The richest and luckiest players of the video game "Thousand Tales" get their minds uploaded to its virtual paradise world, while Stan can barely buy a handheld console. Instead of sulking he plays, and grows, becoming a skilled craftsman and seafaring explorer. The game's ruling AI, Ludo, helps him find the hope and inspiration missing from his real life. When the AI starts asking for favors and having him reach out between the real and digital worlds, Stan has a chance to turn his life into an actual adventure. But first he needs to earn the most valuable prize of all: his freedom. "Crafter's Passion" is part of the emerging "LitRPG" or "GameLit" genre, combining science fiction with the world of gaming. ----- On Island East-2 stood Stan, in the dungeon, with the rickety raft. He dragged it out to the beach, scavenged more wood and some interesting shells, and paddled his way back west. The raft disintegrated just as he got within sight of East-1. He held onto a chunk of wood to help him float but couldn't carry the rest in his pack. All he could do was start swimming! A scary fish swerved into his path but he managed to detour until it lost interest. Finally he sprawled onto the beach with a bunch of stat penalties for being wet and tired. Belatedly he realized, "I probably ruined everything in my backpack." A note said, [Nearly everything you're carrying is safe, like coins and a sealed bottle, but that can be a problem with other items. There are several ways to get waterproofing.] That sounded reasonable. He'd assumed that jumping into the water with a load of items was harmless, but that was his own fault. "Fine." He headed west to Central Island across the bridge. So far he just had that crude backpack full of loot, and he couldn't carry much more without a better pack. He looked over the junky resources he'd scavenged, then the items he'd looted off his party members' bodies. None of the equipment was listed as magical, and the item descriptions were starting to give him more serious labels like [Crude Wooden Bow] for Alaya's weapon. Even he could probably make something better with a little practice. He could make something better! That could be fun. Besides, he'd swiped this gear from people he'd agreed to help, so maybe he could replace or upgrade the stuff by way of apology. Stan headed over to the Crown & Tail's workbench to give it a try. Along the way he jumped around for the fun of bounding up the sunny shore. He tapped the bench of tools and tried to fix up some items, but it buzzed at him. [Equipment repairs require access to improved crafting stations.] The bartender directed him to the "maker workshop" a ways inland from the beach. It looked like an old fort, a squat wooden cabin surrounded by a spiky wall of logs. Why not a giant golden palace? Probably it had been built by the players using the game's own physics. That was pretty neat. He walked right in through the open gate. Inside was a craftsman's playground. Saws, drills and other tools covered some of the tables. A whole corner was devoted to colorful glassware and bubbling fluids. A green-robed figure was busy at that alchemy station, pouring beakers one into another and making puffs of steam. The only other person here was a smith in a leather apron and goggles, making a pleasant rhythmic ringing of metal. Behind him loomed a forge where slabs of metal were glowing cherry-red. Stan looked around and asked, "Is this stuff open to the community?" The alchemist turned around.

    For the former princess of the Underworld who lived an overprotected and shackled life, this new life is a chance to finally live the life of freedom and independence that she always wanted.Jin Liwei is the most powerful man in the country's business world. Cold and ruthless, he is someone only a few dare offend. When the infamous Iris Long, who used to chase his younger brother, wakes up from a year-long coma, his unfeeling heart moves for the first time and he falls hard for this unexpected genius girl.She wants to fly freely and soar high beyond the sky. He wants her everything, to tie her to himself and to never let her go.This is her journey to super stardom. This is his journey in accompanying her. Together, they will rock the world while facing many challenges.But what will happen when she discovers that she can never escape from the shadows of her previous life? Will she still be able to live her dream life of freedom and independence? Will he be able to protect her from the dangers?

    Savannah, fleeing a turbulent relationship, seeks solace at her brother’s country farmhouse. It’s there that she meets Kayden; her brother’s slave who's considered less than human. These two damaged souls form an unbreakable bond, one that’s about to be tested, because Kayden is her brother’s property and he will stop at nothing to keep them apart.Please note this book contains some sexual scenes, violence and strong language.

    at the young callow age of eighteen.Then he lost her, thought her gone forever, for four long years.Until she comes back, and she turns his life upside down. Of course, turning his life upside down is nothing compared to what she’s going to do to the rest of the world. The singularity has arrived, join Paul as he discovers how wonderful and exciting that can be… and how horrifying.Warning: This book contains adult situations and explicit scenes of an erotic nature. This is the first book of a harem trilogy. This book is told in the first person, from Paul’s perspective.

    Over eleven million people have lost their homes because of global warming, a phenomenon directly caused by the energy companies who once marketed oil, gas and coal.’ The year is 2055, global warming has happened, and the oil and gas corporations responsible for creating it have developed a 'cure'. Using climate control technology, they are able to manage and create new weather conditions, but only for those who can pay. Millions of the poor are now environmental refugees. They are forced to live on abandoned oil tankers, with no food, fresh water, with no citizenship or rights, and battling the very worst effects of global warming. But those climate control technologies are wreaking their own havoc on Planet Earth. Unexpected volcanic eruptions, huge earthquakes and tsunamis, all threaten to destroy everything. A lawyer tries to fight for justice for the environmental refugees (known as the 'hulk' people) by bringing the evil ERGIA corporation to the high courts. Along the way, he teams up with like-minded scientists and they try to uncover what is really happening deep down at the Earth's core and warn anyone who will listen before its too late. Praise for Ray Hammond: 'Compelling, vivid and utterly terrifying... Be afraid, be very afraid.' - Daily Express 'This dazzling vision of global chaos explodes off the page with the dramatic force of a smart bomb.' - Daily Express Ray Hammond is a novelist, dramatist and non-fiction author. He is also a futurologist who lectures on future social and business trends for universities, corporations and governments. He lives in London and can be found on the web at www.rayhammond.com. His other works with Venture Press include The Black Hole and Emergence.

    When Ed Walker learns that others have been preparing for the disaster for years, he realize finding them may be his only shot at survival. But time is running out...In a dying world one man makes a choice to keep going, hoping against hope there might be a future after all.Alive is a 10.000 word story loosely based on events in Exodus by Andreas Christensen, but can also  just as easily be read as a stand alone.Notice: this novella is also available for FREE on the author's website.

    No one has the right to call himself a genius in front of Jiang Chen, as no one has a better understanding of the heavens than the son of the Heavenly Emperor. Genius? He who adheres to me shall ascend, those who oppose me can find solace in hell!

    However, a car accident later, she transformed into a professional hacker with more money than she could ever spend. All those that have belittled, bullied and laughed at me, please line up, I'll show you what the meaning of face-slapping is! Wait, wait, wait. That guy over there, the ex-husband that I no longer have any relations with, don't cut in line. What, you want to help me face-slap these people? “Not only that I will help you face-slap myself!” The wickedly handsome man with billions dollar in estate raised his own palm to slap his own face without reservation!

    The Undead. A Town Called Discovery and The Worldship Humility.A virtual reality.A fleet of spaceships.A shimmering blue door.A virus unleased upon the planet.Four worlds that do not co-habit the same time and space.But things are never quite as they seem…*This book is intended for existing fans of the series, The Undead, Extracted, A Town Called Discovery and The Worldship Humility, and as such, it may not appeal to new readers who have not read those series.

    by doing away with politics. To achieve those aims it counts on a formidable instrument: The Network, an operating system that will rule over the whole planet with chilling efficiency, despite its humble origins as a buggy strategy game developed by a geeky teenager.Split between the 21st and the 24th centuries The Algorithm of Power describes a future that is not democratic and where the government has no use for torture, gulags or a secret police - because no one even notices there is a government.But will it become Utopia or Dystopia?Welcome to the reign of software!

    A touch from her, even accidental, can kill, and she’s haunted by the victims she never meant to hurt. Alone, isolated, and remorseful, she thinks life can’t get any worse--until she’s kidnapped in the middle of the night and thrown into a secret world more twisted than her darkest nightmares. The Vaettir claim to be the children of the gods, created by the fates themselves, and tell her she’s one of them--and that they can help her control her abilities. But not everything is as it seems, not all gods are good, and the dark powers surrounding Madeline are no exception. She finds herself in the middle of an ancient search for a dangerous and all-powerful charm, one that has the power to kill all humans and bestow its bearer dominion over all. Amid the secrets and danger is Alaric, a deadly cat shifter, who’s as mysterious as he is alluring. When the Vaettir’s plans come to light and Madeline is betrayed, she embarks on a quest to find the charm herself, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Her dark gifts may just be the key to everything, but will she be able to accept them in time, or will the Vaettir destroy mankind, and inherit the earth? Discover the underworld of the Vaettir, gods and monsters, secrets and lies, and a temptation equal parts irresistible and deadly... This set includes: -Bitter Ashes -Collide and Seek -Rock, Paper, Shivers -Duck, Duck, Noose -Shoots and Tatters -Truth or Death

    He jumps off a cliff to not let any of them have it and wakes up in the body of a boy with the same name in another world. Fortunately, he has kept the treasure he ran off with.

    When she said her screen name (fish playing behind closed doors)*, he still did not understand. She continued to explain, this name is from “HunterXHunter” Phantom Troupe’s leader’s attack. He… did not want to keep listening.She thought she was chasing a 3D hottie, but who knew this person was a legend in the gaming circle.Teaser: Main girl is a high IQ + low EQ Mary Sue cover singer goddess (anime-loving cosplayer), main guy is a high EQ and IQ legend of the gamer world (too high so not much interest in females…)Cr: Shushengbar

    He has no other. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape, carrying nothing but a kit-bag, a legendary sword and a baby. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the sword, the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war. But the Shining City is far away and the world is a very dangerous place.

    He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does.At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he is shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet--and bound to keep his rage in check.But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife, Pallas Rill, has mysteriously disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her, he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds...