Sorcery in Boston

rubycona | historical | Complete

The timid daughter of some of the greatest spellcasters ever to have lived has found herself in another world, courtesy of magic gone awry. In Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1935, she finds some kind souls in a hard era. In the heart of the Great Depression, as war looms around the corner, she seeks to find her place, and must come to terms with both who she is and what she truly desires. Author's Notes: This story is only sort of complete. There are issues with it and I'm intending to do massive edits to the whole story. I think I'll fix them privately, and then update the RR version all at once. Once the rework is completed, I can start on the second book, though that might be a while. Audience: This story is not for young children - it contains some profanity, sexual content, violence, gore, and significant adult themes. Most of these are handled delicately enough not to upset teens or adults (hopefully), hence the lack of relevant tags, but it is nonetheless unsuitable for youth. It's fairly slow paced, and focused on the development of very human, very flawed individuals. Length / Completion Estimates: The outline currently involves two books. I expect to move on to the far-more-lighthearted Of Gods and Dungeons (currently in progress / on hiatus). Afterwards, I may decide to write Book 2, or actually start sharing the story most dear to me, that I've been working on for several years now. Draft 1:Please be aware that this is first draft material. I do intend to come back to do a second draft after the story is complete. If anyone notices any issues whatsoever with the story, please let me know (pm, etc) so that I can improve the second draft. Writer's Pledge:I've taken theWriter's Pledge, meaning I'm commiting to completing this story. I'm a proud member of WriTE, a group dedicated to finishing stories. I fulfilled the oath :) Behind the Scenes notes: This picture was commissioned from an inked artist by the name of DanP. Up until the time of the protagonist's arrival, history has proceeded as before. Some places andcharacters have been borrowed from wikipedia entries of interesting figures from the time. I will make note in the chapter comments when such things come up. Naturally, I'vetaken a great deal of liberty with them. In interest of respecting individuals, I've either attempted to portray them as accurately as possible, or modified them sufficiently enough that they're simply an inspiration, instead of a real portrayal. I've attempted to be as accurate to the era as possible, but I'm not a historian. If you're aware of inaccuracies, please, bring them to my attention so that I can correct them.

138.32 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 16:09

The Screaming Plague of Ash (A Medical Horror Fantasy)

GLBertrand | historical | Complete

(WARNING: This book contains graphic descriptions of body horror, blood, gore, violence, and trauma based heavily on real-life medicine. There is occasional profanity, alcohol, and drug use at various points. This is not a story for the easily squeamish, pursue at your own risk!) When a deadly plague arises in a metropolitan desert trading post called Ash, a healer is summoned by the city's oligarchical ruling class to uncover its cause and nature. The healer, Appo Ilonnorot, is an intelligent and highly skilled practitioner of the burgeoning field of medicine, though he is challenged both by the almost supernatural nature of the plague and the town's absence of medical literacy. With the help of Jere, a laconic mercenary with a mysterious past, Appo is forced to navigate local politics, ancient superstitions, and even the harsh desert environment in order to contain the plague before it becomes an epidemic. __________________________ Author's Note: This is a slow-burn fantasy horror story I have been writing since 2020. While there are magic and supernatural elements scattered throughout, much of this story is inspired by actual historical medicine, in a foreign world where development is somewhere between Sumerian and Roman times. Update 3/15/2024: That's a wrap, folks. Full story is here to read. Hope you enjoyed, and for future readers, I hope you enjoy. -B

109.51 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:23

The Portal

PJ_Lowry | historical | Complete

David Jones thought he was normal until he discovered that his family has been keeping a secret from him his entire life. He learned that his father's side of the family can and has been doing something that no one else can: travel through time.

29.71 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:26

Curse of Clwyd

Beeqs | historical | Complete

It is 1788 and King George III has succumbed to a deepening bout of madness. Doctor Francis Willis has been summoned from his asylum in Lincolnshire to treat the King only to find that it is no medical malady that tortures His Majesty, but rather twisted mythological Celtic magic. He leads the effort to lift the curse on the King and restore the realm to sane governance before the King is forever lost to madness and the realm descends into chaos.

29.72 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:37

The Errant Otherworlder

The Cabbage Preacher | historical | Complete

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and trucks whom transport men to other worlds." Meet our titular protagonist Haruto Watanabe, a man who has all the markings of a good protagonist for a generic portal fantasy story. As an overworked office worker, to escape from the grips of crippling capitalist alienation, he had taken up to reading many stories where young men like him were transported to other worlds and enjoyed their lives at a most leisurely pace. Armed with genre-awareness and (what he believes to be) a marketable personality which would make him an easy audience self-insert, he longed for the day the isekai express would take him to his long-awaited adventure to another world. When the fateful day came, where the fair yet harsh mistress that is the fabled truck took Watanabe on one last date to the other side, he was most ready to escape his previous life, ready to embark on an errant so great he'd be most overpowered, his heroics so exceptional and his harem so vast that they would barely fit ten or twenty volumes of an overly long novel made by a desperate author looking for quick cash. Lo and behold however, Watanabe instead found himself in a low fantasy world which lacked severely in the department of any game-like systems, cheat skills or easily charmed damsels in distress. In a setting so antithetical to his established genre savviness or any attempts at power fantasy, how will a man like Watanabe, lacking in strength, wits and courage, manage to survive in a land most foreign to him? The Errant Otherworlder is on indefinite hiatus until the John Brown Isekai is finished.

36.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:39

I Married Muzan Kibutsuji (Demon Slayer Fanfiction)

Asyouwish0203 | historical | Complete

Time travelled to Taishou Period of Japan, Teru felt very lucky that he got married to such a gorgeous wife. She was perfect, except thatshe couldn't be exposed to sunlight due to a mysterious illness. Her name was Kibutsuji Muzan. Tonight at the street, they bumped into a young, gentle swordsman with unique earrings.

12.04 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:42

Bookwyrm

Lady Siv | historical | Complete

All Griff ever wanted out of life was to be left alone in his library with his books. In order to keep his station in the library, he is forced to work with an upstart alchemist named Nicholas Flamel. When the experiment goes awry Griff and Nick must trek along the countryside to reach the Library of Alexandria. Dodging both African and European armies would be so much easier if Griff wasn't a two-story dragon."

19.28 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:44

A Dance of Wyverns

Erien | historical | Complete

A young Scot gets dragged into the wyvern gladiatorial fights of London, and brings down the entire organization in the process.

33.26 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:46

The Oresteia (Modernized)

HAXX0RZ | historical | Complete

All three of the great Greek Tragedians have written plays about the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. Yet theirs is in fact not a story of tragedy, but rather one of redemption. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration to be heard throughout the ages. Forming a discourse set against the emergence of Athenian democracy out of a period of chaos and destruction, the Orestian plays are compelling stories of the tensions between our obligations to our families and the laws that bind us together as a society. In the beginning, we witness how a king's decision to sacrifice his daughter and turn the tide of war inflicts lasting damage on his family, culminating in a terrible act of retribution. In the aftermath of regicide, we behold how a son must set out to avenge his father's death by committing a most egregious sin. In the end, the sinner is tormented by supernatural powers that can never be appeased, but ultimately finds redemption and ends the curse on his house once and for all. Woven through all of this is the story of a friendship so close that it elevates itself to brotherhood - Where the blood of the covenant is shown to be indeed thicker than the water of the womb. In this very brief twelve-chapter modern rendition of the Orestian plays, I have chosen to place my focus mainly on the lives of the characters Orestes and his best friend Pylades. The chapters, each around 2000-2500 words, are split up evenly between them in first-person narrative. I hope that you will come to enjoy reading this heartwarming story, but more importantly, that you see how the conflicts portrayed in the story, whether human or institutional, are still much very relevant to our societies today. Note on Sources: The details of this story is very loosely based on The Oresteia by Aeschylus. And I mean very loosely. Other sources that I referenced for detail and inspiration are Mythology by Edith Hamilton, Electra by Sophocles, and Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides. You may also find that I have quoted some of these works, and others (such as Shelley's Ozymondaeus), without citations (average of 1-2 such quotes per chapter). I did this because I do not have the ability to describe certain scenes nearly as well as some of those writers. If you read a particularly beautiful piece of prose here, chances are it's probably stolen lol. Also, I wrote this during the summer between my high school senior year and my college freshmen year. It was the summer of 2020, and being quarantined apparently gets my creative side out lol.

15.05 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:30

Ravyn's Nights - Book 2

Janelle Walden | historical | Complete

Claire's life led her to love. Love led her to death. Death began her eternal struggle to retain both her love and her humanity through 5 centuries of endless nights. Book 2 covers the 18th century. "Ravyn's Nights" is a six book series, with each book covering a different century. Book 6 was actually started first, and it takes place in the near future, bringing the story to a final conclusion. I then started writing the rest of the series when I decided that I wanted to share the details of the life that made her into who she is in Book 6. At the time of posting the first chapter of the series, books 1-2-3 are completed and books four, five and six are in various states of completion. There is currently a novella following a side character that does include a few crossover chapters featuring the main character. The novella will be included in the completed versions of books 4 and 5.

79.91 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:38

Lolly

JoyceMatula | historical | Complete

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] Lolly lives in time. It is where she has always lived...for now. Now is a peculiar state of existence because one now leads to another now. Lolly is not quite sure where the next now will take her, but it will take her somewhere.Now, Lolly lives in Texas. It is where she has always lived. It is 1975. She has her own quiet dreams and her own personal challenges, like we all do.

58.76 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:39

On the Subject of Death

S.nuffles | historical | Complete

Matthieu de Laval, a Capitaine in the Holy European Legions lies in hospital. After a heroic last stand at a stronghold along the Ninth Holy Crusade's front line, he escaped, missing his left arm and most of his Company. Despite a short-lived respite in the form of his nurse, Andrea Moretti, he is soon assigned a ceremonial position in rural former France. With a spare set of clothes, a toothbrush and a sidearm, he arrives in the sleepy mountain town of Melone, still skeptical of his new, Vatican subsidized life. There he meets a young girl, C閘ine Allard, the baker's daughter and the town's youngest Deathseer. As a shepherd of the dead and traveler of the many worlds along the Great Tower's spiral staircase, C閘ine Allard knows death intimately and more importantly, the truth behind immortality and salvation. As the war continues, the Great Tower destabilizes and the worlds fall into disarray, in turn only worsening the casualties of the Ninth Holy Crusade. C閘ine pleads for his help in its repair, and he begrudgingly obliges. Brushing close to death once more, yet in a completely different sense, Matthieu learns the value of such myths as immortality and eternity and distills them into a letter. On what, exactly? Well, it isn't very creative.

16.04 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:41

The Czarina's Buccaneer

Michael Regal | historical | Complete

RELEASES EVERY MONDAY AT 18:30 CST ----- After suffering the torments of slavery, the destruction of his nation, and the massacre of his band of brothers, Rodion Kazansky craves revenge and yearns for the freedom owed to him as a proud Cossack. A lost horse and a chance meeting with the Catherine the Great set him off on a journey that will take him from the steppes of the Crimea to the beaches of the Gold Coast of Africa and back again. There he will face British slavers, pirates, and the ghosts of his past to become the bane of his enemies as the Czarina's Buccaneer. ----- DISCLAIMER: This novel acknowledges the fact that the Cossacks, and the Ukrainian people by extension, are unique and not simply a "different variety of Russians." The main character views the Russians as "moskal foreigners" and does not see himself as one. This also acknowledges the fact that the czarina deprived many of the Cossacks of their freedom, something that the main character resents.

49.81 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:44

The First Wizard

Scripts_313 | historical | Complete

Thalon has been a monk his entire life. He worshiped and served the Gods whose magic wards off the dangers to the world of Vaelia. He believed their promise that the hardships of life will be rewarded with salvation upon death. Then he learns the truth. The source of their magic is the souls of the dead. Fueled with burning rage at this deception, he learns to evoke magic from his soul and, determined to reveal the lie told to all of Vaelia, he escapes their Palace. Now Thalon faces hostile priests seeking to maintain order; weary peasants who don't want to know about the machinations of the Gods; and daring legions wishing to use magic for domination, even at the cost of their souls. Thalon comes to realize that not everyone shares his idealism and that mortal ambition can be far more dangerous than celestial tyranny.

46.91 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:42

The Family

TheImperial | historical | Complete

A Short Story about a family that gets together over the holiday season. Even after they drift apart, the children off to live their lot own way in a tough world, they will never stop being family. A tribute/gift I wrote for my whole family.

1.31 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 14:11

Ghost Story

Pocket_Pigeon | historical | Complete

Left behind by the flow of time, how would you spend eternity?

0.91 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 18:30

Fairystruck

Rhion | historical | Complete

The good neighbors are awake and dangerous for all who cross them. Etain has crossed them before and knows the signs to look out for. Featuring a few different Celtic mythology systems

0.86 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 18:30

Marcoceanum

----EMMM---- | historical | Complete

An absent-minded twelve-year-old takes on uncharted waters, changing history along the way. But what does his own history have in store?

7.97 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 11:45

Princess of the Black Death

Thequeenoflove | historical | Complete

A story about the tragic medieval princess, Joan of England. The worst plague to ever devastate the world is unknown in England. As millions of people die, Princess Joan travels to mainland Europe and facing what poor and royal alike must face -- that death is imminent.

24.29 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 11:49

My Job is a Tailor

van | historical | Complete

It will be awesome, they said. It will be an adventure, they said. Like hell it was! Gargh, what is this mess?! Finding himself reincarnated in a world of magic and swords, Aiven started out as a seemingly below-average boy whose only aspiration was to live and enjoy his new life. That is, until he and his friends met the hero, the demon king and some other suspiciously dead people or something. Sigh, just wake me up to my next reincarnation, maybe next time there's TV and a working toilet! [unreliable story summary] Cover Art: AI (app.wombo.art) Note: I've fixed the first part of the story so there would be a lot of mismatched comments on the chapters posted. (I originally planned to delete and repost everything, but I really appreciate the input of others in creating this story that I can't make myself delete them entirely, XD). Book I is completed with Chapter Summaries.

96.01 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:44