Interview: Vasily Mahanenko

Magic Dome Books is celebrating birthday: two years we've been translating books in English and we're so happy to meet so many wonderful people. We prepared several interviews for the date and we're starting with Vasily Mahanenko.

Vasily Mahanenko is a fantasy author working in the new genre of LitRPG - the MMO-based fantasy and sci fi. His Way of the Shaman series took Russian literature by storm in 2012. Vasily dipped into his college-days insider knowledge as a hardcore gamer in order to create a believable world of the virtual-reality MMO game. His bestselling series combines fiction and video games, telling the story of Shaman and his friends stuck in the ruthless reality of Barliona. He used his more than ten years' experience as an ERP implementation project manager to approach his writing in a well-organized manner, working to a strict schedule, a set of deadlines and even a budget.

Hi Vasily. It's been two years since you started working with Magic Dome Books. How is it going?

Two years is quite a lot in publishing. Still, I think I was luckier than most: I began working with MDB even before they officially opened. My literary agent Alex and I spent quite some time discussing potential projects and considering various translation options wondering whether the idea was viable. So in fact for me it's been more than two years.

[LitRPG/Fantasy] - The Neuro, Book 1

The Crystal Sphere
by Andrei Livadny

Inhabited by clumsy dwarves and cute Elfas, the cyberspace of the Crystal Sphere - the latest state-of-the-art MMORPG game - is not as benign as it might seem. Unbeknownst to most players, this is a test site for the latest technogenic device: the neuroimplant, allowing players to experience the full range of real-life sensations, including pain, exhaustion and death.

Alexatis is one of the few test subjects. His predecessors have already perished, destroyed by the lethal challenges of their new environment. Will he survive in a world which for most of his fellow players is still harmless entertainment?

A prequel to A. Livadny's Phantom Server, the Neuro series will shed a new light on many of the truths that the author has kept from his earlier readers. New characters will join the team already familiar to A. Livadny's fans, assisting them in their quest for survival until they discover the fatal truth:

Cyberspace feeds on human emotion.

Book 1: The Crystal Sphere (Kindle. KU)

Dark Paladin

Dark Paladin: The Beginning by Vasily Mahanenko is Live

Is it easy to survive in the game world? You could say yes, if you didn’t know what the additional conditions were. They are unusual: it’s the real world in which you have lived all your life. The enemy, craving to destroy you. Your own class who couldn’t care less about you. Are you still sure that survival is easy? Then welcome to THE GAME! It will prove you wrong.

Buy for Kindle (available on KU)

LitRPG short story collection

This fast-paced collection of novellas and short stories from leading Russian LitRPG authors sheds new light on their signature worlds. New works by Vasily Mahanenko, Andrei Livadny, Alexey Osadchuk, Michael Atamanov, Pavel Kornev and Andrew Novak!

Expect your favorite heroes to play second fiddle to an array of new main characters; once-minor plot lines to lead you in unexpected directions; familiar story events to take new surprising turns.

Six unique writing styles. Seven meticulously conceived gaming worlds, two of which come from authors new to LitRPG but who are already experts in the craft of genre fiction.

Each story pushes the boundaries of suspense and intrigue. An adventure roller coaster in the new LitRPG anthology You're In Game!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRKQKVN (Kindle, KU)

The Dark Herbalist - GIF-trailer

Dark Herbalist: Video Game Plotline Tester
by Michael Atamanov

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!

Buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9F1AM7
A considerable part of the book is published in our blog.

The Sublime Electricity, Book 2: The Heartless

The Sublime Electricity, Book 2: The Heartless
by Pavel Kornev

Release: February 28, 2017

Preorder now - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZ3B2KK

The Sublime Electricity, Book 1: The Illustrious (Kindle - KU)

Foreword

Once, this world was dominated by the fallen, but humanity cast off their tyrannical rule and created a mighty Empire with colonies spread out across the globe. The power of the metropolis is stronger than ever before, but its past is dark and its future cloudy. Old secrets are capable of destroying in one moment what took years to create. After all, nothing can save it from treason, not armadas of battleships nor bomb-laden dirigibles.

The key to one such secret, by happenstance and inheritance, has fallen into the hands of Leopold Orso, a former police investigator who now works as a private detective. His illustrious talent allows him to bring other people's fears to life, but it also does not help him extricate himself from the web of another's scheming. Defeat threatens to result in imminent death. Victory beckons with the ghost of a chance to escape with his life. His soul is plagued by painstakingly forgotten memories. And to think that all Leopold ever wanted was to get an inheritance that was his by birthright.

Mirror World, Book 3 - gif-trailer

Mirror World: The Way of the Outcast

From Amazon reviews to the series:

"Absolutely give this book a try no matter if your new to the genre or a seasoned veteran it is absolutely worth it."

"With all the great LitRPG coming out of Russia, I might need to look into learning the language."

"Good enough to make you wish the next one was available NOW!!!"

"With a library of literally tens of thousands of books, I am not easily impressed. This book did."

Book 1: Project Daily Grind - Kindle - audio
Book 2: The Citadel - Kindle - audio
Book 3: The Way of the Outcast - Kindle - paperback

We publish new chapters of the upcoming book every day! Read it here.