Time Travel Litrpg

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.

Danny Taylor thinks he's just the butler. Then, his eccentric employer's apocalyptic predictions, impossibly, come true. In an instant, the Earth transforms into a ruthless world of magic governed by an unforgiving System. His master gains land and authority, but an unexplained afflictions renders him unable to rule his new kingdom.

During her first weeks in the deeply immersive VR game, Relic Online, she’s hacked out a home from a choking jungle, gathered a tribe of loyal followers, and earned a wisp stalker who insists she’s some kind of champion. But Relic Online isn’t some wussy kids game, and there will be no easy-street cruising for Devon. Like a monk racking up combo points, the system opens a fresh offensive by crippling her most powerful ability. Following through, it strangles the village food supply, sends demons bursting through rifts in the Earth, and delivers a final, devastating throat punch.

Arlan can go back in time by one minute, once per day. Fail a challenge? Say something dumb? He can get a redo as long as he acts fast. And every time he levels up, he can go back a little further. But, even with his growing power, Arlan has never been in more danger. He was left stranded in the middle of a monster-infested forest, nobody to rely on but himself as he fights to build strength. And his time magic wasn't given to him freely. He stole it. And its original owners would go to any lengths to take it back.

A gas station clerk at twenty-seven with no future prospects on the horizon, Mike Reynolds is a dropout with an addiction to video games and a less-than-ideal living situation. Life definitely isn't great, but could it really get much worse? When monsters appear on Earth and begin destroying the fabric holding together humanity, that thought is thrown out the window: everything is getting worse, and fast. 'Is my world becoming an MMRPG Apocalypse?' Can Mike make good on his prior experience and carve a foothold for himself as a Necromancer in this RPG world?

The day after Hugo gains access to magic, his train explodes. Unknown magic flings him back in time, and he narrowly avoids death this time. While he is trying to unravel the mystery of this unexpected second chance, life goes on. His new gifts lead him to the magic academy. At the school, he will face off against noble students who don’t want him to be there, teachers who expect him to already know everything, and literal monsters that want to kill him.

Anthony Franklin is a seasoned time traveler, and he’s tried to save his city 99 times before.... But this is the 100th Run. This is the only one that matters. As a monstrous swarm of enormous wasp-like creatures, called Vespae, prepare to invade, it’s up to Anthony and his ragtag crew to make the impossible…slightly less impossible. Unfortunately, the deadly creatures lurking in the wilds aren’t Anthony’s only problem. His past triumphs have made him a target for the vindictive system administrators—not to mention a host of bloodthirsty villains, who now have him firmly in their crosshairs.

Death has a funny way of finding Lynette Heversham. After three villainous lifetimes—marked by pain, betrayal, and increasingly violent demises—Lynette still has no idea why she's been cursed with being reborn again and again. When she awakens as her younger self for the fourth time, she quickly realizes this life is her last chance to get it right.

They have beaten the dungeon. Now they are launched out into a cold universe. The remnants of humanity need to find a new home. They will meet alien races. Some will be allies. Some will need to be killed. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, but Jay has accepted his place and will take charge of their destiny.

Since the apocalypse began, Bain Lee has survived with a class that should never have been intended for combat. Using his ability to see into the true nature of the System, he has turned the ocularist class into a powerhouse on the battlefield. His time on this new Earth has changed him, transformed him into what he was always meant to be: A leader among humanity, a general among all sentient species.

When war and nefarious forces split the realms, Micah dives into the breach once more, confident in his stupendous magical power and time magic will keep him and his friends safe. It won't. He fails, and a new enemy with a familiar face has followed him back into the past, wreaking havoc on the timeline. Now Micah's only chance comes in the form of a map, guiding him halfway around the world to the laboratory of the greatest wizard that ever lived.

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.

Jason had it all, and yet he still couldn't prevent his father's death. He didn't even have time to grieve as his mission took precedence over all else. Pressing onward was the only path. But did he possess enough strength to clear the tower, even with Roy and Olivia at his back? The answer was obvious: Only with humanity's best could he stand a fighting chance. Yet as his actions influenced the world, the more things changed. Worse, his secret identity, Index, was in the spotlight for releasing knowledge that couldn't possibly be known.

Year 2286. Alex Bell has put in 20 years of work in the VR game Eternal Dominion, a full dive fantasy VRMMO game that accounts for around 20 percent of the world's economy. He had risen to the top as a vice guild leader, and thanks to his work, his guild was steps away from truly standing with the other top guilds. Only fate decided to rip it all away at the last moment. After his fall, Alex awakens to see his 18-year-old self looking back at him in the mirror. It's 2266, and Eternal Dominion is set to launch in a matter of hours; this time, things will be different.

Hunt the mesmer. Free the captives. Be the hero you never wanted to be. It's been 10 days since Jade finally got out. Out of the bed she spent her life trapped in, out of the hospital, and now out of the city, the walls, and way outside of her comfort zone. The wilderness is a terrifying place, especially when you're hunting mesmer...and everything else is hunting you. Unfortunately, getting out of the forest won't get her out of the woods. She’ll need to navigate court politics and foreign policy if she wants to come out in one piece.

The final stretch of Arlan’s journey is here, but with it, the Demons’ final stand. Arlan has one last obstacle in his way before he can escape from imminent death—a monster-infested mountain range. But just as much as the monsters pose a threat to him, they also pose an opportunity. After all, an enemy is just a Level-up waiting to be claimed. The Demons are intent on not giving Arlan the time to get strong enough to beat them, though.

All Lex wanted was to help his good buddy Gryph find his sister and maybe save the world along the way. But everything goes wrong from the start when Lex gets separated from Gryph during their transfer into the Realms. Lost, alone, and forced to live the same day over and over, Lex must defeat the agent of a despotic god, uncover hidden truths about himself, and find his way back to his friend. If he fails the Realms face destruction.

If waking up in a new world isn't bad enough, Hestia starts her new life as a small, newborn dragon in a hostile forest filled with vicious monsters. With status screens obscuring her vision, her first task is to escape two hungry kobolds wanting some grilled lizard for breakfast. Equipped with fragmented memories from her past life and the gamelike mechanics of her new reality, Hestia must face trials, beasts, bosses, and more as she grows in size and power.

In a not-so-distant future, Earth is at the mercy of a rogue quantum AI, with the power to manipulate time, space, and reality. This once-benign creation has gone off the rails, turning our world into a chaotic, dystopian landscape straight out of a video game. Amidst this madness, Liam, an ordinary man, is thrust into the role of Earth's unlikely savior. Tasked with rebooting the entire planet, he must navigate a world where the rules of physics are as malleable as the whims of the AI that controls it.

After experiencing a future where all of humanity’s planets and colonies had been purged, Eric refused to fall. And so, the Entity chose him to be humanity's last hope—to be Reborn.... The Reborn are galactic boogiemen. Myths and legends used to terrify children and curb the aggression of advanced alien civilizations. They are usually granted boons and abilities able to grow powerful enough to destroy star systems, making them the number one target of every alien race out there.