Covenant's End

by Ari Marmell

  What does that mean, then, for Widdershins? Is this really her last book, the last time we'll be seeing her?

  Well…yes, no, and maybe. Isn't that a helpful answer?

  Yes, this is the end of the current series, what I guess you could call “The Covenant Cycle.” Four books, over and done. There won't be any more of these, specifically.

  No, it's probably not the last time you'll see her. While I have no more Widdershins books currently planned, I do intend—circumstances permitting, of course—to write more stories set in this world. If you think Shins isn't going to pop up occasionally in those, whether as a supporting character or just a cameo, then you haven't been paying attention. Shins doesn't keep her nose out of anything.

  And maybe. I never know what ideas are going to come to me, and I don't rule anything out. The Covenant Cycle is done—any future Widdershins book will be a very different beast, given that she's no longer got her divine companion—but if the right story hits me, something that really feels Widdershinsy, I'll certainly write it. I'm not sure what it'd be like to write her without Olgun, but I'm not unwilling to find out.

  (I do not anticipate ever putting them back together. I feel like that would be a cop-out and would cheapen the stories that have come so far. I guess it's possible that an absolutely genius idea for doing so might someday come to me, so I won't swear never to do it, but it's highly unlikely. Shins—and her writer—need to keep moving forward.)

  I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you who came along on Shins's travels with me. This could never have happened without you, and you've made it an incredibly rewarding experience. I hope you'll join me on some of my other journeys, as well—if you liked the Widdershins books, I think you'll enjoy a good portion of my other works—but even if you don't, thank you, truly, for sticking with this one.

  Ari “Mouseferatu” Marmell

  May 12, 2014

  Ari Marmell would love to tell you all about the various esoteric jobs he's held and the wacky adventures he had on the way to becoming an author, since that's what other authors seem to do in these sections. Unfortunately, he doesn't actually have any, as the most exciting thing about his professional life, besides his novel writing, is the work he's done for Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games. His published fiction includes the Widdershins Adventures YA fantasy series, along with The Goblin Corps, from Pyr Books, as well as multiple books from other major publishers, including the fantasy-noire Mick Oberon series, the Corvis Rebaine duology, and the official computer game tie-in novel Darksiders: the Abomination Vault.

  Ari currently lives in an apartment that's almost as cluttered as his subconscious, which he shares (the apartment, not the subconscious, though sometimes it seems like it) with George—his wife—and a cat who really, really thinks it's dinner time. You can find Ari online at http://www.mouseferatu.com and on Twitter @mouseferatu.