Best Rated

Zorian is a teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill, attending his third year of education at Cyoria's magical academy. He is a driven and irritable young man, consumed by a desire to ensure his own future and free himself of the influence of his family, whom he resents for favoring his brothers over him. Consequently, he has no time for pointless distractions or paying attention to other people's problems.

As it happens, time is something he is about to get plenty of. On the eve of the Cyoria's annual summer festival, he is killed and brought back to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to take a train to Cyoria. Suddenly trapped in a time loop with no clear end or exit, Zorian will have to look both within and without to unravel the mystery before him. And he does have to unravel it, for the time loop hadn't been made for his sake and dangers lurk everywhere...

Repetition is the mother of learning, but Zorian will have to first make sure he survives to try again - in a world of magic, even a time traveler isn't safe from those who wish him ill.

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Mother of Learning is now available for sale on Amazon. The story will remain available in full here on flickertale.com and on Fictionpress, but if you're more interested to read the story as a Kindle Edition e-book you now have a way to do that.

The audiobooks can be found on this link here. The physical edition is available through a Kickstarter campaign, which can be found here.

I will keep you all updated on that as things develop.

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If anyone is interested, I have a story-related worldbuilding site that can be found here. I don't update it as often as I should, but there is a fair amount of content there already. It also contains a page with all the fanart, fan translations, audio books and the like - you can reach it directly by clicking this link.

I have a patreon account for those kind people that want to give me money. It also contains info for those who want to donate via paypal.

The story was originally posted on fictionpress, back in 2011. When I reached chapter 91, I started uploading the story to RoyalRoad, one chapter per day. The Fictionpress version of the story can be reached by clicking on this link if somebody is interested, though at this point there is nothing there that isn't also on RoyalRoad.

The Perfect Run is now available on Amazon and Audible: Volume 1 (Audiobook), Volume 2 (Audiobook), Volume 3

Ryan "Quicksave" Romano is an eccentric adventurer with a strange power: he can create a save-point in time and redo his life whenever he dies. Arriving in New Rome, the glitzy capital of sin of a rebuilding Europe, he finds the city torn between mega-corporations, sponsored heroes, superpowered criminals, and true monsters. It's a time of chaos, where potions can grant the power to rule the world and dangers lurk everywhere. 

Ryan only sees different routes; and from Hero to Villain, he has to try them all. Only then will he achieve his perfect ending... no matter how many loops it takes.

The Perfect Run updates on Tuesday and Saturday. Cover by Vitaly S. Alexius. 

Fortress City has Super Villains, who have evil lairs, and in them they make super weapons. But when a bioweapon is granted super powers of its own, will Fortress City be able to handle the Super Minion?

Cover by Vitaly S Alexius

This story is about: The daily life of a teenager named Alden growing up, slowly growing his powers, and figuring out who he really wants to be in a universe with Systems, superheroes, and extraterrestrial wizards.

Readers can expect:  character focused drama, slice of life, darkness, comedy, occasional disaster, school life, and extensive world building. I like a little danger with my alien beverage etiquette.

Super Supportive will be very, very long.

Everyone wants superpowers, including Alden Thorn.

He's got determination on his side and maybe a murderous alien desk clerk, too. But his dream of being a battlefield support hero depends on him being chosen by the extraterrestrial System that's been running things on Earth for decades.

And there's a bigger, more complicated universe waiting out there for those with magic. One that will challenge him and change him in ways he never could have expected.

**Violence and darkness are present. This is fiction for adults.

**Currently updating on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th of each month

Book One is out on Amazon!

Book Three Stubs November 8th (Chapter 85 - Chapter 118)

Could you survive a horror movie?

That's the question Riley must answer after he and his friends get lured to Carousel, a malevolent town where horror movies come to life.

Riley thinks he is in big trouble when he is assigned the Film Buff archetype, a minor support class that has a penchant for dying early in movies. At first resigned to his fate to die over and over, he believes he has found a way to survive. Upon obtaining the Oblivious Bystander trope, monsters and killers will not harm him as long as he can convincingly pretend he has not noticed them. At first, this ability appears to be a joke, but Riley thinks that with some clever exploitation, it might just be his greatest strength.

What to expect:

-Strategic gameplay and clever uses of movie tropes to survive

-Perilous storylines right from your favorite horror movies

-Creative Twists of Classic Horror Movie tropes

-Moderate stats-based combat and strategy

Discord: https://discord.gg/3VdE2cpD25

Art: Andrew Clark artstation.com/atcillustration

Night City, it's a place of endless wonders and horrors. Opportunities and dangers, but before Motoko Kusanagi can access any of them. She first has to build up enough strength to walk again. Learn the basics of living in a world that was just a game to her before. Good thing she found a Shard hidden in her stuff that opens the door of opportunity. But like all opportunities in Night City, it usually ends up in a gunfight.

Self-Insert with a modified Cyberpunk 2077 Gamer System. Not a direct Ghost in the Shell Crossover. MC just happens to share the name.

Cover by cclarity

Parents dead, clan exterminated, body burned, hands mutilated, inflicted with innumerable diseases, tossed into the dump, and even the magic ring with the ghostly grandpa in it has been sabotaged. A reasonable person would roll over and die. Tian isn't that reasonable. And as it happens, neither is Grandpa Jun. A very tough kid meets a very cunning old man. And together, they will shake the heavens. 

What to expect:

-1 chapter a day M-F. Volume 1 is already complete.

-2k words per chapter (aprox, some run long) with a longer first chapter.

-No Harem

-Earned power growth

-An MC who isn't a goodie two shoes OR an edge-lord psychopath

-A power system based on actual Daoism 

-Sects, giant monsters, natural treasures, flying swords, spells, talismans, secret arts, and a gentle sprinkling of young masters whose face need rearranging. 

From the author of "A Practical Guide to Evil", comes the Pale Lights series.

Book I: Lost Things

Tristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.

It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.

Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.

Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.

The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.

Where every year many go, and few return.

Book II: Good Treasons

The trials of the Dominion are over.

The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.

Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.

Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.

Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.

Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.

Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.

And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.

Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

--

Update schedule: once a day until caught up to the wordpress version, then weekly on Fridays. My Patreon has three advance chapters.

Cover done by Gwennafran, whose work you can find here.

Listen here, because I've seen it with my very own eyes.

William Oh was born on the hundredth floor of The Tower, to the greatest Climbers of the ancient world, steeped in the Tower's lethal miasma from the moment he drew breath, giving him strange and unnatural powers.

They say he is an immortal being who circles the dreams of mortal men, resurfacing wherever the need is greatest. Those who disparage him will fall into despair, but if you're a Climber in a tight scrape, look to the sky and say a little prayer.

Maybe he will appear?

Odds are probably better if you pay for my drink.

- Rumor overheard on a 1st Floor Tavern. Originator did not pay his tab.

It is twenty-two years before the Battle of Yavin, and the galaxy is at war.

Born to a not unimportant, not important planet in the Inner Rim, Rain never placed much thought into his future. After all, the galaxy is vast, and peaceful living should not be hard to find. Two decades later, armies are marshalled, and warships grace the stars, propelled aloft the wings of war. 

Armed with the knowledge of nine movies, Rain is forced into joining the galactic conflict. On the losing side.

*AU with many, many POVs; don't expect a casual self-insert flick

“Would you like to make a contract?”

When eldritch horrors known as the Anathema began tearing through reality to invade Earth, aliens calling themselves the Zenith stepped in to protect humanity. Individuals were chosen and gifted with the ability to use magic and advanced technologies to combat the existential threat. Over twenty-one years later, the so-called “Magical Guardians” are still hard at work keeping the peace. With their flashy outfits, superhuman abilities, and reality-defying spells, they are the part-time heroes and full-time idols of modern society.

But none of that really matters to Mai, whose biggest problems are dealing with her family, classmates, and the ever growing dread of her imminent future. As far as Mai is concerned, mundane problems are more than enough to worry about, and the idea of magic and monsters might as well be nothing more than daydreams. At least, they were until she finds herself in the middle of an Anathema invasion… 

A Dark Magical Girl LitRPG with sci-fi elements. Note: Slow burn and slow, gradual introduction of LitRPG mechanics that become a focal point once introduced.

Please be aware this story contains intense violence, gore, traumatic situations, and other potentially unsettling content.

Chapters tend to be longer but with inconsistent updates.

Art is AI generated by Puddz.

This story is also posted on Spacebattles.

This story is inspired by Stray Cat Strut, by RavensDagger. The "point system" for buying items is based on SCS's system. Magical girl Familiars are also a shared concept as both stories are in the magical girl genre. Some of the major differences between the two stories is this has a substantial LitRPG system including levels, stats, skills, magic, and also a generally darker tone. The first "arc" of the story is, however, an introduction into the world and characters, and as such, the LitRPG elements do not come into full play until later.

Katherine has grown up again, in the far and distant future, on a space station, where her family scraps broken down spaceships for a living. But as exciting as living in space is for a former modern girl, there is something that calls her in the deep black. Her eyes lock onto the glimmering stars and she knows she wants to see them all. So she'll need to grow up, and build her future with her own hands.

Thankfully technology sings to her, guiding her in repair and construction so she'll build helpers, build a ship, and build a future among the rough and tumble frontier stars.

Reincarnation, Space Opera, Mechanic MC.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags. 

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Black-Red-Alex-Gilbert-ebook/dp/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator who defied the heavens, and surpassed all limits.

Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck here. Arrogant young masters? Heavenly tribulations? Cultivating for days on end, then getting into life or death battles?

Yeah, no thanks. I'm getting out of here.

In which a transmigrator decides that the only winning move is not to play.

Beware of Chicken will be updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

The Last Orellen is on hiatus. The break won't last forever, but it will last a long time. I wouldn't count on new chapters in 2025. 

I still love this story. Some of the notes for it are in a place where I can look at them every day, but I'm not in a place where I can write about Kalen every day. My plate is full of passions, projects, and of course my fair portion of everyday life stuff.

I'm fortunate to be very busy, mostly with good things, but it means I can't give Orellen the majority of my attention. And when I was writing the last few chapters, I realized that giving it less than that wasn't going to work.   It deserves better than the time I can carve out. 

So I'll be back when the plate is emptier, and I can make Orellen a top priority. 

I'll have a stack of finished chapters in my hands, and I'll make sure the road ahead of us is clear as far as I can see.

Looking forward to it,

Sieley

According to prophecy, the ninth-born child of Lord Orellen will have the sort of power that changes the world. But in a land ruled by magical families, no one welcomes the possibility of a dangerous new player. Fearful even of their allies, the Orellens come up with an extraordinary and deadly scheme to protect themselves.

If the most powerful people in the world wish to kill the ninth-born, they will have to find him or her first. And that's not going to be easy when the Orellens have called upon dark magic to create hundreds of heirs. The boys and girls are given new bodies, new names, and even new magical talents before they are scattered across the continent. Only one among them is the real ninth, but all of them will have to grow up in a world where they are fugitives.

Kalen, once fated to die, is now an Orellen heir in hiding. And he is determined to survive, even if he has to master his strange new powers to do it.

The Last Orellen is a long, character-focused epic fantasy with progression. It's set in a vast universe, and it's about a boy's journey to become a powerful magical practitioner. Reviews are deeply appreciated. Please do not repost my work elsewhere without my written permission.

What type of reader is this book for? You might enjoy The Last Orellen if you like...

Clever and resourceful protagonists.

Big fantasy worlds. Multiple cultures, lots of characters, many different types of magic--this story is expansive rather than closely focused on a narrow storyline. 

Old-school epic fantasy.

Progression fantasy that takes its time. Our main character will be progressing through magical ranks, but this is going to be a lengthy story. If you're more about the journey than the destination, this might be the book for you.

Cover art done by Tofuyi!

BOOK 1 COMPLETED! 

The long path starts here. A journey through lands haunted by demons, fae, and the ghosts of the past. 

For decades, the lands of Aurum lived in fear beneath the threat of the wicked White Queen. A cruel sorceress, she worked the Art of magic to bring down freezing blizzards and ruin upon those who opposed her. Her mad ambition swallowed an entire generation in flame and horror, and it seemed that all would be swept up in the bloody tyranny of her rule.

For a time. 

That's all in the past, now. Years back, the White Queen was slain, her ambitions broken, her erstwhile kingdom shattered. The bones of her kinsmen scattered into the earth, so much dust, all for naught. So it goes.

Though the Queen's War is nothing but a memory now, the lands are tired, broken, bled dry. Charred ruins lie where bustling towns once stood, and quiet shadows settle where folk made their homes, their lives, not so long ago. Where humanity has retreated, dark powers such as fae and demons have crept forth. Even the gods seem exhausted. Some wonder if things will ever be right again. 

It is into these scarred and shattered lands that the young wizard Martimeos, now of age, takes his first steps. Such is the nature of the Art; those it embraces are driven forth to wander, to see the lands, no matter the darkness that lies across their path. But unlike most, he has a goal: His older brother left to fight against the White Queen, but never returned, leaving behind only tales of what he had done. Martimeos does not hold onto the hope that his brother may live, or even that he'll find his bones, but to learn of what happened to him, to his friends? That is worth knowing.

And so he follows a fading trail, chasing echoes of the past and haunted by his memories of the war's horror. It will be a long journey, and along the way Martimeos will uncover secrets, tales of his brother's heroism and deeds. He will begin to wonder what sort of man his brother was, and whether or not the war had changed him. In time, these questions will carry him west, far west; deep into the mysteries of the Art and the world itself. Fortune has its plans for Martimeos, and those who would travel with him - whether he would like it or not. 

But it all starts here, in a dark forest, and a chance meeting with the mysterious swamp-witch, Elyse, whose easy smiles and charm hide secrets darker than Martimeos suspects. Here, with a quiet shade from his past that haunts him, and strange, cruel thorns that choke the land and his very dreams. Here, with the cursed village of Silverfish, and its tale of woe, and the regrets and sorrows of its folk, with demons and defeated men and a tragedy that has gone on for far, far too long. The world as it once was might never return, but there is always the choice: to do what one can to make it better, or settle into the shadow yourself.  

The Art will snare you and Fortune cast you to the wind to tell the tale it wants. Come along and see how it begins.

Wander west with us, if you would. 

WANDER WEST, IN SHADOW is a slow-paced, classic adventure tale that takes place in a dark fantasy world of faded kingdoms and lost history, with no litrpg elements. Magic in this setting is less powerful than in many other fictions, especially when Elyse and Martimeos are first starting out their journey: discretion is the better part of valor, and it is often better to run than it is to stand and fight.

If you are interested in a long story full of danger and mystery and some darker themes, where the protagonists gradually become stronger, this may be the series for you!

In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global marketplace. 

Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and building their online marketplaces. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.

Four friends sign five-year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid, and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.

When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Book 1 and most of Book 2 have been rewritten and sent to my line editor. Book 1 comes out in July 2025 and will stub at the first of the month.

Book One (Chapter 1 - Chapter 21) is now out on Amazon and Audible!

When Zareth first realized he had been reborn into a world that seemed to run on video game mechanics, he was ecstatic. He’d expected to go on to live an exciting life filled with danger and adventure. Instead, Zareth spent much of his new life living on the streets of Tal’Qamar before eventually becoming a Cultist to Cerebon, God of Flesh and Transformation.

However, being Cultist to the God of Flesh was much less exciting than Zareth had hoped and he now spent most of his time helping rich women smoothen their skin. Just when he had given up hope of his life ever being anything exceptional, everything begins to change when the city of Tal’Qamar enters a period of sharp political turmoil.

When Zareth finds himself being dragged into that turmoil, he very quickly learned that he should have been more careful about what he wished for.

Magic came to our world. Portals opened all across the planet, releasing mana and dangerous monsters on the unsuspecting population. Wonder turned to horror. Society was on the verge of collapse, until heroes rose to face the catastrophe. Those fearless men and women wielded the power of mana to enter the portal worlds, plundering their treasures and slaying beasts bullets barely harmed. Through their efforts and sacrifices, mankind stepped into the future. They were called users, or raiders, and they became the champions of mankind.

That was more than sixty years ago. Now mana users represent almost a fifth of mankind's surviving population.

Nestra isn't one of them.

She was born without a core. In the new city of Threshold, baseline humans like her are being forced out of law enforcement. MaxSec is one of their last holdouts and Nestra, one of its last members, but it cannot last. With Nestra addicted to mana and her job one of the only chances at getting close to portals, she is heading for disaster. Threshold is a mighty city dominated by corpos and powerful users. It takes very little to become collateral damage, unless Nestra can finally figure out what's wrong with her, of course.

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.

Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.

If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.

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Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.

For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

Next Chapter Target Date: May 11th, 2025