In the world of The Wishing Blade universe, everyone has two strings of magic. One strand is life. The other strand is death.
Actually, their entire world is made of strings, which is why string mages are particularly powerful, but those two strings are extra important for magic.
Why?
Life magic is the key to a person’s free will and awareness. Without it, they go into “zombie mode” and act solely on instinct. They’re quieter, and don’t tend to resist magical commands well.
This is also the string used to created “inhabited” or cursed objects (and if that object is glass-stone, it changes from clear to a smoky, glossy black, reminiscent of obsidian. This is a huge point in my upcoming Legends of Cirena novel, The Dark Forest of Aneth. People, and especially priests and priestesses, typically try to avoid inhabited objects.)
But why tie life magic into an object?
Well, it allows the wielder, or a specific user, to power enchantments without expending their own willpower. (The catch here is that if you tie someone’s life magic to an item and that person has a strong will, you might be fighting their will instead of simply powering an enchantment).
Life magic is the string provided to mortals by Listhant-Nsasrar (Lishivant), Cirena’s high god.
On the other hand, death magic is the key to a person being able to die, to sleep, and to dream.
Without their string of death magic, they will eventually go mad unless they have a way to magically induce sleep or go into a meditative trance. (And getting mortally wounded without death magic unpleasant, to say the least. But very effective at keeping them technically alive).
This is the string provided by Madiya (Madia), the goddess of the dead.
If you’ve read “Stone and String,” you know that Edyli lost her death magic after infuriating Madia.
But she’s not the only one who has made Madiya furious.
Ralendacin (Shevanlagiy in The Wishing Blade series) lost access to her death magic, but due to a magic-meets-magebane accident that she might have overpowered with some artifacts she shouldn’t have used, when she “dies” she instead wakes up in another world. (Is this at all tied to something to do with her life magic? Read the Wishing Blade series to make some theories of your own on that…)
Unfortunately for those worlds, Shevanlagiy has a tendency to destroy any world that fails to give her what she’s after, and thus she gained the nickname, “The Destroyer of Worlds.”
Her method of destroying worlds tends to unravel the strings that hold them together, or outright obliterate the strings, giving the gods in the Wishing Blade series a very strong incentive to keep her from destroying this one, too.
* * *
A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead (Stone and String)…or an opponent who has already made that goddess furious (Magic’s Stealing)…
So far, Isaac and I have done all the photography for The Wishing Blade series covers. And when it came to the cover of Magebane, we’d been planning that cover for a while… even bought the candle holder specifically with the intention of shooting this image.
(It wasn’t entirely an excuse to buy more Depression era glass. Not at all… *Cough.*)
And though it’s been a while since we released Magebane, today I want to talk more about the glass on the cover.
True story… when first proofing the cover, I asked for feedback and someone said it seemed a little too radioactive green. Funny thing about that… That green was intentional, and they weren’t actually wrong.
That glow is the result of UV light shining on the glass and fluorescing with the uranium salts coloring the glass. I actually had to lower the amount of light coming from the candleholder while working on it in Photoshop.
Don’t believe me?
Here’s a look at an unedited photo from the photoshoot:
There’s a model lamp at the top providing a general light, but that purple light you see is from the UV light. The glass is Depression Era glass.
Here’s a look at the same glass but without the UV light.
We also shot a set of daisy button glass dishes we considered using (which I believe are actually Victorian era, rather than Depression era, based on their color and pattern), but decided to stick with the candle holder as the main image.
This one just has UV light on it, and no modeling lamp.
It glows hot. Which has been my experience with most yellow uranium glass that I’ve come across.
This, by the way, was with the cheapy UV light we bought at Walmart. Later, we acquired a more powerful UV light (different wavelength, better visible light filter), and these pieces were even brighter.
Now, let’s go into more detail about the real life inspiration for the story’s “magebane” / “charlago.”
The good news is that this glass is not as destructive as it is in the story.
However that “radioactive green” look might be a little more accurate than you first expect. Often known as “Depression Era glass,” these pieces are usually a kind of odd, Vaseline green or “canary yellow” color. You’ve probably seen them hiding in China cabinets or antique stores.
(Pictured Above: Green Depression Era Glass)
Usually, it doesn’t stand out. Some pieces are a little more flowery in their designs, but what makes them so special?
They glow under ultraviolet light (blacklight).
(Well… some do. The frustrating part of hunting for glowing Depression Era glass is that not all green or yellow glass glows. UV flashlights are useful for checking to see which pieces do and don’t. And just because it glows, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s it glowing for the reason I’ll explain in a moment. But when you find the piece that does… there’s the magical “ah-hah!” moment of success.)
See, here’s the thing. For a long time, glassmakers have been using uranium oxide to give glass a rich green or yellow color.
Yes, uranium.
The glass is technically radioactive.
However, according to most internet sources (take these with a grain of salt) and the mineralogist I asked, these glass pieces aren’t so radioactive as to be harmful, at least if you’re not constantly handling them, ingesting pieces of glass (you shouldn’t do that anyway), or messing around with them aside from using them as pretty decoration.
(I would like to add here that I am not an expert in radiation, and I have not actually tested these pieces with a Geiger counter. Please don’t go out and do something that’s going to give you radiation poisoning. There are some antiques that actually do have harmful amounts of radioactive material in them. Stuff with radium, for example. And certain orange or red Fiestaware ceramics from before a certain year. Both are details I play with in Magebane.)
So, that “radioactive green” glow?
Well, it does contain radioactive material.
At the same time, the term is a little misleading because the UV light causes the uranium within the glass to fluoresce, not because it gives off its own creepy light due to nuclear radiation.
You can find a lot of Depression Era glass in antique stores because it was popular during the Depression due to being inexpensive. Though a ban was plaed on putting uranium in the glass during World War II, the process was allowed again later (using depleted uranium), which means that not all uranium glass is Depression glass. Some pieces are replicas and are much more recent.
(In some cases, you can tell when it was made based on the specific markings added by the manufacturer).
However, some pieces are even older than the Depression:
(Pictured above: Canary Yellow Daisy Button Sauce Dish, circa 1880s.Though this is uranium glass, this isn’t actually Depression glass.)
Uranium glass was also made in the late 1800s, meaning that you could find it in the Victorian era. (I was rather thrilled to have ended up finding a piece that, based on its pattern, Isaac and I are pretty sure is from that time frame).
As for the story…
This means that Maijev — that mage-hating place that’s supposed to be pulling from Industrial Revolution and Victorian era tendencies (yes, I know, I’m blending time periods) — could have uranium glass.
And, in the world of The Wishing Blade, ribbon magic and nuclear radiation (even trace amounts) don’t mix well. (Unless you like world-unraveling explosions).
Hence… magebane!
Now that you’ve read about real-life uranium glass, here’s an excerpt from Magebane, a scene in which Siklana gets her first look at charlago glass. 🙂
Unlike real life, though, “Depression era” glass isn’t inexpensive in Cirena… it’s coveted, largely because of its tendencies to ward away mages.
Ruderk examined Siklana soundlessly, then moved to the stove where a tea kettle warmed. “Tea?” He held up the kettle and a green glass cup, paused, and then extracted a different cup. “I’d offer you the finer glassware, but you said you were a mage, didn’t you? I’m not sure how much residual magic might stick around, and I don’t want you getting sick.”
She blinked. “You have charlago glassware? May I see it?”
He shrugged. “Long as you don’t go throwing ribbons at it. One wound a day is plenty enough for me.” He passed over the green cup.
She flinched at the hint of a sting when it touched her skin, and she kept her navy ribbons deep inside herself, where they could not reach the glass. While Ruderk poured them each a cup of tea, she turned the piece in her hands. It was smooth and plain, with a pair of seam lines on either side from the mold, and a simple round base to keep it upright. She sorely wished she had her light crystal with her. Though she could not let the ribbons come into direct contact with the glassware, the light the crystal produced was not magical, and Camir had said kosa light would cause certain forms of charlago to glow.
“It’s beautiful.” She handed back the glassware, and Ruderk exchanged her offering with a steaming, white ceramic cup.
“You should see some of the more meticulous pieces,” he said. “Far more than I can afford, but they have a pretty selection of flowers and patterns to choose from.” He sat himself across the table from her, then reached behind him, snagged a tin, and dropped it onto the table with a clatter. “Biscuits. Help yourself. I made them this morning, so they shouldn’t be too stale.”
I enjoy creating the language of word magic and the Cantingen Islands in my Wishing Blade Universe. So much so that I have a handy Excel sheet with a handful of pages and a semi-clear structure that I’ve realized I really need to get organized (because it’s rather… fun… trying to remember sentence structure when I’m in the middle of revising my current project, The Dark Forest of Aneth, and need to construct a sentence in Cantingen and don’t remember if I’ve decided how that particular grammar is supposed to look.)
One exercise I’ve especially enjoyed, however, is the creation of poetry and songs using the conlang (constructed language). Whether or not I’m actually good at poetry is an entirely different matter, but it’s still fun.
Wind and Words, the second book in the Stone and String series, features two different poems/songs (well, one is intended to be a chant), and one of those songs is called “Dornoram” (“Lonely Child”) and features Madia when she was still a young goddess, before she created mortal-kind.
Though I don’t include the entire song in the story itself (I did include both the Cantingen version and the rough English translation in the back of the book), here’s a look at part of the song:
Dornoram, dornoram Lonely child, lonely child
illselvimorin sut wuget so vinllada’ralencos. wandering in the fog of her father’s new world.
Dornoram, dornoram Lonely child, lonely child
fallamin kidame nevésil vego cochome si kecirme. She has no toys to play with but feathers and strings.
*
Viskar vrethin si walin So she sits and she weaves
drogos osain vieram jévidasil. while she yearns for a playmate that she understands.
Vego éda ralencos dratethia shadi si fashuvasia. But this new world is magic and does not comprehend.
*
Dor so shadi si niitéra Child of magic and creation,
morladiin vieram. she dreams of a playmate,
Morladiin vieram néollased. dreams of a playmate to keep company.
Viskar novanin vincede loch lalli esil, esildo. So she weaves her hair into the form of a doll, little doll.
Morladiin kryl vinvieram llullamia. Dreams of the story her playmate might have.
Vego esil dratethia goréso, But the doll is a puppet,
fallamia kareme, has no thoughts of its own,
si luuh vinmorladsme ketondruv nékryl. and only her dreams give it life.
Essentially, the Cantingen Islanders believe they are Madia’s esilme, her dolls, who return to her from the mortal realm after they die. The rest of the song continues that story, and the idea plays an important role in the Stone and String series.
Do you enjoy seeing fictional languages in stories?
If so, what’s your favorite one? (I’m personally a fan of Tolkien’s Sindarin Elvish, though I never learned more than a few words).
When I set out to write The Wishing Blade series, I originally planned on it being a set of novellas. (Especially because the very first draft I wrote for the entire story arc of the series was 64,000 words).
Magic’ Stealing, the first book I published in the Wishing Blade series, was around 34,000 words, and I figured that future books would be similar.
What I didn’t count on was adding so many more words once I started exploring additional points of view.
Daernan got a chance to shine in The Shadow War, and the main plot really centers around him. Siklana has a major role and character arc in Magebane… and we still get the original views of Toranih and Shevanlagiy.
Not only were viewpoints added, I ended up further developing, and adding, magic systems (who knew word magic and charlago/magebane would play such a critical role in future stories?), and I added words as I reworked scenes to make more sense. Because Isaac–my writing partner and developmental editor–has a point: why try scaling a guarded wall when you could just… I dunno… take the sewers and discover even more fun stuff that affects the plot?
The result was that The Shadow War ended up clocking in around 55,000 words – a short novel, and Magebane clocked in at a whopping 109,000 words – a full-length novel.
(Fun fact… the first version of this post, sent to my newsletter years ago, had Magebane still in progress at 89,000 words.)
The Stone and String stories have also found themselves with longer stories than I originally planned. “Stone and String” was a short story of 8,000 words (surprisingly, it stayed within its expected count). It was meant to be a standalone story. But, of course, I wondered what happened next…
And so Wind and Words came along. While it took a couple starts to actually get it going the direction I wanted, I realized quickly it wasn’t going to be a short story. It ended up being a novella at 23,000 words.
Now the real question is, how long are the next books going to be? (Especially considering that Stone and String 3 should have direct ties to Wishing Blade 4).
While I cringe to look at the release dates of those books and realize I haven’t yet released the next in the series, I’ve found a similar pattern occurring within The Legends of Cirena series as it progresses.
The Wind Mage of Maijev – 15,000 words
The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear – 12,000 words
The Restless Sands of Neel – 25,000 words
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen – 18,000 words
The Scars of Her Past – 21,000 words
The Dragons of the Mist – 21,000 words
The Wind Mage and the Wolf (Cross-over) – 47,000 words
The Trial of Bells and Blood (Cross-over) – 32,000 words
The Dark Forest of Aneth (Cross-over) – WORK-IN-PROGRESS Currently 68,000 words.
In its defense, it not only has the cross-over points of view, it got a third viewpoint and is delving into preplanned lore that wraps up the arc from the first 9 books while setting up the next arc. 🫣
I think a lot of this has to do with adding characters, getting deeper into the lore… stuff like that.
There’s a couple drafts already written for stories that will eventually come after The Dark Forest of Aneth, which you might have seen if you’re signed up for the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter. And then there’s the ongoing story which definitely is building into pre-planned lore and I don’t know if it’s going to be a novella or novel, but the next chapter is eight of sixteen, and it’s already 17,000 words long.
Anyhow, do you have a preferred book length you prefer to read or write?
I have a lot of fun creating the world and culture of the Wishing Blade Universe (Isaac has fun with this, too, as seen by the existence of the Legends of Cirena stories, which started because he went and created a role-playing guide for each of the regions).
One aspect of world-building I especially enjoy is creating the pantheon of gods, goddesses, and deities.
Many of the gods interact directly with mortals, as well as immortals, meaning we see their personalities and how people deal with them (or try to avoid them). Some worship them, some scorn them (especially the dragons of the Immortal Realm) and others are indifferent.
Today, I wanted to take a closer look at Ruetravahn.
As one of the older gods, Ruetravahn has a place in both the Cirenan and Cantingen pantheons, though he features more prominently in the latter. (But even Cirenan characters get stuck dealing with him, as Livena finds when she accidentally gets saddled with a truth spell/curse in The Wind Mage of Maijev).
Per Cirenan tales (as of The Wishing Blade series), when the high god, Listhant-Nsasrar, chose to retire, Ruetravahn convinced him to leave the gift of word magic with mortals so they would not always be at the mercy of the gods, and those without ribbon magic would have a defense against born mages.
As such, Ruetravahn became known as the god of language. Though the Cantingen language had been around for as long as mortals could remember, the ability to use it in spells only came after Ruetravahn’s deal. (Which gets fun when I’m writing anything in the Legends era, because I have to remember they don’t have access to word magic yet).
Even with this gift, Ruetravahn is rarely worshiped in Cirena, possibly because they continued to rely more on ribbon magic than word magic.
As for the Cantingen Islands, the people looked to him as not only the god of language, but also the god of Truth, the world as it really is, and the god of wind, capable of hearing everything that is spoken. Those who worship him consider lying an affront to the gods, and they are careful to choose their words and speak as accurately as possible.
He is the primary god that Edyli, the protagonist of Wind and Words (book two of the Stone and String series), chooses to worship. Her respect for him affects her actions. However, there are those who still see him as a lower god, and who therefore ignore his teachings in favor of completing tasks assigned by the high goddess, Madia.
This scene touches on the conflict between them. 🙂
From Wind and Words
The priestess spun on her heel and surveyed the room. “Do not tell anyone of your intentions, and do not tell them who sent you.”
“Nasillah?” Edyli asked, confused. What temple work could be so secretive? “I cannot lie. That is against Ruetravahn’s will.”
The priestess turned sharply and narrowed her eyes, but even the acolyte pressed his lips into a thin line behind her, his concern evident. “Do you question the will of Madia?” she demanded. “Would you put a lower god above Her Graciousness? You must do as she commands, and that is to bring the monster who stole the child’s string to justice. If you must lie to achieve that task, then it is necessary.”
Anger rushed through Edyli. Ruetravahn might not have been a high god, but his intentions were sacred. Their language rode in his wind, and he was the one who established the treaty with Lishivant, Madia’s father, to bring word magic to mortals.
Whatever happened, Edyli would not lie. She would not betray him.
“I will do what I must,” she said firmly. Even saying that much made her cringe, because the priestess would likely assume that she was agreeing to do as she had been asked. But, as familiar fables said, it was not the truth-sayer’s fault if they spoke Truth, but the listener turned a deaf ear.
While Edyli is determined to serve Ruetravahn faithfully, not everyone is so faithful, as seen above. Of course, those who don’t like magic or gods are even less inclined to like him, as we find with Livena after her magic goes haywire near a blessed scroll in The Wind Mage of Maijev.
(But hey… things like that happen when you accidentally mix a blessed scroll, wind magic, and magebane).
* * *
A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead…
See more of Edyli’s faith in Ruetravahn in the Stone and String series:
Whew… March was interesting. Half the month was relatively normally, and the other half has been getting used to the new norm.
Anyway, here’s the updates!
* * *
Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Storyboard complete in lieu of an outline! I’m about 8,500 words into a new rough draft.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): I need to choose which cover design to go with for the series and then create the rest of the covers for it.
Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).
Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)
The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).
Little One: Needs Isaac’s notes added to manuscript, and then revised.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). Needs rough draft written. Possibly needs new, updated outline.
Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs revision and rest of rough draft written.
The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Ro’nor-Zynia cross-over in progress. It’s been going slower than the usual one episode a week that I usually aim for.
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen (Hahven’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): Now available! 😀
The Scars of Her Past (Alia’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): Read-aloud complete. I need to make a few minor edits and then send it out to beta-readers.
“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)
Changeling: (Huntress #2) Needs formatted for print.
Huntress 3: Needs rough draft completed (about halfway through at the moment).
Game Design: On hold. We need product shots of updated Phalanx board for The Game Crafter.
Space Adventure Comic: Isaac made several base scenes for the comic as a starting point, and finished a couple kit-bashed ship designs. We figured out how speech bubbles will look, and the base size for formatting. We’ve also started doing a few renders, though we haven’t gotten far with those yet.
Emberverse (Working Title): On hold. I had hoped to work on the part two rough draft for Camp NaNoWriMo in April, but needed to switch that to completing a rough draft for Distant Horizon, since I want to finish up a few of the active series before releasing this one.
That said, I’ve had a bit of fun with the Emberverse Instagram images.
(For more fun Emberverse pictures, check out my Instagram account).
Marketing: Got a month’s worth of weekly promo highlights posted, and got the April ones scheduled.
I have yet to cull the Distant Horizon Universe mailing list for inactive subscribers, which I need to do soon since it’s getting close to it’s max size before costing extra.
I also plan to reset the Amazon ads I have, and to create a BookFunnel promo for May (I still need to decide the theme).
Debating picking up a cheap WordPress plan for this blog so I can remove ads, but not sure when or if that’s likely to happen.
LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Just about done with both formatting projects. One is complete except uploading, and the other needs the cover proof completed.
Daz PA: I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been accepted as a Daz Published Artist! 😀
Right now I’m working on pose sets and character morph presets, but I just submitted my first set through their system, so it may be a little while before I’ll have something to show in the store. More on that once the first set gets approved!
And wow… February was a busy month. Between Winter Carnival festivities, plumbing issues, various freelance projects, and a couple unexpected deadlines, I didn’t get a whole lot of writing done.
But progress did get made, just not where intended.
* * *
Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Needs new outline and rough draft.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Testing another cover idea to see how it does before deciding which one to go with– whether to stick with the older design for now or update the series with one of the new designs.
Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).
Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)
The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).
Little One: Needs Isaac’s notes added to manuscript, and then revised.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). Needs rough draft written.
Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs revision and rest of rough draft written.
The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. Will likely remain on hold until The Wishing Blade series is complete, and possibly integrated with a storyline I have in mind that takes place after that series. (Alternatively, might get integrated as a prequel to Stone and String 3. Not sure yet).
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Ro’nor-Zynia cross-over in progress. The last two episodes have been delayed due to various outside slow-downs, but will resume once I’ve finally reorganized everything.
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen (Hahven’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): Pre-orders are up! Releases March 22nd.
I’m currently in the process of reviewing beta-reader feedback and making revisions.
Alia’s Story (A Legends of Cirena short story): This has a title, and pre-orders are live!
*Drumroll…*
The Scars of Her Past
Still needs a few more chapters to go through the read-aloud process before going out to beta-readers, but that’s the next step.
“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)
Changeling: (Huntress #2) Needs formatted for print.
Huntress 3: Now around 25,000 words into the rough draft. Good news is that I now mostly know where the plot’s going. Bad news is that I have to finish catching up on everything that threw me for a loop in February before I can return to the rough draft.
Game Design: Currently on hold due to Isaac’s classes. We realized we need to take new product shots for Phalanx so we can get the updated Game Crafter version back up for sale.
Space Adventure Comic: Isaac has kit-bashed a few more ships and a character design for this, but it’s mostly on hold while we finish other projects.
Emberverse (Working Title): Made a little progress on revisions for the first short story in this series, but had to put it on hold for other projects. Starting to get ideas for where the next part of the story will go, but probably won’t get to write those for a while yet. Hoping to write the rough draft for that in April for Camp NaNo, but that depends on how much progress I can make on the active series that are currently awaiting completed rough drafts.
(Meet Mallie and Spots… a character who can speak to the various “monsters” in Emberverse, and her stuffed animal who became a lot more real).
(To see more sneak peeks from Emberverse, check out my Instagram account).
Marketing: Weekly promo highlights have been put in place for March! (Having reminders to schedule this in my monthly calendar is proving super useful). I still need to cull the Distant Horizon Universe mailing list for inactive subscribers. I won’t know if it helped the Wishing Blade Universe list for a while yet, since that’s a monthly newsletter with the exception of new release announcements.
Also…
One of the unexpected projects for the month ended up being a new website design for our main Infinitas Publishing site.
Long story short, we had planned on revamping it for a while, but then I got wind that Google Chrome has been phasing out how people see sites without a security certificate. Our previous host required a paid plan to get the SSL certificate working, and to have what we wanted (quite a few pages), we would have been paying a lot more than I would have preferred–especially when WordPress is cheaper and, if I’m being completely honest, a lot more user-friendly. (I did try to stick with the old host, but ultimately it was time to say “thanks for the good times” and move on. Hopefully I can use the original free plan as a backup, but I’m not sure how long that free plan will remain.
Anyway, I spent the past couple weeks between the two hosts figuring out what I wanted to do and finally getting everything switched, as well as trying to streamline everything for a sleeker look.
Overall, I’m fairly happy with the change. There’s still a few updates that still need happening–eventually I’d like to create series-specific banners–but it’s mostly complete.
(And it has a shiny security certificate and no ads… sweet!)
LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Received notes on a proof for one project (now in finalizing stage) and I’m in the process of compiling proofreading notes for the other project and creating a cover proof.
*
In other news, I’m thrilled to announce I got first place in the Storytelling Category of the It’s Raining Men contest over on the Daz art forums.
This one uses the Daz 3D studio program for 3D rendering and Daz assets, and the key requirements of the contest were that it needed to feature a man/men as the primary focus, and have a storytelling aspect.
Definitely made my day, and I wasn’t expecting it to place:
Story Concept for the image:The apple grove was technically open land, free for everybody’s use. But when a gnarly goblin made the grove his home, wandering travelers often found trouble if they took a juicy apple from the trees.
Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).
Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)
The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).
Little One: Needs Isaac’s notes added to manuscript, and then revised.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). Needs rough draft written.
Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): Needs revision and rest of rough draft written. On the bright side, some of the recent Legends of Cirena stories have given me a better idea of where this needs to go.
The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Hahven-Alia cross-over complete. We’re currently three episodes into the Ro’nor-Zynia cross-over.
The Restless Sands of Neel (Ro’nor’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): Now available!
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen (Hahven’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): Scheduled for release on March 22nd. I’m currently getting feedback from beta-readers, and then I just need to make a few final touches before it’s complete.
Alia’s Story (A Legends of Cirena short story): Title to be announced. Book cover near-final complete. Most revisions are complete, though I need to do a preliminary read-aloud with Isaac for any plot holes before sending it to beta-readers. Expected publication is late May.
“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)
Changeling: (Huntress #2) Needs to be formatted for print.
Huntress 3: Was hoping to have rough draft complete in January. That has been rescheduled for mid February. I’m currently 20,000 words into the rough draft. Realized I needed to combine two plot ideas into one, and now it’s been flowing a lot smoother.
Game Design: Currently on hold due to Isaac’s classes.
Space Adventure Comic: We’re in the brainstorming phase for individual story plots, with it on semi-hold while I try to finish some of the current lingering projects. That said, instead of starting with the larger arc, we’re debating trying to complete a smaller adventure first, to get a better feel for comic design and have a better chance of completing it.
Emberverse (Working Title): Somewhat on hold due to trying to prepare the Legends of Cirena stories for publication. I’ve input Isaac’s notes into the rough draft manuscripts. My next step will be to complete revisions to the already-written portions, make note of which pictures I want to illustrate for it in Daz, and then outline the next section to be drafted.
(To see more sneak peeks from Emberverse, check out my Instagram account).
Marketing: I’ve gotten a routine set in place for BookFunnel promos and I’ve started to do the weekly promo highlight again. Also, I’ve culled inactive subscribers from my Wishing Blade Universe newsletter list. I plan on culling the Distant Horizon Universe list as well. (The goal is to lower cost of newsletter plans while improving open rates because the mail services see a higher rate of opens and are less likely to consider it as spam).
LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Near completion of formatting for one project, and need to compile proofreading notes for the other project.
It’s that time again! (Actually, it’s technically two months time again… so I’ll summarize the past two months).
First of all, Happy New Year! 😀
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Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). After discussing the plot with Isaac, we ultimately decided to cut a couple of the planned sub-plots in order to focus more specifically on what should be the stronger plot. Thanks to holiday travel, we now have quite a few ideas for the updated outline. I’m scrapping the original rough draft I did for this one and starting fresh.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): Still not enough data to know for sure if the new cover is doing better, but it does look like a possibility. Ultimately, I plan to update the other two covers and see how those do.
Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).
Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)
The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits). On the bright side, I’ve discovered that it might fit well into the gaslamp fantasy genre. I’ll be keeping that in mind once I return to revisions.
Little One: Needs Isaac’s notes added to manuscript, and then revised.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). First few chapters need revisions, and then the rest of the rough draft needs to be written.
Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): First part of rough draft needs heavy revision, and then rest of rough draft needs written.
The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Almost finished with the Hahven-Alia cross-over story. A new story will be starting soon.
The Restless Sands of Neel (Ro’nor’s Story / A Legends of Cirena short story): The cover for this story is complete, and the title is The Restless Sands of Neel. It will be a novella, around 23,000 words. I have notes back from the beta-readers, so I’ll be applying their suggestions, doing the read-aloud, and then proofreading it. Release date is scheduled for late January, and the pre-orders are in the process of uploading to the various sites.
Next up for revision is Hahven’s story. The plan is to release a Legends of Cirena short story or novella every two months starting with The Restless Sands of Neel. 🙂
“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)
Changeling: (Huntress #2) Needs to be formatted for print.
Huntress 3: I’m currently 8,000 words into the rough draft, and intend to finish it by the end of January.
Book four has a chosen fairy tale, but needs outlined.
Game Design: Currently on hold due to Isaac’s classes, though a bit of beta-testing occurred for one of the games during the holidays.
Space Adventure Comic: I had a little moment of productivity a couple months ago, which gave Isaac and me enough to work with in terms of ironing out a few more details regarding the presentation. I still need to apply those notes, though.
It’s quite a ways off from publication, but here’s another peek at one of the rough pages (still needs words added… and polishing for lighting…):
Emberverse (Working Title): 71,000 words total complete for NaNoWriMo, for the first six short stories. Started as a for-fun project, but I’m really enjoying putting this one together. It’s a series of short stories, each one ranging between 8,000 to 15,000 words. I’m planning to release it as a serial, with each episode containing two of the short stories. They’ll also be illustrated using Daz renderings I’ve created:
(To see more sneak peeks from Emberverse, check out my new Instagram account).
I’m pretty sure it’s going to be classified as gaslamp fantasy… sort of like steampunk, but with a heavier emphasis on the paranormal/magical.
It will likely be a while before it releases, since I want to get a few more of the short stories complete before beginning to release them.
Marketing: I’m planning to make a bit bigger push with the BookFunnel promos and tweaking my newsletters over the next few months. Probably not all at once, but I’m starting to look at how to improve those. In addition, I intend to return to doing the weekly book promo highlights on this blog.
I’ve also started an Instagram account which will primarily have short excerpts from work-in-progress projects and various renders I’ve been working on. At the moment, most of them are from the Emberverse project (so if you want to keep up with that project, definitely follow me there).
LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Proofreading a manuscript, and working on formatting/cover design for two separate projects.
Time for the Infinitas Publishing monthly status report! 😀
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Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Outline needs review.
The Glitch Saga (Distant Horizon spin-off series): We’re temporarily testing a new cover for the series, starting with Whispers in the Code. If sales do better, then I’ll swap out the rest of the covers in the series. If not, then I’ll switch back to the original for the time being.
Also, Whispers in the Code is free from Oct 30th to Nov 3rd.
Afterward, it will be 99 cents throughout November.
If you haven’t already got a copy, now’s the time to grab it. 🙂
Galina’s Saga – Part Two(Distant Horizon spin-off series): With Deceived now published, it’s on to book two!
We’re expecting two or three more books in this series, and possibly a brief crossover between this series and Distant Horizon #3.
At the moment, we have a rough outline of book two, but the outline needs revision before we begin the rough draft.
Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold. (Has outline).
Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold. (Has outline)
The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).
Little One: I’ve managed to input a few more of Isaac’s notes into the manuscript between projects, though there are more to go.
TWB 4: (Book Four of The Wishing Blade series). The first chapter has been revised from Isaac’s notes and I have an idea of where additional revisions need to be remade for the next couple of chapters. Then I’ll need to continue writing the rough draft.
Runes and Ravens (Stone and String 3): I’ve got an idea for how this story is going to go, but I need to revise a few scenes and continue the rough draft. At the moment, I’m expecting this will be the final story in the series, but we’ll see.
The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold.
The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Recently finished the story of the Anethian priestess of Harethn, the god of travel, in the Darden Isles… though she might have gotten to travel a bit further than she expected.
Getting ready to start a new series. A cross-over has been voted on, so now we need to decide which characters will show up. 🙂
Ro’nor’s Story (A Legends of Cirena short story): I’ve almost finished revisions. Just a couple small polishing tweaks still need to be made, and then I’ll be sending it out to beta-readers. 🙂
I’m hoping to finish revisions on the next couple LoCCA stories before the end of the year, that way I can put them up for pre-order early next year.
I also have an idea of what the covers will look like, and I have a proof cover created for Ro’nor’s story.
“MOG”: On hold. (Needs revisions)
Changeling: (Huntress #2) Needs to be formatted for print.
Huntress 3: Now has an outline! Still needs a bit more detail, but there’s enough there that I can start the rough draft. I’m planning to write this in November for NaNoWriMo.
This one will focus on the fairy tale of Rumplestiltskin. 🙂
I also have ideas for book four, though it still needs an outline.
Game Design: Currently on hold now that Isaac’s classes have started back up.
Space Adventure Comic: I’ve begun rendering scenes for the comic, though it’s been a bit slow going since the scenes are fairly large.
Add having to send the new laptop in for repair earlier in the month, and progress has been slow.
However, there has been progress, so that’s a plus. 🙂
Marketing: In mid-September we had a booth at Geek U.P. in Houghton, MI. This was a blast, and we had a lot of fun. We had our books and games available for sale, played several rounds of Phalanx with con-goers, and I also offered a few of my Daz-creation prints for sale.
A friend snapped this photo for us while everyone was on dinner break, which is why you don’t see many people walking around behind us (and it was one of the few times we were free). There were several really awesome cosplays there, too. 😀
LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold. (Needs revisions and restructuring).
SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finished blurb work for one author and I’m now in the progress of proofreading a manuscript for another author.
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 