After the Seven Days Spotlight, the Vermont Extended Universe Gears Up for Volume 3 of the VEU.
“Shelburne author Chris Rodgers pairs mysterious short stories with AI‑generated imagery to create curious and fun historical fiction.” — Seven Days (Books, April 23 2025) (Seven Days)
I am grateful to Seven Days and writer Ken Picard for profiling the first two volumes of the VEU. I’ve received a terrific response; many reached out with collaboration ideas or just to say hi. I also had a debate or two about the AI aspect of the volume. That was to be expected. It’s not without controversy. The written word is my passion. It’s my words. I have written hundreds of short stories, mostly first drafts, but I like to pour them out when I get an idea. I’m using the VEU as a vehicle for this. AI writes a decent email, but I take solace knowing it can’t write a great story(yet). Humans have an advantage, we can write better, unhinged, creative stories.
Visuals are a different story. I’ve made a living creating images. I know exactly what I want for every image, but I turned to AI for something I’m offering for free in this form. And it was anything but easy to get the picture I wanted the way I wanted it. I have thousands of photos to use, but nothing works for this project, untouched (except the TOC in Volume 2).
I’d have to hire painters, photographers, and graphic designers and spend tens of thousands to get it how I want it, just so a few hundred could read it. If you want your work in the public, you need to figure out how to do it so people can find it. For me, it was the stories’ visuals and odd nature.
How the images really happen (spoiler: not AI text)
- Shoot the scene – dawn fog on Lake Champlain shot in Shelburne Beach with an iPhone. I knew this was the type of morning I wanted to depict for the Stature of Prosperity story. Fog so thick you can hide a 455ft statue.
- Photoshop surgery – layer textures, color‑grade, and drop in original characters. I took the photo above and extended it so it could match the aspect ratio I needed.
- Midjourney assists. Midjourney is a great way to combine two photos into one or to turn a picture into a painting. The app created a statue that resembles something the creators of the Statue of Liberty would have designed. It didn’t take dozens of attempts before it got close to how I imagined it. I used Photoshop to blend the two, although I never really got the scale; it’s the mood I sought.
- Zero AI words – The writing is my voice, typos and all. All the grammar apps use AI, and I like to use ChatGPT to ensure I don’t mess around with the tenses. I tend to throw in present tense in a past-tense story.
- I do like to use AI to attempt to catch typos, but it’s not perfect, but it’s closer than perfect to me.
What is your passion? If it’s writing, use AI for visuals. Are you a painter? Have AI help you write descriptions. The same goes for photography. In a far too critical world, we are expected to be the masters of everything, but my advice is to release your work in the best and fastest way possible. Use AI as an assistant or collaborator in the parts of the work that would slow you down. The goal is to get your talents recognized and level up. That leveling up includes publishers with the means to pay creatives
What’s next: Volume 3 — arriving July 2025
I’m starting to outline and write Volume 3. Here are a few stories I’m working on.
| Story | Teaser |
|---|---|
| “The Mirrored House” | Abigail investigates a formerly abandoned house deep in the woods with mirrors in the place of broken windows. |
| “The Unbinding” | Thanks to her new friend, Agent Abigail George learns what could free her sister from Garvin, and it’s not what anyone expects. |
| “Rewind the Revolution” | A Hubbardton reenactment glitches when a war reenactment gets real fast |
| More fractures ahead… | Each tale widens the rift between Vermont “as is” and Vermont “might be.” |
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Christopher lives in Vermont with his wife, twin boys, border collie and corgi. He has owned a film production company, sold slot machines, and worked for Tony Robbins. He writes in his magical tiny house and sometimes writes in his blog at chrisrodgers.blog
Visit his author’s page.