Stephanie O'Brien's Blog

Happy New Year - and New Novel Projects, Too!

2/1/2023

Somehow, improbably enough, its already 2023! This past year was certainly interesting; I switched my focus to a sci-fi fantasy novel whose outline/first draft hybrid is over 52,000 words long, am working on the character designs for said novel, got a few more chapters of Just Cause published, and started a series of pride flag-themed art pieces.

You can see the synopsis/back cover description for the novel in the image below:

Text that reads: 50,000 years ago, the deities abandoned their children. They bound the newborn semideities to physical forms, to an endless cycle of death and rebirth, and left them in the mortal realm to fend for themselves. 20,000 years ago, the Children of Memory feared they were doomed. As the only semidei who could recall their past lives, Raina and Quillen remembered every wound and death, and watched everyone either forget them repeatedly or vanish forever. They wondered how long it would be before the pain drove them mad. And yet, they endured, because they had each other. Until suddenly they didn’t. 500 years ago, Quillen disappeared. For thousands of years, Quillen had been a healer, a father, and a zealous guardian of the sick and injured. Then one day, as magical Wisps poured from his body to possess the people around him, a desperate defender cast him into a distant dimension, leaving Raina with unbearable grief and unanswerable questions where her brother used to be. Now, the world is changing. The Wisps are stirring. The deadliest among them are starting to coordinate. And Raina’s magic tells her Quillen has returned.

It's an early WIP; I might pare the text down later, and I'll almost certainly add something more to make the back cover pop, but for now I think it gives a good bird's-eye view of what this story is about.

It's been a while since an original story took over my brain the way this one has, and I'm really glad it did.

Outlining this story has certainly been an exercise in "shelving my darlings" - not killing them, but setting them aside for future books.

I had several characters, relationships, plot threads, and major conflicts planned in the original outline of this book, and then Raina and Quillen came swanning in, took over, and created a new storyline in which some of the original pieces no longer fit, haha.

A lot of these story components are too good to lose, and too complex and compelling to relegate to side plots, so I'll just have to find a new home for them where they can fully shine.

Hopefully by the end of 2023, I'll be able to share the completed book! In the meantime, I wish you an amazing year full of fun, inspiration, and amazing stories.

P.S. If you want to be the first to know when the book is available, and to get early access to excerpts, concept art, and other such goodies, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

New Pride Flag Art: Agender Arctic Ascent

19/11/2022

I had so much fun drawing Lesbian Lake Landscape that I decided to make another piece of pride flag landscape art, this time based on the agender flag. I think this one turned out even better than the first!

You can purchase this artwork as an NFT, and you can get it on home decor, clothing, accessories, and more via my RedBubble and Society6 stores.

I'm seriously considering doing more of these, maybe even going through my whole set of pride flags in alphabetical order.

But that would mean the androgyne flag, which consists of just 3 vertical stripes, is next... *artistic eye twitch*

I've been trying to mostly stick with just using the shades that are actually on the flag, except for some sky gradients to make the clouds visible, so it'll be interesting to see if I can pull this off, or if I'll end up having to bend some rules to make it look good.

Maybe I could draw a blue waterfall on a purple crystal cliff, adorned with pink flowers... yeah, that could work.

New Pride Flag Art: Lesbian Lake Landscape

11/11/2022

This is an experimental piece, my first attempt at creating art exclusively with the colors of a pride flag, as opposed to drawing black outlines or foregrounds and filling in the openings with flag colors.

It's a bit rough in places, but I feel like there's a certain charm in that, a reminder that art doesn't have to be polished and perfect to be beautiful.

You can get this artwork on prints, clothes, home decor, and more via the links below:

Get it on Redbubble

Get it on Society6

You can also get an unwatermarked version as an NFT on Voice here.

Page 62 of My "Undertale" Comic, "Just Cause", is Ready!

28/10/2022

*Voice of The Onion*

Oh, God, Area Skeleton Making His Move

To see what led to Sans' current move-making, you can read the comic from the beginning here.

Undertale and Sans can be deliciously creepy when they want to be.

Patreon | Ko-fi | Commissions | Physical merch with my art on it

"Just Cause", Chapter 17: Nostalgia

1/10/2022

Alphys has an awkward moment with Mettaton. Mettaton has an awkward moment with some rose petals. Frisk has an adorable moment with Sans.

All this and more happens in the latest chapter of my Undertale fanfic, Just Cause.

Read it on this site.

Read it on AO3.

Chapter 16 of "Just Cause" is Ready to Read!

25/9/2022

Buckle up, everyone! Alphys is in a moral hole, she's found a new shovel, and she's ready to start digging!

Check out chapter 16 of my Undertale fanfic, Just Cause, to see how Frisk handles their first encounter with the royal scientist and a violent robotic TV host.

Read it on this site

Read it on AO3

The Fae Within is Now Available on Physical Products!

18/9/2022

My new artwork, "The Fae Within," is now available on T-shirts, tapestries, tote bags, and more!

You can see all the cool stuff you can choose from by checking out my Redbubble and Society6 stores.

Chapter 15 of "Just Cause" is Out!

15/9/2022

Today on Kids and Fish Who Are Having a Worse Day Than You, my Undertale fanfic, Just Cause, now has a new chapter!

You can read chapter 15 on my website here.

Or you can read it on on AO3 here.

Here's a quick excerpt:

A few seconds before his boss was supposed to arrive, Sans teleported to his Hotland sentry station.

The moment he materialized, the sound that greeted him made him almost wish he’d stayed away.

“Come on, is that all you’ve got!?”

As Undyne’s strained, struggling voice drifted through the cavern and washed across him, grim resignation pulled Sans’ eyelids closed.

The kid might actually be killing her.

I’d hoped they were past that.

The Fae Within

11/9/2022

A fae casts a glamour to take the form of a normal child... or a child's mind soars into a world where she's a creature of power and magic. Which one is it? I'll leave it to you to decide.

A blonde girl with a sky-blue T-shirt, green shorts, and brown shoes stands on a sunny hill. She’s casting a spell that’s transformed one side of her into an antlered, purple-haired fae, with a blue cape and winter coat, green leggings, and a silver boot with leafy green decorations.

You can see the high-resolution version, as well as the earlier drawing stages, by supporting me on Patreon.

Excerpts from Catgirl Roommate

10/9/2022

You know what I haven't done in a while? Shared excerpts from Catgirl Roommate!

Time to remedy that. =^_^=

“The chances of this NOT being a trap are as good as your chances of making the football team.”

“I’d rather bathe a tiger than join our college’s football team. Not that I see a difference between the two.”

“You WOULD say that, you weenie. But I bet the option you’re taking is just as bad.”

His best frenemy’s words rang dimly in Sam’s mind, bouncing off the new blank spaces in his brain as he stared at the spectacle in the centre of the living room.

At the time, Sam’s insistence that he knew what he was getting into had seemed perfectly sane.

Now, it was just another echo in the cacophony swirling through his head: a chorus of inane questions, obvious statements, and random vowel noises.

In a distant corner of his mind, Sam was aware that the door was sliding closed. It would be easy to escape, but somehow the sound of it clicking shut felt like a signal that he’d just been locked in an asylum and was expected to run the place.

“Hi.”

The word left his mouth before he could quell the social reflex, and panic slugged him in the chest, as if his heart had decided it was tired of living in a body with an idiot and was trying to punch an escape route through his ribs.

The cover art of Catgirl Roommate.

If you enjoyed these mini-excerpts, you can read a longer excerpt and grab your copy of Catgirl Roommate here.