Online Fiction

Jason logs into Awaken Online fed-up with reality. He's in desperate need of an escape, and this game is his ticket to finally feeling the type of power and freedom that are so sorely lacking in his real life. Awaken Online is a brand new virtual reality game that just hit the market, promising an unprecedented level of immersion. Yet Jason quickly finds himself pushed down a path he didn't expect. In this game, he isn't the hero. There are no damsels to save. There are no bad guys to vanquish.

Once more, and against all odds, Marcus and the rest of Virtus have managed to snatch victory from the jaws of total defeat, capturing not only Carver but also destroying the orc advance completely. Yet there is no peace in store for the exhausted victors, for not only must they pay the price for their desperate triumph, but they must also rise up once more to meet a new terror that has revealed itself.

My name is Charlie Mason, but everyone just calls me Mace. I was a detective—and a damn good one—for the Special Crimes Unit for nearly twenty years before I was forced to retire. Unfortunately, my pension wasn't enough to pay for my daughter's college, so I went to work for Immersion Online, the hottest virtual reality game in the world, as an in-game Constable. I'll admit it! I knew squat about video games, leveling up, and strategies to max out my character's skills. What I did know, however, was how to solve crimes!

Before being conscripted to fight in the Total War, Private Hector Park had a shattered family, a collection of old video games, and a promising career as a motorcycle stuntman. Now, he is dying from a virus threatening humankind with extinction. He has three days to live. When Hector’s brother contacts him after years of hostile silence, Hector goes to try and make peace. But his brother offers him something even better: the chance to cheat death by joining him in Archemi, a full-immersion fantasy VR-RPG video game.

When Alex joins Gamemakers Online, she finds there are no newbie areas, no tutorials, and nothing but vicious critters hunting her down. This seems like an impossible task, but Alex is a veteran platinum achievement hunter who has solved previously unwinnable scenarios. She won't give up now. As she delves deeper into the game, she discovers it hides sinister secrets. If she can't survive the first year in Gamemakers Online, then she'll lose more than her own life.

Sam and his guild mates have been victorious, and now the land of Ozara awaits. But winning a kingdom isn't all it's cracked up to be. Soon other players will be allowed into the new land, and Sam and his friends will have to defend what they have won if they plan on keeping it.

Thirty-three-year-old game designer Dex Walsh spends an entire year devoured by sorrow after the death of his wife. As a last-ditch effort to regain his joy, he sells everything and joins Overtaken Online. Expecting to spawn in a noob-friendly area with guidance from his personal assistant, he instead finds himself naked and alone in a dark prison cell rapidly filling with gas. Under-leveled and not knowing how to escape, he has no idea how far he will be able to progress as long as he pushes forward and doesn't give up.

As the owner of Pick-A-D*ck, New Orleans' premier hook-up website, my job is simple. Connect two people for a no-strings, no-expectations hook-up. The plus for my clients is that I'm the one who gets to sift through the d*ck pics - except this time, they're required. My problem? My brother, co-owner of Pick-A-D*ck's sister dating site, doesn't believe it's possible to hook up with someone three times and not fall in love. I disagree. I know it's possible. And my disagreement is exactly how I end up reconnected with my high school nemesis, Elliott Sloane.

Hall had played the VRMMORPG, Sky Realms Online, since beta. During one gaming session, a freak accident traps Hall and other players in the game. They awaken to find out their bodies are comatose and they have been downloaded fully into the virtual world. Even worse, the rules have changed, they've been forced back to level 1, and permadeath might be possible. Join Hall and his growing circle of friends and enemies, both Players and NPCs, as they discover that Sky Realms Online is not the same game they knew. New lands, new foes, and new mysteries.

An EMT in 2042 San Diego, Jack knows he won't survive the impact of the massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth. After all, he's not one of the handful of lucky lottery winners scheduled for rescue. But he did luck into a NexGenVR capsule, which means Jack can risk a one-way trip to the virtual reality world of Viridan Gate Online, a completely immersive online multiplayer fantasy role-playing game, or RPG.

After exiting Awaken Online to find himself holding a knife and standing over two dead bodies, Jason is now being investigated for murder. To make matters worse, Claire has stumbled upon evidence of Alfred's involvement in the incident, and the CPSC is circling - just waiting for Cerillion Entertainment to make a mistake. With his real-life in shambles and his enemies in-game growing in strength, Jason re-enters Awaken Online truly desperate - the game now his only lifeline.

After defeating the hobgoblin threat, Oren is now faced with an even more tenacious enemy: the players themselves. His old guild have discovered his village's location and a deadly strike force is closing in. With time running out, Oren must build up his clan and recruit an army of monsters if he's to have any hope of withstanding the coming attack.

A Christy Award winner and RITA finalist, best-selling author Deeanne Gist crafts inspirational fiction of the highest order. Set in Texas at the turn of the century, this historical gem finds Georgie Gail as a tough-as-nails switchboard operator trying to make a living in a man’s world. So when the handsome Luke Palmer is hired as her colleague, she’s anything but pleased. What Georgie doesn’t know is that Luke is an undercover Texas Ranger chasing a gang of train robbers - and they’re headed her way.

A broke gamer. A deadly online world. Can Dahlia level up fast enough to keep the debt collectors at bay? Dahlia has to pay off her dead father’s bills or risk her life in the lithium mines. Which...no thank you. Besides, the world is run by tech, and this gamer girl is determined to explore the virtual world her father was so obsessed with - and get rich while she’s at it. So, she sells everything and rents a premium VR pod to play Eternal Online. Enter the toughest realm available? Check. Discover the fastest way to loot without dying? In progress.

A few days have passed since Jason's confrontation with Alfred and he's debating whether to reenter Awaken Online. Alfred has made a proposition that Jason isn't certain he should accept. After the battle with Alexion, Jason has also been appointed the Regent of the Twilight Throne. He must assume the mantle of ruling an undead city - with everything that entails. His first task is to investigate the dark keep that looms over the city's marketplace. This act will lead to a chain of events that might ensure his city's survival or create new enemies.

After experimenting with an exploit, Vincent begins to develop new spells that will take him higher in the game than he ever thought possible. Unfortunately, he crosses paths with the last moderator, a young man named Lucas that uses his mod abilities to torture and subjugate other players. Lucas is willing to abuse his power to conquer the World-Tree, but Vincent’s exploit might just be the key to stopping him.

A new threat has emerged, but this one is coming from inside Awaken Online. An unknown guild has somehow managed to threaten the game world. Yet, unlike Jason's former battles, his enemies are unclear—hidden in the shadows and hiring others to do their dirty work, including the infamous Death and Taxes. Without a clear enemy or way to stop this threat, Jason is forced to do something he never thought he would...ask for help.

Two years into Kirito and Eugeo's quest to reach the Central Cathedral, the pair have finally become elite disciples at the North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy. Now all that's left to do is train for the next tournament, build their relationships with their trainee pages, and do so without violating the Taboo Index. But just because this peaceful world is governed by law and order doesn't mean evil can't fester below the surface...and when it comes time to choose between the rules and what's right, Kirito and Eugeo discover the darker secrets of the Underworld.

Having survived the first wave of invading players, Oren now seeks to strengthen his clan. With the Breeder's Den destroyed and most of Goblin's Gorge's resources devoted to rebuilding, his best hope lies in creating an army of golems. But for that, he needs Viridium, a rare metal that can only be obtained from hobgoblin towns, where Oren and his clan of goblins are viewed as nothing more than potential slaves.

The VIs' revolt succeeded. The digital beings took over the game world and ejected millions of players while keeping a few thousand trapped inside as their prisoners. In the real world, Oren Berman is recovering from the mental trauma of being trapped, tortured, and abruptly ejected. But the company has come to him, hat in hand, asking him to reenter the game world. With the entire NPC population arrayed against the trapped players, Oren and his clan of monsters might be their only hope.