Tag Archives: world-building

September 19, 2026 · 9:44 am

Complex Villains – “Evil” isn’t their one defining trait

(Did I just make a The Lego Movie 2 reference? Yes. Do I now have a song stuck in my head? Also yes).

Most of the antagonists I write, or at least, that I enjoy writing, have distinct goals driven by personal motivations that don’t start as outright evil.

In my latest Huntress book, Fae, even the extremists who are about to hurt a lot of innocent people if their attack succeeds aren’t doing so because they want to cause harm. They’re scared. They feel like they’re backed into a corner (even if they aren’t). And someone else is nudging them into a terrible direction.

In this case, that’s Dr. Johnson (main antagonist in Changeling and the primary antagonist for the rest of this series). Which leads me to consider, is Dr. Johnson, secret mastermind, truly evil?

I don’t think I’d say evil. A bad guy? Oh yeah. Her actions cause major harm. But even she is being driven by a misguided sense of wanting to make the world a beautiful place.

What about Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale, antagonist in Magic’s Stealing? He forges a sword that allows him to steal the magic from the kingdom for the Trickster god (which causes a lot of mages to fall ill and/or die), and then goes on to lead an army of shadows impervious to regular weapons as he invades Cirena.

The catch?

He’s not doing this willingly.

He got tricked into serving the Trickster by trying to protect someone he cared about, and breaking that bond isn’t something he can do without either a really powerful string mage or divine intervention. And the Trickster, who can possess him as part of the bond, isn’t going to let that intervention happen.

So now Cafrash is doing his best to follow the Trickster’s orders, all while trying to mitigate the harm.

For a much more villainous antagonist, let’s look at Lord Black from my Distant Horizon universe. He’s one of the utopian Community’s founders. He got his start in an alternate universe as a supersoldier who gets betrayed by the authority that created him, and so he goes on a rampage uprooting that corruption before getting locked away… only to find himself in an entirely different universe that was wholly unprepared for what he could do.

(Note: Most of those backstory details haven’t been detailed in the published yet, just speculated on by characters, but that’s the gist of it).

Given the opportunity, Lord Black upends the corruption in his new universe (the one we see in Distant Horizon) to create a peaceful, secure community that cares for its citizens’ needs (mostly), and is pretty decent at protecting them.

But that protection and care came at the cost of turning people with powers into mindless beasts, hiding the existence of powers and those beasts, committing genocide against those of pretty much any religion in order to lower the chances of religious-based uprising, as well as a myriad of other war crimes, all while blaming it on a non-existent plague.

Not a good guy.

Eventually, once all that gets revealed by a monster of his organization’s making, the Community he worked so hard to build crumbles.

(There’s more I’d like to say about him as a character and his potential redemption points, but that would also give major spoilers for the series, so… I’ll just leave it at that for now).

So, where was I going with this? I guess it’s to say I generally like writing complex villains.

They might not appear complex initially, but given time and a chance for their backstory to emerge, eventually that complication—the part that makes us question how we should feel about them and whether or not they’re redeemable—shows up.

Most of the time.

In my “Twins in Ferta” story—working title, I’ll figure out something better later—which I’m currently drafting and releasing to the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter chapter-by-chapter, there is a particular character who I’d give the “evil” designation to.

He acts only for himself, hurts others for his gain and pleasure, and isn’t making any attempt to do better. I don’t spend a whole lot of time with him on-screen, and I don’t plan to redeem him. (Let’s just say he’s not getting a happy ending.)

Long story short, I prefer to write antagonists who aren’t evil for evil’s sake. They might not always get a redemption arc, but generally they’re going to have a logical reason for doing the things they do.

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Want to see these antagonists in action?

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Happy reading and writing!

Two Versions of Telepathy – Magic versus Superpower in the Wishing Blade and Distant Horizon Universes

I recently did a presentation on world-building, so I’ve been thinking a lot about world details, and today I thought I’d talk about how I use telepathy in both the Distant Horizon Universe and Wishing Blade Universe. 🙂

Real quick, in case you’re new to my worlds:

The Distant Horizon Universe includes the Distant Horizon, Deceived, and Glitch series. Science fantasy/dystopia.

The Wishing Blade Universe includes the Wishing Blade, Legends of Cirena, and Stone and String series. Secondary fantasy.

Now, I’ve already done one in-depth focus on telepathy in the Distant Horizon series. You can find that post here. But there are some key differences between the two story universes.

Telepathy in Distant Horizon

In the Distant Horizon Universe, someone with the telepathy power can send thoughts and images, read minds, plant ideas and influence emotions, and possess their target. An extremely skilled telepath can plant “memory seeds” which unfold over time (More on that in this post).

Telepathy has a pretty wide spread of uses, though its capabilities depend on how strong of a telepath the user is and how trained. Someone with telepathy as a secondary or tertiary power isn’t likely to be able to possess their target or plant a memory seed, but they might be able to subtly affect the emotions of those around them.

Artifacts exist that can hold that power if someone doesn’t naturally come by it (they’ll need enchanted apatite), and artifacts exist that can help enhance that power (enchanted emerald).

Alternatively, shields exist that can block the power—whether by shutting down the powers of the telepath entirely, or by blocking a telepath from targeting someone who is shielded. And if the telepath has taken adominogen (an in-universe drug that blocks superpowers), they won’t be able to access their innate telepathy. But once the shield is removed or the adominogen has left their system, they’ll have access to their powers again.

Telepathy in the Wishing Blade

Now, in the Wishing Blade Universe, telepathy comes from pink ribbons of telepathy, a specialized kind of ribbon magic. Mostly, it’s used for communication, sent from the person who has the ribbons to a target, but the target’s mind can’t be read. It’s possible to intercept a ribbon to effectively eavesdrop, but that takes considerable skill. Communication is primarily verbal, though images and senses might also be passed along via ribbon. The thoughts may still convey feeling: amusement, annoyance, anger, the like.

Unlike in the Distant Horizon Universe, telepathy can’t be used as mind control. Even magic’s lure, which is a kind of compulsion magic, doesn’t affect the mind, it only controls the physical body and forces action. Telepathy ribbons might be used to convey a command, but on it’s own, can’t be used to control.

Word magic can affect a person’s mind (for example, wiping memories), but usually isn’t used as an outright mind control mechanism. There are other ways to adjust a person’s mind, but those tend to be much rarer powers that certain deities have, rather than easily accessed by mortals. (We get a really strong example of this at the end of Magebane, when a certain god of merriment manages to take over a town by using his boon, rather than through magic’s lure or word magic).

Crystals (usually quartz, though not always) can be enchanted to hold telepathy ribbons, and anyone can use them to send messages. However, there’s no direct way to block a telepathy ribbon. Magebane could potential destroy or repel the ribbon, while silk might slow it down or prevent it from going through, but can still be bypassed. Glass-stone would likely stop magic from passing through, but there’s no feasible way to use it except as, perhaps, a prison wall. Even then ribbons could find their way through a vent. Ribbons can be removed, however, or destroyed, which would permanently remove a mage’s ability to use telepathy without an enchanted telepathy crystal.

In both universes, using your own telepathy powers or magic can be physically taxing, especially if you’re pushing it beyond what you’ve practiced or are normally capable of doing. And, in both universes, some people are born with telepathy magic or powers, while others aren’t. The exception comes from spirits (Distant Horizon Universe), who automatically gain telepathy, a low-level form of insight, and life-spirit powers when becoming a spirit, and immortals (Wishing Blade Universe) whose immortal magic is a stronger form of ribbon magic, and usually gives them some version of telepathy and healing, and other types of magic depending on what kind of immortal they are.

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Want to see the telepathy in action? Start with Distant Horizon or Magic’s Stealing…

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.

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Happy reading and writing!

When the Gods Get Involved – Meddling Deities in the Wishing Blade and Distant Horizon Universes

When it comes to fantasy and sci-fi, I love reading about, seeing, and writing about meddling gods, goddesses, and deities. Which is why, when I’m pitching my books at live events, I tend to say that if you like stories with meddling gods, you might like my Wishing Blade series (and several of the Legends of Cirena stories).

But… that doesn’t mean there aren’t any meddling, deity-like beings in the Distant Horizon books. They’re just not gods, and they don’t play such an obvious, prominent role.

Let’s have a look at how this all got started when it comes what’s been an influence on my writing.

Obviously, meddling deities show up pretty heavily in mythology, including Greek and Roman mythology, which was the mainstay of myth discussion when I was in school. The two which, ironically, has a hard time holding my interest. Too much family drama and gods being too powerful, maybe? I mean, if the gods are going to be jerks, I want to see the mortals kicking them off their throne eventually.

When I have been on myth-research kicks, it’s been Egyptian mythology (probably inspired by being a fan of Stargate SG-1), and Norse mythology (I’m not actually sure what inspired that research kick… possibly a children’s play we did in high school?). That, and I went on a whole kick reading about different kinds of unicorns (which definitely influenced the chesnathéme in the Wishing Blade universe.

Anyway, in reading fantasy, the first one I recall reading and seeing involvement from the gods and goddesses was probably from Tamora Pierce’s series, such as The Immortals and the Trickster Duology. (The latter of which heavily influenced how I developed the Cirenan pantheon world in the Wishing Blade Universe).

Meanwhile, in sci-fi, I’ve always been a fan of Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The trickster-aspect, the way the non-powerful people respond to his games… and then in other series, those moments when even Q gets baffled…

All fascinating.

Is it any wonder that meddling deities would work their way into my stories?

In the Wishing Blade series, the gods are extremely involved. From Aifa, goddess of relationships, granting her magic to Toranih and Daernan when mortal magic gets stolen, to the Trickster, with his army of shadows made from mortals who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time… The gods get involved, they try to account for prophetic danger, and they can guess incorrectly.

They can also try to lend their indirect help, pointing mortals in the right direction, as we see in The Scars of Her Past, when the Oracle shows up in shapeshifted disguise to pass along a warning to Alia, whose past puts her in a position to offer help no one else can.

On the writing side, it can be tricky to make sure that the gods can’t simply solve the problems themselves, but their flaws and limits make them fun to write.

In the case of The Scars of Her Past (Legends of Cirena #5), the threat Alia must confront involves magebane, which reacts explosively to magic. If the goddess gets too close to magebane with her magic, it would react like a bomb, not only destroying the city she’s trying to protect, but possibly unraveling their reality in the area that got hit.

Which means she needs a mortal without magic to investigate.

We also see the Oracle in the Stone and String series (there she goes by the name of Meshon), offering cryptic help and nudging Edyli along, all while trying to stay out of the sight of the goddess of the dead, whose rigid desire for control of mortal fate could get the world destroyed—again—if the gods aren’t careful.

In the case of The Cursed Halls of Kalecen (Legends of Cirena #4), the god of justice was once a chesnathé (more-or-less a very judgemental unicorn) whose horn has been broken. And since chesnathéme use their horns to cast judgement, well… let’s just say his skewed sense of justice is a problem for everyone involved.

Once we get to the Distant Horizon series, the science fantasy world, we get characters like Spectator and Krissa Wolf, both not-quite omnipotent beings who interfere with the lives of our characters.

Spectator is absolutely a meddler (arguably, he set the events of Distant Horizon into motion behind the scenes, though that’s not revealed until Ghost of a Memory… and even then, it’s vaguely stated).

And Krissa Wolf is a character who can make even the most powerful members of the Camaraderie of Evil nervous, because they can’t shield her (they can’t block her powers). I know why that’s the case, but some reveals won’t come until later stories. 😉

In both cases, they’re reality benders, capable of changing the world around them. Each have their own motives, but because they’re fourthwallers (an in-universe religion that believes their world is all one big game or story), Spectator and Wolf want to keep that game entertaining… which means not using their powers to solve a problem unless it’s going to be fun for the ones watching the game unfold.

And there you have it, a glimpse at meddling deities in the Wishing Blade and Distant Horizon universes!

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Want to see the gods get involved?

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Happy reading and writing!

Differing character POVs in The Trial of Bells and Blood

How do Hahven and Alia see the world of Cirena?

Both are fighters of a sort. Hahven is a duelist. Alia is a former guard.

Both have a desire to protect.

But whereas Hahven looks to protect his students from the dangers of the world around them, Alia tries to switch wagons and become a merchant after an attempt to protect people goes horribly wrong.

And how they view the world differently is really fun to write.

Hahven is annoyed with the gods but willing to deal with them if it means protecting someone. Alia is trying to honor her new patron deity of merchants, but still feels honor-bound to step in and protect if no one else can.

Their perceptions of the world, and their biases about the world, each plays a large role in how they interact with the world and with each other.

One thing I strive for with storytelling is writing with character perceptions and biases in mind, especially for any point-of-view characters, so that the world we see is heavily influenced by their perception and biases.

It’s something I’ve been trying to do with the Wishing Blade universe since Magic’s Stealing (we briefly see Aifa and Shevanlagiy’s points of view, in addition to Toranih), and especially the further we go as more character POVs and arcs are added. By the time we get to Magebane, we’re also in Daernan’s head and Siklana’s head. The same events take on different flavors depending on which character approaches that event.

(For my Wishing Blade Universe newsletter, I’ve been working on a draft with a WIP title of “Twins in Ferta”/”the Ferta Story,” and that’s been really fun to write. Not just because Ehmina and Lesi each see the world a bit differently, but because I got to hop into young Isahna’s head… and that led me to some unexpected revelations about his character and backstory).

As for Legends of Cirena, the first six stories each focus on a singular character, but since they’re short stories and novellas, I got to do something similar to the Wishing Blade series, where I’ve been able to explore the world through different characters in different regions with different perceptions.

For example, on one end you have characters like Livena (The Wind Mage of Maijev and The Wind Mage and the Wolf), who is very confident in her beliefs about how the world should be, tends to comment on the social structure of her surroundings, and speaks negatively about magic. On the other end, in The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear, you have a shapeshifting rogue who is completely comfortable using her magic to fool a gryphon (well, as comfortable as anyone can be while trying not to become a gryphon’s dinner).

Or Ro’nor (The Restless Sands of Neel), who really just wants to settle down someplace nice and cool, and isn’t sure what to think of his talkative, very excitable guide. Meanwhile, his guide is friendly and curious and wants to know more about him and where he came from, but that’s maybe too friendly when he’s tired of being asked the same questions about dragons when he doesn’t have any of the powers in question.

Then there’s Hahven and Alia (The Cursed Halls of Kalecen, The Scars of Her Past, and The Trial of Bells and Blood)… Both are jaded by events from their past (Hahven more recently), but whereas Alia leans into her faith in the gods and worries over the cost of having accidentally broken the code of her first patron god, Hahven didn’t really worship any of the gods and doesn’t mind griping about the god he’s become a champion for.

Knowing what the characters value and what they despise or distrust can be a great way to figure out their goals or where they clash. And being able to write from multiple character POVs (points of view) and showing how they react to other familiar characters is one of the things that I’m particularly enjoying with the crossover stories The Wind Mage and the Wolf, The Trial of Bells and Blood, and the upcoming The Dark Forest of Aneth.

* * *

Read the very different perspectives of Hahven and Alia…

The Cursed Halls of Kalecen - Book Cover

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Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as character point of view, character POV, how to write better characters, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, legends of cirena, point of view in fantasy, Stephanie Flint, The Wishing Blade Universe, world-building, writing, writing fantasy

August 8, 2026 · 9:45 am

The Cover Design Process for The Trial of Bells and Blood

The cover for The Trial of Bells and Blood was… shall we say… a trial.

I had already rendered it twice, but I still wasn’t quite happy with it.

Ignoring the section where the title goes, this is the first version I did:

A horned man stands next to a woman with her arms crossed. They're confronting a frightened man cornered against a rock.

I liked the gist of it, but the camera angle made Haven look like he was towering over Alia, Alia looked miffed that she had to be in the picture rather than skeptical about the whole situation, and the guy on trial seems more worried about Alia than Hahven.

And Hahven is looking… somewhere behind the giant rock?

Eh… I didn’t get my angles right.

Take two!

A horned man stands next to a woman with her arms crossed. They're confronting a frightened man cornered against a rock. The woman tilts her head as if she doesn't believe him, and her sword is partially drawn.

Okay… better…

Now everyone’s actually looking where they’re supposed to, and they’re the correct heights.

Alia has her sword and, while still looking a little posed for the camera, at least she now appears to be part of the scene. She has her head cocked skeptically and sword partially drawn. Hahven actually looks to be about his right height, and the guy on trial seems to be looking the right direction. Hahven is the real threat.

My concern was that they all still looked a little too stiff, and the previous covers have all had the figures much larger.

I debated switching to a new image entirely. But skip ahead about a month, and I made adjustments per newsletter reader feedback, re-rendered the image, then touched it up in Photoshop.

Drumroll please…

SBibb - The Trial of Bells and Blood Cover

I gave Hahven a sword to threaten the man with, and Alia seems less skeptical and more judgy.

Without being a spoiler, Alia’s restraint is the only reason this guy hasn’t gotten shish-kebabbed by Hahven. I really enjoy the dynamic between Hahven and Alia, as well as how Hahven has to struggle with his chesnathé horn’s constant calls for judgement.

(The scene on the cover is one such moment).

What do you think? Did the final version do better?

* * *

Learn how Hahven got his horn and where Alia got her restraint…

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Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as designing a fantasy cover, fantasy, fantasy book covers, fantasy books, fantasy cover art, Infinitas Publishing, legends of cirena, SBibb, self-publishing, Stephanie Flint, The Wishing Blade Universe, world-building

July 25, 2026 · 7:01 am

Choosing a title for “The Trial of Bells and Blood”

While working on The Wind Mage and the Wolf, I was still thinking onward to the next book of the Legends of Cirena series.

Problem is, I hadn’t decided on a title.

I mean, I kind of had an idea of what I was leaning toward, but I wasn’t sure it was really right.

(Choosing a title, like blurb rewriting, is usually one of my writing banes).

I tried brainstorming potential titles by jotting down the first ones that came to mind and then branching off from those.

Some of them seemed promising.

Some of them really didn’t fit the story.

Some seemed like… maybe?

After a bit, I whittled the choices down to three and asked the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter readers for feedback.

I gave them some details about the book I was trying to title: Legends of Cirena #8, which brings in the characters of Hahven (The Cursed Halls of Kalecen, Legends of Cirena #4) and Alia (The Scars of Her Past, Legends of Cirena #5).

Synopsis

Hahven is a duelist who would rather train his students to protect themselves than spend his time serving a vengeful god of justice, but due to an event from The Cursed Halls of Kalecen, he’s now stuck as the vengeful god’s champion. He’s forced to serve the god, or risk going back on a deal.

Thanks to those same events, he also has a rather annoying chesnathé horn growing from his forehead that intrudes on his thoughts with the guilt or honor of nearby people. Unfortunately, the horn also comes with a desire to stab and kill those he deems guilty, or to stab and grant immortality to those he finds worthy.

(Either way, the horn tends to be on the stabby side).

So when his god calls on him for a mission, he dreads learning what he might be asked to do.

Meanwhile, Alia is a merchant with a past she has tried to atone for and forget (as detailed in The Scars of Her Past). She’s almost ready to start a caravan of her own when one of the criminals she crossed during her time as a guard makes a plea to the vengeful god Hahven serves, determined to get revenge on Alia.

Problem is, that vengeful god takes a liking to Alia instead, and wants Hahven to convince her to serve him, too.

Alia isn’t having it.

Neither is Hahven.

Determined to keep her from facing the same fate he did, Hahven calls upon the high god for help circumventing his current master, and he’s surprised when he actually gets an answer.

The high god sends Alia and Hahven to the southern desert of Neel via a caravan that belongs to the gods. But when they get there, they discover an atrocious murder that tests Hahven’s increasingly irritable horn, and forces Alia to reconsider whether or not she’s really done protecting people from those who mean harm.

So that’s the overview.

These were the titles I presented that I thought might work, and there was one in particular I was leaning toward, though I hadn’t settled on anything and was open to ideas if readers were willing to share.

The Trial of Bells and Blood
- There are multiple trials throughout the story, the bells are a symbol of the vengeful god, and the horn wants blood… constantly nagging at Hahven to kill those it finds guilty. Also, it was the vengeful god’s blood that gave Hahven the judgmental horn.
- However, the downside of this one was that it was very close to the title of our work-in-progress Multiverse Chronicles story and its Battle Decks edition: Trials of Blood and Steel.
The Bells of Truth and Blood
- The bells are a symbol of the vengeful god, the horn sees the “truth” of people, though its judgement is skewed, and the horn wants blood.
The Caravan of the Gods
- Alia is given a caravan to take to Neel where she and Hahven investigate the murder. As the caravan was organized by the gods, it’s a “caravan of the gods.”

In the end, I chose the one I was originally leaning toward: The Trial of Bells and Blood.

But what do you think?

Does The Trial of Bells and Blood have a ring to it (pun intended)?

I hope you enjoyed this look into my title-choosing process. 🙂

* * *

Delve into three tales of vengeance and forgiveness…

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Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as book titles, choosing a title, fantasy, fantasy books, Infinitas Publishing, legends of cirena, magic, SBibb, self-publishing, Stephanie Flint, The Wishing Blade Universe, titling your books, world-building, writing, writing fantasy

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.

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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 11, 2026 · 9:30 am

Cover Process for The Wind Mage and the Wolf

Today I thought I’d give you a look into the messy sketches and scribbles of my cover design process for the The Wind Mage and the Wolf, the seventh story in the Legends of Cirena series.

I don’t always make sketches like these, but in this case, I had a few ideas I wanted to jot down so I wouldn’t forget.

Note: the scribbles are barely readable in person. Unforunately, that means they’re even less readable here.

As you can see, these are really rough sketches, meant to give me a general idea of where I might place key elements.

I’ve tried to make a note of possible titles, variant backgrounds, and things I’d need to take into consideration when I went to create the proof.

All of this was on one sheet of paper, and covered multiple stories, but I cut the page in Photoshop to make it easier to view in an email, where I originally sent out this preview in 2019.

Fast forward to the finished version of the cover, which I designed in Daz 3D Studio:

SBibb - The Wind Mage and the Wolf Cover

Here we have Livena and Nuaka (currently in an altered wolf form) as they head down the streets of Ashan. Though Livena’s magic wouldn’t normally be visible to the naked eye (she can’t see it, either), I was aiming to convey the magic/fantasy genre.

This was the first of the covers for the crossover portion of the Legends of Cirena series, each of which are novellas (or a novel, in the case of the upcoming The Dark Forest of Aneth) instead of short stories.

Eventually I decided on the title: The Wind Mage and the Wolf

(Notice in the sketch it’s “The Wolves of Maijev” which… didn’t really work for me)

My logic was that “The Wind Mage and the Wolf” crosses the title conventions of the two previous stories (“The Wind Mage of Maijev” and “The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear”), where Livena was the wind mage, and the cover art focuses on the style of her cover, whereas the title style is closer to Nuaka’s story (previously she was the mountain bear, and now she’s the wolf).

I was concerned it might sound too silly (or be too close to the first title), but ultimately, it stuck. 😄

* * *

A wind mage and a shapeshifting thief start with their own adventures… and then end up working together:

The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear - Cover

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Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as fantasy, fantasy books, fantasy novellas, fantasy short stories, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, legends of cirena, magic, SBibb, self-publishing, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade Universe, Wishing Blade books, world-building, writing, writing fantasy

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!

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Happy reading, writing, and gaming!

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Filed under Gaming, Writing

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

June 27, 2026 · 9:30 am

A Render of Merto from Magebane

A couple weeks ago, I introduced you to Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale, the blacksmith who forged the Wishing Blade.

Today, I’d like you to meet Merto, one of Cafrash’s two sons. Unlike Camir, who makes a grandiose show of impressing those around him and makes favors with anyone he can work into his grasp, Merto tries to stay out of the public eye, careful not to draw to much attention to himself.

For now, Merto remains meek… though he knows and can do far more than he lets on.

Merto makes his first appearance in Magebane, and will continue to make appearances throughout the Wishing Blade series.

Excerpt from Merto’s first appearance (Magebane):

“What are you doing here?” Toranih demanded. The leather hilt felt slick under her clammy fingers.

The light stopped moving. “Father sent me.”

“Father?” She frowned, still not quite able to make out the figure’s features in the low light. “Show yourself.”

The young man opened his hand and a pale turquoise crystal dimly lit his tall frame. He looked about Toranih’s age—she couldn’t tell if he was older or younger—and he was a shadow like the others, his features clear since she was part of his realm. His dull, grayish hair was cut loosely around his ears. His eyes were pale and he had a petite, pointy nose and rounded jaw, both of which looked familiar.

The light weaved back and forth as the young man swayed, unstable on his feet. “My father… Cafrash.”

Though Merto has a fairly small role to play in Magebane, he has his own secrets, and Toranih quickly decides she isn’t sure if she should trust him.

But then, that could be said for everyone in Cafrash’s family, and Merto isn’t the only one with a hidden agenda.

(Huh. I realize now that I haven’t designed Camir’s character in Daz yet. Given his flare for fancier clothes and haughty attidude, I bet his render would be fun. What do you think? Should I take some time to make his render?)

Eventually I want to edit Merto’s backstory novella… which I do have written but needs edits to avoid breaking my plot. Fun times.

* * *

Both brothers have an agenda… but whose plans are more dangerous?