2025 Wrap-Up / 2026 Prospective

I feel like I write these much too frequently which must be a symptom of entering my mid-to-late thirties. Time is starting to compress behind me as my years become less structured and the days and weeks blur into one. Starting to feel like Gandalf lying on Zirakzigil after fighting the Balrog.

Let's get to it.

Grave Empire was released in February 2025 at hit the Sunday Times Bestsellers' list at number 7. This was an organic placement (unlike Justice of Kings which was boosted by the Goldsboro edition) so all the sweeter. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy and made it happen.

Grave Empire also got a beautiful Broken Binding edition AND a beautiful Goldsboro edition (both sold out now). Feeling very blessed!

The Scour was released by Grimdark Magazine in October, my new Vonvalt novella. It was a lot of fun to write a younger, more irascible Vonvalt, and I'm so pleased with the reception. It should be available just about anywhere but I would also highly recommend the gorgeous Broken Binding collectors' edition, which is still available (but not for long):

You can also listen to the audiobook exclusively on Audible:

Art

I commissioned a bunch of art this year including this gorgeous world map for the Great Silence trilogy by Noctua Cartography:

I'm also, excitingly, hoping to Kickstart an Empire of the Wolf tarot deck this year. I've been commissioning some art from the talented Doomed Sarcoma already, and the plan is to build this out to a full deck (or rather the Major Arcana at least).

The Year in Writing

This year I didn't have quite as productive a year as 2024 in terms of getting words down on the page. This is mainly because I had quite intensive edits to do on both The Infinite State and Steel Gods.

• From February to November I wrote Blood Dynasty, the third book in the Great Silence trilogy and the best of the three, imo. This came in at about 137,000 words which was more or less bang on target. Ten months is quite a long turnaround for me, but this book was put on a long hiatus because of edits on other books.

• From April to July I was editing The Infinite State and Steel Gods. The edit of Steel Gods was actually pretty intense, I rewrote about 1/4 of the book because of a (in retrospect, baffling) decision I'd made about one of the characters. As a result the release date of Steel Gods was pushed from February to March 2026 but thank god I made the changes I did, I cringe to think what almost went to print.

• From November to December I wrote a new 35k word novella (announcement soon), whilst concurrently looking through copy edits and the proofs of my debut Warhammer 40,000 novel (hoping to be able to talk about that one soon).

This Year (being 2026)

This year I have 4 books out, the following 3 of which have been announced:

(The first two are available for preorder!). Lots more announcements to come for all, including various special edition announcements and so on. Swan fans will be eating well this year!

The Richard Swan annual book award (or whatever I called it last time)

I'm a slow reader, an increasingly picky one, and I find myself increasingly exclusively interested in historical nonfiction these days. As a result the number of books I read in a year is decreasing, especially since I stopped commuting. HOWEVER, I read a couple of bangers this year.

In the nonfiction category, one of the best, if not the best, history books I've ever read:

In the fiction category, this belter:

And the overall winner, this transcendental reading experience:

Right, this has gone on for long enough. Best place to find me these days is Instagram for those who partake; I do remember to update my Bluesky every once in a while too.

Wishing you all a happy, prosperous and Swan-filled 2026.

Best

Rich