So I went looking for everything mentioned in that book title that I couldn't find anywhere else, and I came across happy news. From a nightshade forum (at http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/53/8748.html?1204147087 - that quotes from http://www.sfsite.com/10a/gc209.htm ) Q: I heard a rumor that The Dread Empire trilogy might be reissued by Night Shade Books. Is this true? A: Their plan is to do four books including all The Dread Empire novels in three omnibuses, plus a collection of all the published short fiction set in the same world. The Book Club wants to pick them up. If ever my agent gets his act together and finishes getting the rights back. The third omnibus would have included The Wrath of Kings, sequel to An Ill Fate Marshalling, but someone stole the manuscript box that had the manuscript and all developmental material in it, evidently sometime in the late 80s. I've found only pages 141-143 of the first draft, misfiled with another contemporary manuscript. http://www.sfsite.com/10a/gc209.htm So perhaps it might be an upcoming NightShade omnibus - maybe they recovered the manuscript, or he rewrote it. It sounds as though REAP THE EAST WIND, AN ILL FATE MARSHALLING, and THE WRATH OF KINGS (a sequel trilogy, apparently) come chronologically after A FORTRESS IN SHADOW (which contains the prequels) and A CRUEL WIND (which contains the main sequence novels), so you're probably safe reading those now. So it's seems that it's 50/50 that the book will have a new Dread Empire novel. Richard