MichaelJSullivan | contemporary | Complete

I admit it; I'm a long-time gaming geek. When I started back in 1984, I played on a Compaq DeskPro outfitted with an 8 MHz 8086 CPU and an awesome monochrome display adapter. I said I was a geek, remember? During the golden age of computer gaming, otherwise known as the 1990s, each month brought quantum innovations, spurring a host of inventive game designs. For me, the pinnacle was reached with the invention of the MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game), and my wife and I became lost in the world ofEverquestfrom 1999 to 2001. In the land of Norrath, we made many friends as we rose from a pair of pathetic magic users to guild legends, and I saw how the lines blurred betweenrealityand thevirtualworld. People speak of how computer games are a waste of time. But a great many good things grew out of those days. One of them was a fertile seed of an idea that I pondered well over a decade ago...and still do. This story is the result. What people are saying about "The Game" "An impressive and thought-provoking short story." - Mikel on Goodreads "The Game" is a wonderful short story, asking profound questions about existence and the meaning of life. I really enjoyed and be glad to see more from Troth." - Gil Estel on Goodreads "Great short story...different from much of Michael's writing (at least that I am familiar with). Definitely thought-provoking and chilling towards the end." - Gabe Erwin on Goodreads ". . . this one is just . . . brilliant! Do yourself a favor, everyone, and just read it." - Christomir Rackov on Goodreads.

4.38 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:52

Fusiongun | contemporary | Complete

It began on April 14th. When a particle research lab is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world, journalism student Chase Adkins and the others trapped inside must come together to survive and try to find a way out. But when even more inexplicable things begin happening around the lab, will mounting tensions turn them against one another? And why can no one remember the time between 12:26 and 1 AM? It's been April 14th for over two weeks now. [Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

32.29 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:54

TedSteel | contemporary | Complete

Billy-Bob Bain plays BetterVerse to get away from his problems, but life in-game is not much better than his daily grind - he's broke, unappreciated, and there's no prospect of things getting better. Until he becomes the only player worldwide to receive a seemingly useless skill book... And becomes the world's first - and only - Dungeon Consultant. Dungeon Park is a hilarious tale of creativity, triumph over adversity, and cute skeletons. "It's a real rollercoaster ride of a story!"

55.54 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:58

Oinos | contemporary | Complete

This is the story of a glass window that gets installed on the fa鏰de of a train station. It's nothing serious, after all it spends most of the time just windowing there as people pass by and live their lives.

2.18 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 16:56

sarvashaktimaan | contemporary | Complete

By the grace of the Three, may their blessings touch you. May all around you prosper, as shall you. When you depart, may the only sin staining you be death. May your legacy not be forgot. This is very different from my usual writing. Hope it does not disappoint. Participating in January 2024 RR magazine. This is a self contained short story with no direct relationship with my other work.

6.13 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:01

Faenon | contemporary | Complete

A geeky highschooler develops superpowers and is recruited to an international peackeeping unit at the same time as struggling with mental health problems. * Gonzalo Lopez, nicknamed 'Weakling' by his bullies, is just a normal teenager except that now he has superpowers. Ever since that fight with the bully where his powers first manifested and he broke his attacker's hand by accident, everything has been spiralling out of control. Now all of a sudden he's getting invited to parties, his psychiatrist's started dating his Mom, and at least two different international organisations are trying to hunt him down. Then there's Ali--the new girl at school, the only other person who believes any of this is happening to him, who seems to be hiding a secret of her own. Is she really his friend like she says she is, or does she have some sort of ulterior motive for being so nice to him all the time? Should he tell her about Miracle Force, the superpowered United Nations peacekeeping unit he's just been recruited to? And is any of this really happening, or is it all just going on in his head? * You can read deleted scenes on my Patreon.

54.41 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:07

RemingtonSloan | contemporary | Complete

Dave sees life as a theatrical performance; he's in the audience, but he didn't buy a ticket. He's not interested in the show, and nothing he can say or do will disrupt the story on the stage. What's to stop him from getting up and leaving? What's to stop him from walking through the door with the exit sign over it? Note: Exit Sign is literary fiction and a psychological drama. It's the first novel I ever wrote. The story is personal, and I'm proud of what's in there. It's been described as Seinfeld meets Sartre and as My Dinner With Andre meets Ralph Bakshi. My goal was to write a story full of sincerity while exploring the heaviness of the human experience. I wanted to write something that helps people wrestle with dread and meaninglessness. Writing Exit Sign certainly helped me figure out a few things in life, so I'm hopeful that it will do the same for a diligent reader. I'll write the sequels one day, but in the meantime I'm focused on my pulpier stories. I wrote Exit Sign for everyone who hates working in a drive through. Just keep going. Keep going forward. You might suffer, but if you love your friends and family along the way, it's worth it. The novel is complete, so there will be regular updates until all of it is posted.

32.62 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 15:40

PublicApology | contemporary | Complete

In the eerie town of Darkwood, situated deep within the dense forests of Washington, a tragic incident shatters the lives of six teenagers at the heart of it all. As the new girl, unsocialized and sheltered, Grace finds herself thrust into a tumultuous world of confusion and torment, grappling with the aftermath of the tragedy. She struggles to find understanding behind the tragedy and wants to uncover the events and truth that led up to it. As she pieces the puzzle together, she grows close to her equally tormented friends and embarks on a jaded coming-of-age journey to discover who she can be. Cody and Emily are childhood friends, deeply in love, and are torn apart by guilt and insecurities. Cody blames himself for the tragedy and has been pushing Emily away as an excuse, unable to face the real sinister reasons. Emily has her own guilt and masks it by trying to ignore it while trying to fix the crumbling relationship with her childhood love. Amidst their struggles, both Cody and Emily embark on transformative journeys, seeking self-forgiveness, discovering the meaning of acceptance, and moving on. Twins Andrew and Sara carry the weight of their hand in the tragedy, haunted by the trauma that lingers within them. Andrew, a rebellious force of nature, delves deeper into the criminal underground. Tormented by his involvement, Andrew descends into self-destruction intending to cause as much chaos around him. Sara battles with depression and copes with hard drugs to escape the pressure of the secrets she keeps, slowly succumbing to them. Both siblings teeter on the edge of despair, desperately trying to hold on. Among this group of tormented souls, there is Chris, an enigmatic and brilliant young mind who believes he possesses the ability to foresee the future. Chris's tenuous grip on reality makes him relentlessly pursue an answer with no question. Along his journey, he encounters someone who shares his unique perception of the world, prompting both Chris and the reader to question his own sanity as he tries to prevent another tragedy from occurring. As these six friends persevere through their struggles, they uncover the tangled web of tragedy and uncover the malevolent curse that looms over them all. (This is a redux of Petrichor. I was unsatisfied with how the story went. I rushed things and left things to happen off-screen a lot. So I'm rewriting it, this time dividing the acts into their separate books to allow the characters to properly develop. The story will mostly stay the same but I'll fix all the plot holes I found and change some character motivations here or there.)

70.64 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 13:49

Cinn | contemporary | Complete

People are extraordinary. They are glorious, chaotic, imaginative, grim, all kinds of smart and driven. They are capable of living in harmony or incredible destruction. They can be both caring and loyal but vicious and self-centred. However, Olivia wished that the first year of her PhD didn't have to showcase quite so much of the melting pot. People. Harmony. Dysfunction. is a story that follows a research group through the drama and challenges life throws at them. It has an (unspecified) modern setting and focuses on the characters. Updates: Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

29.94 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 11:29

Just Endless | contemporary | Complete

What happens when a boy who hates love but has no idea what it is encounters a girl who wants to love but cannot, meet? Pulled into a series of events which makes them question their beliefs and is forced to ask themself, will they fall or not? Contestant for the Royal Road Writathon~

32.94 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 11:31

Fay Voss | contemporary | Complete

Grownups don't believe me, but he's there. (This is written in diary format.)

0.85 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 14:10

Methuselah | contemporary | Complete

I'm bound. I'm beaten. I ask for help. I'm bound. I'm beaten. I ask for help. The cycle renews; when the cycle renews, lights dim and sparks extinguish. This is the world of the city-cyclicals. Does anybody understand it? Do they understand it? Join Michaels, Johnny, and Johnny-boy as they digest their cycles. Will they find their peace of this world?

1.34 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 15:26

EldritchPotato | contemporary | Complete

Eva Diaz, a marine biology student, has always loved the sea and the orcas that call it home. This makes her summer job a dream come true for the struggling university student. When an opportunity arises to check out her uncle's current project, a very rare specimen of cetacean, in the top-secret research facility of Ocean Land, she can't resist learning more. Except this specimen is a lot less whale and a lot more creature of myth. Mermaids shouldn't be real yet now it's her job to befriend one. Gripped by uncertainty she must choose whether to be a warden or to heed the call of the orca's serenade.

37.00 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 15:31

nicoshaw | contemporary | Complete

TheFriday Night Food Heistis fraught with danger, but some boys will do anything for free pizza. Ross Cameron is sick and tired of boring Friday nights. Of course, with friends like Mac, there's always the chance of a more exciting development. On this occasion, it's the chance of free food at the expense of someone nobody likes. The only problem - Mac's plan requires military precision to pull off and could leave the boys facing the wrath of the most dangerous man in the neighbourhood.

4.84 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 16:51

mer_curry | contemporary | Complete

This is an early version of what became siVisPhases, there is no need to read this in order to understand that story--please discard Reader Beware: Original!Urban Fantasy, Survival Thriller, Harsh Progression. Constant Struggle, not Weak-to-Strong. This is a reality eerily like our own. This is a reality that's complicated further by fantasy. Contemporary times have finally ended, and the Phantasia era has begun. Due to the cosmic, reality warping Shift Noumena, life as we once knew it is now defined by things we once thought were fantastical. Instead of monsters, we have the Nulgarrt. Instead of ancient, hidden cities--Terminsys Cities are what's left after celestial space waves broke reality, once people's home towns. And what they got instead of magic? siVis. Enlightenment that reveals far too much, all at once. Forced to figure out a way to survive against what-once-was fictional tropes and plots. Living during confusing, turbulent when not only life never made sense, but is falling apart. Growing through out all of this, and growing to become just as weird. This is the story of those youths, not another heroic tale.

86.42 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:33

uncannyvin | contemporary | Complete

When a sketch artist gets interested in comic creation, she's met with speed bumps and second guesses. A short story about creativity and getting help with it.

0.47 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:24

Nemesis Quill | contemporary | Complete

This is just a poem that I wrote a few years ago, in the early hours of the morning.

0.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:23

Hersi Hersi | contemporary | Complete

Two friends on a day out talking about things they shouldn't be talking about

0.36 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 10:23

Killerbee442 | contemporary | Complete

One big healthy serving of a slice of life. I saved the best for last.

1.00 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 14:11

Kai Willow | contemporary | Complete

Autumn K黨n is done with dating. A proud, self-confessed romantic, she always imagined she'd find "The One" and win her happily ever after. But if love is a game, the rules must be written in ancient Greek.Annoyingly, her friends say it's her fault. That she's a sucker for a pretty face, and tends to overlook the lesser details, like personality. Even so, when her cousin suggests the limitless smorgasbord that is dating online, Autumn shudders. For about three minutes. Then she downloads the app.Autumn's hopes lift when she matches with a cutie who appears to read more than just her daily horoscope and understands Autumn in a way that's almost uncanny. But every rose has its thorns. Autumn is looking for chemistry, companionship, and commitment, but what she discovers instead could ruin her faith in love once and for all.In this funny and poignant new adult F/F romance, Autumn will discover that the path to true love is filled with twists and turns, but she might just find herself along the way.

10.74 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-25 14:14