Villagers far and wide welcome her with both awe and disdain — grateful to her for ridding their towns of the undead menace, but finding themselves made poorer for their salvation. Magiere knows she’s dealing with simple folk, who only wish to have their superstitions silenced, and sees nothing wrong with exploiting them for profit.Now, tired of the game, Magiere and her partner, the half-elf Leesil, are ready to hang up their weapons and settle down in a place they can finally call home. But their newfound peace will not last — for Magiere has come to the attention of a trio of powerful and dangerous vampires who know her true identity — and fear the birthright that flows through her veins. And they will stop at nothing to keep Magiere from fulfilling her destiny.

    Unfortunately, something was waiting on the other side.Nearly 150 year later, humanity is in a never-ending war to hold what is left of its world. Vic is a military asset for the United Forces of Humanity (UFH) and his job is to kill the Invader orcs and their kin. While on a mission, he is exposed to an advanced technology which grants him powers beyond anything he has known. How can he grow and use those powers serve humanity and its hope to take back the world?Travel with Vic as he uncovers strange happenings throughout human cities, strengthens himself and his allies, and breaks rules set in place a century and a half ago. Watch as he allies himself with elves, dwarves, gnomes and beastkin to battle the Invaders using a mix of ancient magic and futuristic technology.

    The side effects were anything but hopeful. Mara and Sebastian are young, in love and newlyweds. Far too soon, they will face tests to their love that most others won’t survive. Their bond strengthens with each loss, destruction and unbearable race against time. In each other, they find the will and hope to endure. Hand in hand, they will face the darkening of humanity with strength and integrity and an undeniable spirit to survive; together.

    The Dream Engine keeps Noah’s mind alive while doctors frantically work to heal his body, but his death in the game could result in irreversible brain damage. While Noah learns to navigate the Dream Game, his girlfriend, Sue, suffers injuries from the same crash. Then the doctors’ attempts to connect her to the game result in her apparent death. When a mysterious avatar drops notes suggesting the last remnants of Sue’s consciousness are being held prisoner in the most dangerous part of the game, Noah takes it upon himself to rescue her.He allies himself with a group of high-level players to help him in his quest, but his rise through the ranks earns him a bounty. With top players across the world gunning for Noah, can he stay alive--and awake--long enough to save Sue and escape the game?

    With Patch 17, the level of immersion experienced by players in their gaming capsules has made virtual reality indistinguishable from the real world. But every gamer's dream becomes a nightmare for Roman Kozhevnikov after he gets confined to Arkon against his will. And not just to Arkon, but to its deadliest zone--Demon Grounds. Playing, or rather living as his character Krian, it's not just about survival for Roman. He longs to exact revenge for his banishment to the virtual world where the sensation of pain has reached one hundred percent...

    When she stepped out of the Pueblo Caliente courthouse, all she was thinking about was the work she had to get caught up on. Then her attention was caught by a fight between a couple that looked like it was about to turn ugly. But ugly didn't even begin to cover it when the "man" suddenly transformed into a huge, winged monster right out of a grade Z science fiction movie and went on a deadly killing spree. In hindsight, Kitty realized she probably should have panicked and run screaming the way everyone around her was doing. Instead she sprinted into action to take down the alien. In the middle of all the screeching and the ensuing chaos, a hunk in an Armani suit suddenly appeared beside her, introduced himself as Jeff Martini with "the agency," and then insisted on leading her to a nearby limo to talk to his "boss." And that was how Kitty's new life among the aliens began...Touched by an Alien is the thrilling first installment of the Alien novels.

    Billed as the first true alternate reality, Nova Terra runs parallel to the real world and promises to fulfill the fantasies and desires of those who dare plunge into its mysterious depths. In order to adjust to his new life of quests, skill mastery, and magic, Xavier will have to forget everything he knows. As he struggles to make the most of his new-found freedom, Xavier will have to learn to deal with a new body, new friends, and a new world that is much more than it seems. Nova Terra, your dreams, your world.

    A prison planet designed for blood sport. The Sovereign Empire’s power was a lie.Brutally trained his entire short life to be a Sovereign Elite and defend the Empire, Azrael instead finds himself a prisoner. Not even eight years old, and without system access, Azrael is abandoned on Tech Duinn. He must rely on his hunting trainers to keep his identity secret. There is no doubt that if people learn his last name, he would wake up in the arena… if he woke up at all.While fleeing the takeover of Mur, the group discovers how deep despair can drag them. Soon, only the praise of the bloody mob in the Arena Pit Dungeon keeps them alive. Surviving seems impossible, yet Azrael vows to not only live, but to find a way off-world.Azrael lives only because of applause. Others will die for it. Death or escape is the only way out of the cycle.

    The buildings and all the people inside, they've all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.Only a few dare venture inside. But once you're in, you can't get out. And what's worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it's game over. In this game, it's not about your strength or your dexterity. It's about your views and your followers. It's about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.You can't just survive here. You gotta survive big.You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that "it" factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That's the only way to truly survive in this game, with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy. They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it's anything but a game.

    A mere nurse, I had no business going out into the sun where all kinds of monstrosities roamed. But what other choice did I have? All our scouts had already perished on previous surface runs, leaving us few other options. It was either take the gamble or let my people die of hunger.As if to prove my fears right, I was only out in the open for a few minutes when a pack of Kinru spotted me. Standing absolutely no chance, I started to run for my life but was quickly cornered by one of the fearsome beasts.In a last desperate attempt to defend myself, I managed to hurt one in the face…right before the creature was snatched by an even bigger monster that turned it into a snack. Then everything became a blur.When I came to, I wasn’t the same anymore. As it turns out, wounding the Kinru had earned me some mystical energy called “Bloodpoints” which gave me access to the “Hunter’s Sight.” Now, wherever I look, I have strange words floating before my eyes urging me to assign those Bloodpoints to gain incredible skills and abilities. Moreover, if I manage to kill a monster in the future, it would seem that I could use its bones to craft powerful talismans and its organs to brew magical potions.As I’ll learn, there’s a name for people like me who’ve unlocked the Hunter’s Sight: Venators. But if those new talents give me a chance to survive on the surface, I still am very much a green and weak Venator. I will need to keep hunting monsters if I want to increase my points and provide for my people. Who knows, someday, I might even grow strong enough to reclaim the surface from those foul beasts and the worst of them all: the Titans, the dreaded giants which drove humanity underground in the first place…

    Hamilton's Anita Blake and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan--in this sassy debut novel by Saintcrow. Original.

    He’s more than a little perturbed to discover that he is dead, but it’s not the end of the world. Due to him being in the army, he gets a 2nd chance at existence in a fantasy VR game called Adonis Rebirth. There, Nathan will get to live another life, one filled with heroic quests and epic adventures. A land packed with legend and glory, where anyone can be a hero. But there’s a problem with his transition into the game. His consciousness isn’t loaded into a player character, but instead is transplanted into a beast who lives in the bowels of a mountain. Even worse, he finds out he is the end monster in a new limited-edition quest, where the 1st to complete it wins a unique prize. Soon, hero players are going to come and kill him. He needs to find a way to survive the hero onslaught, all the while trying to discover how to reverse what happened to him. He needs allies, but it’s hard to make them when you look like Nosferatu's ugly brother. Nathan will have to master his skills and learn how to play as the monster - his 2nd life depends on it.

    A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers, and Americans suffering from these so-called adverse effects were given an ultimatum: Serve the country or be declared a traitor.Some people chose a third option: live a life of crime.Seventeen-year-old Ciere Giba has the handy ability to change her appearance at will. She's what's known as an illusionist. She's also a thief. After crossing a gang of mobsters, Ciere must team up with a group of fellow superpowered criminals on a job that most would have considered impossible: a hunt for the formula that gave them their abilities. It was supposedly destroyed years ago - but what if it wasn't?Government agents are hot on their trail, and the lines between good and bad, us and them, and freedom and entrapment are blurred as Ciere and the rest of her crew become embroiled in a deadly race that could cost them their lives.

    The result was a bold and unique hero–weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself–with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the sixties into one enduring archetype.Here is the first volume of a collection of stories containing the seminal appearances of Elric and lavishly illustrated by artist John Picacio–plus essays, letters, maps, and other material. Adventures include “The Dreaming City,” “While the Gods Laugh,” “Kings in Darkness,” “Dead God’s Homecoming,” “Black Sword’s Brothers,” and “Sad Giant’s Shield.”

    Even the danger of the experimental full immersion technology didn’t put him off. It beat living in a nursing home and was supposed to let him feel young again, at least until modern medicine and his body gave out.But there was something wrong with Asgard’s Fall. The “gods” running the game didn’t act like AIs were supposed to most of the time. And some of the players took things too seriously, like they knew something about the game that Noah didn’t. Forced to rely on skills he abandoned a lifetime ago and new digital abilities that resemble ancient magics more than modern code, Noah has to unravel the mysteries behind Asgard’s Fall. And in doing so, discover an ancient threat that has forced a world long hidden from mankind into the light.