These collected stories cover well known and loved characters, as well as some lesser seen NPCs. Into the Deadlands: Alistern, Grimgar, Almira, Stewart, and Flora take their first trip into the sands. The longest story in the anthology, and a harrowing tale of heroics. Lilith’s History: How did Lilith come to be with Alistern and raise five wonderful daughters? Bob’s Tale: Everyone’s favorite Imp is featured in this story. Stewart’s Upbringing: How does a Half-blood Infernal grow up in a city that despises his kind? Erin’s Story: How does the barmaid come to love a noble’s son? A story of love and acceptance. Deirdre’s Story: What is one to do when her sister’s are finding love? Find her own, of course. Marian’s Story: With the other three sisters having found love, Marian yearns to find her own soulmate. Demon Lord’s Armor: The tale of how the infamous Demon Lord Armor set was created. Skippy’s Tale: Simmer down, we know most people hate him. Understand him so you can hate him even more. Bob’s Tale Part two: Bob is back with more story to dig into. Magiblood: The story of Rolland and Kim, never before seen anywhere. I hope you will enjoy reading these stories as much as I did writing them.

    Together, they will face death. Together, they will seek ascension. In the Domains, those born with magic have only one place where they can prove themselves worthy of it: the brutal pits of the arena, where they will either grow in power and build a following with every victory, or risk dishonor and death in defeat. For these “Gladiators”, the ultimate prize for their struggle is a place among the Chosen, the immortal rulers of that vast and decadent empire. Gavin is an unlikely warrior trying to find his place in the savagery of the arena. Sadira, a star Gladiatrix already favored by all. When happenstance brings them together, the pair set out to earn themselves a place at the Grand Championships, vying to see their names carved in the annals of history. With survival and immortality on the line, can they hold together against the vicious realities of the fighting grounds and the machinations of the Chosen? Monsters and magic await them. The white sands call for blood.

    

    He needs to go into hiding until he can afford the surgery to get a new face. All the cash he had left, he invested to buy a hacked virtual reality collar off the black market. For a wanted man such as himself, this is the only way to make any kind of money without further jeopardizing his location and identity. There’s a problem though. When he first logs into Eternal War Online and chooses his faction, the network detects his unauthorized device and generates a bunch of critical errors. Immediately, there’s a hotfix that is applied and which erases all his selections. John is sent into the Eternal Battlefield, the highest level PvP area of the game—obviously, with no chance of survival. Limited to one character by collar, John finds himself in a dire situation. With no faction to back him up, he’s a free target for everyone. And with no fighting skills and no gear (except for a pair of cotton briefs), he’s no match for any of the players. John will keep dying and respawning in that impossible location. But as he tries to keep to the shadows and stay alive, he will soon find that his strange predicament is not without benefits. For one, his lack of ties to any faction allows him to loot every corpse—which will lead him to unlock secret classes, like: Salvager and Smuggler. Secondly, while every faction has its own language that prevents players from different groups from talking to each other, he’s not restricted by that constraint and can understand everyone. Unable to join the fight, as every blow sustained results in his instadeath, John will discover that his only chance to start earning some cash will be to partner up with the criminal underworld in the game and set up a salvaging operation. For a fee, he will loot you and return your soul-bound items—allowing you to skip the 6 hour waiting period before they materialize back in your inventory. Also, he will experiment with crafting and creating weapons and enchantments that will start to shake things up in the game. Obviously, not everyone will take kindly to his bold moves and John will attract the wrath of a few powerful players. But then, you can’t expect to please everyone when you’re making a name for yourself as a Merchant of Death!

    Who’s behind the murder of his family? Who has been after his territories, and why?One promising lead comes from Lady Efera, the very same who had taken a liking to his lands and whom he defeated in an all-out battle. But that information won’t come free. If Richard wants that piece of the puzzle, he will need to help Efera take back the lands she lost to a fierce Baron. Easier said than done, especially when said Baron and his coalition show up at Richard’s door with an ultimatum. He has two weeks to hand over the woman’s Starmetal Signet, or he’ll be the one to suffer the consequences. But Juliet is not a stranger to Richard anymore; now that she’s married to the Frankinsons, she has become his blood too. His responsibility.Once again, it’s a race for survival. Facing imminent invasion by a force far superior to his own, Richard will need to scramble like never before. He will have to secure new alliances and find new ways to improve his defenses. There’s no other way around it, he needs to quickly move up the ranks so as to unlock new units and be able to hire the advisors who will help him master this complex game.The first step to this impossible plan is to reach out to the Kintelis, an elven clan living in isolation in the west. But Richard definitely can’t seem to catch a break; he has barely come in contact with the elves that his carriage is attacked by a group of bandits…

    Picking a druid, he charges forward into an unknown land as he tries to master an odd combat system. Luckily for him, the crafting system is ripe to make money and the game’s currency is tied to the real-world market.But a strange dungeon forces him to reevaluate everything he thought he knew. Is the company behind this game truly what it seems to be, or is there a nefarious purpose hidden below the surface?

    The boy was no longer talentless – and on the contrary, had exceptional talent for becoming a Mage, an Aura Master and also a Tamer!

    In the chaos following World War III, the Patriarch of the Church of the Resurrection rebuilt Earth's society into a collection of over 500 independent city-states. With alien technology that gave him complete control over the Earth's orbital space, the Patriarch outlawed war, and introduced the Constructed Reality MMORPG Primacy Online. He only allowed the city-states to engage in military conflicts with one another inside of the game. City-state leaders that attempted to ignore Church Canon were destroyed, along with their armies, by the Church's orbital particle cannons. For more than a thousand years, there have been no wars fought on the Earth's soil. The release of Primacy Online VI: Legacy of Balor signals the beginning of World War IX. Each city-state will lock 50,000 draftees into cryogenic capsules and upload their minds into a character sheathe in the game. Until the armistice conditions have been reached, they will play Primacy Online in War Mode, with the death of the character sheathes meaning their real deaths, but this time there is a twist to the World War. Every still living perma-banned cheater from Primacy Online will be a special draftee for World War IX. They will be organized into a special contingent in the service of the Church of the Resurrection. Patrick Armagh is terminally ill. Like a large number of other Primacy Online players, he is afflicted with an incurable nervous system disorder. He has less than five years to live and should be exempted from the draft, but five years ago, he was given a permanent ban from Primacy Online for cheating. Along with the other perma-banned cheaters, he will be forced to play Primacy Online VI: Legacy of Balor in War Mode, but Patrick's actual method of cheating was never discovered. Morgan Danan, Speaker of the City of Mann, and the acknowledged number one player of Primacy Online has deal for Patrick. With her help and his undiscovered cheat, he has the chance to become a virtual God within Primacy Online. When you are already as good as dead, there is nothing better than the chance to spend your last days as a living god. What could possibly go wrong?

    

    

    

    Like one moment you’re drinking your coffee and the next you are naked in what looks like a medieval village. And worse, the coffee is gone. Must be a Monday. Paul Walsh really didn’t need this. Divorced, Wrong side of 40 and not exactly what you would call fit. Now some mystical force has set him up as today’s hope to save a village. Kill Monsters, Harvest their Souls and Power their Wall. A magical wall of black energy that stretches further than the horizon and up higher than the clouds. It keeps the monsters out and lets those selected thru. And he’s one of a thousand that have been selected to go forth in the last 3 years. New ones get selected only if the previous never returns by nightfall. No pressure. No pressure at all. Paul’s definitely too old for this sh.. At least there’s Orcs, Centaurs, Elves, Lamia, Harpies and the odd Spider. He also runs into the Dead, Night Ones, Dryads, Driders and Troublesome Nobles. To comfort him there are Fair Maidens, Noodles and yummy Rice Balls. Warnings and Minor Spoilers: This is an Isekai (Portal Fantasy) novel with Adult themes, Swearing and Graphic Violence in its many forms, set in a Medieval style Society, with cultural values to match. Adult relationships with Societal Harem themes that slowly disappear as the story progresses. Please Read with that in consideration. And watch out for the Snotters, they bite.

    Steven Drokharis must travel to a far-flung set of atolls in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to rescue him. The mysterious enemy will not just be dealing with Steven, but the Five Widows as well.Along the way, Steven will have to learn to trust these five new women and unravel the mysteries of their tragic pasts.From Aaron Crash, bestselling author of the American Dragons series and War God's Mantle, comes a new short story set in the American Dragons Universe. Five Widows takes place between the main series books four and five.

     Walter LePointe and Oswald Blackwell just woke up inside of the online role playing game Realms of Th’loria. With no memory of how they arrived, Walt and Oz soon learn the hard way that living in an epic fantasy world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As level 1 characters with no skills or experience, nothing can prepare them for their new lives as they prepare to Enter the Realm. "Timothy W. Long injects a stark degree of realism into everything he writes. His horror is more horrific, his heroics more heroic, I love reading his stuff." --Peter Clines, bestselling author of the Ex-Heroes series, 14, and The Fold "Reading Timothy W. Long is like being in a knife fight that doesn't end until the last page." --Nicholas Sansbury Smith, bestselling author of The Extinction Cycle