Level Up gif-trailer

Level Up: Restart
by Dan Sugralinov

At thirty years old, Phil is an unemployed gamer who struggles to make ends meet. His only source of income is freelance writing (when he feels inspired enough to add another article to his less-than-popular blog). His wife has just walked out on him, leaving him without money, purpose, or food in the fridge.

On the day his wife dumps him, Phil receives a mysterious piece of wetware. A game interface seems to have been implanted in his brain which allows him to see the world through the eyes of an RPG player.

Now that Phil discovers his real-life stats, he can see they're far below average. With 4 pt. Agility, 6 pt. Strength and 3 pt. Stamina, his most advanced life skill is predictably gaming.

Luckily, real-life stats can be leveled up just like virtual ones. But will it help Phil get his wife back? Can he stop being such a couch potato? Would the new game help him become fitter? Or more successful? Can his gaming skills finally come in handy in real life?

Last but not least, can he find out who could have uploaded the mysterious game to his brain? And how is he supposed to deal with this unknown but apparently omnipotent force?

Amazon Kindle (+KU)

Amazon paperback

We'll let you know when audio book is available!

An NPC's Path: Kingdom of the Dead

An NPC's Path, Book 2
Kingdom of the Dead

by Pavel Kornev

Release - October 8, 2018

Pre-order: Amazon, iTunes, Google, Kobo

Check out the first book - The Dead Rogue

Chapter One

The Doldrums

THE TOWER OF DARKNESS was impressive. Overpowering, even.

No amount of advertising could impart the  sheer splendor and magnitude of that pitch-black obelisk which towered over the bay. In reality, it looked much more-

In reality?

I cussed and shuddered.

In reality! Dammit! I already considered the game a reality! Having said that... that’s how it was. I couldn’t press the logout button. I had no hope of ever waking up in my virtual reality capsule . My character’s dead body had already become part of the local scenery. It had ensnared me like the Devil’s own net and would keep me so until the day I was reborn. Reborn in the game, that is. Or until I was dead in real life. There was no other way. Sad, but that’s how it was.

As soon as I realized it, I felt free from the Tower’s suppressive illusion. I didn’t even feel like looking at it anymore. I even wanted to go below to my cabin. Still, I forced myself to stay on deck. Dammit! I’d been striving to get to the capital for too long to now hide away in a dark corner and miss all the interesting bits.

An NPC's Path GIF-trailer

An NPC's Path by Pavel Kornev
The Dead Rogue 

Virtual worlds are places of boundless freedom. 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...

Amazon Kindle (KU+)

Reality Benders - 2: External Threat by Michael Atamanov

Reality Benders, book II

External Threat

by Michael Atamanov

Release - July 23, 2018

Pre-order: Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Google

Quick nav:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Introduction. Through Enemy Eyes

With my greatest thanks to Guillem León for all his support and inspiration!

Michael Atamanov

Pa-lin-thu, capital of the First Directory

Palace of the Ruling Council

Small Council Chamber

IN AN AUSTERE BLACK ceremonial toga, free of regalia or adornments, Thumor-Anhu La-Fin strode majestically up an illuminated path to a podium. From the corner of his eye, the old man could see rows of cold gazes radiating in the gloomy silent room. The Mage leader didn’t even need his psionic abilities to sense the tension. He already knew how eagerly these lower-rank rulers would devour him if he slipped up or demonstrated so much as a hint of weakness or timidity. All these mages feared and respected only one thing: strength. So, as Coruler Thumor-Anhu La-Fin walked through the room, he couldn’t allow a single muscle on his proud, majestic face to twitch.

And it was hard to maintain that composure because high Mage had to leave his usual staff at the entrance to the palace. Though flawlessly polite and decorous, the guards at the front door were unflappable, insisting that he surrender his magical implement. They allowed him to take a similar-looking if powerless replacement, though. And now, as he walked, Thumor-Anhu La-Fin was putting a bit of weight on that toothless pretense, that mere cane. Being separated from his trusty wizarding utensil got under the old mage’s skin and added fuel to the fire of anxiety inside him. It now seemed he was standing on the very edge of catastrophe. After all, never before in his forty years of power had he been asked to surrender his prized piece of knotted wood just to attend a meeting. Sometimes, when council sessions went on too long, it’s powerful magic provided much-needed support to his achy bones, so it wasn’t purely a question of defense, either.

Reality Benders GIF trailer

Reality Benders by Michael Atamanov
Book 1: Countdown is released!

At long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. However, no one on Earth took their communique for the genuine article. In a similar vein, very few people appreciated just how little time our new suzerains had promised to keep our planet safe. Regardless, the end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game. The objective of this game is unclear. No one can say where its servers are located, and its inner workings are beyond comprehension. But the game slowly gained momentum, pulling in more and more players. Soon enough, it became impossible to ignore the fact that things that happened in the game had a direct impact on our reality. And not only ours...

But as people figure out this mysterious game, the countdown timer ticks away. And no one can say exactly what will happen when Earth’s safety is no longer guaranteed.

Amazon Kindle (KU+)

Amazon paperback

Audio book - June 19, 2018 (Tantor Media)

Level Up: Restart by Dan Sugralinov

Level Up
Restart
by Dan Sugralinov

Release - July 10, 2018 

Pre-order here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKRMLJB

Quick nav:

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Chapter One

 The Morning It All Started

Please, there's gotta be something else I can do. Like mow your lawn every week for two weeks? I can't do it next week.

Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

AT FIRST, the game had become my life. And later, life itself had become a game.

I’d failed at life. By my thirty-plus I had a wife, a string of one-off freelance gigs, a state-of-the-art computer, a level 110 rogue character in a popular RPG game and a beer gut.

I also wrote books. A book, rather. I hadn’t finished it yet.

Before, I used to feel flattered whenever someone called me a writer. But over the years, I’d finally forced myself to face the uncomfortable truth: I wasn’t a writer at all. The only reason they called me so was because I had no other social tag to describe me by.

So who was I, then? A failed albeit once-promising sales rep who’d been fired from a dozen workplaces? Big deal. These days, everyone and their dog called themselves online marketing gurus.

Me, I couldn’t sell anything. In order to promote a product, I had to believe in it. I just couldn’t do it knowing the customer had no more need for it than for a garbage can.

Reality Benders: Countdown

Reality Benders by Michael Atamanov

Book 1: Countdown

Release - April 23, 2018

Pre-order - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6QHC44

Introduction. First Contact

How many ways have writers, astronomers, philosophers and military theorists imagined humanity's first contact with a celestial intelligence? Earth’s observatories receiving intelligible signals from deep space? What about the discovery of interstellar artifacts or even living aliens when excavating ancient burial mounds or pyramids? And the appearance of ominous extraterrestrial starships over our major cities? Heavenly bodies falling to Earth, UFO's crashing? Meeting brothers in intelligence on far-off planets? Invasion? War? The extinction of everything alive...?

But when it really happened, it looked like a stupid joke, hoax or intrusive advertisement, so humanity didn’t believe it was the real First Contact. One day, a popup window appeared on many popular websites, blocking off the whole screen. Despite every computer user’s habitual and instant reaction, it was impossible to close. It played a video showing a furry humanoid that was somehow distantly reminiscent of the abominable snowman, but with thick dark-red fur. The tall bipedal alien had piercing black eyes, a flat dark nose and a wide mouth. Its clothing was somewhere between a suit of armor and a helmetless spacesuit. The first thing it did was raise a clawed hand and give a friendly wave to its captive audience. With a very strong accent, the humanoid gave a speech adapted to the language of the receiving country: 

"People of Earth, by right of first discovery, the civilization of Shiharsa declares its authority and jurisdiction over your planet. We will provide one Tong of safety to your world, but the fate of humanity depends exclusively on what you do with that time. You have now made sufficient progress as a species, and may take part in the great game, the game that bends reality. So, come play and earn the right to take your place among the great spacefaring races!”