Challenge


Edward Castle - 2016
    Calling himself Jack Thorn, he chooses an undead race, Deathlord.A mage by choice, and a swordsman by necessity, he soon finds out that he’ll need to use much more than magic and steel to survive; strategy, creativity, and carefully chosen words can often accomplish what simple attacks can’t.As the game becomes too real and touches a part of him that he’d rather leave buried, he is faced with two questions:Who is he, really?And who should he become?

Oblivion's Blade


M.H. Johnson - 2018
    Barely able to walk and drugged to the gills for pain, he thought his killing days were finally behind him. He couldn't have been more wrong. Endless Online, a hyper futuristic game where players could truly live another life. Val loved the idea of starting over in virtual reality. But when someone he cares about turns up missing after chasing that same dream, Val quickly learns that Endless is no simple game. And if Val can't figure out the dark secrets behind this realm of wizards, warriors, and intergalactic conquest, then it's game over. For everyone.

Project Alpha


R.A. Mejia - 2017
    Unfortunately, he gets lost on the huge campus and when he follows a hot girl to what he thinks may be his first class, he’s accidentally introduced to a new world full of action and adventure. A world that exists in parallel with our own, the System. Now Anthony is getting new skills for doing every day tasks, gaining levels from fighting monsters, and experiencing adventures he never thought possible. Not everyone is happy to see someone like Anthony with these new powers and is willing to do whatever it takes to stop him from using them. Including murder. Will he be able to handle these strange new powers? Or will his enemies win and force him back to his normal boring life? Project Alpha is a LitRPG Adventure.

Three


Jay Posey - 2013
    The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.But when a lone gunman reluctantly accepts the mantel of protector to a young boy and his dying mother against the forces that pursue them, a hero may yet arise.

Reborn: Apocalypse Volume 1


L.M. Kerr - 2019
     Micheal's answer to that question would be quite simple. Yes. A million times yes. Humanity has fallen, killed by stronger races of beings after being warped away to a new reality, the mystical 7 Layers. Humanity's goal had been simple. Make it through all 7 Layers and reach Heaven. Humanity failed. Humanity died. Micheal Care's memories have been transported back into his past self thanks to a magical Artifact he found by chance. He is no chosen savior. He is no divinely picked hero. Can he change the future? Can he catch up to the mightiest warriors of humanity and surpass them? Read on and find out. -

The Culling of Man


Craig Kobayashi - 2019
    Though some elements of the new interface were familiar to the lifelong gamer, there was a lot he didn't understand. What exactly does The Culling have in store for mankind? What will loot be like on this new Earth? And if this is supposed to be like an MMO, where are all the god damn hot elves?? Follow Garath as his mismatched group of friends and neighbors attempt to survive the twenty-four hour Event.

The Dead Rogue


Pavel Kornev - 2018
    Anyone can become an elven mage or an invisible rogue, join a clan and go on raids, fight, develop their characters and most importantly, escape from the daily grind.However, a game is only a game if you can quit. This is something I learned the hard way. I just wanted to let off some steam in virtual reality and ended up getting murdered and imprisoned in the body of one of the undead—slow, clumsy and cursed to die at the hand of other players over and over again.The only way out of this awful predicament was to find the legendary Scroll of Rebirth, but the helpless plague-ridden corpse would need to be turned into a real killing machine. If only people knew what it was like to level up a dead rogue...

The Dungeon Traveler


Alston Sleet - 2019
     My death was unpleasant and humiliating. However, death is something we all need to go through. A bit like a proctology exam; necessary but never anything one wants to go through while it's happening. However, death was supposed to be the end of it. Either way, the pain, suffering, and failures were supposed to be over. I was supposed to wink out, or perhaps take a trip to a lovely afterlife! No, I ended up as a small stone, strapped to a table, while a pimple-faced teenager rubbed my facets and told me how 'lovely' I was. Last time I checked, birth wasn't supposed to be as embarrassing as death! Life as a dungeon core isn't all bad. I like watching lizard love triangles and snooping on militaristic dwarves; though there is that issue where I'm trying to free myself from the entanglements of the Gods....ok, yeah that last one is a bit of a problem.

Idlewild


Nick Sagan - 2003
    It is the late twenty-first century and a deadly virus has seeped into human kind's genetic make-up. In only a few generations this plague will have wiped us off the face of the planet, but we're not going down without a fight. Teams of scientists, geneticists and programmers race to find a cure, but time is not on our side and our only hope lies in one last, desperate gamble...Eighteen years later and ten individuals are about to come of age. One of them, a young man, is suddenly startled awake. He has no memory. His surroundings mean nothing to him. All he knows for certain is that someone is trying to kill him. Unsure who he can trust, he is reacquainted with his companions, all of whom are being trained at a special establishment run by the elusive Maestro. As he tries to uncover the identity of his would-be killer, it becomes clear that more - so much more - than just his life is at stake...Smart, stylish, terrifying and thrilling in equal measure, Idlewild fuses the fierce imagination of The Matrix with the chilling social vision of Minority Report, and introduces a singular new literary voice.

Wool


Hugh Howey - 2011
    They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.Or you'll get what you wish for.

Memories


Stephan Morse - 2015
    All he wishes for is a distraction from the thoughts plaguing his waking hours. He dives in headfirst, unknowing of the AIs intentions. They offer him the chance to play as one of their own, a NPC deserving of a proper send off. What he discovers during the journey shakes Grant to his very core.

Reboot


Domino Finn - 2017
    On the bright side, his game development career is the only non-crappy thing he has going for him, so life isn't all bad. At least until he dies. Now Tad finds himself uploaded to a beta test of Haven, an unannounced hyper-immersive MMO where the dead have a second chance at life. It's not virtual reality, it's digital reality. A true afterlife online. Except Haven isn't exactly blissful paradise. Tad bumbles into a pagan blood feud, crosses paths with fallen angels, and gets lied to by saints. His only allies? A frat boy with a penchant for dying and a pixie who won't give him the time of day. Second chances be damned. All Tad wants is to return to his old life, and he'll do anything for the opportunity. Even make a deal with the devil.

Beginner's Luck


Aaron Jay - 2017
    He will join the Game that the world has become. Most of the planet is now dominated by feral AIs and nano who behave as all the monsters of man’s imagination. Every adult left alive plays, striving to keep the the AI and nano from wiping us out completely. Success in the Game is survival itself. Success in the Game is success in life. If only the game wasn’t rigged against anyone who isn’t a member of the Party. A desperate bid to get the same chance at success in the game as Party members lands him at the mercy of his family’s enemies. Now his freedom and life rest on winning a bet. Lose and he will grind the rest of his life in the beginner’s area for the Eastman clan. He will need all the luck he can get. Too bad his enemies have broken his character and gotten rid of his luck stat. How do you play a game without any luck? Miles is going to have to outplay and outsmart his family’s enemies, corrupt GameMasters, the Party, and of course the game itself. Life is a game. His father always told him, win or lose, it’s how you play that matters. Now he is praying his father knew what he was talking about. Beginner’s Luck begins a LitRPG series. "A good read" - Ramon Meija, LItRPG Podcast

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife


Meg Elison - 2014
    When she awoke, it was dead.In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth’s population—killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant—the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power—and the strong who possess it.A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining. To preserve her freedom, she dons men’s clothing, goes by false names, and avoids as many people as possible. But as the world continues to grapple with its terrible circumstances, she’ll discover a role greater than chasing a pale imitation of independence.After all, if humanity is to be reborn, someone must be its guide.

Video Game Plotline Tester


Michael Atamanov - 2016
    Would you be prepared to work for free? How would you like to bust your hump for a large corporation 60-plus hours a week without a wage or a single day off for the vague promise of some mysterious perks in the distant future?You'd refuse point blank, wouldn't you?But what if the job in question was playing a state-of-the-art fantasy MMORPG game? And what if this was the only thing you're really good at? Especially considering that your in-game partner is someone really special to you - and this person already lives a virtual life?Knowing all this, would you consider the mysterious future bonus worth your while? I dare you to try it!