Stephen Roark

The Monolith: A LitRPG Novel (Blood Seekers Book 1)

“You will die!”

That's what the developers of Blood Seekers promised…

The most challenging MMO ever created—that’s what they said. Taglines like, “Not your granddaddy’s game,” and, “Only for the hardest of the hardcore,” had gamers going crazy. Set in a dark, gothic, Lovecraftian world, with fully realized A.I. NPCs, gamers were desperate to get their hands on the game and dive in, and Clay was one of them. It was going to be tough, but he was ready for it.

What he wasn’t ready for, was countless players having their minds hijacked and being transformed into hostile, zombie-like creatures filled with nothing but hate, who attack anyone on sight. They became known as the Bloodless, and now, Clay’s best friend is among them.

Rey moved across the country when they were twelve, but they kept in touch online, and when Blood Seekers was released, they were both ready to face the new challenge together. But now, Rey has been possessed by the mysterious plague, her mind held hostage with no sign of a cure.

To make things worse, Clay’s mind is plagued by visions of a mysterious black monolith that has appeared at the center of the highest level zone in the game, a place no one has even come close to reaching. Some think it will provide answers—others say it will only lead to more questions:

Who is behind all of this? Why are people’s minds being taken and what will it take to bring them back? How many more people will be lost when no one is able to log out?

Nothing is certain, but if there’s any chance that reaching the monolith will bring Rey back, then Clay will do everything he can to reach it.

Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

The Ripper is dead. I know--I killed him.

Jack is dead and so are all my friends. Or at least that's what I thought. An artificial intelligence named Wintermute created a backup world of to save those who died in Carrethen, and I've been sent in to get them out. But this isn't the Carrethen I once knew.

The world is decayed, corrupted and twisted, filled with things that should not be possible: twisted mutated monsters, shattered landscapes and Sunken, players who have died so many times they've lost their minds and identity, reduced to creatures fueled by nothing but pure rage. They call it The Dark World.

I spawned naked and alone and I managed to survive, but there's just one problem. My special powers of restoration aren't working, I can't contact Wintermute and I have no idea where to find my friends. Are they scattered across the realm with the Unchained? Have they become one of the mindless horde of the Sunken? Or worse, are they trapped in Sheol, the cavern prison at the center of the world, guarded by a max-level boss, the Lord of the Flame?

No one has ever come close to defeating him, but if it's the only way to rescue Jack, my friends, and the rest of the players trapped in this terrible realm, I'll be the first one to do it.

Call of Carrethen: (Wellspring Book 1)

Call of Carrethen,the world’s first real Virtual Reality game, powered by the Wellspring device. Growing up broke in The Sprawl, I knew I could never afford one. But then I won a contest and the next thing I knew, I was diving into the most incredible world living out my wildest fantasies.

But now I’m being held hostage with no ability to log out, and the penalty for in-game death? Brain death. My soul will be lost forever in the “electronic void.”

The world has been taken over by a black knight calling himself The Ripper. I don’t know him—but he definitely knows me. He turned the entire server red and returned everyone to level 1. Everyone but me.

He’s gifted me 20 levels—with one single, deadly caveat: anyone who manages to kill me gets a free ride home.

I'm a marked man. In order to survive and to get back to my family, I have to level up and defeat The Ripper. But with more than half the server out to get me, that’s not going to be easy...