Thomas Lowe was destined for a life of mediocrity, working a dead-end job in rural America. But fate seemed to have other plans for him. One card changes everything. While he's gifted a power beyond imagination, he also unlocks a prophecy that puts him in the crosshairs of Ancient Clans and Noble Houses that have existed since the dawn of the first era.

I led a quiet life, peacefully ruling the underworld until that mother of *** showed up with her people and angels. They destroyed everything I'd built with so much effort and nearly killed me. But I managed to return! Wait . . . My only disciple and candidate for a new body is a sick kid who's about to die? Are you serious?!

I've traveled back twenty-two years to rewrite the future and stop the nightmare threatening Earth. An apocalypse looms, promising total annihilation. No one will be spared. Now the weight of the world rests on my shoulders; I'm the one tasked with changing everything. I have come back to the past, and in five days, on the twenty-sixth of April, the day of reckoning will arrive. The event that will happen will be known as the Eclipse in the future. It will divide the history of the Solar System into a before and after.

I used to be the greatest Earth Mage in my world. The head of the entire Order of Architects. But the older you get, the more you come to realize that at some point, you need to retire, so that you can have the chance to enjoy a peaceful life and to cede your place to the young, some of whom have already turned two thousand years old . . .So that's what I did. But I failed to account for one thing: during the course of my long life, I'd accumulated too many enemies, and they had decided to spoil my retirement. So they died along with me. And I hope their deaths were final. But mine was not!

I had lain down in my crypt to rest for a few decades, but when I awoke, centuries had passed. My castle is in ruins, my clan is gone, and necromancers are considered just a fairy tale for children. They take me for a healer. That's because the world is sick. And it's time for strong medicine.

Get this: you wake up in the hospital. You're not feeling so hot—to put it mildly—and also, you're surrounded by hordes of zombies! After trying to run away, you eventually find a map of the building, but guess what? It's in French! Why? 'Cuz you're in France! You've got nothing on you but a baseball bat, and the zombies are just one step away from biting you on your bare backside. But don't worry, there's still hope, because you've got your own personal shelter in spacetime.

Freddy Stern, a twenty-one-year-old cashier, has lived a plain, albeit harsh life. Having been orphaned—twice—he's spent the last ten years working and staying out of trouble. His only aspiration is to save enough money to become an archhuman. His dream gets the jump on him when he barely survives a near-death encounter and finds himself in possession of 1% Lifesteal, a bizarre talent with numerous contradictions and just as many uses.

I was the most powerful healer in my world—the best, having devoted my entire life to mastering the art of healing. And yet, for whatever reason, my brother feared that I sought to claim his throne, and he marshaled his forces against me.

The System is here! Most of the population of the planet were suddenly turned into zombies, while the rest acquired new abilities. Abilities that let them run from the zombies, save themselves, hide, and try to survive. But it only takes one bite that almost always means death. Our hero was standing in line when the apocalypse came. He was lucky at first to be caught in a crowd when the zombies tried to bite him on the leg. Really lucky, because those trials unlocked new abilities for him.

After being killed by a high-velocity tree-hug, Arlo is transported to a new world where those brave and talented enough to conquer ancient Delves are rewarded with incredible power and abilities. Unfortunately for Arlo, there is no tutorial. He is immediately forced to tackle a Delve set to the highest difficulty with a party of adventurers who are not only strangers to him, but strangers to each other as well.

On a day like any other, an alien descends to Earth, unleashing untold death and destruction. Alistair watches the live news footage of the carnage, his eyes glued to the image of impossible power made manifest. The alien’s arrival kicks events into motion that no one could have predicted. Earth is prematurely initiated into a universe-spanning empire of cut-throat cultivators, beasts, and entities of ungodly power–all guided by a mysterious AI System. The System’s first quest? Kill someone.

Alex was a gamer. Gaming wasn't just a lifestyle. The essence of his favorite hobby was woven into his DNA. At least, that is what his parents liked to say after he pulled an all-night slaughterfest. The hordes of Morlock never saw him coming. What his parents didn't understand was playing games was Alex's chance to be the hero. The release of Revenant Online was going to change everything.

Jack Mitchell knows he won't survive the impact of the massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth. 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 world of Viridan Gate Online (V.G.O.), an ultra-immersive fantasy role-playing game. Taking that leap of faith, though, means permanently trapping his mind in the game and killing his body in the process.

It was supposed to be another boring day at the insurance office for Rico Kline, but powerful forces had other plans for him. Finding himself repeatedly summoned to other worlds as a disposable minion, Rico must face deadly foes, disarm insidious traps, become a test subject, and run the occasional errand for his various summoners. At least when each summoning is over, he’s rewarded and sent back home. But being back home has its own set of problems, and he'll need to grow stronger to face it all.

Eric Thornfield’s life is about to get a lot more complicated. After losing his high-level character in his favorite MMORPG, Major Online, he thinks he’s done with gaming for good. But when a mysterious coin from a street vendor opens a portal to a new world, he’s thrust into a reality that combines magic, monsters, and the most intense leveling grind he’s ever experienced.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

Compiled by intrepid journalist Neve Pride, this archive of recordings spans the months after dragons emerged on earth, chronicling the communities that sprang up amid the destruction, the scientists, military leaders, and experts searching for a defense, and those steadfastly seeking the missing. Neve and her young daughter Bex travel among the wreckage speaking to those left behind and surviving, against all odds. Neve records everything for history, and in the hopes of locating a clue as to where the dragons came from and how one might stop them.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Annie has always had high hopes for her future. But the reality of her life just isn’t measuring up. She loves her fiancé, Greg–doesn’t she? She’s going to get her degree and open her own business–won’t she? Then, a strange old woman shows up outside her house, and she seems to know a lot about Annie. An awful lot. Annie could tell the old woman to get lost. Yet there’s something about her Annie just can’t shake. And what she learns could change her life forever–but is it the life she envisioned?

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

The son of a billionaire tech entrepreneur, Logan Specter spends his time—and his family's wealth—on artistic and altruistic pursuits. His indulgences have produced a pile of paintings and a string of failed charities. A rebel without a cause who defies his father's corporatist lifestyle while benefiting from the privileges it affords him, Logan lacks true ambition, unable to commit himself to his own potential. The only things in his life giving him any direction are his girlfriend, Freya, and her unconditional love.

Fen loses everything when his city is sacked by invaders. Orphaned and alone, he forms a strange bond with the city’s new ruler. He starts to carve out a life for himself, only to discover a strange power is awakening within him. The same power that killed his father. Aislin came from the sea, her origins a mystery. Like the sea, she is wild, unpredictable, and powerful. Feared and hated by the other children, she is bullied by them, until the day comes when she turns her power on them. Karliss is in training to become the next wind shaman for his tribe.

Finn was living a good life as a blacksmith's apprentice, training hard to earn the right to become one of the Kingsguard, the elite force of one hundred knights that serve and protect the King. He worked hard, trained hard, and often got into trouble with his best friend, Prince Galen. The two of them had been almost inseparable since they were toddlers. For Finn, life couldn't be better. Until a force of assassins and mercenaries attacked the palace! Prince Galen and the entire royal family were murdered, along with Finn's father.

Leo Surinar is a wanderer, traveling with his mother in the Wayward caravan in the only life he's ever known, finding their own peace while parts of the world descend into war. When a traveling minstrel joins the caravan, everything begins to change. As Leo learns the power of song and begins to dream of a world beyond the caravan—one only the Academy can show him—he starts to think there might be more to the world than what he sees from the top of a wagon. Until his mother's illness forces him to make a difficult choice.

Rollo believed that money ruled the world. Then his world came crashing down. Now, Rollo finds himself in a dystopian, corporate-ruled world where where greed and exploitation are the norm. Armed with a mysterious system, he must navigate a high-tech yet unforgiving society where survival means leveraging every advantage. Rising to the top won’t be easy, but it’s the only way to thrive. To rise, Rollo will need more than cunning—he’ll need to outmaneuver those who would see him fail.

Ethan is a Sun Paladin, one of the most formidable holy warriors of the Empire of the New Dawn. After distinguishing himself in battle, he is offered a promotion to the rank of captain, but only if he undertakes a Warrior Pilgrimage to hunt down and slay an evil sorceress. His quest brings him to the wilds of Sturmgard, where he is confronted with ravenous werewolves, dark sorcery, and questions of his heritage and his true destiny.

Heath Shieldmire, written off as the "Talentless Prince," never thought his life would lead to the frontier of the Empire. With the Governor System at his command, he's the last chance for Hardhome, a settlement on the brink of collapse. But Heath won’t just cling to survival. He’s determined to turn the wasteland into a thriving town worth defending. Facing scarce resources, relentless monsters, and the political enemies that cast him aside, Heath must show he’s more than a discarded noble, he’s a Lord in his own right.

The Time I Died and Got Reincarnated and the Goddess Fell In Love With Me follows Erik Kress, a young man who dies tragically while attempting to stop a mugging in the real world. His life cut short, Erik finds himself before a goddess who takes pity on him, granting him a wish upon his reincarnation into a fantastical world of magic, monsters, and powerful beings.

The last thing Jonathan "Tilly" Tillman remembers is the thunderous crack of a flame-engulfed building collapsing as he tried to save a little girl . . . Until a system administrator offers him a new life on Nephesh, the realm where ideals, myths, and legends clash endlessly for supremacy in the hearts of men. Carrying all the trauma and regrets of his decades-long career as a first responder, Tilly must start from scratch—without a tutorial—in a system-governed universe. To make matters worse, on day one he finds himself facing off against a cosmic force bent on corrupting the entire realm.

After an accident, Laran wakes up in a strange fantasy world governed by a System, with his only knowledge coming from his fiery tutorial assistant, Toot, a faerie who is more snarky than helpful. Even worse, the Undying Empire is hunting him for reasons he doesn’t understand. That means hordes of undead soldiers, dark assassins lurking in every shadow, and worse. The good news is that apparently he is considered a Glory Seeker here, meaning he's able augment almost anything he does by using points of Glory, a resource earned through actions in the world—heroic or villainous.

Hotshot astronomer Rick Tagler thought terminal brain cancer limited his options—until a celestial cataclysm hurls him and other Outcasts into Illdari, a perilous new universe where survival is just the beginning. Join Rick, his pet turtle Gams, and a spitfire Fae named Gail as they navigate monstrous beasts, mercurial storms, sinister guilds, and rule-breaking overseers. In Illdari, the odds aren't just stacked against you; they'll stomp you into jelly and spread you on toast.

“Yes, I admit, I should have told him earlier,” lamented Wizard Apprentice Talash as Sentinel Ruben stared at him. “I just don’t know what to do now that the Portcullis has been opened.” What to do. Yes, that was the million-dollar question. Warning the citizens about the hordes of criminals, crazies and creatures flooding into Mokiem from the Land of Outcasts would be the first action; repairing and sealing the Portcullis would be the second; and rescuing Wizard Szczurik from whatever hellish place the changeling had teleported him would be the third.

Change is the only constant, and not all change is good. The change most recent for Tristan Walker was all the free time he now had after finding his girlfriend in a compromising position with a few other people. He went back to his normal routine of life and had mostly forgotten the indiscretion when he found himself waking on his couch after a bright flash of light, with two suns hanging in the sky.

Betrayed by his former gang and thrown into the Rendhold Underprison, Dantes has spent the last five years scraping by. A bastard of human, orcish, and elvish blood, he's lived on the periphery of the periphery, lying, cheating, and stealing to survive.

One perfectly ordinary day turned into chaos, but it wasn’t all bad. Sure, I had to fight for my life, but I also rescued the darling damsel Sophia and met the legendary adventurer Stormbreaker. That fateful encounter unlocked a rare and mysterious new class: [Runesmith]. To top it off, I earned a spot in the Dungeon Divers Guild. Now the race for survival starts. The fear of starving to death hangs over their heads due to the increased metabolism their higher attributes give them.