LatinosUSA

Today, I am excited to introduce you to a very different sort of art … the digitally designed homes and gardens of talented author and blogger, ac flory.

For me, it is a most amazing idea to be able to create your dream home/s and garden/s using digital tools. I could really lose myself in this sort of creativity.

Tell us a bit about your background and how it has led you to creating these delightful digital homes and gardens

When I was a kid, my Dad and I would go for long walks, and we’d check out all the houses we saw along the way. If we went on a weekend, we’d sometimes discover houses in the process of being built and we’d go inside for a sticky beak («Take a Look-see» in Australian slang). I think that’s why I became fascinated with the ‘bones’ of the buildings. Building in games is very different but the thrill of creating something lovely is the same.

Could you explain simply how you go about creating these videos and what software you use

Creating videos is a multi-step process. First you have to use video capture software to ‘film’ the build. The one I’m currently using is D3DGear. Next, you have to edit the raw footage so that it tells a smooth ‘story’. After that you add a voice-over, which is the narration part of the process, and at the very end you add music, but very softly! VideoStudio Ultimate 2023 is a decent video editor and allows me to do everything I need to do, including doing some simple animations. 

Which is your favourite house and why?

Oh gawd…that’s like asking a mother which is her favourite child! Seriously, I couldn’t name a favourite because the one I’m working on is always the one I love the most…in that moment. I love my Tel Galen house, in the Elder Scrolls Online, and I love the houseboat I built in Once Human. Oddly enough, both look out over the ocean. I must be more of an Aussie than I thought!

Click on the slideshow to see three perspectives of the Tel Galen house.

This is the Youtube video of Tel Galen: a brand new house overlooking the ocean.

Which one would you live in if you could?

Which one would I live in? Oh, now that is easy – the houseboat! I’ve been fascinated by how tiny houses force you to re-evaluate what are the truly important things for a happy life. And I’ve come to the conclusion that huge, echoing spaces are not my cup of tea. So long as my houseboat had enough space for a dog and a cat, I’d be happy!

Tell us a bit about your Innerscape books series – what inspired the idea for this fascinating idea? Did your work on these books lead to the creation of the house videos? The books include digitally created houses.

Innerscape started as a love-letter to my house. I built it twenty years ago, but every summer since Black Saturday [2009 bushfires in Victoria] I’ve been afraid I’d lose it to a bushfire. Home is incredibly important to me so that whole bit in the first chapter of Miira –  about the alpacas and the roses – it was all true. The alpacas have all gone to alpaca heaven now, but the roses are still beautiful, and we have two crazy, highly opinionated Dorper sheep to keep us on our toes.

Click on the slideshow to see three different views of the houseboat.

This is the Youtube video of Glass House No.4 – the houseboat.

This is my favourite house – ESO housing – a water garden in the Ample Domicile. I just love the garden and all the water. The style of this house is very rustic. This is where I’d chose to live.

A.C. Flory the writer

A.C. Flory is also a very talented writer. She has a wonderful series of books, Innerscape. She also has a brilliant collection of short stories and another stand alone book.

A.C. Flory also has two very useful non-fiction books on how to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing (step-by-step guides).

My review of The Godsend (Innerscape #2)

In book 2 to this highly entertaining series starts with Miira back at her beloved home, beautifully replicated in Innerscape. Here, Miira should have everything she wants as her late pets are there to share her old home with her as well as a gardener and a housekeeper. Miira now has a life of ease and luxury where she doesn’t need to do any of the less appealing things in life like cooking or cleaning. She is able to garden and enjoy herself to her heart’s content in the beautiful garden. Sadly, Miira is not able to adapt to the less believable / realistic aspects of her new life and so she decides to go on an adventure. She plans to visit all sorts of amazing places she always wanted to see but never did.

Miira goes to Japan where she meets up with her Innerscape guide, Jaimie Watson. Jaimie is the son of the nurse who eased Miira’s passage into Innerscape. He is the youngest resident following a terrible accident when he was a youngster. His mother saved his life by persuading her bosses to allow Jaimie to become a resident of Innerscape. Jaimie, now 18 years old, is finding it difficult to fit into the artificial world of Innerscape as there are no other young people and he is engaged in ‘coming of age’ and learning who he is. Jaimie finds solace in entering the gaming world outside of Innerscape where he can engage with other young people. Unfortunately, this learning process has left him hurt when his relationship with another youngster ended. Jaimie needs a friend and Miira, a very different person from the other residents due to her unbringing and early life, is a good choice.

Jaimie and Miira become friends and Jaimie teaches Miira about the world of gaming. In the outside world, Dr Kenneth has been sacked and is not dealing with his unemployed situation well. There is also an unidentified person who is looking for ‘the Burned Man’ who is also a recent resident in Innerscape. This person is determined to find and kill the Burned Man. It is not easy to find a resident in Innerscape that only the AI knows how to find. Even the identity of the Burned Man is unknow to everyone except the top leadership of Innerscape. The potential murderer hires a professional killer/hit person to find and kill the Burned Man. Jaimie, whose mother has access to a lot of information at Innerscape, becomes a target of the hit person and Miira, as his friend, also becomes embroiled in the devious plan.

I enjoyed how Miira’s character developed and observing her attempts to adapt to, and make the best of, her new life in Innerscape. I admired this about Miira. It is not easy to make the best of situations that turn out to be different from your expectations and I liked Miira’s determination and positive attitude. Miira is a character whom I see as a very positive role model for women.

Jaimie’s growth arc was also fascinating to follow in this second book in the series. Miira has a positive influence on Jaimie and he starts to reconcile some of his issues with his mother and his life as a whole. I am looking forward to seeing how Jaimie’s character develops further in the third and last book in the series.

I think this is a very inspired and unusual series of books. The world of Innerscape is highly imaginative and yet relatable in our modern world of AI. Although I don’t read a lot of science fiction, this series is character driven and the story is very engaging and entertaining.

I highly recommend this book and this series.

Purchase The Godsend by ac flory from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076HMMGHX

Find ac flory’s Amazon US author page with all her books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/acflory/author/B00B1M04JI

About A.C. Flory

Two books changed acflory’s life – Dune, by Frank Herbert, and The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K LeGuin. Together, those two books showed what science fiction could be. acflory has been striving to live up to that high standard since 2001. One day she hopes to get close.

Find A.C. Flory on her blog here: https://acflory.wordpress.com/2021/06/18/my-first-how-to-video-kinda-sorta/

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Social Media Links

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
TSL Publications: https://tslbooks.uk/product-tag/robbie-cheadle/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robbie-Cheadle/author/B01N9J62GQ
Unsplash profile: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle