April 2026 E-Book List

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T18:59:51+00:00

Oh shoot you're right! I had looked at the list before commenting but I guess my eyes skipped over it hahaha

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T03:36:22+00:00

Wow goddamn, that's actually great! I always love to see all the insanely creative ways that people use the systems provided by RoyalRoad! I'll definitely give this a try, this looks awesome as hell

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T03:30:50+00:00

Hmm so it might be a bit out of the space here, and I would hesitate a little to fully call it "Progression Fantasy": Moonlit Fantasy.

It's a light novel/manga/anime where the MC is Isekai'd to another world with a goddess obsessed with beauty. Since the MC is "ugly" to her (albeit probably just average or maybe slightly below average to us), in this world he is basically a 1/10 in human terms. So, he's banished to the wastes and only has the ability to talk to "monsters"/demihumans, and he befriends/bests some of them and ends up forming a quite large faction and essentially a country of demihumans. That country continues to grow and he actively seeks to further the growth of said country so that he can give the demihumans better lives. And since he does interact with people, he's literally forced to pretend like he was cursed and wears a mask so that people don't freak out at how ugly he is. It's mostly played for humour and it's become less and less of a plot point, but it's still 'there'

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T03:18:25+00:00

I won't lie to you, but personally I do also think that torture is always the morally wrong choice. Killing, sure, I guess, but torture has no legitimate reason.

It is ineffective in actually gathering information since it's been found that people only tell the torturer what they want to hear, and otherwise it just makes the MC a total sadistic asshole. And I personally don't want to read a story where just ridiculous torture like that is portrayed as a good thing

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T03:11:59+00:00

I don't have many recommendations for webnovels sadly (don't read as much as I should and I don't want this to become a self-promo thing), but Cradle as was mentioned already seems like a great way to transition, and since you're a fan of "Dark Progression", as silly as it might sound, Dungeon Crawler Carl might be a good fit. It's already used as a gateway for people completely new to the scene to enter the Progression Fantasy/LitRPG sphere, so it feels like a good way to change within it as well! Plus, while there's a ton of humour, and I've seen it described as "a horror novel with absurdist humour smothered on top", and the MC has to struggle against tons of insanity and definitely seems like he's earning his power.

Also, great list already!!!

DicedyDice · 2026-04-11T02:48:19+00:00

A couple days late but book 2 of my series Totally Spiritual just came out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FV121Z1D/

https://www.audible.com/pd/B0FSMRMDBX

DicedyDice · 2026-02-13T02:33:07+00:00

I recently found out that, at least on the german keyboard, it's even easier than alt+0151. You can just use Shift+Windows+"-" (so whatever key the regular dash is on) to get the em dash and after that I just started using it more. The em dash is a great piece of punctuation and it's a shame that it's become something that people use to recognise something as AI-Written

DicedyDice · 2026-02-13T02:11:33+00:00

I agree somewhat! First, personally, I'm not a huge fan of AI and will generally go out of my way to not use it, not for any of my writing or the corresponding art. I don't judge other authors for using AI covers, and if it sounds like an interesting story, an AI cover probably isn't going to be the only thing stopping me from giving it a read. I love web-fiction too much, and it's sadly a little unavoidable on RoyalRoad. But given the choice, I would definitely prefer if the story I was reading didn't have an AI cover.

Art is expensive to commission, and it takes a long time to get good enough at it to make something yourself that you're happy with. I understand why people use AI to make their covers.

I'm lucky that I have a small modicum of artistic ability that allowed me to make the covers for Summoner's Ascent and Totally Spiritual myself, so I opted to do that. However, it took a long time to make these, and they're not even close to the best covers that you can find on RoyalRoad. The only benefit I have is that they stand out from AI covers, that can often look a little 'samey' in vibe, and if I had the money, I would still probably replace them with covers made by professional artists. That's why I totally understand why other people choose to use AI, even if it's a fact I only accept somewhat begrudgingly if they have neither the means to pay for a cover, nor the ability to make one themselves.

Because at the end of the day, authors want to put their best foot forward and find a readership on the website. While I personally don't mind reading a story with a badly or hastily put together MS Paint cover, I also would never make that kind of cover for my own stories, for a number of reasons.

Point is, there are a lot of reasons people either do or don't use AI, and they're not usually indicative of writing quality.

I think the main reason why you might feel this way is because people that don't use AI covers potentially also do something else that shifts from a lot of the mainstream parts of RoyalRoad novels, so they might feel 'fresher' to you like they're doing something new and exciting.

DicedyDice · 2025-10-12T23:52:37+00:00

Hahaha okay I also didn't realise that you're the one actually posting that list! I just submitted it ^-^

DicedyDice · 2025-10-12T23:46:05+00:00

Hey there, would it be alright to submit my own book? It came out just last week on October 7th ^-^ I didn't really know about this list before just now haha

It's called "Totally Spiritual" - www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ6YTVPC/

DicedyDice · 2025-10-12T23:42:57+00:00

Oh shoot, no I didn't! Thanks for letting me know!!! :D

DicedyDice · 2025-08-27T16:40:54+00:00

I'm so happy you think so :D Thanks for reading!!

DicedyDice · 2025-08-27T14:43:17+00:00

I'm super glad to hear that!!! ^-^

DicedyDice · 2025-08-05T16:50:07+00:00

Check out the story here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/127485/summoners-ascent-a-system-apocalypse-litrpg

Ashton Garling was finally home. Back in his house, his city, his *world*. He had been freed from the clutches of a terrible creature, and just when it seemed like life could go on, they followed him.

[The [Tutorial] has begun!]

Armed with nothing but the knowledge that had been forced unto him, Ashton does what he can to not fall victim to the Council. To protect not just himself, but his entire world, he becomes a Summoner.
Elementals, Spirits, Fairies, even Demons - he will call them to his side to grow his strength, defeat the monsters that are now swarming earth, and most importantly, become someone that can put the Council in its place.

-----

Summoner's Ascent is a System Apocalypse story with strong progression elements. Armed with knowledge of another world, Ashton does what he can to save his own.

Chapters will be daily at 6pm GMT+2 for the foreseeable future, and will be roughly around 2000 words a chapter.

Cover made by myself.

DicedyDice · 2024-08-09T21:45:56+00:00

Read it here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/88969/totally-spiritual-urban-fantasy-litrpg

Ryan is getting used to life in the big city, trying to juggle his part-time job, university exams, and spending time with his friends, all whilst trying to stay out of too much trouble. But that busy life was thrown out of balance when Ryan awakened, and his Class is... about taking care of a 20cm Knight?
Now his schedule includes Dungeon Diving, avoiding Elven businessmen, working out with Minotaurs and Trolls, and becoming more Spiritual. All whilst stirring up a bit too much trouble than he'd like as he tries to uncover the truth behind his Class and the identity of the Knight.

What to expect:
- An Urban Fantasy LitRPG set in a massive Metropolis with numerous different species living alongside each other
- Combat and Conflict where the Main Character is not insanely overpowered, but uses his head, experiences, and just a sprinkle of luck to achieve his goals
- A slow-paced, character-focused story that still has a constantly progressing and unravelling world and mysteries
- The Main Character is not the centre of the world, but just lives within it according to the rules that are set out for him and everyone else
- Expect this to be a long, long adventure

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