Empire of Grass is complete in its first draft and needs to go through the editing process. At the moment the book is 460,000 words long, which makes it one of Williams' longest novels (although the 520,000 word record set by his To Green Angel Tower remains intact). Apparently this was done to ensure that the trilogy is indeed completed in three books and doesn't expand to four (as happened with the original Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, at least in paperback, and then Shadowmarch)
As the editing process still has to be gone through and the book is so long, the initial working date of 6 September 2018 seems a bit tight. Williams moots an early 2019 release date instead, which sounds a bit more likely at the moment.
Williams is currently mulling over whether to write The Shadow of Things to Come, a short prequel novel, or to dive straight into The Navigator's Children, the concluding volume of the trilogy. He also has a short story in the planning stages for a new Gardner Dozois fantasy anthology.
All in all, it's a good time to be a Tad Williams fan.
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