similar to my other books, but it’s also . . . not. It’s more epic. More poetic, grandiose. But fear not, it’s still very much me, and I’m hoping that it’ll be the next thing that I publish. I’ve got about 140,000 words down, not including material that I’ve already cut or reworked. I hoped to have it finished, by the end of this year, but Wolfskin edits have derailed those plans.
And because I don’t have enough on my plate, I’m working on another project. A secondary world fantasy with a female protagonist and some very nonhuman characters, on an epic quest. I won’t say more than that.
As for Wolfskin, I’m doing another pass on it as we speak, with the goal of delivering it to my editor in January. It’s been interesting to see how I’ve evolved as a writer since I discovered this character and his voice all the way back in 2026, when I was only 22 years old. It’s been tempting to sometimes rewrite the odd paragraph or sentence to the way I would have written them now, but I’m making sure to hold true to my former self and to Vakov by keeping the voice consistent.
On this read, my goal is to fall in love with the book, to read it as a cohesive whole narrative. And so far, I’ve been really, really enjoying it. If you’ll allow me to flex a little bit: the narrative beats are working, the character dynamics are solid, the emotional moments feel earned and hit like a sledgehammer, and the action scenes crackle off the page. Why, it’s like someone wrote a book just for me!
Sure, it’s my own damn book I’m banging on about. But after being stuck in a cycle of disliking my own work, seeing the worst of it in the worst light, I’d rather build up what I know to be my novel’s strengths. It’s my baby, after all. And what a damn fine baby it’s turning out to be!
Travelling:
I went overseas three times this year. I went to Japan twice, a place that is easily my favourite in the world, and I have plans to go again sometime next year.
I also went to Europe for Glasgow Worldcon, which was a fantastic and inspiring event. It was my first time in Europe with my books published, and I was able to do a lot of signings and events, and meet a lot of readers, including one reader who brought his copy of Stormblood all the way from Brazil for me to sign.
People are best part of any Worldcon and I was really fortunate enough to hang out with a bunch of friends I haven’t seen in years, people that I’ve only met online and completely new writers. It really felt like I was part of the publishing community, a professional author who was respected by his peers and that is always lovely feeling because this gig involves a lot of time spent locked away in a small room, hunched over a keyboard, and it’s only when someone tells you in person how much they loved your book, does it actually feel real. I also got to see copies of my book in bookstores in both Scotland and Denmark, which was incredibly cool.
I don’t know when my next Worldcon will be. But I will certainly be endeavouring to attend one, or at least another major publishing convention, in the near future.
Reading:
The amount of books I read went down considerably in 2024. Both on account of the injury and the fact that I was learning Japanese. Spoiler alert, it’s an incredibly crushingly difficult language to learn. Relative to English, the grammar and sentence structures are both backwards and let’s not even get started on the polite versus impolite forms, or three different alphabets (I loathe Kanji with the fury of a thousand suns). But being able to speak Japanese is also incredibly rewarding, especially when you go to Japan and you’re actually able to communicate with people and order food in a restaurant and understand a good percentage of what you hear. I am by no means fluent, but I’m slowly getting there. Hopefully.
But the books that I did read this year I really enjoyed. Here’s the best of them:
The Will of the Many, by James Islington
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio
Shards of Earth, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
My goals is to read more in 2025. The size of my TBR is threatening to crush me, so I’m hoping to put a solid dent in it.
***
I want to close off my last post of the year by saying: thank you, dear reader.
For reading my books, for supporting me, and for letting me tell these wild, crazy stories. This is not an easy job, and there have been some very, very rough patches along the way. But I’m on the upswing and I do aim to be doing a lot of writing in the upcoming year and to be putting many, many books on the shelves in the coming few years.
Remember when I told you that you’d be getting something from me soon?
Well . . . surprise!
“Broken Stars combines previously published short stories and novelettes with new and exciting tales, ranging from space opera to military SF to science-fantasy and everything in-between. Tales of broken heroes fighting for hope in dark worlds, full of aliens and outcasts, drug dealers and bounty hunters, mercenaries and soldiers. Tales of far-flung worlds where the lines between machine and human become blurred, the humanity of monsters is explored, and victory always comes with a heavy price. In these eighteen stories of far-flung worlds, violence explodes, betrayals abound, and no one is safe.
A smuggler for alien drugs is thrust into a high stakes of subterfuge and interstellar drug trades, only to find herself out of her depth.
Yharv, a mercenary, must escort the King through a besieged city and see him crowned. The only problem is, Yharv isn’t human, and neither is the king, and nonhumans usually end up dead in a gutter. And luck has never been on Yharv’s side.
An alien and a human fight to liberate a planet where aliens are treated as second-class citizens. But freedom comes at a steep price.
A kidnapped warrior discovers her memories may not be her own, and she may be on the wrong side of her war.
And many more . . .”
Broken Stars is my debut short story collection. I’ve published dozens of shorter works over the years, mostly before Stormblood was released, and I decided that it’s time to give them new life! So, sixteen of my best tales are being collected together for the first time, in addition to two brand new stories that are original to this collection. There’ll also be some story notes, detailing the writing process and origin of each story.
This means that you’ll be getting 100,000 words from me! Given that a number of these short stories are buried behind paywalls or published only in anthologies, many of you would not have read them yet, so I’m delighted for you all to get them into your hands.
Although the genre and voice for these stories varies, you should expect the same sort of approach and style that my novels are known for, but in a more condensed volume: battle sequences, gritty yet exuberant worlds, aliens, all written with an eye towards emotional and character-driven storytelling.
The release date is Friday, November 1. It will be released both as an ebook and as print-on-demand. This collection is being self-published, so you won’t find it in bookstores, (although it can certainly be ordered in, for anyone who wants one).
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’ll be able to get the first three stories for free, as a thank you for sticking around. I’ll send a download link out soon.
It’s been a little while since I’ve had a book out, and I’m really excited to have this project out in the wild. I’ve also got several other projects brewing away, so you’ll be getting a lot of content from me in the future!
If you’re a reviewer/blogger and would like a free copy to review, please get in touch and I’ll hook you up. You can find my contact form over here on my website.
And finally, this awesome cover was designed by the incredible Mike Shackle, who’s a great writer in his own right. Thanks a lot, Mike!
After nearly three years, Wolfskin, Book 3 in the Common Saga, has been delivered to my editor, Gillian Redfearn, at Gollancz!
It feels like an end of an era, in a way. I discovered the brooding, dark hero of Vakov Fukasawa back in December 2016, when I was just 22 years old. I’m nearly 29 now, and I’ve walked with him for three books as we’ve gone on this wild journey together. Now, I’ve told the (final?) chapter in his story, and I’m immensely proud of it.
Has the road been easy? No. It’s been rough. I was going through a lot during the drafting of Book 3. A lot. There were days when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue writing. But I’m in a much better place now.
The book needed to go in a different direction from what I originally envisioned, and I’m very glad that I’ve taken the extra time to get it nailed down the way I want it. I’m *extremely* happy with how Vakov’s story has shaped up, and I do genuinely feel that this is not only the best book in the series, and my favourite, but that it will have the best reception of the trilogy. Those three things can sometimes fall into different sections of a Venn diagram, but in this case, it’s a circle.
But time will tell.
So, I hear you ask: when do I get to read it????
I don’t get to make that decision. It’s currently on my editor’s desk, and I can do nothing until she edits it and sends it back to me. I will have to go through those structural edits, discuss things with my editor, make my own changes, and then send it back to her. Then she’ll edit the book again, this time for line-edits. And then I’ll go through it again. And then there’s copyedits, proofs, etc.
So don’t expect to get your hands on it for a little while. No one is more eager for this book to come out than I am. But it has to come out at the right time, when it is ready, and not before.
But delivery is the biggest and most important step, and that’s been taken. I’ll be sure to announce it when a release date slides into view.
Till then, I’ll be going on a month-long holiday (I’ve earned it!)
I’ve also given a lot of thought to what I’m going to write next. And I know exactly what my next project is will. I aim to get that written sooner rather than later.
Finally, thank you so much for your trust and patience, dear readers. I greatly appreciate it, and I’m determined to end this trilogy with a bang.
Before I go, I’ll leave ya with the opening line of Wolfskin:
“Most people have to die before they get sent to hell. I had not been given the privilege.”
Surprise cover reveal! In early November, I’m publishing my novelette “Scream in Blue”, set in the world of The Common. It’s a standalone story, set on Earth, following a different cast of characters from my books.
I’ll be popping it up on Amazon as an eBook, but anyone who subscribes to my newsletter gets it for free. And we all like free stuff, right?
Just an update for you in regards to StarShipSofa’s submissions. I’m so sorry that it’s taking so long – I got far many more submissions than I could possibly have expected, many of which were in the 8k+ and upwards length. Additionally, I became very ill at one point and couldn’t muster the strength to sit up in bed, let alone read slush. And now that I’m back at university, things are more hectic than ever. I’m starting to read submissions during my lunch breaks between classes, it’s the only way I can keep up.
But enough excuses. At this point, I’ve read and responded to everything up to June 23. If you haven’t heard back from me at this point, I’ve put your story in the 2nd round and I’ll be holding onto it before making a final decision. And good lord, you guys have made those decisions hard as hell. Seriously, there have been some pieces I’ve found so hard to let go, but ultimately had to. This is both a good and bad thing, as it means I can take the crème de la crème, but also makes it very difficult to send that rejection. But if I took everything that I wanted to, StarShipSofa would be backlogged for years. Several years. Yes, I got that many submissions. You guys are awesome.
Also, just so you know I always personalize my rejections, and I try to give some feedback as to why I had to say no. And if I asked you to submit next time we’re open, I definitely mean it.
I’ll keep reading as fast as I can. If I haven’t gotten back to you that means you’re still under serious consideration. Please be patient, and thanks again for sending me your work.
I won’t lie, my jaw smacked the desk when I saw that Nature had accepted my story. At 19 years old, I sold fiction to a magazine published by a division of one of “Big Five”.
Phew. Wow.
So, I scrapped my brains off the wall and popped a beer in the fridge to celebrate (it was first thing in the morning, and even by Australian standards that’s a tad early). Then I saw that Nature publishes anthologies with names like Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, Philip K. Dick and others, and that Nature is the most cited science journal in the world, with over 3 million visitors to the website per month.
And I scrubbed my brains from the ceiling one more time. I seriously couldn’t believe it. Even now, it’s a little surreal. Hell, even family, teachers and people I barely know, who don’t even read science-fiction (some don’t even read at all) know about Nature magazine.
There are no words that can express just how riveted I feel. My editor has been phenomenal in making the story the best it could possibly be. I’ve seen the page proofs and artwork, and I love it.
But I’m not getting side tracked. This is the first step in a long, long journey that I won’t be quitting any time soon.
Look for my story in a future issue. For me, I’m back to my editing and writing. And who knows? Maybe I’ll sell another story with them in the future.
Before we get started, I’d like to clarify one or two things. Yes, I am aware of all the controversy that’s been going on this year. No, I did not get involved in it. I am not a member of WorldCon, and I did not vote. And quite honestly, the sort of books I read rarely, rarely get covered in the Hugos, with the exception of The Wind-Up Girl (which I loved) and A Song of Ice and Fire.
So, rather than name everything I disagreed with, I’m going to highlight the ones I thought worthy of being there. There’s enough negativity in the world, and I’d rather not get into pointless debates. I don’t have the time for that, and I’m here to have fun, not make enemies. Life is too short for that.
Abyss and Apex: Very well deserved. I’ve enjoyed almost every story I’ve read of theirs. They’re an exceptional magazine, publishing marvelous stories, and it’s great to see them on here.
Andromeda Space In-Flight Magazine: Now this one is excellent. Based down in the tiny corner of the world that is Australia, they’re one of the last surviving SF/F magazines down here that still publishes regularly in print. PRINT! Not to mention that they have one of the best submission systems I’ve seen for any magazine ever, and the high quality of their stories, their place on this list is very well deserved.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies: I adore this magazine. One of the few on the market that actually (consistently) publishes high/epic/medieval fantasy, their fiction is free to read online and pays their contributors very well. If I could get published by any venue, it would be this one. I’m a fan and always will be.
Anne Sowards: She’s the acquisitions editor for Ace and Roc/Penguin, and she’s brilliant. She edits a colossal range of marvelous books and series and it’s great to see her on this list. Picking what books to publish is no easy task, but she does it. A round of applause!
Black Gate: I’ve been a long-time reader of this publication, and although they no longer publish fiction, it’s still great to check them out and read up on fantasy news and the like. Glad to see them on here.
Laura J. Mixon: She’s only written one major piece that I’m aware of, but that alone makes her worthy of being on here. I won’t say more than that.
Game of Thrones: “The Mountain and the Viper”: It’s Game of Throne, what do you expect? If this doesn’t win I’ll take the black. I mean that half-seriously.
Almost everything on the Dramatic Presentation (long form) list: Guardians of the Galaxy, Edge of Tomorrow, Interstellar….great films. It’s going to be hard picking between them!
Anyway, that’s about it. I haven’t read any of the short stories, novelettes, novella, or novels on this list, something that’s seriously going to need to change! Otherwise, I’m more or less pleased with the works that I’ve noted. It will be interesting to see the outcome in August!
JEREMY SZAL 