Tad Williams Splitting Next Novel

Tis a sad day for me.
Kind of.
I’ve been a ravenous Tad Williams fan since August 1990, when he published Stone of Farewell, the second book in his epic fantasy Memory, Sorrow & Thorn. I can still remember, several years later, picking up To Green Angel Tower and feeling the heft of the novel and all the possibilities that could reside within. Oh, how I loved re-reading the first two books and then diving into that mammoth last book. It still gives me goosebumps.
It appears his next conclusive hefty book is getting a different treatment!
Tad returned to “epic” fantasy in 2004 with Shadowmarch. Originally it was an online serialized venture but Tad quickly decided to publish it in book form and write two sequels to tell the entire story—Shadowplay published in 2007 and Shadowrise was to publish later this year or early 2010. An odd beginning, but I was happy to see Tad return to his roots!
And here comes an odd ending for the Shadow trilogy!
Tad wrote this on his Facebook page today:

“Jell-o brain, Night Two. Just got back from New Jersey and a story conferencing day. All good work, but it’s now three a.m. and my brain…well, you know. Wibble-wobble-wibble. However, one piece of news for the Tad readers. Shadowrise is definitely going to have to be two volumes, but only a few months apart.”

So, no longer a trilogy. Kind of like Memory, Sorrow & Thorn shouldn’t have been, I suppose, since that last story could barely handle the physical binding of the book!
I’m conflicted here. On the one hand, it echoes George R. R. Martin. Anyone who remembers how A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons came to be will immediately cringe. But on the other hand, it pretty much means Tad has too much material for the last book—which means more words for us to read long into the night!
So we wait. And we see. I know that Todd Lockwood has either started or entirely completed the cover to Tad’s next book.
Hopefully Tad will write more about this when he returns from New York City!
Stay tuned!