New paint job! - August 2026 Update

In This Post

• Introducing the new website update

• 5 new Deus Ex Machina short stories out to read

• My blog will now feature bi-weekly tutorials

• A giveaway to blog subscribers

• My very first convention appearance

• And my general thoughts on all these changes

Things are looking a little different around here, aren't they? It's been a hot minute since I've shared any kind of update with you all, but with the recent overhaul of my website I thought it was a good time to change that. I spent a good couple of months reshaping my website into something a little closer to how I've always envisioned it, and hopefully doing a better job of answering the most common, burning questions I get about my work and Deus Ex Machina in general. I'd encourage you to take a look around and explore the update a bit! I'm particularly excited about the new format for my stories, and the updated character biography page. Oh, and... Did I mention there are FIVE new Deus Ex Machina stories available to read for free with this update?

New Website, Who Dis?

This newest website update is actually more than just a new coat of paint, you might have noticed I removed all the short stories from the blog. Don't panic, you can still read them, they just each have their own page now instead of being squished into a blog post! The biggest thing to note is that you will no longer receive an email notifying you of any new story releases if you've subscribed to my blog, as I'll be uploading stories directly to my website itself.

"Oh, psh," you might be thinking, "what's the point of subscribing then?"

Two things:

1. Due to this new format, the only way you'll know about new story releases is by checking my monthly updates here on the blog to see if I've mentioned any new releases. This will be my new broadcast channel for all things Deus Ex Machina, and that naturally includes short story drops as well. And all my non-social media readers praised the heavens, for they had been left in the dark for far too long...

2. My blog is going to start looking a bit more like, well, a blog. Expect more regular monthly progress updates, and the addition of more educational content for you all! More on that later.

All that to say, if you haven't subscribed to my blog for email updates yet, you're definitely going to want to do that with this new version of my website. You can do that with the "Subscribe" button at the very bottom of the page. The plan is to post to my blog at a minimum of once a month, perhaps even as frequently as once a week if I can get my feet under me. I will also be running a FREE GIVEAWAY RAFFLE for anyone who subscribes to my blog. Keep reading for more info about that as well.

Five New Short Stories

Most of you were likely aware of my digital release of Promise of Night in October of 2024, and my subsequent print run of the same novella in October of 2025. Fewer of you might be aware of the digital release of two short stories and the start of a new collection known as Gemini in July and August of 2025. If you haven't had the opportunity to check out the Gemini stories, you can read them here!

Why do I bring up Promise of Night and Gemini? Because two of the five new short stories piggyback on these stories, and if you haven't read them yet you might find yourself a little... Hmm... Lost. But this is your friendly reminder that the digital, non-illustrated version of both of these stories are available for free to read on my website. I strongly, strongly recommend that you read Promise of Night before looking at "Hollowed Ground" especially.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the newest members of the DEM Story Roster:

"Sundered Skies"

Taking place after Gemini, "Sundered Skies" follows the story of the god twins Aurora and Dilucos as young teens wrestling with their family crumbling to pieces after Dilucos' attempt to steal the Night Blades, and Sol's subsequent punishment of his disobedience. While we don't see the incident with the Night Blades in this particular story, this is the story of the immediate aftershock on the twins, and what ultimately leads to them turning against one another.

Word count: 5,671

Trigger warning: Yes (violence and child abuse)

Place in the timeline: Year 300

Point of view character(s): Aurora and Dilucos (split POV)

You can read "Sundered Skies" here.

"Hollowed Ground"

Set 5 years after Promise of Night, we check in with what happened to Cecily after everything... And what happens when she meets Dilucos again.

Word count: 1,284 (flash fiction)

Trigger warning: None needed

Place in the timeline: Year 560

Point of view character(s): Cecily

You can read "Hollowed Ground" here.

"Rest Less"

More of a fun little fluff piece, "Rest Less" shows a short interaction between Lucian and his adoptive mother, Helen. If you want a smile instead of a good cry, I recommend this story.

Word count: 705 (flash fiction)

Trigger warning: None needed

Place in the timeline: Year 652

Point of view character(s): Lucian

You can read "Rest Less" here.

"Finesse"

My very first released short story that includes Roan! Trying to get some firearms training in away from the other Blue Devils, she is suddenly interrupted by one of her comrades. Like Lucian's story, this is ultimately more of a fluff piece, but gives an interesting little window into Roan's character and some neat world building for Auroris.

Word count: 848 (flash fiction)

Trigger warning: None needed

Place in the timeline: Year 654

Point of view character(s): Roan

You can read "Finesse" here.

"Fortune's Favor"

The first story I've written about Fin in a couple years, this one picks up later in the timeline than the previous installments of Fin's stories. At this point in time, Fin is well on his way to sobriety, though that doesn't mean he isn't full of the charming wit and self-deprecating spunk that we've come to know and love from him. This would also be my first story about Fin that is written 100% from his perspective!

Word count: 4,990

Trigger warning: None needed

Place in the timeline: Year 654

Point of view character(s): Fin

You can read "Fortune's Favor" here.

Tutorials on the Horizon

You asked, I'm finally delivering! If I had a dollar for every time I had been asked a question about writing or drawing techniques, or even just about the softer skills like keeping up motivation while working on the same project for 10 years, I would probably be a rich woman. Despite that, I believe in free access to educational content, and I love sharing what I know on these subjects for anyone who's willing to learn. As a self-taught artist (and a college-taught writer), I know the value of resources like this as you continue on your artistic journey, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned veteran. We all have a little something we can learn from one another. That's why I'm finally going to start putting together blog posts that will cover a variety of different subjects to help us all improve our ever-growing skillsets.

Now, I can't guarantee the frequency of these tutorials at this point, but I would love to eventually start putting out two a month: 1 about drawing, 1 about writing. I have a small list I've compiled of topics that you all have expressed interest in, but I'm certainly happy to add more to the list if you think of something you'd love to get my perspective on. Feel free to drop any tutorial requests in the comments of any of my blog posts!

In the meantime, here are the first two topics I want to cover...

For writing: Plot and structure

For drawing: Customizing 3D models for posing in Clip Studio Paint

What's coming after that? Guess you'll have to follow my blog and find out!

Free Stuff! Huzzah!

Speaking of following my blog, if the upcoming updates about DEM and tutorials aren't enough to convince you to enter your email for blog updates, I'm also going to be running a giveaway for anyone who subscribes! Those of you who spoke to me at Fort Collins Comic Con are the very first to be aware of this (and welcome, I am very excited to have you joining the Deus Ex Machina crew), but for the rest of you, this is probably news. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Input your email into the blog update box at the bottom of the page. You will now receive an email notifying you any time I post on this blog.

Step 2: On October 17th, I will collect all my subscriber emails and enter them into a randomizer. Whoever is selected will be sent an email notifying them that they've won.

Step 3: Should you win the raffle, you will have 1 week to confirm that you would like the prize. If you decide you don't want the prize, don't respond in the 1 week timeframe, or don't feel comfortable with providing your mailing address to receive your prize, I will draw a new winner.

Step 4: I mail out your prize, and everyone celebrates!

"What is the prize," you may ask? For this raffle, it's something big. I'm building something new here, so I want it to be worth your time...

This raffle drawing will feature a signed, hand-bound, hardcover copy of Promise of Night, of which there are currently only six books in existence. One belongs to me. The other 5 were purchased in my last shop drop. I construct these books completely from scratch by hand, so they're really something special.

A note for my international people though... I won't be able to ship these guys internationally this year. I am terribly sorry, I know a lot of you were excited at the chance to get your hands on one of these books. Perhaps if shipping expenses go down at some point, I'll run another raffle just for you guys, but for now this raffle will need to be exclusive to my U.S. audience.

Even if you don't win this raffle (or if you're ineligible due to your international status), I am hoping to run more raffles for blog subscribers like this every once in a while, probably featuring different prizes. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one!

Wait... What Was That About a Comic Con?

Full disclosure, I meant to have this blog post out before my attendance at the con, but life happens, and I was too busy juggling con prep to crank out this post. But yes, I was able to attend my first ever in-person event: Fort Collins Comic Con 2026!

It was a super fun time, I was able to meet so many other cool and amazing creators, and of course I was able to share Deus Ex Machina with a ton of people. I chatted with over 150 people about it, but who's counting? Certainly not me, the forever-introvert...

Admittedly, my convention experience and subsequent takeaways could probably be its own blog post. If any of you are interested in reading that, go ahead and let me know in the comments and I'll whip up another post. But for now, suffice to say that I'm very interested in doing more in-person events: Book signings, art fests, comic cons, you name it, I'm looking into it. We'll see what the future brings.

Speaking of the Future...

I did want to talk a little bit about why I'm suddenly implementing all these changes. You all know my tendency to wax eloquent on this stuff, so I don't blame you if you decide to dip out of reading this post now and just stick with the general update section. That said, I've been thinking a lot. Ooooo, dangerous.

Those of you who have been following my work for a while now either know me personally, or you probably discovered me through Instagram. In a lot of ways, my Instagram page has been the lifeblood of Deus Ex Machina. It's where my community is, it's where I've been posting all my art, and it's where I chat with readers and connect with fellow creators. But in our current digital landscape with AI around every corner, the constant demand for short form content, and social media algorithms that are designed to push products rather than connect people, I've become increasingly aware that relying on social media as my sole connection to my audience is impractical at best. At worst, it's outright damaging. Because of this, I've been taking the last several months to re-evaluate my relationship with social media, and considering how I can have a healthier dynamic both with my creativity and with my audience.

The simple fact is that running the social media rat race gets exhausting. For example, I've been stuck at 920 followers on my Instagram for 2 years, seeing no improvement despite having regular and consistent posting schedules. It's not just about making the content itself, it's also about packaging it into bite-sized pieces that hopefully the algorithm will pick up and push. It's not just about engaging with my audience (if you check the comment section on any of my posts, you'll see anywhere from 4-20 comments on each of them), it's also about whether or not Instagram agrees that likes, comments, shares, and re-posts are valuable metrics. Constantly viewing my work through the lens of numbers can get really discouraging. I'm lucky to have a vibrant and supportive community around my work, even if it's small, but I can't deny the frustration that comes with feeling like I'm doing everything right to get my work out there to new people and coming up dry for two years straight. And at the end of the day, I feel like I'm wasting so much of my time and creative energy chasing my own tail on Instagram, when if I were to just take a step back from it I might actually have time to work on my project.

I'm not the first person to come to that conclusion, and I'm sure I won't be the last. That said, social media has a way of keeping you on the hook, both as a consumer of content and a producer of content. We are fed this lie that social media is a means of keeping us connected to one another, that if we aren't constantly scrolling or posting, we will miss something important or be buried in the landslide of other content. It's like we're all screaming into the void, trying to make sure that somehow our voice will be just loud enough over all the others to be heard. But guys, my throat is sore at this point, and I'm tired of screaming. I want to speak calmly and do what I love, which is making art, telling stories, and helping other people do the same. I don't need to prove to an unfeeling algorithm that my work is important and that people want to see it. So, I'm taking a step back from social media and trying a different tactic.

This was a scary decision for me to make, honestly. For years, I truly believed that social media was the only way to get my name out there. No one reads blogs anymore. People only want the quick fix of short form content. If I step away from social media, I'll disappear into the ether of the internet never to return. ... Right?

Eventually, I started asking myself where that thinking came from. I realized that while it's true that many people have lost the required attention span to read lengthy blog posts or lock in for in-depth discussions about media consumption, that's not everyone. That's not me. And frankly, that's not my audience. I might have 920 or so people following my Instagram, but that doesn't mean that all 920 of those people are actively engaged with and invested in my work. In reality, it's probably only about 30 people who are actually my audience, and those are the people who will follow my work regardless of where I share it. I know, because I'm talking about you, the person who's reading this right now.

Given all of that, here's what I'm thinking for the future of Deus Ex Machina and my work in general...

Utilizing this blog, I'm planning to start placing my website at the heart of my work. All of my stories will be shared here. All of my lore dumps will now be here. All of my musings about what it's like being an artist/writer in 2026, my tutorials and advice for other creators, and my personal successes and failures in pursuing art as a career will be centralized to the one platform that's completely under my own control. I decide my posting schedule. I write what I want. I trust that the people who truly want to see my work will find my work.

The biggest drawback to this is the fact that, hypothetically, I will lose the reach and exposure that social media gives me. The thing is, the last two years of stagnation on Instagram have shown me that that "reach" was all an illusion to begin with. In that sense, I'm actually losing nothing. So, that means I need to start thinking outside the box for other means of exposure. Beyond optimizing my website for search, the best thing I could think of was starting to attend in-person events. Let's cut out the middle man of social media and start making those personal connections as a person. Crazy concept, I know. I'm sure the older generation reading this is giggling and saying something along the lines of "well, that's how we did it." And you know what? I can respect that. You guys were really onto something. Social media is no replacement for the human connection that's made through face to face interaction.

All of this to say, regardless of where you're from, whether you're my mother (hi Mom!), my college friend, one of my longtime Instagram friends, or a brand new person from the convention I attended, I'm very happy that you're here and reading this. I'm glad that you've decided to support me in a way that has become increasingly unconventional, by... Reading a lengthy blog post. Gasp! Unheard of.

I'm excited to launch this new chapter of Deus Ex Machina as I strike out on a path that, while perhaps well-trod in the past, will certainly require a bit of "foliage chopping." So, my dear friend, hand me that machete, and let's see where this path takes us, shall we?

See you in the next post! And while you wait, please feel free to make yourself comfortable and explore the website.

~ Puritatem per lunae lumen ~