Quarterly Update Post
Epiphany Edition
Welcome to The Story Scrapbook, a fiction newsletter by E.B. Howard! If you’re new in town, check out my Fiction Directory for navigation.
This is my quarterly update post for all subscribers.
What’s In This Edition
Plans for next quarter, including the upcoming “paywallening”
Links to this quarter’s work
Did you spot all these Radiance appearances around Fictionstack?
A recipe for grain-free, dairy-free brownies that don’t suck
To my new readers, welcome! To my old readers, welcome back! I hope the holiday season treated you well.
2025 was a massive year for me. Fourth child, first novel (or its draft, anyway), and then immediately into the second novel on a whim, which seems to be a theme. It was another heavy postpartum season, and a lot of consistent effort pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and a lot of growth as a result. More posting, tighter organization, paying attention to admin stuff with my Substack. And then of course there’s my ‘regular life’ with homeschool, the day job, and the commute all getting more intense this year. Friends, I am Very Tired.
After this, I’ll be taking a break from posting for the rest of January. I still have plenty of work to be doing, but setting Mirai, Mirai aside temporarily will give me the space to be flexible about the rest. I appreciate your patience as I regroup.
What’s Next in 2026
I’ve begun work on that project I mentioned to turn Science! Girl and Chained Lightning into my self-pub test case. Much research later, I can already see that my vision for illustrations is what’s going to hold back the timeline the most. We shall see where that goes!
Mirai, Mirai will return on Feb 2, and continue to post on Monday mornings! I can’t believe we’re halfway through, but small steps every week add up. I’m projecting it to run through July and end up around 70K words.
A two-parter concerning the adventures of Featherweight, Intern Josh, and Tired New Mom Dr. Grimes is projected for February or March.
Free subscribers take note: I’ve been publishing on Substack for two years now, and it’s time to tidy up the archives. Starting this month, at the end of every month I’m going to put a paywall on any standalone posts from that month two years ago. When the last post of a serial or multipart story turns two years old, then I’ll paywall the whole thing at once. Paid-only story posts will also now have their own section, 🔒The Story Archive. Entering this quarter…
February: some old flash fiction about my historical spy characters.
March: The Two Sisters (WWI family drama) and Voicemail (contemporary paranormal).
I still really like “Voicemail”, and plan to write the rest of the story at some point—if you want to meet Tim Chamoun, who can channel the spirits of the dead but pays his rent by faking more marketable psychic powers1, don’t miss that before it goes paid-only on March 31.
What I Wrote This Autumn
With the days turning gloomy and so much going on, the end of the year is often a slower time for my writing. Over the last twelve weeks, I’ve posted three stories, including weekly updates for my ongoing serial Mirai, Mirai.
✨Mirai, Mirai: What if, in order for the events of Radiance to take place, the next generation from various “bad ending” timelines had to figure out how to work together—with their parents, no less—and save the past?
Multiverse family drama. 26 posts (in-progress): currently 29,514 words.
🪨Try, Try Again (The Midnight Vault II): After death, an old man gets a second chance.
Inspired by The Twilight Zone. 2,013 words.
👻The Long Walk: Moving to a new place comes with all kinds of surprises.
Flash fiction: a ghost story. 800 words.
This summer I opened up 🔒The Drafting Table, and it’s been a great success. Paid subscribers get a monthly email (and free subscribers get the preview—although you can opt out of this section if you prefer) in which I talk about my upcoming posts and goals for the month, nerd out about my characters, go behind the scenes, etc. Thank you for your support!
🔒November Paid Update: In which I talk about my visual design hopes for the published version of Science! Girl.
🔒December Paid Update: In which I post some thumbnail sketches for my illustrations.
🔒January Paid Update: In which I make good on a Radiance D&D character concept that I discussed in one of last year’s updates.
Out and About
A few months ago, Thérèse Judeana kindly sat down with me for a phone interview about my writing process with Radiance and what it was like to publish my first serial. You can listen to our chat here!
Thérèse is an accomplished artist as well as a writer (and she does freelance work!) This fall she collected a set of her fanart pieces of Lady and Radiant Blaze—with lovely costume designs!—and published Radiant Melody #1.0, a crossover comic starring Radiance’s romantic leads alongside those of her series Haunting Melody.
You may already know Michael S. Atkinson of “mad wholesome” superhero fame; if you don’t, you should. His Edison City stories exist in a different universe from my Terra-32, but since both settings have now been confirmed to have access to the multiverse, well…if something can go wrong, you know. Check out his post-apocalyptic serial Lights Out to find out more…
You can see a character portrait I did for The Casual Writer in the second chapter of her weird-West serial, The Penny Bullet! (I also did one for J. M. Allen, but I didn’t talk to him about it first, so that’s on me if it looks funny. That’s in episode six of his sci-fi bounty hunter serial, Monster of the Week.)
While I’m not currently advertising, I’m open to do art commissions as time allows. DM me any time if interested.
I’ve had so many shout-outs this quarter from readers compiling best-of lists, flagging my work as a current read, or just going on Notes to say nice things about it, that I actually couldn’t round them all up. (In addition to friends already mentioned, I owe thanks to Scoot, Leanne Shawler, Remus Noronha, and Ian Dunmore, just that I remember off the top of my head. If I forgot you, feel free to call me out.) I’ve always said I have the best readers, and you all never fail to come through on proving it. I appreciate all of you so much, from the vocal superfans to the email lurkers. It’s a privilege to keep you guessing.
What I’m Baking This Week
As picking out gifts is not among my strong suits, several years back I switched most of my Christmas/New Years gift list over to cookie boxes. I have no regrets. What makes them extra fun (and I say this sincerely!) is that autoimmune issues run in my family, and every year the list of food restrictions gets a little longer. Fortunately, almost everybody on my list can have these brownies, and I already make them regularly. The texture is crackly on the outside and fudgy and chewy on the inside, they freeze perfectly, and they don’t dry out on the counter. I worked out the single-serve muffin version because their biggest fault was tending to stick to the pan and crumble when cut. Like this, they’re perfect.
Notes:
I’ve made these successfully with both avocado oil and melted butter (for the dairy non-avoiders.) I think nearly any liquid fat would work, as long as the taste wasn’t too strong.
Almond flour is probably the only ‘unusual’ ingredient in here. We get ours at Costco, but Walmart also carries it and a lot of smaller grocery stores do now as well.
If you don’t have cream of tartar, you can replace the cream of tartar and baking soda with 1 teaspoon baking powder, but the brownies will no longer be grain-free unless you’ve verified that your baking powder is grain-free also! Most commercial baking powders use either corn or wheat starch to keep the mixture dry and free-flowing. I do buy grain-free baking powder, but I find that this recipe rises slightly better as written.
Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Almond Flour Brownies
Makes 12 in a 8” square, 9” round, or standard muffin pan.
Doubled, makes 24 in a 10” square or 9x13” rectangular pan.
5 tablespoons oil (68 g)
1 1/2 cups sugar (300 g)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup cocoa powder (65g)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups almond flour (144g)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Oven to 350. Thoroughly grease your pan. If using a muffin pan, add and grease cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, combine oil, sugar, salt, vanilla, cocoa, and eggs.
Stir in the almond flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top for even thickness if necessary.
Bake muffins for about 30 min, 8/9” pan for about 35 minutes, and larger pan for at least 40 minutes. They’re done when the top is set and a toothpick comes out nearly clean.
Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting or removing from the pan.
That about wraps it up for this update. Thank you for reading! Until next time, have a good day, God bless.
—EB
“EB,” you ask, already suspicious because you know that power never comes for free in my stories, “does Tim have issues?” Reader, Tim has a lifetime subscription to Psychology Today magazine.
I wonder if it would be worth leaving the opening chapter of the serial as free, as a hook into paid subscriptions? Just thinking it’ll be difficult for new readers to join in the continuing serials in the Radiance universe without having read what’s come before.