Book picks similar to
Mastermind by Steven Kelliher


litrpg
gamelit
science-fiction
superhero-fiction

Wearing the Cape: A Superhero Story


Marion G. Harmon - 2011
    Which made her superhuman breakthrough in the Ashland Bombing, just before starting her freshman year at the University of Chicago, more than a little ironic. And now she has some decisions to make. Given the code-name "Astra" and invited to join the Sentinels, Chicago's premier super-team, will she take up the cape and mask and become a career superhero? Or will she get a handle on her new powers (super-strength has some serious drawbacks) and then get on with her life-plan? In a world where superheroes join unions and have agents, and the strongest and most photogenic ones become literal supercelebrities, the temptation to become a "cape" is strong. But the price can be high-especially if you're "outed" and lose the shield of your secret identity. Becoming a sidekick puts the decision off for awhile, but Hope's life is further complicated when The Teatime Anarchist, the supervillain responsible for the Ashland Bombing, takes an interest in her. Apparently as Astra, Hope is supposed to save the world. Or at least a significant part of it. ------------------------ Wearing the Cape is a 300-page superhero novel for anyone who ever loved comic-book heroes, and wonders how they might behave in the real world.

One More Last Time


Eric Ugland - 2018
     A broken heart. He thought it was the end, and his gun sat ready to make sure. But an oddball offer from his last friend comes at the literal last second. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he finds himself sucked into iNcarn8, a game claiming to be a whole new life. Now as Montana, the larger-than-life tank warrior, he has one more last time to get his life right. One More Last time is the first book in The Good Guys, a LitRPG GameLit series. If you like fast-paced adventure, RPG mechanics, and sweet level progression with a deep magic and game system, this book is for you. It has notes of The Land and classic Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and stars a lovable idiot of a main character who can’t seem to shake his dark past and find the quiet life he so wants. Pick up this page-turner today!

Zenith Academy 1


Cassius Lange - 2021
    To everyone else, I’m JD—a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies. Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know, the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one faithful night, when everything changed. Why? Where do I start? First: An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close for the night. Rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap. That part? Getting a little strange. Second: It turns out she’s a mistress at a magical academy and had been looking for me. Right? Please pick up on my sarcasm. Except, she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, ensured I both didn’t have a job any longer, and more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal. Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I’d only ever dreamt of. There I’ll learn how to cultivate mana and wield magic-like powers. And that is just the beginning. The tower imbues cultivators with visual prompts and game-like stats, making my new life feel like something straight out of a choose your own adventure novel. But it’s not all for nothing. Evidently, they’ve been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I’ve just been drafted. <>

Sensation


Kevin Hardman - 2013
    Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Jim actually had the goods: a plethora of super powers that would have been the envy of any meta on the planet. But when his tryout with the Alpha League - the world's premiere group of supers - goes disastrously wrong, Jim basically becomes an outcast. Two years later, Jim is still bitter about what happened to him. However, he soon finds himself the centerpiece in an odd turn of events that gives him a second chance at his dream. But nothing is as easy as it sounds, as Jim soon discovers. Among other things, he’s made an enemy of a prospective super teammate, he’s being stalked by an unknown pursuer, and a shadowy cabal bent on world domination has identified him as the only obstacle to their plans. It’s a lot for one super to handle, even with a smorgasbord of abilities. But if saving the world were easy, everyone would do it…

Ball of Light: Evolution


AR Chen - 2019
    Heck, he doesn't know what he is. Despite his spotty memory, he's pretty sure he didn't used to be a floating ball of light. He's also certain that he's not originally from this dangerous fantasy world...maybe. Okay, fairly certain. To make things stranger, he seems to be involved in something big, something magical...a game. Who was he before? Will his memories come back? Why does he have an assistant explaining the game's rules to him? He can evolve? There's a countdown timer? One thing Steve does know is that he needs to figure out what's going on fast, and if he is playing a game, even a deadly one, he plans to win.

Tallrock


Xander Boyce - 2020
    Reaping and sowing. Redemption through growth.Matt is running from a life that he no longer wants, and he's found a solution. By logging in to the newest game, Livia, he gains chances that he can't get anywhere else. Matt chooses to cut out a new life for himself on the edge of civilization, by venturing to the frontier town of Tallrock. As soon as he gains his class, the newly minted Cycle Mage has one goal: farming.Now known in-game as Kastigan, he gains a starting bonus parcel of virgin land that he will need to convert to farmland from the ground up. Kastigan needs to decide what to grow, what animals to raise, and who to hire; all while dealing with a Legion Commander who hates him for no apparent reason, surviving in the wild land where monsters roam freely, and uncovering lost relics from a forgotten time.If he succeeds, he will create a new home for himself. If he fails, he will lose not only his farm, but all the workers, crops, and beasts that he has spent every last penny to acquire.

Ritualist


Dakota Krout - 2018
    Magic that has been banned from the world. A man willing to learn no matter the cost.The decision to start a new life is never an easy one, but for Joe the transition was far from figurative. Becoming a permanent addition to a game world, it doesn't take long to learn that people with his abilities are actively hunted. In fact, if the wrong people gained knowledge of what he was capable of, assassins would appear in droves.In his pursuit of power, Joe fights alongside his team, completes quests, and delves into the mysteries of his class, which he quickly discovers can only be practiced in secret. Ultimately, his goal is to complete every mission, master every ability, and learn all of the world's secrets.All he has to do is survive long enough to make that happen.

Temple of Sorrow


Carrie Summers - 2018
     A half-wit ogre, a legion of overgrown jungle beasts, and a power-tripping AI are trying to stop her. Relic Online is the hottest new game out there, and it’s Devon Walker’s best hope for escaping her hard-knock life. Thanks to her rocking achievements in other games, she’s been hired as a salaried player. Even better, her new position comes with cutting-edge implants that turn RO’s virtual reality into a full sensory explosion. Her only task? Drive the game’s creator AI to the outermost limits of its creativity. Sounds easy, right? But when Devon logs in, her expectations shatter like an ice golem hit with a sonic blast. Wearing nothing but a cloth tunic and ragged pants, she spawns inside a ruined city overgrown by steamy jungle. With zero skills and nothing in her inventory but pocket lint, she immediately runs afoul of the city’s guardian, a stone golem the size of an apartment building. The encounter does not go well. And Relic Online is just getting started with her. For lovers of LitRPG, GameLit, Fantasy, and video games. Scroll up and click 'buy now' to jump into the adventure

Dungeons of Strata


G.D. Penman - 2020
    Strata Online is a hundred floor mega-dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters. Martin's team soon find themselves in a race against the world’s strongest guilds, all competing to be the first to reach the unbeatable game's lowest depths. Stranger still, they must now contend with Sin, a twisted morality meter which can transform a players’ class into its dark counterpart. With eternal fame and prizes on the line, Martin risks playing as a rarely chosen race; a Murovan rat-man, combined with the unusual exorcist class. But unlike other games, he will need as much courage as skill to progress. Because the deeper he goes, the darker Strata gets.

Reborn: Evolution, Book 1


Victor Alucard - 2020
    Not quite how one would imagine the end of the world, is it?The goal is to evolve and reach the land. Use your teeth, claws, stings, and whatever else you deem appropriate to take down your opponents and survive in the New World.Dan used to work at the Psychic Agency, making a living by swindling naive clients. One day, however, this came to a sudden halt. A group of thugs paid him a visit and took him away. As if that wasn't bad enough, the world had decided that it had had enough of us humans.After that day, humanity was no more. Those who survived the Apocalypse have been forced to fight for their lives.Dan, to his misfortune, didn't become a gray-bearded wizard he had always hoped to be. Little did he know that he'd be forced to start his new life from the very beginning.Perhaps he should have paid more attention in biology class.

Kill Your Heroes


Slade Grayson - 2021
    All he had to do was come up with a flashy costume, a signature gimmick, and commit a couple of high profile (yet nonviolent) crimes. Eddie figured he'd eventually get caught and spend a year or two in a minimum security prison. Then he'd write a tell-all book, do the talk show circuit, and parlay that into a regular TV hosting gig.But the best laid plans...As the Puzzler, Eddie was strictly a C List supervillain. He matched wits with Dark Revenger, a grim and gritty, street-level superhero. Eddie always managed to get away unscathed, but one night, things go horribly wrong and the Dark Revenger is dead. It's one thing to steal the Mona Lisa. But killing a world famous superhero? That's hard time with the worst of the worst.Most people would cash out, change their identity, and go on the run. But Eddie knows there's no running if you're responsible for the death of an A List superhero. The only chance Eddie has in staying out of prison, and staying alive, is to take the Dark Revenger's place and not let the rest of the world know the original is dead.Eddie can do it. He's got the physical ability and the tech savvy. He even looks good in the costume. It's the ultra-serious, crime-fighting part he has trouble with. (Seriously, does the Dark Revenger need to be so "dark" all the time?)Then the world's premiere superhero team, the Majestic 12, needs help with a seemingly impossible crime: One of their own has been murdered and they need "the world's greatest detective" (a.k.a. the Dark Revenger) to solve it.He's not the hero we need.He's not the hero we deserve.He's not really a hero at all.Kill Your Heroes

Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain


Richard Roberts - 2014
    She's got superhero parents. She's got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn't understand. She has two super powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear.In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero's sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She's good at it.Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shape shifters and ghosts, no matter what the super powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out.

Martyrs (Legends of the Great Savanna)


Justin L. Lincoln - 2018
    Waking up in the Great Savanna, James struggles with a less-than-useful interface before he comes across two creatures locked in battle. The shoulder high grass allows him glimpses of a lion-esque creature fending off a torrent of scales and claws. Sneaking up to steal a better look at the surreal situation, James discovers two things. 1. Getting hurt in the game.... well hurts! 2. This noble race of lion-men, named Martyrs, have almost been decimated by the scaled lizard creatures. By unwillingly saving the life of a Martyr cub, James is adopted into their village. He grows to love the beauty of the Great Savanna and his adopted game brother, whose life he saved... That is until PATRICK arrives, and the tranquility of the game is shattered. James embarks on a mission for answers to his steadily increasing list of questions. On the top of that list, "What the hell happened to the human race, and where is my damn brother!?" LitRPG Categories = Town Building & MOBA

Ex-Heroes


Peter Clines - 2010
    Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Now, a year later, the heroes struggle to overcome their differences and recover from their own scars as they protect the thousands of survivors huddled in their film-studio-turned-fortress, the Mount.But the hungry ex-humans are not the only threat the survivors face. Across the city, another group has grown and gained power.

Mythian


John L. Monk - 2019
    Immortality means adventure. Life begins at seventy.Running on the world's fastest quantum computer is a very special game: one where retirees leave their flesh-and-blood lives in search of endless adventure. Weapons, spells, gold, experience points… These are the marks by which life is now measured.Ethan Crane wants none of it. In fact, he never wanted to retire at all, let alone play a game for all eternity. But now he's on a mission to find his wife—a wife he just discovered is still alive and inside the game.Nothing will stop him from reaching her. Not even himself.