Video Thursday: Sneezing Mecha Edition

Even legendary war machines have bad days. ๐Ÿคง The Armor of Arent has waited centuries for a worthy pilot, survived countless battles, and intimidated monsters across three books. It was not, however, prepared for that sneeze. (The pauldrons came back. They always come back.)

https://youtube.com/shorts/eq4rsXCFqkI?feature=share

๐ŸŽฌ Created with Midjourney + Suno

๐Ÿ“š The Armor of Arent guest stars in the Hunter Healer King gaslamp fantasy trilogy by Mel Dunay: steampunk monster hunting, slow-burn romance, and a little dry humor that does not actually involve sneezing robots.

๐ŸŽฌ More chaos in the outtakes: Maxim blames a bee and Maxim’s horse Scrimshaw orders an espresso

๐Ÿ“š READ THE TRILOGY:

Book 1 – Wolf’s Trail

Book 2 – Undead Flight

Book 3 – Dragon’s Teeth

AI as Writerโ€™s Assistant: Marketing with AIย 

To the extent that I have a philosophy of AI use, it comes to this: I want AI to handle the tasks I donโ€™t enjoy. Falling in love with a set of characters, following them through their adventures, figuring out how the world around them worksโ€ฆto me, those are the fun parts. If I care enough about a story to want to see it on Amazon with a proper cover and a nonzero chance of someone besides me reading it and caring about it, I want to draft it myself. Hunting for typos and logic fails and things I did wrong? Not the fun parts, which is why I have been using AI more in the revision process. Writing a fanfic nobody but me wants to read? Fun but not as fun as it might be, plus it takes mental energy away from writing things that I might be able to sell. Hence, the Fanficcing with Claude label that turns up in this blog. And then thereโ€™s marketing. 

Marketing does not come easily to some writers, and I am one of them. When Iโ€™m happy with my writing, my opinion of it sounds too egotistical to share. When Iโ€™m unhappy with it, my opinion is too depressing for words. As for keywords, blurbs, covers, search engine optimization, noun phrase optimization, my brain tends to lock up or go down unhelpful rabbit holes. So, I turned to AI, first for cover art and blurb help and then for other marketing tasks.  So, a quick rundown on what Iโ€™ve done: 

Continue reading “AI as Writerโ€™s Assistant: Marketing with AIย “

Video Thursday: Caffeinated Horse Edition

Maxim is a man of discernment. So is his horse. ๐Ÿดโ˜• This is what happens when you don’t ask Midjourney nicely. ๐ŸŽฌ Created with Midjourney + Suno ๐Ÿ“š Maxim stars in the Hunter Healer King gaslamp fantasy trilogy by Mel Dunay โ€” steampunk monster hunting, slow-burn romance, and apparently a horse with refined taste in caffeine. ๐ŸŽฌ Also in the outtakes universe: https://youtu.be/XKpsAwKlKyM ๐Ÿ“š READ THE TRILOGY: Book 1 – Wolf’s Trail: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR81P9QP Book 2 – Undead Flight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNGWVPMH Book 3 – Dragon’s Teeth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GB86H4N5 Complete series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR7ZL3S7 ๐ŸŒ https://jaglionpress.com/blog/ #HunterHealerKing #AIArtFails #MidjourneyOuttakes #GaslampFantasy #AIArt #SteampunkRomance #IndieAuthor #HorseGirl #Espresso #CharactersWithAttitude

Video Thursday: War Chant Edition

Before Maxim danced, his father marched. ๐Ÿฅ This is the version of the Armor of Arent’s song that Maxim’s father, King Urban, would have known: no fiddles, no dance rhythm. Just male voices, a drum, and a war chant old enough to mean something. The lively folk setting in the original music video? That came later. After a certain pilot got into the cockpit and had ideas.

๐ŸŽถ Lyrics video. Sing along if you dare. https://youtube.com/shorts/zxcLk0oLF_Y

๐ŸŽฌ Created with AI tools (Midjourney + Suno) ๐Ÿ“š From the gaslamp fantasy series by Mel Dunay! The Hunter-Healer-King trilogy combines steampunk monster hunting with slow-burn romance. For fans of Patricia Briggs and Lindsay Buroker.

๐ŸŽฌ Watch the dancing mecha version here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XhTQ__CjtVY

๐Ÿ“š READ THE HUNTER HEALER KING TRILOGY: Book 1 – Wolf’s Trail: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR81P9QP Book 2 – Undead Flight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNGWVPMH Book 3 – Dragon’s Teeth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GB86H4N5 Complete series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR7ZL3S7 ๐ŸŒ https://jaglionpress.com/blog/

#HunterHealerKing #GaslampFantasy #SlavicMusic #WarChant #SteampunkRomance #LyricsVideo #AIMusic #MonsterHunting #MelDunay #IndieFantasy #WorldBuilding

Ten Years Ago Today…

I put a short story with a lousy cover up on Amazon. A couple of months later, I took it down again. It was October of that year before I published my first novel. and now, well…

I would lying if I said I’d found fame or fortune doing this. But it’s been a fun adventure and I plan to keep on with it.

Video Thursday: Bee Movie Outtakes Edition

Midjourney had opinions. So did my characters. ๐Ÿ
Sometimes AI art gives you exactly what you asked for, and sometimesโ€ฆWell. Your heroine refuses to look frightened and your hero has a bee-related explanation for everything. This is that second kind of video.

๐Ÿ A tip of the hat to Cedar Sanderson who came up with “Sorry, there was a bee”.

๐Ÿ“š Chloe and Maxim star in the Hunter Healer King gaslamp fantasy trilogy by Mel Dunay: steampunk monster hunting, slow-burn romance, and apparently bees.

๐Ÿ“š READ THE TRILOGY: Book 1 – Wolf’s Trail: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR81P9QP Book 2 – Undead Flight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNGWVPMH Book 3 – Dragon’s Teeth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GB86H4N5 Complete series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR7ZL3S7

Video Thursday: Sing Along Edition

Steampunk Armor And Slavic Folk Music (Lyrics) | Hunter Healer King

The Armor of Arent has been waiting for a worthy pilot. Now it has one. ๐ŸŽถ Sing along to the Slavic-inspired folk music from the Hunter Healer King music video!

๐ŸŽฌ Created with AI tools (Midjourney + Suno) ๐Ÿ“š From the gaslamp fantasy series by Mel Dunay! The Hunter-Healer-King trilogy combines steampunk monster hunting with slow-burn romance. For fans of Patricia Briggs and Lindsay Buroker.

๐Ÿ“š READ THE HUNTER HEALER KING TRILOGY: Book 1 – Wolf’s Trail: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR81P9QP Book 2 – Undead Flight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNGWVPMH Book 3 – Dragon’s Teeth: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GB86H4N5 Or get the complete series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR7ZL3S7

๐ŸŽฌ Watch the original music video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/XhTQ__CjtVY

๐ŸŒ More monster hunting lore from the world of Hunter Healer King: https://jaglionpress.com/category/hunter-healer-king/

#HunterHealerKing #GaslampFantasy #SteampunkRomance #MonsterHunting #steampunk #mecha #gaslampfantasy #AImusic #fantasyarmor #SlavicFolkMusic #LyricsVideo