Tag Archives: Isaac Flint

September 7, 2026 · 10:47 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Today we have the August report! 📋

(Are we really already in September? Really?)

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

Future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): On hold. Next up is adding the missing scenes, do a read-through for revision smudge, and then a read-aloud with Isaac. Then it’s off to beta-readers!

Little One (Distant Horizon Prequel): Last time we had sent chapter three out to the newsletter, with the fourth scheduled to send, and now we’re up to chapter six! Chapter seven has been through a revision pass and ProWritingAid edits.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): Major progress! I’ve input the notes from the Claude edit, did one more quick revision pass, fully formatted it for ebook (!!!), and sent it out to beta-readers! The feedback has returned, and the next step is the read-aloud! Woot!

I even finished editing the poem/ballad so that could be included. Also got the glossary fully prepped. (Here, having Claude was extra handy because I had it review what I’d already included then check the manuscript for anything I might have missed. My beta-reader did say the glossary was helpful, so it seems to have done its job).

Plus, I revisited the book cover concept using Claude to review what hadn’t been working for me with the previous version, and together we figured out something that was not only more true to the story, but also worked a lot better as a book cover. I had Claude design a reference sheet for me based on that, and then I redesigned the new concept in Daz (yay for having the characters and part of the scene already done), rendered the new scene, polished the render in Photoshop CS6, and the cover is now ready!

I want to do a cover reveal for my newsletter first, but I’ll be able to share it publicly soon. 😁

Plus, I got the blurb done! I wrote my attempt at the blurb first, then had Claude make a separate attempt based on the manuscript and a set of instructions I have for blurb design. While I didn’t use Claude’s result directly, after I had both versions, I shared my attempt with Claude so that we could merge the key concepts, which allowed me to finish the blurb into something I’m relatively happy with. The blurb might still need a bit more polish, but it’s currently workable.

Legends of Cirena Volume 2: Now that The Dark Forest of Aneth is almost done, I’m starting to work on volume two of the Legends of Cirena series collection. I searched through my art files and found two pieces I intend to include. They still need a bit of clean-up, but are otherwise complete. I also brainstormed ideas with Claude about possible core scenes or story locales I might want to illustrate.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): This is moving along, chapter-by-chapter. Last time I was at chapter chapter twenty-nine sent to the newsletter and roughly 66,500 words. Now we’re at chapter thirty-one and 73,000 words!

I continued developing Nomca’s backstory, which may or may not see its own story sometime, but will help in writing the Ferta story. I also had Claude review the current manuscript and organize a timeline for me so I could see what pieces were still missing and need organized, and I continued using Claude to help me organize my thoughts while brainstorming story’s direction.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Fae (Huntress 3): With the ebook out in the world, my next step is print formatting.

Since I already had the basic formatting structure I’d designed in Word 2007 for the previous books, I decided to test having Claude Sonnet 5 review those files and set up the basic formatting for Fae based on my earlier files. I haven’t had a chance to review those adjustments in detail, but a precursory review suggests this might have sped up that part of the print formatting setup considerably.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: Starting to see movement again. I did some brainstorming with Claude about the titles and book cover design. Still not decided on a title yet. Currently I’m reading related books. I also had Claude update the outline based on my notes, and I need to review that to see what other edits I want to make and what’s still missing plot-wise. I also still need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words), which should help speed up the drafting side. Tentatively eyeing this as a November project. (I kind of want to start sooner, but Multiverse is up next after Dark Forest.)

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – I completed edits on my story based on the feedback I’d received and got it submitted! Proofreading notes are in, so my next step is making corrections.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): Nothing new this month

Game Design:

Phalanx: I need to get a photo showing all of the pieces for the mousepad edition.

Elemental Card Game: On hold. Needs a lot of playtesting because the rules weren’t finalized before I started tinkering with a digital edition.

Legends of Cirena Tabletop Game: On hold. There’s one more expansion to add, and then playtesting. (And I need to see if those expansions have art already or if that still needs to be drawn).

Battle Decks: On hold. Needs playtesting, and then once the base mechanics are working I’ll look into trying to get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: I need to get a landing page for it set up on the Infinitas Publishing website.

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim: On hold. Adult creature lineart needs cleaned up and added to game, and juvenile creature art needs adjustments. I still need to add my own flavor text as well.

KROWN Assessment: Personality quiz for the Huntress universe. On hold. Needs testing, but it should be about ready.

AI Usage and Policy: No new updates. Detailed usage is in this report.

Marketing and Admin:

Got the IP Status Report out on time again! Yay! Hoping to keep releasing these monthly. I also continued the process of having Claude review the report for patterns and things to watch for.
I had Claude Sonnet pull reviews from my books to analyze for an overview of what readers like and don’t like across each of the different series.
I’m still keeping up with the accounting. Yay!
With Fae now complete, I had Claude Sonnet 5 review the finished manuscript and update the author/series analysis of my published books.
Had Claude Cowork (Sonnet) research author blog book pages and provide suggestions for how I might restructure the book page on this blog. (It was in dire need of updates). Though not quite finished, you can see the work in progress here! Some books have been organized into the collapsible series headers, some haven’t.
I continued sending out the Distant Horizon and Wishing Blade universe newsletters on time.
I had Claude Code (Sonnet) review all of my finished books for a master list of themes. Afterward, I had Claude Code (Fable) run an analysis across the full sweep of notes. (I had to have Sonnet help create a suitable prompt. My first attempt tripped the guardrails and Fable refused to do the analysis). After the analysis, I had it create a “map” so that I could see which themes commonly repeated across different series, where they were absent, and to give me a better idea of how to position my books. I then used those insights to have Claude suggest niche sub-genres suited to themes I already enjoy writing, as something to consider for future series. Additionally, based on the theme map, I realized my current reader magnet books might not be working the way I’d hoped, so I’ll be reviewing those and possibly testing different magnets in the near future.
I continued having Claude help me review my weekly priorities based on my production schedule goals, and so far it’s been helping me stay on track, at least better than before I started doing this.
I continued testing sending my monthly BookFunnel promo highlights to both newsletters, not just one of them per month. I also had Claude help narrow down potential promos to join, as well as review which ones seem to garner more interest from my readers. October promos have been selected, and now I need to join them and get the blog post and newsletters scheduled.
I continued having Claude help me check which of my permafree books have gone not-free on Amazon. I have it draft a letter based on a template I provided, which I can then send to customer support to ask for the prices to be matched again. Claude also found the UK territory link from Apple that I hadn’t previously been able to find, that I’m hoping will help get those price-matched again.
I ran Huntress at 99 cents as a promotion for Fae. I also did a few more book promos: AuthorXP, GeekTastic, and Best Book Monkey. I’ll wait a couple weeks, then review the retailers to see which sales, if any, can be attributed to a particular promo. (I set each of them at least a week apart).
I reviewed my intended production schedule using Claude, made updates, then had Claude create a calendar of that schedule so I could better visualize my plan. I think having the visualization definitely helped me to see where there were potentially overloaded weeks so I could adjust those ahead of time.
I did lite updates to the individual book pages on the Infinitas Publishing website, mostly updating the structure for an upcoming format change, and adding the review site links to each book.

Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs, review a social media and newsletter email PDF I bought. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages and adding metadata. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales (alternately, review new BookFunnel feature offering Square sales?). Overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs. Add alt text to images in earlier ebook files.

Crafting Your Fictional World: Presented online for the UP Poet Laureate: Engage With Words series on August 27th! I restructured it as a presentation instead of a workshop, watched the previous events from that series, and practiced it a few times to make sure the topics were fresh on my mind.

If you’d like to watch the recording, you can find that here!

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

I finished scheduling the remaining four blog posts early in August. So far I’ve written three entirely new blog posts that I plan to run in September, which will go out in place of the repurposed content (though I do still plan to continue doing those long term, as well).

Events: See the “Crafting Your Fictional World” section, above. No other events in August.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Still need to upload a minor revision to the formatting project that includes the ASIN, as well as the age categories that KDP is asking for.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: Ended up creating a sketch for a PolyAm themed sword/knife hoarding dragon that might eventually become a sticker. Also created the lineart for the little extras that go with the Plushie Hoarding Dragon and Shark Hoarding Dragon so I can eventually make tote bags for them. Didn’t get a chance to finish those for the upcoming Vograce order, but I did complete the design for a lanyard of the Plant Hoarding Dragon, and I plan to test keychains!

Daz PA: Had another good round of back catalogue sales, I think this time mainly due to the Quick Grab and Outlet Store slots (though I’m pretty sure I re-invested any money from that back into Daz assets for upcoming projects). I plan to continue submitting to those promotions.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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Filed under Business Ventures, Daz 3D, Writing

Tagged as 3d artist, AI in self-publishing, AI process for authors, an author's process, indie publisher, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, publishing, SBibb, self-publishing, siflint art, Stephanie Flint, writing

August 29, 2026 · 9:45 am

Why are there breakfast burritos in Distant Horizon?

The smell of egg burritos, complete with tangy salsa, wafted through the cafeteria. Apple juice drizzled into the glasses of students who were already ahead of us. If it wasn’t for the Health Scan tomorrow and already being late to the first meeting, this day would almost be normal.

~ Jenna Nickleson (Distant Horizon)

The mystery of breakfast burritos in Distant Horizon…

Okay, so it’s not that much of a mystery, but back when Isaac and I were undergrads in college, we would often meet for breakfast after class in that time when the cafeteria was serving both breakfast and lunch.

And when we did, a common favorite for both of us was the breakfast burrito.

The way the cafeteria was structured, there were different stations you could choose from:

The pizza/pasta station – Their tortellini was tasty in alfredo sauce, but the pizza was generally best avoided. Too floppy. You never knew if the dough was undercooked or if it was extra cheesy.

The stir fry area – On gyro day, this was the place to go to. They made absolutely delicious gyros.

The salad area – Tasty if you were looking for fruits and veggies, or some of the vegetarian options.

The sandwich area – Sandwiches, including paninis, when the panini-maker wasn’t broken, and wraps (a crucial ingredient to our burrito plans).

The grill – Served hamburgers and such at lunch, and things like scrambled eggs and pancakes at breakfast. The guy that usually worked there was awesome and, after the school stopped offering toppings for the pancakes, would still sprinkle chocolate chips onto my pancakes if I snuck them in.

Anyway, if I wasn’t going for pancakes, Isaac and I would go to the grill to get scrambled eggs, and then we’d order a wrap from the sandwich area. We’d add cheese (I think pepper jack or provolone), ham, black olives, and in my case, mayo. They’d toast the wrap, and then once we got to our table, we’d add the scrambled eggs (and Isaac added salsa to his).

Voila! Breakfast burritos!

And my drink of choice was apple juice.

Now, in Distant Horizon’s Community, their burritos would be pretty plain.

Eggs, maybe cheese and salsa.

The mystery is whether or not we got the idea that this would be a favorite of Jenna’s from our experiments in the university cafeteria, or from our favorite breakfast food from our McDonald’s runs when we’d travel, or if the school actually occasionally served small egg burritos.

It’s a mystery we’ll likely never know…

Though now I’m craving breakfast burritos again.

Still, I like including real-world details in my stories.

Relatable details helps make stories feel more grounded, especially when there’s a lot of fantastical elements happening. Hence breakfast burritos in Distant Horizon, or the extra details about the cookie store and the glossy red bags in my recently released book, Fae. And it’s a nice way to nod to specific memories.

I feel like I first really noticed this technique when reading the paranormal romance series, Beyond the Eyes, by Rebekkah Ford. That’s actually where I first learned about the idea of using your brights to signal to a semi that they have clearance to pull into the lane in front of you.

(Disclaimer: I did the original covers for the Beyond the Eyes books, which is how I ended up with print copies that I read on my breaks at work).

Oh, and I recently found out that Rebekkah Ford just released a new book, The Last O’Clery Witch! I haven’t read it yet (nor did I do the cover for that one), but you should check it out if you’re interested in Urban Fantasy. 🐺

* * *

Jenna’s favorite food is breakfast burritos. It’s a minor detail, but minor details help make a fantasy world feel more realistic:

Book Cover for Distant Horizon, with a gold title. A young woman faces a sterile white hallway with faces in the doors. She has vines around her arms.

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Filed under Writing

Tagged as adding realistic details to fantasy, Distant Horizon series, Distant Horizon Universe, grounding your readers, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, realism in fantasy, science fantasy, Stephanie Flint, writing books, writing process, YA Sci-Fi

August 7, 2026 · 9:42 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 Here’s the July report!

A lot in progress, plus a new release! 😁

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

Future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): On hold. Next up is adding the missing scenes, doing a read-through for revision smudge, and then a read-aloud with Isaac. Then it’s off to beta-readers!

Little One (Distant Horizon Prequel): Last time I was up to chapter six with light revisions, and at this point I’m still at chapter six with the lighter revisions (I did do another pass of that chapter, however), but chapter three has been polished and sent to the newsletter, and chapter four has been through ProWritingAid edits and was scheduled to go out with the August 2nd newsletter.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): Got my notes from the Kindle Paperwhite read input! Afterward, I had Claude Fable do an “ARC reader/developmental editor” pass to help me catch remaining issues. I’ve started the next step, which is to review those suggestions and input the ones I agree with. Then it’ll be time to give it a polish and send it out to beta-readers.

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): Continued the process of writing a chapter, using ProWritingAid for edits, and then using Claude for review and checking plot progress. Last time I was at chapter twenty-seven sent to the newsletter with the draft at 60,000 words. Now I’m at chapter twenty-nine sent to the newsletter and roughly 66,500 words. (Finally wrote a chapter that had been eluding me… yay!)

I also discussed possibilities of future plots points regarding the Litkanston War era with Isaac, since those are directly tied in to this story arc, and began developing detailed ideas of Lord Nomca’s backstory.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Fae (Huntress 3): RELEASED! 😀

After seven years of waiting, the ebook of book three is now available!

Got the final chapter written that Isaac suggested, plus made a few other adjustments based on the read-aloud. Did the ebook formatting and printed out the story for one final proofreading pass. Updated Huntress and Changeling backmatter and got that uploaded, plus set Huntress at 99 cents for Fae’s launch and will keep it that price through August.

I used Claude Fable to help me rework the blurb I was having issues with (mostly by me explaining the section I was having a problem with, then having Fable suggest what might be the problem… which is how I finally landed on a version I liked much better).

I added in the special effects I was wanting on the cover, then used Claude to pinpoint the remaining issue I was having with the Fae cover and make suggestions for improvement. The change I chose to make was to adjust the flute’s color to make it stand out better, and I’m much happier with the result. (All image work done in Photoshop CS6).

I also got the pre-order links up early and updated the Infinitas Publishing website with the information for Fae, and set up a couple paid newsletter promos for Huntress. (Tried for a BookBub, but didn’t set up the discount right, so I didn’t get it. Oh well. Maybe next time). I also redid the promo sheet to make it easier for me to start keeping track of paid promotions again.

Next step is to format the print edition.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – All four of the other anthology short stories were edited and returned on time! Next step is to complete the edit based on the feedback for my story.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): Nothing new this month

Game Design:

Phalanx: I got the blog post up about the digital edition of Phalanx! It’s also linked on the Phalanx and Extras page of the Infinitas Publishing website.

I still need to get a photo showing all of the pieces for the mousepad edition.

Elemental Card Game: On hold. Needs a lot of playtesting because the rules weren’t finalized before I started tinkering with a digital edition.

Legends of Cirena Tabletop Game: I had Claude Fable implement a lot of mechanics for the digital version of this game, mostly in implementing the base rules and then intended expansions, to the point where the game is mostly playable but still missing a few key mechanics. There’s one more expansion to add, and then playtesting. (And I need to see if those expansions had art already or if that still needs to be drawn).

Battle Decks: I had Claude Fable make some tweaks that made the digital game considerably more playable, which meant more playtesting got done, though it’s not quite ready to move forward. Once the base mechanics are working I’ll look into trying to get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: I need to get a landing page for it set up on the Infinitas Publishing website.

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim: On hold. Adult creature lineart needs cleaned up and added to game, and juvenile creature art needs adjustments. I still need to add my own flavor text as well.

KROWN Assessment: This is a personality quiz for the Huntress universe. A while back I had Claude code a basic version of the in-person quiz Isaac and I did at last year’s GeekUP convention. This month I had Claude Fable revise the code and add details that the previous model was having trouble with. I had Isaac look at the result, which functions nicely now. I want to do a bit more testing before I release it, but it should be about ready.

AI Usage and Policy: No new updates. Detailed usage is in this report.

Marketing and Admin:

Had Claude develop an author/series analysis of my published books to help me recognize patterns I wasn’t familiar with and predict future patterns I might want to keep an eye out for. One pattern that stuck out was a tendency for books in a series to get longer and more complicated the deeper they got into a series, which is where series often stalled for new releases.
I tried developing a “publisher advisory team” with Claude that would analyze the previously mentioned analysis from the point of view of an editor, a reader, a publicist, etc, but I don’t think I’ve really got that working very smoothly. Mostly it found the same things as the original analysis… and said to finish the series that are already open. (I mean, it wasn’t wrong, but I was hoping to learn something new).
I continued using Claude to conduct Amazon price checks for my permafree books and automatically draft an email to send to KDP support whenever one showed up as no longer free. I switched this to weekly to catch the frequent changes. So far, it seems this has been helping me keep up with the permafree books (The Wind Mage of Maijev and Whispers in the Code).
Got BookFunnel subscribers downloaded and added to their respective newsletters.
Continued doing a weekly/bi-weekly review of my Infinitas Publishing-related progress using Claude. This has been super helpful keeping me on task, or very close to it.
I’m up-to-date with accounting! (This one makes me so happy…)
Newsletters all went out as planned! (Well, there was a technical glitch which resulted in one email going out a day late, but mostly this proceeded as intended).
I had Claude Fable review Dossiers, Exposed… and the rest of the Deceived series drafts, Merto’s prequel story from the Wishing Blade universe, as well as the horse shifter romantasy outline.
I had Claude Sonnet 5 pull my BookFunnel promo stats and review them for patterns. The clicks have been lower than what I would like. So I did a test round of sending out a second email of the monthly promo highlights to the newsletter I hadn’t yet sent them to (but with anyone who had already seen the other email removed from the second send). So far, the results are positive, so I plan to try the same technique this month. Previously I had been sending the monthly promo highlights out every other month to each list. I’m also keeping an eye on which banners subscribers seem most interested in.
CliftonStrengths Test! I’ve been wanting to do the CliftonStrengths 34 test ever since getting my top 5 results a few years ago. I finally bribed myself that if I completed work on Fae by a particular day, I could go ahead and purchase the test. (The bribe worked. Yay!) Anyway, I input my list into Claude to compare my writing/publishing processes, and now I’ll see if I can use the new insights to improve what I’m working on.
Finally reviewed Google Search Console analytics using Claude in order to see if the weekly blog posts repurposed from the newsletter are drawing in new reader traffic. Doesn’t appear to be the case (and actually, older posts specifically on writing processes seemed to be bringing in more search traffic). For now I’ll continue doing the newsletter blog posts because I enjoy them, and because I don’t have any measurements to test for whether or not readers who are already here (Hi, reader!) are sticking around for them.
I finally figured out how to add alt text to images in ebooks. I think I successfully updated the Huntress series. However, other ebooks will need alt text added as I go through and update their backmatter.
I ran the Claude CoWork task to review September BookFunnel promos. Those have now been chosen and scheduled as a newsletter send and blog post.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On hold during July, but we’re now in the works of determining the date and time for the August presentation.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

I think the July posts were mostly scheduled close to their post days rather than ahead of time, but they all went live as intended. I did pull more content for the Distant Horizon Universe blogs, though, and got the first August one scheduled.

Events: No events in July. A Crafting Your Fictional World presentation is planned for August.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finished the formatting project for the indie press! It’s uploaded for them, and now all that remains is to upload a minor revision that includes the ASIN, as well as the age categories that KDP is asking for. Otherwise, it’s complete!

Additionally, I did a printing job for a friend, which was fun because I got to pull out the specialty paper. (11×17 luster metallic! 5×7 polar matte cardstock! Whee!)

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: The stickers came in! I restocked merch at Black Ice Comics.

Here’s the new bag hoarding dragon sticker:

Sticker of a dragon hiding in a pile of bags.

Daz PA: Pretty good back catalogue sales, though not specifically due to the Quick Grab and Outlet Store slots. I still intend to continue submitting to those sales promotions.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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Filed under Business Ventures, Daz 3D, Writing

August 1, 2026 · 9:45 am

Of Villainy and Tragedy

Alternatively… “Everyone’s the hero of their own story”

(Which appears to have multiple attributions… so know that I did not come up with that quote, but it is very useful for designing antagonists)

When writing the Glitch saga, one of the parts I enjoyed working with was showing the Distant Horizon universe from a different point of view (in this case, from the point of view of “the bad guys”). Though the Camaraderie of Evil lives up to their name, an aspect Isaac and I wanted to work with was the idea that “everyone is the hero of their own story.”

Most of the villains aren’t doing evil things for evil’s sake. (Most. There are exceptions).

Instead, they’re driven by a desire for security, a utilitarian view of “the greatest good for the greatest number of people,” or a sense that the end justifies the means.

Even the antagonist with the most logical reason to be pure evil has his own motives and reasons for doing what he does. (Though really, he’s been through so much by the time we see him that… uh… it doesn’t really take much to push him into the “he knows what he’s doing is wrong and yet his desire for revenge is a bit too strong to counterbalance that knowledge.)

Sure, there are a couple characters who are outright power hungry, but for the most part, the people we see all want a better life. They just have… not the greatest ideas… about how to achieve that life. (As in, their ideas work, for them, but definitely aren’t “good guy” plans).

There’s a specific scene from Whispers in the Code (book one of the Glitch saga) that usually comes to mind when considering the Camaraderie’s mentality regarding the world:

Commander Rick motions me to the command room and sits in the chair, resting his chin against the bone of his knuckles. I stand before him, feet together, back straight. I wish I felt more confident.

“You will be challenged by much of what we do,” he continues. “In the Community, your tasks were simple: program basic systems, keep everything running smoothly… This job is not so simple. We call ourselves the Camaraderie of Evil because we are willing to take steps others wouldn’t dare consider. That’s the only way we can accomplish security and efficiency. I don’t personally believe we are evil, but the name stuck around from our earlier days, and they were… an interesting bunch.” A thoughtful smile quirks on his lips and he clasps his hands on his knee. Despite the relaxed position, he still carries an imposing presence.

“Yes, sir,” I say.

“The Community is everything we promise. It is safe, secure, and efficient. Everyone has a secure job, with no fear of being mugged on the street or killed because of needless terrorism. They have food, shelter, and companionship. We rule the Community carefully, and the system works.” He pauses as he gathers his thoughts. “However, there is a price. When the Camaraderie was first formed, Lord Black determined that superpowers posed a threat to his utopian ideals. Those with powers must be controlled or eliminated. Those who do not contribute cannot be allowed to siphon off others.” Commander Rick sets his jaw and my chest clenches tight. I know this already, but to hear it directly from the eldest council member is another thing entirely.

“Thus, through Sanjorez’s and Benjamin’s work with the pendants, the Camaraderie learned how to make beasts. Beasts can be controlled. They can fight. They are more efficient than eliminating each individual person that opposes us. No one would contest using elementals and power users in Special Forces. But our enemies would argue that our actions are morally wrong.”

Like Jenna.

The commander smirks. “Like Miss Nickleson, yes. But I have seen her mind. She seeks truth in answers. In her eyes, to have been lied to about the state of the world was a crime. It is not the action of transformation she sees as wrong, so much as it is that we withheld that information from her.” He presses a knuckle to his chin and gazes out at the dark sky. “I believe it is similar to how you are unaccustomed to making decisions which impact the wellbeing of others, and why you have a hard time understanding the art of war.”

I shift uncomfortably as the commander stands.

“You will do well, m’boy. You will adjust.”

I nod, but I still have a sinking feeling in the back of my throat. To be efficient, truly efficient, I’m going to have to make choices I’d rather not make.

Indeed, Tim does end up having to make choices and decisions that the rebellion would never consider.

And I’ll throw this out there: the Glitch saga doesn’t have a happy ending.

I hope you find it a satisfying one, especially when read in conjunction with the rest of the Distant Horizon series, but things have gone horribly wrong, in large part due to the actions of the Camaraderie.

And things continue to go wrong in the Distant Horizon series, because the things the Camaraderie has done (and even the rebellious Coalition of Freedom) don’t have a simple solution. Like real life, politics and war are messy.

Tim recognizes that much of what the Camaraderie does is questionable, or should be stopped. (And he does try to stop some of those things, or at least mitigate the problems).

But with their actions already snowballing into a terrifying boulder down a slope made slippery by too many people before him, it’s not something he can stop on his own.

Will the things he does help others make things better, even if his story ends tragically? Will his actions matter, allowing for a bittersweet ending? Will his actions have made an impact on those around him… even those who have been working with the Camaraderie for most of their lives?

It may not be immediately evident at the end of the Glitch saga, but once we get to book three of the Distant Horizon series (Starless Night)), I’m hoping a lot more of that becomes apparent. And it should become even more apparent by the time we get to book four, Changing Tides.

Do you have any favorite books where the story had a tragic ending, and yet the character’s actions still made a difference?

* * *

Delve into the Camaraderie’s dark and tragic secrets…

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as character flaws, characters who make bad choices, Distant Horizon Universe, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, publishing, science fantasy, Stephanie Flint, worldbuilding, writing a villain, writing an antagonist, writing process

July 18, 2026 · 9:30 am

The Mysterious Time Stones…

Today I thought I’d go into a little more detail about the mysterious time stones.

These are the artifacts both the Camaraderie and the Coalition of Freedom are trying to obtain throughout Distant Horizon, Fractured Skies, and the Glitch saga.

The Camaraderie wants the stones because they know how much the rebellious Coalition wants them… and thus the ancient artifacts make good bait.

The Coalition wants the stones because of their theoretical ability to travel time… which means a chance to upend the Camaraderie before they get their start, but also to keep them out of the Camaraderie’s hands.

Though no one is entirely sure if they can travel time (except Spectator, and he’s going to make everyone figure it out for themselves), the stones do have a few properties that have been clearly demonstrated:

Primarily that they have a very powerful spirit guardian… (possibly a constructed spirit, per Jenna’s research in Fractured Skies). There are five different stones with artwork reminiscent of five different cultures (Maya, Inca, India, Japan, and Egypt), and a matching guardian. Not much is known about the origin of the stones, save for them being “Catonian,” at least according to the Camaraderie’s alchemist.

Each guardian, however, has the usual spirit powers (life-spirit, telepathy, telekinesis, and teleportation), in addition to their own unique power set. (Such as the spirit dragon in Distant Horizon being a water elemental). Some of the spirit stuff gets covered in Fractured Skies, but it gets covered a whole lot more in the next book… for reasons. Trying not to spoil the ending of Fractured Skies or the beginning of Starless Night.

Anyway, while these guardians protect the stones, they’re limited to a certain region. Once defeated… if the stone has been moved far enough… they don’t manifest again. (Otherwise, keeping even one of the stones on an airship would be a terrible idea).

The next question becomes… how exactly is anyone supposed to use the stones?

They know there’s something about a “circle of stone,” but which circle of stone? And can the stones really travel time? Or might it do something else entirely?

And if they can use the stones to travel time, should they?

* * *

Collect the mysterious time stones while trying to thwart an evil, superpowered regime…

Book cover for Fractured Skies with gold text. A young woman in a coat faces a wintery, pink-tinted forest. She has vines around her arms.

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as creating a magic system, Distant Horizon, Distant Horizon series, Distant Horizon Universe, fantasy, fantasy artifacts, fantasy books, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, macguffins, publishing, sci-fi books, science fantasy, science fiction, self-publishing, Stephanie Flint, world-building, writing, writing books, writing process

July 8, 2026 · 9:30 pm

Play Phalanx in a browser!

Have you wanted to try out our tabletop games, but aren’t local?
Or maybe you don’t have a second person to play those games with?

Well, now you can try Phalanx in your favorite web browser!

Now, some quick housekeeping…

The browser edition is in beta. Why? Well, neither Isaac nor I are great HTML coders, so this edition was created using Claude AI, based on the game mechanics Isaac designed, with me doing the work of guiding Claude in bug fixes, game corrections, and making sure the design and mechanics still matched Isaac’s vision.

Which means that it’s still a little… clunky.

Therefore, “beta.”

But it is functional, and has let me scratch the itch of playing the game even when no one else is available to play it with me. 😁

Screenshot of the browser edition of Phalanx

Click here to play Phalanx!

I recommend going full-screen, but it’s available in both web browser and on mobile.

Now a caveat… I’ve only been able to test it on Windows 11 with a Chrome browser and on an Android phone.

But have a go, and please consider filling out the survey linked at the top of the game (click “Provide Feedback”). That’ll help us refine the game in the future. ☺️

Want to know more about how Phalanx came about?

Well…

Originally, Isaac and I had Distant Horizon.

And in Distant Horizon, the characters played a card game called Battle Decks (Originally called Beastie Wars, but that sounded too similar to another franchise).

At some point, Isaac decided it’d be really cool to figure out the mechanics of the game, so he did. He ended up making a few different faction sets, including a steampunk version based on the universe the Camaraderie members (antagonists in Distant Horizon) came from.

And because we can’t just leave a story referenced, we decided to write the story of that universe, The Multiverse Chronicles! (Back in revisions! Yay!)

But then Isaac wanted to come up with a game that made sense for those characters to play, something simple, that they might have at taverns or in small bags easy to tote along while traveling on foot.

And one day I came back from work to a fully-fledged game designed in pencil on a manila folder using pennies and nickels for game pieces and art drawn on cut-up index cards.

We refined the game, then eventually created a boxed edition on The Game Crafter… but that site is really meant for prototypes, and ordering a single copy was expensive, and not quite how we wanted the game to look.

We also created a bag edition, in which Isaac ironed on the game board to cloth bags he sewed, and all the game pieces fit inside the bag. Looked cool, and we sold almost all of those, but they took a lot of extra time since we were hand-sewing the bags.

The other edition we made involved pairing up with a local wood-carver (actually, two, because our first round sold out), and had them create a really elegant wooden board edition.

Fancy! But definitely more expensive, so we were only able to stock a few at a time.

Looked great at festivals, though.

Eventually we had an idea for putting the board game on a mouse pad, but hadn’t found a feasible way to do that until more recently.

But that version is finally complete and debuted at the Flower Moon Spring Market back in May! Woot!

Even so, all those versions were limited to what we could do locally.

We kind of tinkered with the idea of a computer version using a program called Tabletop Simulator a while back, but didn’t get far with it. And then came Claude AI.

I’d been working with Claude for a bit on other projects, but if you know much about Claude, it’s known for coding. And at some point I asked, “If I gave you the rules and art and details for a game we made, could you make a computer version?”

Said yes, so I tabled that idea until I had a chance to gather the pieces.

Eventually I started up that chat, worked through a few details with Claude, and *mind blown.* Didn’t take much to get a working prototype of the browser game running.

After more tinkering and testing, we finally got the browser version to a point that I decided it was ready for its first reveal. I sent it off to the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter!

And now, finally, I’m doing the public reveal.

I expect there will still be bugs, though I’ve done what I can to smooth anything out that I’ve found. But I would love for you to have a look, give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Click here to try out Phalanx!

* * *

Happy reading, writing, and gaming!

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Tagged as browser game, creating a game based on a book, Distant Horizon, Distant Horizon series, Distant Horizon Universe, fantasy books, game design, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, publishing, sci-fi books, science fantasy, science fiction, self-publishing, Stephanie Flint, world-building, writing, writing books

July 3, 2026 · 10:25 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 Got the June report ready!

Busy month with events and such.

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

Future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): On hold, though I did start working on a character design for Trish in Daz, and started on a render but haven’t yet completed it.

Next up is adding missing scenes, doing a complete read-through to check for revision smudge, and then doing a read-aloud with Isaac to make sure the story still fits his vision. Then it’s off to beta-readers! I’m hoping to start revision work in July.

Little One (Distant Horizon Prequel): This story is back in action?! It is!

After doing some braindumping into a chat session with Claude and having it create a chapter by chapter “line edit” I could review, I decided to go ahead and do a test round of revisions. First four chapters went smoothly, so I gave Little One the green light to start sharing in the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter!

So far I’ve revised six out of a lot of chapters (this is a longer novel), but I’m really enjoying the process. Current plan is to do light revisions and ProWritingAid edits on this chapter by chapter, then send out a chapter with each regular Distant Horizon newsletter email.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): On hold during June while finalizing Fae. Next step is to finish inputting my notes from my Kindle Paperwhite read, then review those revisions and see if it’s ready for beta-readers.

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): Last time I was at chapter twenty-six around 58,000 words. I hit a bit of a snag this month with writing, but I have sent out chapter twenty-seven and the draft now sits at around 60,000 words. While Claude Fable was still available, I ran a developmental edit test to pick out remaining loose threads and plot issues to keep an eye out for during later revisions.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Fae (Huntress 3): I’ve completed the read-through on my ancient Kindle and input those notes. Afterward, I did a test of Claude Fable (before it got pulled and recently reinstated) as an “ARC Reader/Proofreader” for feedback. Got some really useful notes, especially around little typos that were super easy to miss. Got those corrected. Then I did the read-aloud with Isaac using ElevenReader (verdict… much more natural sounding that the stock computer voices, and even better than previous uses of NaturalReader, though it still occasionally missed the mark with how a sentence should be read).

Meanwhile, the base of the cover is now complete. Painterly touches have been added. Still needs retouching (and I noticed I forgot to add the series number), and there’s one more special effect I think I might add in, but it’s almost done.

The blurb is also almost finished. I reviewed my original blurb but wasn’t quite happy with it, so I had Claude run through the same questions I gave myself and create a blurb as well. Then, after a lot of back and forth where I would read Claude’s version, make suggested changes and ask the AI to make suggestions on specific spots (the whole process reminded me quite a bit of times when I was on a more active writer forum and would exchange blurb feedback, just a lot more instantaneous), we got the blurb to a point that I actually mostly liked. Mashed my version and that version together, and now it’s set aside for me to review again after a couple days away from it.

Once the cover is finished I’ll finalize the backmatter in Huntress and Changeling and get those ebooks updated.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – Edits based on the meeting feedback have been input, and the revised version was submitted! Next step will be to edit four of the other anthology short stories by the end of July.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invasion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): Nothing new this month

Game Design: Still doing bits and pieces of game design.

Phalanx: I finally updated the Infinitas Publishing Phalanx landing page to reflect the current offerings. I still need to get a photo showing all of the pieces for the mousepad edition.

The beta version of the digital Phalanx game is ready to go, so I’ll be making a post about that soon! Once that’s live I’ll include a link to that on the Phalanx page (and possibly the “Extras” page).

Elemental Card Game: Been a while since I touched this one, but I grabbed the rules for the game (the ones I could find in our older files, anyway), and had Claude create a digital version for playtesting. This one is still in alpha testing and nowhere near ready for release (somewhere I have the notes Isaac and I made while beta-testing), but I’m starting to remember the basic mechanics and get a functional testing version going.

Legends of Cirena Tabletop Game: On something of a whim I gathered all the files we had for this game (since it had a finished, printable prototype but was still technically in beta-testing) and handed those to Claude to create a digital edition. Still very early in the conversion phase, but I’ve got a version ready to start testing for playability. (Needs help with the user interface conversion, though).

Battle Decks: Digital version on hold. I need to playtest this to find the remaining quirks, then see if we can’t get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: Physical edition complete, but I need to get a landing page for it on the Infinitas Publishing website.

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold until Isaac has a chance to review it.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim– Not a huge amount of adjustments here, but I did have Claude set up the game so it can now play properly in mobile. Haven’t had much chance to test it yet. Adult creature lineart still needs cleaned up and added to game, and juvenile creature art needs adjustments. I still need to add my own flavor text as well.

AI Usage and Policy: No new updates. Most of what I’ve been doing with AI is mentioned in this report. Been reading more books on the topic, and still have the idea for a presentation on AI Literacy.

Marketing/Admin:

Continued with BookFunnel group promos. I’ve scheduled monthly promos through August! One change I made here is to test Claude CoWork, and I’ve structured an automation which allows Claude to go through my BookFunnel Dashboard and select all potentially relevant promos in a set time period for me to look at. I then review the picks and discard any I’m definitely not interested in. Then Claude pulls any extra details and the links to the banner (because I do review the banner for whether it’s a good fit). Once I’ve narrowed those options, Claude creates a basic submission email for me from a template I provided, which I can then quickly edit if additional details are needed, and then submit! I also had Claude create a list of the chosen banners and their respective tracking links to make those easy to upload to both my blog and newsletters, and Claude creates a basic paragraph for me with promos linked that’s easy for me to tweak and test the links. (You’ll be seeing that in the July and August posts–shouldn’t look any different from what I’ve had previously). Basically saves me from wading through a ton of promo lists that mostly aren’t good fits for the books I’m currently promoting, and automates the really repetitive tasks. Real test will come at the end of July when I go to set up the September promos (provided I’m still on the Claude Pro plan), but so far, it’s looking promising.
I tried running a few all-new Amazon ads, but didn’t see any traction with sales, so I ended up pausing those. Next step is to review them and see if *anything* was working about them to pull for future tests.
Continued using Claude to update my weekly/bi-weekly priorities list to help me stay on track with projects. I’ve also been doing a post-event review where I drop in all my thoughts of what worked and what didn’t… mostly so I’ll have a record for myself, but also to see what patterns the AI could spot.
One issue I’ve had with permafree books is Amazon not keeping the prices free in all territories, and the process of checking all the links and composing a message to send them requesting specific territory fixes can take a while. I set up an automation in Claude CoWork to check the prices for me, and then create the message to send based on a pre-written template. It also reminds me twice a month to do a check. So far, this has been working to help me keep both Whispers in the Code and The Wind Mage of Maijev available for free!
On a semi-backburner project, I gave Claude my series briefs for Distant Horizon and Glitch and had it recommend a to-market, genre-based book cover. Then, in a rare case of using ChatGPT image generation, I had it create a mockup based on the brief. (Note: The generated images will NOT be used as the actual covers. They’re visualization for my purposes only.) Though a couple of the mockups were definite misses, one stood out, so I returned with that image to Claude to discuss what I thought was working, what I thought wasn’t working, and what I liked/didn’t like compared to my current covers. I’ve gotten some pretty good ideas I want to test in a future cover, and I started toying with the perspectives on one of my Daz setups to see if I could mimic the parts I liked about the mockup image. What I found especially interesting about this process was that it reminded me of one of the assignments in my photography classes where we intentionally modeled another image we liked, so we could better learn the techniques.
Continued sending out Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe newsletters.
I’ve been keeping up with accounting!

Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

I did get the June posts scheduled ahead of time, but still need to schedule the ones for July. I recently pulled a bunch more content from my Wishing Blade Universe newsletter and need to do the same for the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter.

Updating the Cover for Whispers in the Code (DHU)
An Early Render of Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale (WBU)
Favorite Sequences in the Glitch Series (DHU)
A Render of Merto from Magebane (WBU)

Events: This month is one of our bigger months for events, and we had both UP Rainbow Pride in Marquette and Hancock Pride Market. One thing I found useful, is that last month, before the Flower Moon Spring Market, I had Claude create an HTML event prep checklist based on the things I knew still needed done. That helped, so I updated it to be more generic but overall useful, and both times that helped keep me from forgetting anything while organizing everything to take to each event.

A Crafting Your Fictional World presentation is still planned for later in the year.

UP Rainbow Pride – Marquette MI (June 13th)

So much wind! Thankfully we had both stakes and cinderblocks to keep the tent in place, while I did spend quite a bit of time holding the back of the tent to make sure it didn’t suddenly pitch and knock over our displays. Made a great conversation starter, though.

Stephanie smiles while holding the bars on the back of the tent to keep the wind from moving it.

UP Rainbow Pride was a couple hours out, but we still had everything mostly gathered from the Flower Moon Spring Market, which meant it was fairly easy to make a few adjustments to our inventory and have everything ready to pick up from the storage unit the night before, then leave first thing in the morning without trying to pack. We split the booth with a friend, so that also helped.

The event went well, and we made about the same as last year (including almost exactly the same from stickers and totes. O.o ). Aside from the wind, the weather was nice, and we had a fun time.

Marquette Pride 2026 picture of the Infinitas Publishing Booth Setup

Hancock Pride Market – Hancock MI (June 28th)

This one is closer, and since we still had everything organized from UP Rainbow Pride, it didn’t take long to prep for at all. (Definite bonus part of having three events with a few weeks of each other). Got set up real quick, which gave us more time to chat with the other vendors. We didn’t make as much as expected on this show, but it might have been too close to other shows. Not enough data to say for sure on that outside of speculation. Overall, though, it was an enjoyable event.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Just about done with formatting the ebook for an indie press! Need to help set up categories/keywords, and then it’s ready to upload.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: Stickers ordered! I got the proofs and asked for a couple small corrections. Bag hoarding dragon stickers, coming soon! (Plus restock of plant hoarding dragon and Not-a-Ghoost).

Also, had fun making a mermaid render in Daz – “Reaching for the Light.” I used Affinity for the basic touchups. (Still need to learn how to use it for more complex touch-ups, though, so for now I mostly still use Photoshop CS6 on my older laptop).

Daz PA: Not quite as strong sales as last month, but still an improvements, so I plan to continue submitting products for the Quick Grab and Outlet Store slots.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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June 20, 2026 · 9:30 am

Favorite Sequences in the Glitch Series

Since I was talking about updating the Whispers in the Code cover a couple weeks ago, today I thought I’d do a behind-the-scenes bit about the Glitch series. While I was in the process of writing Glitch, I’d often run the scenes in my head multiple times to get a feel for the surroundings, what was present in the environment, and what Tim might be feeling. There were a few scenes, though, that I particularly enjoyed writing.

First… the “Bedtime Story” sequence.

It’s starts out innocent enough (and a result of a glitch), and progressively gets more and more creepy as the Legion Spore begins to morph its surroundings to match the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

“End recording and transmit.”

Yes, Master Zaytsev. Is there anything else we can do for you?

I nuzzle the flat pillow under my neck. Uncomfortable, but I’m sure it’s made for simplistic support. “No. It’s bedtime, now.”

Would you like us to read you a bedtime story?

“What?”

You like this one, remember? You like the story of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf.’

I sit up. The Legion Spore’s voice is different. It’s still clipped, not quite oriented, but its inflections are not the same as the artificial voice I heard all afternoon. “Bedtime story?” I don’t remember programming it to read bedtime stories—unless Benjamin has an unspoken interest in oral literature.

Once upon a time, there was a foolish little boy who stood guard over the shepherd’s sheep. The shepherd told him, ‘If you ever see a wolf, son, with large gold eyes and strong sharp teeth, you must immediately call for help.’ The little boy listened closely, for he was mischievous, and full of play.

The hairs rise on my arms. This doesn’t sound like the AI at all. “Legion Spore—acknowledge me.”

The shepherd knew of the little boy’s tricks, so he gave him a stern warning. ‘You must never cry wolf if there is none, for when the townspeople come running, they will be angry if you have disturbed them for nothing. Promise me, son, that you will be honest, and call for help only if there is danger.’ The little boy agreed with every bit of passion he could muster, and the shepherd went on his way. Do you know what happens next?

I shiver. Yes, I know the fable, but this isn’t right. “Legion Spore, I do not want to hear a story.”

The first night, the little boy did as he was told. But it was all very tedious, and staring at sheep was certainly the most boring task he had ever done.

“Legion Spore!” I push the covers aside and throw my legs over the edge of the bed. I pause. The floor is no longer made of ivory. It’s returned to the basic metal grate, while the walls have lost their leatheriness, now just a soft, fleshy musculature.

So the next night, the little boy did the most exciting thing he could imagine. He cried wolf.

I reach to the vessel with my mind, but the Legion Spore has erected some kind of firewall. I launch myself out of bed. This isn’t good. If the Legion Spore isn’t responding, I can’t command it.

All the townspeople came running. But when they got there, the little boy laughed. ‘You should see your faces!’ he cried. The only creatures in the field were the sheep and their lambs.

I scramble up the ladder, my sweaty fingers clutching the rungs. My fingers slip, but I quickly catch myself. Once on the next floor, I search out the controls on the central command point.

I’m locked out.

A lot of fun to write… though Tim was definitely relieved once he found and removed the source of the glitch.

That said, I think that sequence is one of the reasons I like the Legion Spore so much. For all that its creation is a monstrosity, it also has a certain innocence to it… and is utterly perplexed as to why Tim is so frazzled once the glitch is fixed.

Another sequence I enjoyed writing comes later in Spirits of a Glitch, when the Manticore (a malicious version of the Legion Spore) erases Tim’s memory, trying to gaslight him for its own purposes.

This was particularly interesting for me since I wrote it from Tim’s perspective over the period of time it’s happening… so while the reader can see everything as it happens and the side effects of what’s happening, Tim’s memory gets clipped multiple times before he finally figures out what’s going on.

I’d share that one, but then it’d be pretty spoilery… so you’ll have to happen on that section yourself. 😉

There were plenty of other sequences I very much enjoyed writing, but those two stood out in my mind.

* * *

Read the rest of the Legion Spore’s tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf… (but what happens when the “wolf” knows how keep the “villagers” from hearing the boy’s cries?)

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as books, creepy fairy tale, Distant Horizon Universe, fantasy, fantasy books, favorite book passages, Ghost of a Memory, Glitch Saga, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, paranormal technothriller, rogue ai, sci-fi books, science fantasy, science fiction, self-publishing, Spirits of a Glitch, Stephanie Flint, twisted fairy tales, whispers in the code, writing, writing books, writing process

June 6, 2026 · 9:30 am

Updating the Cover for Whispers in the Code

Sometimes we authors like to test different book covers to see if one might resonate better with readers. And Whispers in the Code, being a spin-off from the Distant Horizon series, has been through several iterations in my attempt to signal just what kind of book it is. (Genre-mashup. It’s very much a mashup with a lot going on… though horror underlies the entire trilogy).

Part of the job of being an indie author is figuring out which cover attracts the right readers (or rather, which cover is conveying the genre that best fits your book). It’s something I’ve struggled with for the Glitch saga, because it’s a genre mashup.

While I really like the original cover, I think it might convey more of a space military vibe… which it isn’t. Someone who goes in looking for the tropes of a space military story probably isn’t going to find what they’re looking for.

So, around October of 2019, I got the inspiration to test a new cover for Whispers in the Code.

My thought was, depending on how it goes, I’d either change the rest of the series to match it, or switch it back to the original.

Original Cover (February 2018)

Version 2 (October 2019)

While I still really like the newer cover, which I redid in hopes of hitting a more cyberpunk/dystopian vibe, and it did pick up a few more readers in KU (Kindle Unlimited)… it seems that those readers didn’t get very far before they stopped reading (in contrast to Huntress, where they typically finished in a day or two and moved on to Changeling).

Though I didn’t have a whole lot of data to back that up, since Whispers in the Code wasn’t getting many readers, I did wonder if it’s possible that either A: Something was wrong with the book, or B) Readers were picking up the book expecting one thing, and finding something else (such as getting a lot more “magic” or a style of writing that’s more similar to what I’ve seen in YA and urban fantasy than solid cyberpunk).

So…

In February of 2020, I decided to try giving another cover a trial run for Whispers in the Code.

I put it together fairly quickly, and there’s a few things I wanted to change if I switched to this cover style for the series. But I hoped to convey more of the horror elements and more of the “magic” sense of things, while still hinting at the fact that technology is present (since it is set in the future).

Version 3 (February 2020)

I left the new cover up for a few months to see if it would get a better response from readers, though I knew I also needed to consider how to drive traffic toward it. I had hoped putting it in Kindle Unlimited would give more people to take a chance on it, but that wasn’t going to help if I’m not targeting the right readers.

In August of 2020, I did one more revamp to the Glitch series ebook covers. While I really enjoyed writing the series, it still hadn’t gotten much attention from readers.

At this point, I attributed that to a few factors:

Wrong cover for the audience
Very cross-genre, hard to market
Jumps right into the action without a lot of explanation

And so the August 2020 cover marked the fourth version for Whispers in the Code. For this version, I drew in part from the style of Distant Horizon, but tried to play up the paranormal aspect a bit more.

I also redid the blurbs.

Though I’m still iffy on the blurbs (and which one is really better might be a blog post for another day), these covers are the most true-to-the-book representations, I think.

(And while I haven’t analyzed the data on the different downloads, especially since for a time they were in Kindle Unlimited before I launched them wide and made Whispers in the Code permafree, I do see a handful of downloads of Whispers in the Code without extra marketing.)

Version 4 (August 2020)

I’m hoping these covers will attract readers interested in science fiction, thrillers, and stories with paranormal elements.

And one of the things about the Distant Horizon universe is that it has a lot of different elements to it. The issue that creates is knowing which readers to target when marketing.

For example:

It’s science fiction… with a lot of technobabble jargon and what-if world building, set in the future of a world similar to this one except that super powers started showing up sometime in the ’50s and an organization of super villains took over around 2012 to 2016.

It’s paranormal… because there are both the technical equivalent of ghosts (the Legion Spore’s glitches haunting the airship), and very literal ghosts (the spirits like Benjamin… a mad scientist who attached himself to an enchanted artifact).

It’s steampunk (actually gaslamp)… because there’s a lot of clockwork type references and aesthetics pointing that Victorian/Edwardian direction–though now that I’m more familiar with gaslamp fantasy, I’d say it’s gaslamp because of the heavier focus on “magic” and secret societies with a mysterious agenda (the Camaraderie of Evil).

It’s fantasy… because there’s a lot of epic type world building, enchanted artifacts, “magic,” lords and ladies, ballroom dances…

It’s a psychological thriller… because of the page-turning, high stakes element and mental games the main character faces…

An important part of marketing is knowing who to target and how to let them know this is the kind of book they’ll want to read. But with so many elements, it can be hard to pinpoint which genre is the best fit to work with (and some authors will switch marketing focus over time to bring in different readers).

This time around, I’m trying to lean into that gaslamp, paranormal sci-fi route… though I’m still not sure I’ve quite nailed that yet.

From a technical standpoint, an issue with the book itself is that it jumps right into the action and doesn’t take time to explain what’s happening, unlike Distant Horizon or Deceived. With that in mind, it may be that this series is better for readers who have already read the other series, rather than starting with this one. It’s a spin-off, and that may be hurting its chances of being read on its own.

So there you have it… four versions of the Glitch series covers. Eventually, I want to redo the box set cover. I’ve got ideas… I just need to set aside the time to revamp it.

* * *

Read the books whose covers keep changing… but at least now they match the mood!

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as blending genres, book cover design, books, cover art, designing a book cover, Distant Horizon Universe, gaslamp fantasy, genre mashup, Ghost of a Memory, Glitch Saga, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, paranormal scifi, publishing, redoing a book cover, revisiting a book cover, sci-fi books, science fantasy, science fiction, scifi with psychological thriller aspects, self-publishing, Spirits of a Glitch, Stephanie Flint, whispers in the code, writing, writing books, writing process

June 3, 2026 · 8:13 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

📋 And here’s the May report! Going to try to keep these updated on a monthly basis, but we’ll see.

Got a lot done, but that said, this last month through me for a curveball with my cat, BG Neelix, passing away unexpectedly. (If you want to know the details about what happened, click here).

I’ve highlighted the projects that had changes in blue.

* * *

Changing Tides: (Book 4 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold while working on The Dark Forest of Aneth. Next step is to merge the two revised drafts and start writing the missing scenes.

Deceived #3: On hold. Needs revisions. Tentatively titled Exposed.

Future steps: Input Isaac’s notes from Deceived #5 (formerly #4) into the manuscript, revise Deceived #5, and revise #6 (formerly #5) before handing it to Isaac for his feedback.

Dossiers (Deceived Spin-off): On hold. Next step is a revision round which involves incorporating notes into the manuscript.

Multiverse Chronicles (Distant Horizon Universe Spin-off): The epilogue has been sent, along with an additional wrap-up scene. I even got a chance to do a read-aloud with Isaac on these chapters. Yay!

Next up is to add missing scenes, do a complete read-through to check for revision smudge, and then do a read-aloud with Isaac to make sure the story still fits his vision. Then it’s off to beta-readers! I’m hoping to start revision work on this project in July.

TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). On hold. Next step is to write the outline and reread the first three books.

The Dark Forest of Aneth (A Legends of Cirena short novel): I’ve been slowly inputting my notes from my Kindle Paperwhite revision round into the manuscript, though this is on the backburner while I work on Fae. Next step will be to read through those revisions and see if it’s ready for beta-readers.

Other Goals: Revisit the book cover concept. Create a blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

The Ruins of Amixthael (The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear Spin-Off): On hold. Next step is to revise the chapters of the secondary character, then merge the two drafts together.

Future goals: Polish cover. Create blurb.

Untitled LoC Short Story (Standalone – Merchant in Reveratch): On hold. Next step is revisions.

Goals: Figure out a title. Create book cover and blurb. Polish the related poem/ballad so it can be included as back matter.

Untitled LoC Novella (Standalone – Twins in Ferta): Last time I was at chapter twenty-three and around 51,500 words. Now I’m at Twenty-Six around 58,000 words, and I have a pretty good idea of the remaining scenes that still need written.

Next step is to continue writing the rough draft.

The Wind Mage and the Wolf Spin-Off (Joran’s Story – A Legends of Cirena short story) : On hold. Needs the rest of the fight scene cross-referenced.

Goals: Edit in ProWritingAid, read-aloud, proofread. Book cover and blurb.

Fae (Huntress 3): Placeholder page made! Got Fae back from beta-readers, made adjustments, and put it onto my ancient Kindle Paperwhite so I can give it one more pass before the read-aloud with Isaac. Then I had Claude Code create a timeline of the Huntress series (after several iterations to correct for incorrect entries) so I could make sure the passage of time was clear in Fae. I also used Claude to do a basic formatting pass on the manuscript based on my previous ebooks to make it easier to finalize later.

I did a couple more tests with the cover, and finally found the right stock images to make it work. Base of the cover is complete, and now I need to do the polishing “painterly” touches.

I’ve also drafted a blurb and will need to review it soon to see what I might want to change. I gave Claude a set of questions to ask me with a prompt to include feedback, and used that to go through the process though I did the actual writing to the blurb myself.

I updated the backmatter in Huntress and Changeling, which I’ll upload once I finalize the cover for Fae.

Horse Shifter Romantasy 🐎: On hold. Next step is to start drafting from the outline.

Dark Romantasy Idea: On hold. The idea is still pinging at me, but I need to finish writing the synopsis (currently 4,000 words).

Writers of Warrensburg Anthology – Story has been drafted (and is surprisingly short for me), edited, and read at one of the Writers of Warrensburg meetings! Next step is to review the feedback I got and make edits. I also still have a couple more meeting to watch the recordings of and submit feedback on.

Other Stories: The YA Alien Invastion/Dystopian short story is on hold.

Poetry (?!): I wrote another poem called “Glittering Moments” but I’m not quite happy with my revisions yet, so I haven’t posted it. You might see it in the future, though.

Game Design: Progress! Isaac and I made a trip to Marquette to pick up supplies for finalizing Phalanx and Anchor.

Phalanx: Mousepad edition of Phalanx complete, and debuted at Flower Moon Spring Market!

Additionally, I worked with Claude to create the web-based browser edition that works both on mobile and desktop. Beta-version is now complete, and the current version of the game includes a link to a form for testing. Deployed via Netlify, and I’m giving the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter subscribers the first go at it, and then I’m planning to release the beta on the main Infinitas Publishing website. (I’ll probably also include a post about it here as well as on our Facebook page.)

Battle Decks: I did the first review of what Claude was able to code based on the trial version of the card game, then did further testing to refine the user interface and fix rules that didn’t quite translate into the programming. Currently it needs me to do some testing to make sure everything is playing correctly, then see if we can’t get a mobile version functioning properly.

Anchor: Isaac completed his physical prototype and created the art for this game (I tried inking his original sketch and it came out too cartoony, so he turned to Daz Studio instead). We used Claude to double-check dice probabilities to make sure his scoring made sense, I proofread Isaac’s rules booklet and did the formatting polish, and we put together five first edition box sets. We got this done in time to debut at the Flower Moon Spring Market!

Fantasy RPG Productivity App: On hold until Isaac has a chance to review it.

Cozy Fantasy Pet Sim– I cleaned up the art for the juvenile creature in the game and worked with Claude to trouble-shoot some issues with how the graphics were presenting. I still need to clean up the adult creature art and make a few more adjustments to the juvenile creature that I missed in my previous pass.

I also had Claude create a table for me that lists all the different items and shops so that I can make sure to update everything with my own flavor text, and had it review the code for areas to streamline.

I also finally set up Claude Code on my computer because the game got too hefty to edit in a regular chat.

AI Usage and Policy: I decided to keep the Pro Plan of Claude, at least for now. It’s been really helpful for keeping me on track with business stuff, so I’m going to hold onto it a bit longer. I did update the Infinitas Publishing AI usage policy to include our usage of Claude AI for coding.

I still want to do a presentation on AI Literacy, but haven’t made any further progress with setup. (I have, however, been reading several more books and articles on the topic).

Marketing/Admin:

Created a project file in Claude for Infinitas Publishing. Using that for analyzing past reports and keeping up to date with admin processes. I’m continuing to do a check-in every week or two to make sure I’m staying on track with my goals.
Continued sending out Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe newsletters.
Did a couple more BookFunnel group promos, and created a promo for June (but no one signed up for it so I cancelled that one). I signed up for the next round of promos and pre-scheduled the blog-post/newsletter email.
Updated retailer links for my books on BookBub (just need to double-check now that I got them all updated)
Finally updated my author bio on the blog and most retailers.
Updated the series pages on the main Infinitas Publishing website.
Worked with Claude to create the bones of the Huntress KROWN Assessment quiz based on the interactive personality test Isaac and I did at last year’s Geek UP. Needs some interface work and further beta-testing.
I’ve continued using Claude to help keep my priorities organized, review accounting and event results, and review stats I’ve been tracking.
Attempted to have Claude Design work on A+ content for Distant Horizon using my own images. It’s got some interesting ideas… but it isn’t there yet.
Printed and cut out new Infinitas Publishing Business Cards for events.
I’ve been trying to make Facebook posts on the Infinitas Publishing page to help promo some of our upcoming products and events.
I finally paused all Amazon ads, and have had Claude help make suggestions for how to maybe make adjustments for new ads. So far not much luck with getting those going.
So far I’ve been managing to keep up with accounting. Yay!
I had Claude make me a personalized event checklist that I’ll be able to repurpose for future events. Hopefully, once I finish organizing it, it’ll make it easier for me to keep track of what I need to get done ahead of time.
I still need to update Infinitas Publishing book pages with buttons for retailers. I also need to continue adding metadata information.

Next up: Review and update book prices; watch Book Blurb Magic course on books with multiple POVs. Continue updating the design of individual Infinitas Publishing book pages. Continue adding books to the Stripe store for direct sales (alternately, review new BookFunnel feature offering Square sales?). Overhaul book categories, keywords, and blurbs.

Crafting Your Fictional World: On Hold.

Repurposing Old Newsletter Content:

Still going strong with the blog posts here. Scheduled May ahead of time, which helped. I need to do the same for June, especially considering the various events going on. But it has been helpful with rekindling some of that exciting “new publishing” energy I remember from when we first started Infinitas Publishing.

Rough Drafts and Conlangs (WBU)
That time I completely redid the outline of Starless Night (DHU)
An Early Render of Meshon (WBU)
Choosing a title for Galina’s story (DHU)
An early render of Siklana (WBU)

Events: We went to the Flower Moon Spring Market in Hancock at the end of May.

Meanwhile, we’re planning to be at UP Rainbow Pride in Marquette, and we’ve applied for the Hancock Pride Market that happens at the end of June. I also still have a Crafting Your Fictional World presentation planned for later in the year.

Flower Moon Spring Market (May 24th)

We had a booth inside at the Flower Moon Spring Market, and we debuted not only the mousepad edition of Phalanx (the first time we’ve had Phalanx available to purchase in several years), and we also debuted an all new game–Anchor!

Admittedly, neither of us were at full energy due to having recently learned that BG Neelix had cancer, but the event was still fun and Isaac was able to demo the games to a lot of passersby.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Still working on formatting an ebook for an indie press.

Future Goals: Update the SBibbPhoto website to incorporate Daz work and fix the SEO information. Finish designing cute mascot for a local store. Finish editing photos for a local Aikido group.

SIFlint Art: On hold. I’m watching for a sale at my sticker printer so I can order more stickers (and get bag hoarding dragon stickers!)

Daz PA: The new Daz store promotions seem to be working! I’ve seen a strong uptick in sales, so I’ve continued submitting products for the Quick Grab option and plan to try for the Outlet Store again as well. I’m hoping these sales continue to have luck. If so, it’ll make for a nice revival of the backlist.

I’ve also started playing with some character shaping as a possible upcoming product. Haven’t gotten far yet, so we’ll see if I continue working on this.

* * *

Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂

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