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Gaming the System by P.A. Wikoff


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The Black Heart of the Station


Jay Allan Storey - 2017
    Josh's frequent rule-breaking exploits are focused on a single question - how did we get here, and where are we going?But Josh goes too far when he steals a space-suit and travels to the surface to explore.As punishment, the governing Council forcibly enrolls him as a novice monk at Saint Carmine's, the Station's resident monastery. At first desperate to escape, Josh is drawn into the monastery's ancient texts.Deciphering an encrypted journal hidden for centuries, Josh learns that a computer complex believed critically damaged in an ancient asteroid strike holds the answers he's been seeking, and is all that stands between the Station and certain destruction.When the deranged head of the Council is determined to obliterate the complex and doom them all, Josh leads a desperate battle to stop him.But can Josh and his tiny band of followers prevail in time to avert catastrophe?

Mageblood


Christopher Johns - 2020
    Gifts from the game gods for every person. The perfect magic for every user.Seth, a popular streamer, can’t wait to see what this new world has in store. It’s sure to be a blast for a guy who always plays a caster, and his friends are going to be right in the thick of it with him! The game boasts algorithms designed to read biometrics and brain patterns to find the perfect magical fit for the user—magic so personalized that no two casters will ever be the same. In fact, the game company is so sure they will always be right that you can’t remake your character.The unthinkable happened. The safeties and the guarantees failed, not just once but apparently only to them. The company has informed them that the system is infallible: there is nothing they will do. Players must use what they are given, so Seth and his team have no other choice—they need to grind it out and evolve their gifts in time to stream.Loading… Welcome to Mephisto’s Magic Online!

Tech Duinn


Ryan DeBruyn - 2020
    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 Tattoo Artist (Women of Redemption #3)


Lori Lacefield - 2020
    An unknown and unstoppable outlaw. When their paths cross, all clues point to a killer. Reno, Nevada. Nine years after her mother’s still unsolved murder, former homeless teen Zoë Cruse has found stability with a husband, child, and a career as a tattoo artist. But when a biker comes in and asks for new ink, Zoë can’t help but draw comparisons between one of the images on his back and her mother’s death. Worse, his other ink appears to represent a deadly pattern, one that may indicate he’s a serial offender.Determined to unearth the truth despite her husband’s disbelief, Zoë researches the images and infiltrates the man’s notorious motorcycle club in search of evidence. But with the police, federal agents, and a rival gang all in pursuit of the same outlaw, her quest for closure may end with more than one person in the morgue…including her family.Can she unravel the mystery and find justice before she ends up six feet under?The Tattoo Artist is the chilling third book in the Women of Redemption suspense thriller series, featuring women who may not be perfect, but perfectly kick-ass when given a second chance. If you like strong female characters, fast-paced plots, and tension-filled pages, then you’ll love Lori Lacefield’s spine-tingling tale.

The Last Time Loop, Book #1: LitRPG Series


Anton Emelianov - 2019
    Any kind of death annuls everything except his present knowledge and returns him to the past. It’s a good way to test all sorts of things. That is, it would be if not for one little thing... This loop has real Lords and it’s unlikely that they will be happy to find about an uninvited guest. And that isn’t his only problem; all of his memories of last year have simply disappeared. But the world around him changed in the meantime. Earth has been seized by the Velly clan and joined their Star Empire. Max has also discovered his gift of being a psychic. However, the latter isn’t that big of a deal. Everyone can be a level 1 “battery”; for everything else, however, it’s necessary to have some talent, money, and connections, which only complicates things further. A whole new world, great opportunities, and big troubles... Welcome to the Last Time Loop!

Too Young to Die


Michael Anderle - 2020
    Now, they try to figure out a way to help their son out of a coma. At almost $5,000 a day for ICU expenses, their insurance options are running out.Amber, Nick, and Jacob built a new immersive game system for the future. The only problem is, at $800 a day, no one can afford it.Dr. Dubois wrote a paper about how you might help a person out of a coma, but it was crushed under the might of the medical lobbyists on Capitol Hill.Now, the three groups need each other to save a life, fight the establishment, and help a young man in need.The only challenge is, Justin can die in real life if he dies in the game.Will he wake up from his coma? Will lobbyists crush the principled senator who needs to talk to his son one more time?And can Justin possibly survive inside a fantasy world built in his own mind, where pain is real?It isn’t just the future of humanity at stake, it’s Justin’s life, too.

Ye Olde Antique Shoppe: The Edward V Coin


Margaret Brazear - 2018
    What she does not expect is to also inherit an Antique Shop which has not been opened in more than sixty years. She takes her friend, Peter Attwood, an archaeologist and historian to investigate the shop, but what they find is far more than a simple neglected retail store. They discover a coin minted at the time of the young King Edward V, but when they try to remove it from the shop, they step outside and into 1483, the year the coin was minted. Wanting to see the princes in the Tower and perhaps discover the truth of what happened to them, Peter persuades Rachel to dress in some of the historical clothing in the back room of the antique shop, and visit the Tower. There they watch the young King Edward V writing and when he leaves his scroll on a stone bench, Peter takes the opportunity to grab it. A journal written by one of the princes could be worth a fortune, but when they try to take it out of the shop, they find the same problem: it cannot be taken into the twenty first century. A scheme to hide the scroll in the fifteenth century and find it again in the twenty-first seems an easy option, until they are observed digging it up and accused of witchcraft.

The SyStem: Multiverse


Jon Svenson - 2020
    He escaped Boston, with help from his mother, to head to the west coast and create a new life in Seattle. All that changes when he attends a party to celebrate his friend's new physics invention: a device that connects two universes together.Events quickly spiral out of control as Brett, and his best friend's ex-girlfriend, find themselves pulled by the device and end up in a different version of Earth, one that has been stripped of it's resources and population by an alien race. Will the Earth they came from share a similar fate? Can they escape the dimension they've been sent to and find a way back home? And do they want to escape after learning more about the universe they find themselves in? More importantly, can they change the SyStem that controls everything in that universe and many more?The SyStem: Multiverse is the first book in a series of the same name, where they fight monsters with psychic powers, deal with betrayal, survive on a barren world, and decide whether they will let things remain the same or take action to change their circumstances.Jon Svenson is the author of Biomedical Self-Engineering and other novels yet to be released.

Entriss Online (Watson's Worlds, #1)


David J. Pedersen - 2021
    The game was his life — by day, as one of their lead developers; by night, gaming as the accomplished Mandorf the Wizard. After years of leveling up, both professionally and personally, everything he had worked for was going to end. His goggles-and-gloves virtual reality MMORPG was being replaced with Everyworld Online, a next-gen game that provided full immersion so players could experience a world that looks and feels real.After stumbling on an unknown quest that kills anyone who approaches, Ian discovers an enormous amount of orphaned code that had never made it into the game. Moments before being fired, he checks in the code, enabling The Left Hand of God quest chain, an unexpected world event, and the frightening reality of a fully immersive Entriss Online.

A Fist Full of Credits


Tao Wong - 2021
    Veteran. Survivor.Hal Mason's still going to find surviving the System Apocalypse challenging.While bringing in his latest fugitive, Hal's payday is interrupted by the translucent blue boxes that herald Earth's introduction to the System - a galaxy spanning wave of structured mystical energy that destroys all electronics and bestows game-like abilities upon mankind.With society breaking down and mutating wildlife rampaging through the city of Pittsburgh, those who remain will sacrifice anything for a chance at earning their next Level. As bodies fall and civilization crumbles, Hal finds himself asking what price is his humanity. Are the Credits worth his hands being ever more stained with blood?Or does he press on - relentless?A Fist Full of Credits is the first book in a new series in the System Apocalypse universe. Written by debut author Craig Hamilton in Tao Wong's bestselling post-apocalyptic LitRPG universe, System Apocalypse - Relentless is another glimpse into what humanity will do when the chips are down and the monsters are crawling from the shadows.

The Steel Hounds


Vladimir Vasilenko - 2019
    While the political landscape for this new world is yet to form, intrigues, conspiracy, daring raids, and sabotage are the main weapons of the Hounds, and his evaluation has just begun. To complete it successfully and become a full-fledged member of the clan, Stan will have to adapt to working side-by-side with the most unique people with shady backgrounds — even if he is not a team player by nature and has already failed at the very beginning by choosing the least suitable class for teamwork: Battle Monk. Stan is rebellious, free-spirited, and daring. He risks his life every day just to avoid getting bored of the daily grind. Normally, an expelled student has no hope of entering the virtual world of Artar, an expensive online VR project, but when a suspicious organization offers to pay all expenses to let Stan in for a special purpose, Mongoose gets his chance to become one of the select few. However, to successfully complete his trial, Stan will have to face his main enemy — himself, while finding peace and mastering all five styles of the Battle Monks of Artar. *** The Steel Hounds is the first book of the highly popular Russian LitRPG series The Chronicles of Artar by Vladimir Vasilenko. The brightest representative of a new wave of gamelit writers, Vladimir has created the story of Mongoose, a reckless teenager kicked out of college, who has to struggle with following strict discipline and finding inner harmony while traversing the difficult path of a Battle Monk.

The Brink


Martyn J. Pass - 2016
    Humanity had barely survived The Panic 70 years earlier and now the slow death brought on by the collapse of society seems unavoidable, especially as it seems the worst is still to come. Accompanied by a strange hound he rescued from the labs deep beneath the Fort, Alan sets out to aid the survivors who struggle to hold back mankind's final hour, joining up with a handful of soldiers desperately trying to fan the embers of mankind into life once more. But Alan has a secret he's desperate to hide and which threatens to be revealed with every action he takes. Can his fear of discovery be overcome so that mankind can stand a chance of surviving? Or will humanity topple over the brink as he stands by and watches? Following on from Project - 16, The Brink tells the story of a man who faces a destiny he neither wants nor is prepared for and starts Alan Harding on a path to legend.

Wreckers


George Ellis - 2021
    And jokes.At 19 years old, Denver is the youngest wrecker in the verse. His only companion, other than his one-eyed cat Pirate, is an AI navigator named Gary based on classic 21st century sitcom personalities.That all changes when Denver meets Batista, a mechanic who claims to know what happened to Denver’s missing father and brother.Following her information, Denver is drawn into trouble with the various forces in the galaxy — bandits, feds and rival wreckers. As complications mount and he’s forced into helping different sides chase the hottest technology in the verse, Denver, once a lone wolf, collects the small crew he never knew he needed. But can he keep them alive?

Volper


Ros Per - 2019
    You can spend all this remaining time feeling sorry for yourself and crying… But I decided to act in a completely different way: if you have just a few years left to live, then why not enjoy yourself to the fullest? But how would I do that? It’s a piece of cake, since there is a virtual reality I can run to. And, as I’ve found out, there is a new project being launched pretty soon, about which only scarce info has been given by different sources. "Are you fed up with elves, gnomes and other typical races from fantasy novels for teenagers? Sick and tired of reading about medieval battles and life in those dark times? Then, welcome to Alfarome! What’s in store for you here? It’s a brand new game, in the genre of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk, that tests your endurance! And what else can you hope for? That's top secret, because any information can bring you money and you could make loads of it in the game! "© The only information available is on the official website of the game Alfarome. Well, I’d love to go back to the old good days, when I was young and hale. Taking into account my past, this kind of virtual world will be just perfect for me! Translate: Anton Raksha Proof-reading: Damir Isovic

The Advent of Dreamtech (DREAMWORMS #1)


Isaac Petrov - 2021
    Definitely for the cerebral high concept sci fi fan.”A POST-APOCALYPTIC FIRST CONTACT EPIC — NO-BULL SCI-FI AT ITS BEST! Aliens, First-Contact, Collapse, Dreamtech, Revolution and Extinction. Twenty-first century: An exhausted Earth destroyed civilization.THAT WAS THE FIRST COLLAPSE.Twenty-second century: An intractable disease destroyed humanity.THAT WAS THE SECOND COLLAPSE.What little remains is the rural utopia known as Goah’s Gift, a rural paradise that expands a dying world. A world where you live quickly.A world where you love intensely.A world where you live quickly.A world where you love intensely.A WORLD WHERE YOU DIE CERTAINLYON YOUR TWENTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY.Aliens have been watching us for millennia. They know us well.They know humankind cannot take a Third Collapse.They just revealed themselves. To a few.INSIDE THEIR DREAMS.—————BOOK 1 of the DREAMWORMS series includes:EPISODE I: 2399 First ContactThe wu-sarc is truly a wonder of alien technology, the dream of every dreamer.EPISODE II: Alien MasterDo not let the words fool you, Overseer Yog. Human speech is as unstable as the surface of the ocean during a storm. After centuries of study, I have learned to find the truth beneath the waves. This human loves her parent with unusual intensity, even for a young female.EPISODE III: 31st December 2399Propaganda is like a recreational drug: it feels good, it feels right, but it eventually corrupts you, and kills you.—————Is this book for YOU? No-Bull Sci-Fi! Do you love Science Fiction that feels like it matters? That digs into the truth of human condition and the purpose of civilization? Engaging characters, escapist settings, intense adventures, wildly imaginative plots and EPIC stakes.