Epic Litrpg Fantasy

The best of the year's science fiction and fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. Distant worlds, time travel, epic adventure, unseen wonders, and much more! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past 12 months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

Noah Brown has a gift for fighting. Unfortunately, punching things doesn't pay the bills, at least until he died and an Eldritch god found his soul. The encounter brings him to a new world, summoned by bloody cultists. He's got nothing but the shirt on his back and a strange item in his system menu.

More decks, more cards, more goblins! Reborn into a world of magic, Gareth saved his adopted home from the ravages of their ancient enemy. Not that anyone noticed. Whilst the city rebuilds, Gareth turns his attention towards a new goal, the upcoming grand tournament! If he’s going to compete Gareth will need to get stronger. That means taking on more quests, earning more levels, and discovering powerful new cards for his deck. Along with his friends, a former goddess, a deposed demon lord and their constantly annoyed watcher, he sets off on what sounds like an easy job.

Who knew that getting a second chance for life on another world - after you died - could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to you? Morgan has been living on this new world for quite some time. He has made friends, found love, been betrayed, formed a guild, fought off a goblin horde, and become an adventurer. His life is perhaps a bit strange now compared to what he had been used to on Earth, but hey, he has an energy sword now.

I guess trying to catch the bus with your laces undone isn’t such a smart decision after all… One fatal collision later, and I’m facing my judgment. As it turns out, I’ve been a lazy sob, and my short, uneventful life of playing games and getting up late wasn’t worth much. And so I don’t qualify to move on to the afterlife. I try to argue to the goddess in front of me that I do have skills, that it was hard work playing those simulation and management games. But she will not concede. In the end, I manage to get the benefit of the doubt, and a wager is made.

Think you've had a bad day at work? Marcus definitely takes the cake. First, he had a horrible customer during his shift. Then he got fired by his boss. And after that, he got shot to death during a robbery. To top it all off, he awakened within the body of a weak and strange creature in a fantasy world full of deadly monsters. And that's just Monday!

Jay Morgan managed to wake his best friend Molly O'Brian from the Portal Sleep that had claimed her. But Molly has changed after her experience in the enchanted dream sleep. Her sweet, bubbly nature is sometimes replaced by a fierce warrior woman Jay hardly recognizes. And this warrior woman has unexpected appetites...

Hugh Logan and the other human cores of the expeditionary force are back home, but the cost of keeping their allies alive has been a heavy one. Not happy about losing their prey, the Ssath continue to use the vast resources at their disposal to seek total victory over humanity. They will stop at nothing until Earth’s cores are defeated and the planet is transformed into a feeding ground and hunting preserve.

Nick was going to make something of himself. He was not going to be just another guy drifting through life. Then he died. Lucky for him he caught the attention of an eccentric god and gets to choose: reincarnation or travel beyond. Nick is reborn as a champion of Ki’darth people. He must learn their ways, stay alive, and work to understand the Titan system, one level at a time.

This ain't no spaghetti Western. Cam and company are running for their lives with a UN superteam hot on their heels...not to mention one very pissed-off fae. With Lilith injured, and the UN closing in, there is only one person that can save them: Lilith's mom. Not only does Cam need to figure out how to impress a millennia-old succubus, but he's also got to figure out what to get the women in his life for Christmas. His problems are only going to get worse from there.

Hi, my name's Max and I'm one of the Selected. What's the first thing that pops into your head when you read those words? A great hero, chosen from among all the billions of people on Earth? A lucky man who has ended up on an unknown world and gained superpowers? An explorer of new worlds who has discovered his destiny? Well, that's all true, but there is one but . . . Actually, if I'm honest, there are a whole load of buts. And there are rules. And the first rule of the Selected is: "Try not to die. It is expensive and impractical."

Ryan doesn’t remember much about his life before becoming dungeon core. Only that he had a bit of a disagreement with the church - something to do with a beheading? Now reborn, Ryan begins to arm his darkness dungeon with devious traps, bestial zombies, and ill-named skeletal creations, without doing anything too evil. Well, mostly. Some adventurers just deserve a stalactite to the head. But Ryan quickly learns being a darkness dungeon isn’t all loot and bone puns.

Lennox chased scum across the galaxy, bringing them to justice until one day, a target generates a very illegal black hole to flee through. Unable to escape it's might, Lennox is ripped from everything he's ever known and brought to a fantasy world with a system interface. On Komax, two forces battle in a never ending war. The Scaly Faction consist of lizard people, their fearsome pets, and their allies of mythical monsters. The Ordinatus Faction consists of elves, dwarves, and humans who repel attacks, eradicate nests, and try to gather enough supplies to survive the peaceful winters.

Having released the Phoenix to save his life, Dallion now has gained the trait of magic. Hunted by Countess Priscord and others, he has set off for the Academy in search of sanctuary and the knowledge to develop his newly acquired power. Yet, the web of politics runs deep. Everything in the world of mages comes at a cost, and even the most mundane favors have strings attached. In the case of Dallion, he has to start from the beginning, learning spell craft principles taught to children while also using his hunter skills to take on off-the-books jobs for his teachers.

Five years in the prime of his life, wasted. And now finally, after so long, he was returning to society, ready to resume his life. And this time he wouldn't make the same mistakes. This time, he would do it right. Yet just as he was about to gain his freedom...everything changed. He found himself in a new world without explanation, a world of magic and possibilities beyond his wildest dreams. Orc, elf, ogre…hundreds of possible races. Blacksmith, fighter, rogue…thousands of possible classes. And each of them with tens of thousands of possible skills.

When Morgan got hit by a car and died on Earth, he never imagined that he would be chosen by a god, little g, to be taken to another planet - a World governed by game-like rules. Especially since said god liked to have people call him the Great Lord, and had basically created an entire World to run experiments in. Nor could Morgan have ever imagined that he would find one thing that he had never really had on Earth: a real family. It's been years since Morgan started his second chance at life on that world, and both he and his friends have achieved great power as part of a Great Raid.

In the first book, Hadjar lost it all. His body ruined, parents dead, and his title of Prince replaced by a slave collar. It seemed like Primus had deprived him of everything. But no one can take away a man's will to fight. Even if his heart turns into a bleeding stone due to endless grief and suffering, it won't matter. The most important thing was that he still had the will to go on. The thought of taking revenge on his family's murderers gave him the strength to survive. After receiving a piece of the mighty Dragon's heart, he regained his strength and enlisted in the army, where he made real friends and fought by their side in many battles.

Joey Eclipse is the #1 beginner with a list of achievements that's hard to believe. All while in an apocalypse where the multiverse integrates whole universes and initiates countless humans to its game-like realms of limitless magic. Here's the problem. He's way too overpowered to stay in a lesser realm. And he keeps refusing his first ascension to accomplish his remaining goals. Too bad Joey's refusal to ascend dooms the lesser realm to suffer attacks from buffed-up monsters. Like the epic dread whale, a highly evil boss that's two realms of power greater than Joey Eclipse.

Karl always played it safe—coding by day, gaming by night. But when a mystical tower drags him into a world where spells are real and death is only a single mistake away, Karl must adapt fast. Thrust into a deadly war, he's forced to recruit allies, conquer dungeons, and defend his tower against relentless attacks. As the stakes climb ever higher, Karl quickly learns that in this game, there's no respawn. If his tower falls, it's game over—for good.

Frank lived for his three sons, busting his back to see they thrived in comfort. His good for nothing wife, she made him the happiest man in the world when she finally agreed to his divorce terms. His glorious day turned to ruin when an explosion hurls him through an unformed portal connection.