Can you please give us a basic explanation of what LitRPG is? I've seen the term but I have no idea what it means.
Of course! I should have thought of that, actually - my apologies.
LitRPG means, literally, literature about RPG (Role-Playing Games). Or, to be more specific: "LitRPG is a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy which describes the hero’s adventures within an online computer game. LitRPG books merge traditional book-style narration with elements of a gaming experience, describing various quests, achievements and other events typical of a video game."
So, if you're an anime fan, think Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, Overlord... Or if you're a gamer, just imagine you're playing World of Warcraft (or any other MMO), preferably in a full-immersion suit which engages all your senses, so you really feel like you are there - and then getting stuck there. When you try to log out you can't. The virtual world has become your real world.
Or some variation thereof.
D. Rus, a Russian author, is one of the names credited with creating this genre. He wrote seven novels, the Play to Live series, that describes a world that will be very familiar to WoW players. In his books, the longer you play and stay in AlteredWorld, the bigger the risk of becoming a "perma", somebody who has become a permanent resident of this artificial world and who can never return or log out again. This starts attracting the interest of various people - some with a terminal disease, some who have been crippled, or mutilated - some with their own, ulterior motives.
In Catharsis, by T. Bagwell, the story is about Jason, an 18-year old bullied at school and neglected by his parents, who starts playing a new game and soon finds himself cast as the villain in the story as he unleashes his anger and frustration. Deciding to embrace the role, he attracts the attention of powerful (and familiar) enemies. But Jason is no longer helpless and powerless. He is a might Necromancer with an army of the Undead, and he is pissed.
Of the two series, I prefer the books by Bagwell, even though he has only written two so far.
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