What a year, huh?

Like most years, it certainly has had it’s ups and downs. The good and the bad and the goddamn ugly. I’m going to try and not focus on the latter two, because there’s enough of that in the world, but some of it will be mentioned.

So let’s get the bad and ugly over with:

As I mentioned a few newsletters ago, I have chronic pain from my nailgun wound, and combating it, doctor and clinic visits to fix it, is a daily struggle. I am hoping that 2026 will be the year that I kick it down for good, but you never know.

There is also the shooting/terrorist incident that occurred at Bondi Beach, less than 10 minutes from where I live, becoming the deadliest shooting in Australia since Port Arthur 30 years ago.

I have zero desire to sensationalize or monetize an act of such horror, or honour those who perpetuated it by naming them. I am mentioning it because I had at least five groups of family/friends/acquaintances who were there at the time – and there was a point where we didn’t know where everyone was – so it’s something that has affected me deeply. We are all okay, though. Thank you to everyone who wrote in to ask.

Now that unpleasant topic is over with, let’s move onto the good stuff.


Writing:


The first half of 2025 was spent working on various projects. I don’t want to talk about them in any great detail, because I feel like books should remain the author’s personal project until a first draft is down, or until it’s truly ready to be sent out. A lesson I had to learn the hard way.

Still, I will reveal there have been two major novels in the works, both very different beasts Note that these are not actually the titles, but only placeholders!

The first is what I will call Rage. It’s the thing I’m most interested in traditionally publishing next. It’s similar to what I’ve done before, but also not. Much more epic and widescreen. Prose that’s much more lyrical, theatrical, less rough and jagged.

I have a first draft down, but I’m looking at some major (and I do mean major) revisions before I start sending it out.

The second project is what I’ll call Redemption. Very, very different to my other work. It has a female protagonist, and is very much high fantasy, but that’s all I’ll say. It does have a romance element to it, like all my books have, but it is not romantasy.

That’s all I can say about them in any detail for now. I’ll continue to work on them into the new year, with the aims of having one, or both, on submission to publishers, where they will solicit shocked gasps of shock, amazement, shock, wonder and delight. Probably.

The latter half of the year was spent working on Wolfskin. The book clocks in at a hefty 197k (!!!), 9k longer than Blindspace and 42k longer than Stormblood. The original draft was. . . a great deal longer, and after it had been cut down, a lot of refining was required to truly make the book shine.

I do it for you, dear readers!

I actually put the finishing editorial touches on the book when I was in Tokyo and Sapporo a couple of months back. I love the idea of working on a piece of art in multiple locations, because it means you get to take a bit of that place with you.

Of course, the work is only truly complete when the proofs are finished, and I completed those the other day. While I am genuinely sad to see it go, I am very relieved that it is out of my hands and will soon be out in the world.


Publishing:

I had zero publications in 2025 – besides two stories that got translated into German and Estonian – but no new material. But that will change shortly, because…


Upcoming Publications:

Wolfskin will be coming out!

The final book in the Common Saga will be dropping on March 4 (all the best people pre-order books, so get those orders in!). This will make it four years and three months since the last installment, Blindspace, was published, although I did self-publish Scream in Blue in 2022, and my collection Broken Stars in 2024, so I suppose it hasn’t really been that long since I’ve had a release.

Wolfskin would have come out much sooner, even in mid-2025, but that’s up to the publisher, not me, and the decisions of the market can be obfuscating and baffling, to say the least. I can only control the writing and the delivery.

Of course, what matters is that the book itself is good. And, in my humble and totally unbiased opinion, Wolfskin is a damn good book. I expect it will garner some . . . strong reactions when it releases. Perhaps even some tears.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tears myself, when finishing off this book. Especially in the final chapter. But that’s a good thing – if it doesn’t move me, I cannot expect it to move anyone else.

Besides, I started writing Stormblood nine years ago, when I was only twenty-three years old. These books have stretched across a third of my life, and so they will always be a part of me. Writing them was not always easy, as you lot all know, but it’s a story I needed to tell, and I’m incredibly proud of what I’m managed to achieve with them.

I expect to be doing a slew of signings, events, and interviews, once the release date slides closer into view. More news when I have it.


In the Works:

This is going to sound frustratingly coy, but there’s a few exciting things coming up that I cannot talk about yet. Does this pertain to special hardback editions? Adaptations? Translations?

I’d love to tell you . . . but the Powers That Be would be very unhappy. Two of these exciting things have been confirmed, however, and I hope to announce them soon. Ooh, the suspense is killing me!


Conventions:

I’ve been lucky enough to attend three Worldcons in a row; Chengdu in 2023, Glasgow in 2024, and Seattle in 2025. All were excellent, for very different reasons, and no event I do is ever going to top being flown out to China by my Chinese publisher, but Seattle was a blast.

It was my first American con, first time seeing my books in a US bookstore. It was a joy and a pleasure, thanks to the wonderful cadre of people who made my time there special.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

The Barnes and Nobles signing!

Pictured: Evan Leikam, Jeremy Szal, Ryan Cahill, M.J. Kuhn, Shauna Lawless, Michael Michel, Zac Argyle, Andy Peloquin,

Pictured: way too many to name.

I left a trail of signed copies everywhere I went, so if you ask Barnes and Nobles Northgate or Bellevue, Arundel Books or Elliott Bay Book Company, they should still have copies left. Good if you’re in the States and want a defaced copy of one of my books, because due to the recent announcement about the mandatory submission of fingerprints and social media for travellers entering the US, I don’t know if I’ll be heading over there again in a hurry.

Like in 2023, Adrian Tchaikovsky gave me the honour of being his acceptor at the Hugo Awards, for Best Series and Best Novel (he did not win, but even being nominated is cool). That meant dressing up in formal wear, attending the Hugo gala, the pre-show and the after party.

Oh, and taking photos with all of your (his!) fellow nominees in the category.

Pictured: (L to R) Seanan McGuire, Rebecca Roanhorse, Jeremy Szal, and the little-known, up and coming author Brandon Sanderson.

aka, three beautiful people and one ugly bastard.

If you haven’t picked up any of Adrian’s books, you really, really should.

Japanese Learning:

I continue to sneak a day or two of learning Japanese when I can. It’s not easy. For English speakers, Japanese may be the most difficult language to learn. I’m not kidding.

But I’ve never let a little thing like that stop me, and I continue to go through the motions. I’m good enough that I can say pretty much anything basic, and I’ll understand most casual conversations (depending on the speed). I don’t use English when I travel to Japan, and I’m hoping to reach fluency within the next two years.

Best of 2025:

Because no yearly wrap up is complete without one of these, here’s the various bits of media that I enjoyed the most in 2025. As ever, I’ll try to stick with the good rather than the bad, especially in the book category, considering my profession.

Music:

I was lucky enough to attend three kickass concerts this year: Sigur Ros, Metallica, and Oasis. I’ve got pretty broad tastes. Sigur Ros was heavenly, Metallica was epic, but Oasis was otherworldly. The concert vibes were immaculate, the brothers performed at their peak, and hearing Champagne Supernova live made my soul transcend to another realm. All was good.

As you were.

Film:

One Battle After Another. A powerhouse of a film. A near-perfect bouquet of tension, character drama, humour and action, with some truly piercing commentary on top. This is PTA’s best film, and I hope it’s the one that gives him the recognition he so richly deserves.

The Long Walk. This one hurt. I read the novel, so I knew what I was getting into, but I wasn’t prepared for how gruelling and emotional it ended up being. Distressing film making at it’s finest. And, it must be said, it had some real solid pacing. I will see myself out.

Weapons. It’s impossible to discuss this without spoiling the experience. Just see it. With a packed audience.

Sinners: A Southern gothic vampire, horror-musical, action film. Only a madman or a genius can pull something like that off, and thankfully Ryan Coogler is both. It’s the sort of film you have to see to believe.

Mickey 17: I don’t think I loved this one as much as Bong Joon Ho’s previous offering: Parasite, but I don’t think we were meant to. It’s great to see directors of his calibre taking a dip in interstellar science-fiction, and I think he did a stand up job of bringing Edward’s book to the big screen.

Mad Max: Furiosa: I loved this one. It’s definitely more vile and nasty than the crowd-pleasing Fury Road, and this time you get a true sense of how dementedly unpleasant life is in the wasteland, at all times, for everyone. Still, I’m hardly one to shy away from the darker side of spec-fic, so I had a great time here. Plus, as an Australian, I’m obliged to sing its praises.

TV:

Andor, Season 2: Goddamn. This show, in it’s entirety, is on par with the original Star Wars trilogy. Blasphemous, perhaps, but I stand by it. Andor is one of the greatest TV shows of all time and it must be seen to be believed.

Daredevil: Born Again: Felt like the original season of Daredevil was back in it’s gory glory. There were some . . . interesting creative choices made, but the tension, storytelling, character work and brutally fun fight scenes are back in full force, and I can’t wait to see how things unfold.

Severance, Season 2: The pacing here unfolds at a glacial pace, but it hardly takes two episodes before that glacier becomes an embodiment of pure dread and isolation, striking with surgical precision. Worth a watch for the final episode alone.

Games:

Black WuKong: China’s answer to Dark Souls, with the rich texture of local mythology.

Hollow Knight: Silksong: Profoundly entertaining. I’m delighted to see a small Australian studio make its place on the world stage, gaming wise, especially when it deserves it. And this one does.

Baldur’s Gate 3: Yes, I know it came out in 2024. But I’m just starting to dig my teeth into it now. And what a feast it is. It’s hard to fathom the amount of painstaking effort that went into the writing and designing of this narrative. Ooh, just talking about it makes me want to do another playthrough!


Books:

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. I technically read this one in 2024, since I blurbed the book (mic-drop), but it’s a 2025 release. I adored this one. Structurally, it’s very different from Joe’s usual fare, but the pages flow by and the story fires on all cylinders. There’s a single scene in here (you’ll know the one) that contains what is possibly my favourite character-introduction scene of all time. It’s that good.

The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford. Loved this. A Mongolian-inspired fantasy, worked in with Jackson’s usual irreverent humour and sass. The combination shouldn’t work, but in his hands, it does. Gloriously.

Casthen Gain, by Essa Hassen: A feisty little novella that is both taut and deeply rich. No one does weird, alien, mind-bending space opera like Essa does, and this one ticked several boxes for me.

Anji Kills a King by Evan Liekam: A stellar debut. I saw the ending coming, but perhaps that only made it hurt even more.

The Strength of the Few by James Islington: A monumental, monster of a book, that still maintains its tension and emotion throughout. I haven’t finished it yet (no spoilers!), but I am loving/dreading where it is headed.


That’s all from me, folks. Thanks so much for letting me barge into your inboxes each week, and thank you for reading my work. I appreciate you all a lot. Yes, even you.

If you feel like being extra nice to me, you can always pick up one of my books (best to start with Stormblood). If you’re one of the awesome people who already has picked it up, then leaving a review would also be super helpful.


Have a wonderful holiday, drink tons of expensive booze, eat way too much good food, and have an awesome time, and I’ll see you in early to mid January.
Best,
Jeremy