The next Starweaver Academy adventure has a cover and a release date. The Rising Storm, Book Four, arrives October 29, 2026.
It’s been a quiet stretch here, but there’s been plenty happening behind the scenes. Finn and his crew are headed into their next adventure, Book Five is already written, and TaleWeaver Ink has been growing into something bigger than I first imagined.
The Rising Storm
Some ships are built to fight. The Tidebreaker was built to say yes.
Three months after Havenmoor fell, Finn Tempest leads a resistance clinging to the cliffs of Stormpoint. His ship can shelter a fleet from the Abyss. She cannot fire a single shot.
The empire doesn’t know that.
So Marina Windsong builds a lie around a cannon that doesn’t exist, and every crew that rallies to the Tidebreaker sails on the strength of it. Admiral Khadros believes it. Cassian Drake hunts it. And somewhere aboard the Abyssal Revenant, the twin ship stolen twenty years ago, Finn’s mother and father are still waiting.
Now the fleet is going home. Back to the drowned streets of Havenmoor, where the Revenant broods over everything they lost and the water itself has turned against them. Taking it back will cost more than anyone has counted.
And the closer Finn gets to his parents, the more the deep keeps asking the same quiet question.
How much of yourself are you willing to give away?
And Book Five? Already written.
Here’s something I haven’t said out loud yet. I wrote Books Four and Five together, side by side, so the ending would be built into every page leading up to it. The finale, The Oldest Sea, is finished and in editing right now. You won’t be left waiting years to see how this storyline ends.
And it is the end of this storyline, not the end of Finn. He and his crew, the Endless Expanse, and Starweaver Academy aren’t going anywhere. There are more waters to sail, and I intend to sail them.
Where I’ve been
Finn and his crew lived in my notebooks for years. I shopped the story around, and the big publishers passed. So eventually I published it myself, mostly so my friends and family could finally read it.
Then something I never planned for happened. The book climbed to #1 Hot New Release in its Amazon category. Then it became a category bestseller.
I was thrilled. I was also completely unprepared. There was no back office, no polished look, no system behind it. Just a guy with a story and a lot of people suddenly reading it.
So I spent the last stretch building that foundation, and it grew into TaleWeaver Ink. It started as the home for my own books. Now it’s also where I help other aspiring authors get their work into readers’ hands, the same way I wish someone had helped me. That behind-the-scenes work has taken a good share of my time, and it’s been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done.
What’s next
A new home for the stories. This new website brings together the books, news, and what’s coming next. I’m glad you’re here.
New covers in the works. The series is getting a refreshed look to match the stories inside.
A new series. I can’t say much yet, but I’m deep in it and having a blast. More soon.
For now, mark your calendar for October 29. I’ll share more when The Rising Storm launches.
Thanks for sticking with an underdog. It means more than you know.
Fair winds,
Shawn
