From: Cindy Thoreson
I love the Aud Torvingen series! Always, the last novel in the series, was published in 2007. I’ve been waiting and waiting for the next installation, and finally decided to ask when it will be released.
Thank you for portraying a strong, conflicted but emotionally strong heroine. The story lines are always intriguing, but for me the real attraction is the authenticity of the characters.
Short answer: I don’t know.
Long answer: I have a contract for the fourth Aud novel, and I know exactly what happens, but I haven’t written a word of it. Why? Well, because three novels is a long time to spend in the head of a slightly unreliable narrator. Because the currents novels form a lovely arc and to continue would mean at least two more novels. (I know exactly how book five goes, too–and it’s a beauty: Aud to the nth power). But mostly because my writing brain got invaded by Hild.
Hild is even more of a challenge than Aud. She talks a lot less, but she thinks in much longer sentences. She lives in more exciting times. She changes the world.
Hild will get three novels, too. I’ve finished the first draft of the first one and am rewriting. As soon as that’s done I’ll start on the second. Or maybe I’ll write a couple of short stories and publish that short fiction collection I’ve been threatening readers with for years. Or maybe I’ll write a bit of my sword-swangin’ fantasy.
Writing novels is probably the best job in the world, but it’s not like other jobs. To sustain myself during the Gobi-desert phase of a novel (nothing ahead but dust, nothing behind but dust…) I need to believe, deep down, that I have something unique to say, a story no one else in the world could tell. And that is not in my conscious control.
I can’t speak for other writers but I think of my creative reservoir as a well. Every novel drains it to the last drop. It refills slowly: ideas, phrases, events seeping in little by little. If it fills with Hild I can’t write Aud. Well, I could, but it wouldn’t sing with Audsong. It would just be wooden little words all in a row.
But one day, one day when I can get the rights to The Blue Place, Stay, and Always back and persuade someone to publish them coherently, yes, one day I might write the last two Aud novels.
Nicola Griffith 
I always figured Aud would change the world– like, I saw her as being instrumental in the world's transition to a science-fiction future…
Or well, I just thought of that now, but it would be awesome.
I wonder about that also and am glad to hear an answer. Why do you need the rights back in order to write book 4 and 5 though?
mordicai, it would, wouldn't it?
Antigone's Room, because each book has been published by a different company. I would want them all published with matching jackets and blurbs.
“I need to believe, deep down, that I have something unique to say, a story no one else in the world could tell. “
Striking to hear someone like yourself say this. I'm guessing that award after award just don't reach those depths.
Hm! I wonder what does? Other, of course, than copious amounts of love, beer and fine foods
ladyjanegray, awards are nice, but they're not the motivation, certainly not the engine. The engine is the energy that springs from joy, vitality, and a kind of controlled outward urge to share what I know. But 'beer' is a good stand in :)
“…one day I might write the last two Aud novels.”
And oh my what a lovely day that will be! I would ravenously consume anything you write but I must admit that I absolutely adore being in Aud's head, as strange as that may sound.
Thanks for the update.
Amy Lin, my pleasure.
I hope you have the luxury to write them. I'm currently re-reading Slow River and enjoying the voices you used in it.
Kai, I'm delighted.