The AI/Clarkesworld controversy inspired me to write this, my latest essay on Medium:

​https://tonypeak78.medium.com/blame-ai-arts-exploiters-not-the-technology-ac2bbb591d93

My latest essay, 'The LitRPG Writer's Toolkit', is now up on Medium.

Link: ​https://tonypeak78.medium.com/the-litrpg-writers-toolkit-ce3c8ef765fb

I'm pleased to announce the arrival of my first LitRPG novel, HERO DAWN ONLINE 1.0: SHADOW BLADE on the YONDER app! It's a Yonder exclusive, but other formats (audio, ebook, POD) will be coming in the future. I don't have a link, since you have to use the app to find it. I had a blast writing this series.

Series description:

Drake Steele is a new character in Hero Dawn Online, a fantasy MMO where he seeks loot and levels as a Shadow Blade, a thief that uses shadow magic. But can he find a life for himself in a world where his player is the master of Drake’s destiny?
 
Hero Dawn Online’s world is fully-realized, and even though its hero characters know they are in a game, they have little control of their existence within it. Drake, however, is capable of bending the rules due a strange exploit ability that only he has. Since he’s Level 1, he’s given a veteran hero to train him: Zesstra, a dark elf Shadow Blade who’s become jaded by her experiences in HDO. Drake slowly gains her respect, and affection, as he learns how to pick pockets, disarm traps, backstab, and travel through the shadows to gain the power to challenge HDO’s key villains: the Rite wizards, who summon creatures from other worlds to fight over the one where Drake and Zesstra live. The pair recruit other heroes to help them defeat the wizards: Azara, a demonkin Trickster that uses illusions; Zooka, an unpredictable gnome warp mage; Barnabas, a bawdy cleric of the goddess of love; and Kaalijan, a noble wyrmkin warrior.
 
Through guile, determination, Zesstra’s help, and his exploit ability, Drake will adapt to the rules of the MMO and the wiles of his player—while finding meaning for himself across HDO’s static yet vibrant lands.