Why Are the Sourcebooks Not Published in Order?

05/10/2025

Otherwise known as The Convoluted State of My Mind

“Good question,” I say to myself. And since I know you’re definitely about to ask it, let me get in first and answer it for you.

A lot of my sourcebooks were born during the pandemic, when writing was my way of keeping sane. Since then, I’ve never really stopped. The trouble is, I have this habit of hopping from one project to another. One day it’s polishing up an old draft, the next day it’s sketching out a new idea, then it’s back to something half-finished from two years ago.

Yes, it’s a bit chaotic. Yes, I know it looks suspiciously like ADHD. And yes, I’ve taken the tests, so unfortunately I can’t use that as an excuse.

What this leaves me with is a mountain of half-finished, semi-finished, and barely-started sourcebooks. I could tidy them up in chronological order, but whenever I reread the older ones, I get the itch to rewrite them. And rewrite them. And then add more. By the end I’ve basically created a whole new draft instead of just finishing the one I started with.

So I made a decision: publish from the most recent backwards. It sounds backwards (because it is), but it works for me. My more recent writing tends to be stronger anyway, and it’s easier to clean up and release those first. At the same time, I’m still writing new content, proofing and laying out the nearly finished ones, and rewriting bits of the old ones as I go. No wonder I never seem to get anything done!

Right now I’m working my way through the Tales of the City series: I started with Amasaki, then moved on to Daren Kair, and at the time of writing I’m knee-deep in the murky waters of Vorgia – that’s in the Ancona sourcebook. Once those are done, I’ll probably switch over to the regional books — mostly because I think I’ll need a break from cities before my brain decides to pack up and leave for somewhere in the country.

So there you have it: the answer to the question you never asked, but I knew was lurking in the back of your mind.