You read that right! I am here to announce that The Gods are Bastards has been signed by Podium Entertainment, the publisher of my other work Only Villains Do That. This means there will be ebook editions, recorded audiobooks, and those printed copies that I know many of you have been pining after for years now!

This will not be a case like OVDT, though, in which I just cleaned up and trimmed the manuscripts for publication. I am taking this opportunity to, with the assistance of Podium's editors, do the refining I've wanted to for TGAB for years now. Don't get me wrong, this is still my favorite of all my stories, the one I consider my magnum opus and the one which holds the largest place in my heart. I love this story and am very proud of it. I have also been keenly aware, however, that it is marked by shortcomings, most of which stem from the serialized nature of its production. It's oddly paced and poorly structured, there are side plots that go nowhere and characters who end up contributing nothing, and entire chapters which feel...I don't want to say anything in this story is filler, but some of it seems filler-adjacent. All these things tend to happen when you need to get chapters out on a deadline, and string them together in public view without being able to edit the story as a whole.

So the published edition of TGAB is going to be, in my view, the definitive edition, and while longtime readers will recognize most of it, you will also note significant changes. There's a fair amount of fat to be trimmed, some additional content to be added, and a good bit of rearranging. Don't worry, I am doing this entirely of my own volition and for what I consider the best interests of the story - no one at Podium is making me cut or pad anything. I've wanted to do this for years, but could never justify expending the effort, or altering the version already posted.

My contract with Podium is for five books, which with the edits and rearrangements I'm planning, will cover the first academic year in story: in short, the current Books 1 through 7. What happens after that will depend on their performance in the market. So if you want to see more print and audio editions after these, be sure to tell all your friends!

That brings us to the one downside, which I want to address fairly. For a while at least, that means the public version of that part of the story will be coming down. With some caveats; there are a number of chapters that I plan to cut from the definitive edition, mostly from Books 1 and 3, and I'll be preserving these online. This removal also won't necessarily be permanent; the terms of my contract means the rights revert to me after several years unless Podium and I mutually agree to extend our arrangement, and even before that point it may be possible to take the published version off Kindle Unlimited, which would enable the restoration of the free version online. In the end, the result of this deal will be the creation of this definitive edition I've dreamed of for so long, in addition to the free version online. But before we get to that point, there will be a period of a few years in which parts of the story aren't available online for free.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I want you all to know this isn't something I take lightly. I've said from the beginning that I intend to keep TGAB online free forever, and to be perfectly honest with you, I'm a lot more hesitant to go back on my word than I am to change my mind. I believe a person should change their mind in response to new information and evolving circumstances, but making a promise is a serious thing and breaking it even more so. I apologize for doing so in this case. I'm doing it because I believe it will be in the best interests of the story, and also because after broaching the subject in a Patreon post last year and opening it up to commentary from readers, the vast majority of people were in favor of a potential publication deal, one which at that time was merely hypothetical.

There is also a third reason: frankly, I don't have much of a choice. I don't want to delve too deeply into personal details, but the short version is that last year was financially both the best and the worst of my life. The best because I sold OVDT, and my advance from that was the only reason I made it through the multiple personal events which ensued. I don't want to overstate my problems; I am not in imminent danger or anything. But economically I'm coasting toward an inevitable crash which the sale of TGAB is my only way out of. I do, very sincerely, believe this will be in the best interests of the story and the readership, enabling it to reach well beyond the limited world of webserials to a broader range of readers, in a form refined to something closer to its true potential. But it would be disingenuous to deny that I have a financial motive here, so I won't. I am very fortunate that I have the ability to do this, because right now I pretty much need to.

I'm also very glad to have an established relationship with Podium, and that they are interested in TGAB. After working with them on OVDT, I am super happy with all aspects of their production and enjoyed interacting with every department which dealt with me. Podium has a great pipeline for producing high-quality books with considerably more input from the original authors than an older, more traditional publisher would grant. They are exactly who I'd trust most to help me create the ultimate edition of TGAB that I dream of.

The future is bright, friends. Onward and upward!