Transmissions

Books Like Silo

Books like Silo: what to read now that season three is over Ten episodes, one finale, and season four is the last one. Three novels that do what Silo does, sorted by which part of it kept you watching. Season three of Silo wrapped on September 4, which leaves everyone in the same…

Books like Defiance of the Fall and The Primal Hunter (sorted by what you're really reading for)

Zac Atwood was on a camping trip. Jake Thayne was at work. Three read-alikes for people who came for the moment the planet stopped being the same kind of place, plus one with my name on it. Both of those series open on an ordinary person having an ordinary day, and then the Syste…

Books like He Who Fights With Monsters (sorted by what actually hooked you)

You've caught up on Jason Asano and now you're waiting like everyone else. Three read-alikes sorted by which part of HWFWM you were really there for, plus one I have a stake in. He Who Fights With Monsters is a dozen books deep with another on the way, which is a wonderful proble…

Cradle vs Dungeon Crawler Carl: Which One Should You Read First?

Two of the biggest names in progression fiction. Two completely different rides. Here's how to pick your entry point — spoiler-free — based on what you actually want out of the next thing you read. If you've spent any time looking for your next progression read, you've hit both o…

If you loved Squid Game or Alice in Borderland

A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era Every good death-game story runs on the same cold engine. You get a number. The number decides where you rank, your rank decides whether you're worth keeping alive, and none of it arrives with any more feeling than a spreadsheet updating…

If You Loved Severance or Black Mirror

The Book Series That Scratches the Same Itch A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era Severance and Black Mirror keep pressing the same bruise. A cold institution measures you, sorts you, and decides what you're worth, and the horror is how calm it stays the whole time. A polic…

Best Grounded Realistic LitRPG

A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era Grounded LitRPG asks a harder thing of its numbers. The level has to cost something you felt on the page. The world has to keep running after the fight ends, with weather and rent and people who have jobs. And the character holding the s…

The Best Military and Squad-based LitRPG (and Where to Start)

A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era The best squad stories in this genre all run on the same engine: the moment the team should break and doesn't. Someone holds a line they have no business holding. Someone spends themselves so the others get clear. And the system is right…

GM Modules for Free

Play the Integration Era: Two Free Tabletop Modules Two standalone one-shots, two very different nights at the table. Both free when you join. For a while now, the Integration Era has been something you read. Starting today it's also something you can run. Two tabletop modules ar…

What is a System Apocalypse?

What Is a System Apocalypse? A Newcomer's Guide to the Subgenre A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era It's an ordinary Tuesday until a box of blue text appears in the air in front of every human being on Earth at the same instant. The message is short. It welcomes you to a S…

Progression Fantasy Without Power Creep

Writing progression fantasy without power creep A craft note on power creep, and the design choices I use to keep the numbers honest. There's a moment in a lot of progression fantasy where the air goes out of it. The hero hits a new tier. The threat scales up to match. That happe…

If You Loved Dungeon Crawler Carl, He Who Fights With Monsters, or Cradle — Read This

A reader's on-ramp for the Integration Era You finished the last one. The series you were bingeing ran out of pages, or you caught up to the release schedule and now you're waiting like everyone else, and the gap where the book used to be is genuinely uncomfortable. You know the …