Dressed in my feminine finery, I stepped out on the deck. The cool days of autumn making it almost pleasant here in the desert southwest. My family and I live here, a few miles south of Phoenix, near the mountains that frame the valley.

Chapter 1

Harvey Horton smiled as he reached the last pile of papers on his desk. A career teacher, next term he was going to start a new job as Assistant Headmaster of the Cotham School in Clifton. It was, for him, a good step up, with the only downside being that his son already attended, starting second year next term.

After flubbing a powerful incantation, meant to give newly coronated Demon Queens the wisdom of their ancestors, Devilla Satanne awakens to memories of her past life as Jacob Divington, a human from Earth. Having gained a new perspective on life, she quickly comes to a rather horrifying conclusion: she's been a complete and utter brat! No wonder everyone hates her!

And then there's the fact that she's apparently been reincarnated as the villainess of Tower Conquest, a lesbian porn game with a surprisingly intricate plot. One in which the Heroine conquers Dimona Tower, turning Devilla's people against her in the process. In victory, the Heroine brings about a glorious age of peace between demons and humans for the first time in millennia. ...Which actually sounds pretty good for her people, come to think of it. Devilla knows her terrible behavior is beyond forgiveness, but maybe she can still make up for her past mistakes? She just needs to make sure the events of the game unfold correctly. Though there is one little detail she'd like to change - the part where Devilla herself is killed or enslaved!

The series cover was commissioned from https://twitter.com/HaizeUqei

MADDY
I settled back against him as we continued down the lane to our digs, his buttock flexing against my hand, his own hand on my hip, and I was feeling almost blissed out. Sod what they had said at school, sod what had been written in the Register when I was born, this, the here and now, or there and then: it was right, fitting, proper. And I had the right dress with me, and shoes to go with it, because my own paranoia had been so worried there’d be a dress code for the dining room.

A group of people wake up in a video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Shade returns with a warning.

Chapter 29 recap

“There’s just one problem, Kaida,” I say, cutting into her overly enthusiastic planning session. “We don’t have any gold. Unless you’re actually planning on letting Veyron gamble away the twelve pieces we have left.”

NEIL
I could feel my face burning as she asked me, but she was sitting in such a relaxed way I could do nothing else but try my best. I had tried not to stare at her breasts, but I knew they were there, and my body was telling me exactly how well it knew the same thing, and I had no idea what I should do about that. Her question, though, wasn’t ‘what did I want?’ but rather ‘what might we want?’, which was a very different thing altogether. She was being so incredibly open about it; all I could do was try and match that, even though I could never do so.

Breathe, Neil.

f people wake up in a video game world and are forced to work together to survive and find out how to escape.

Chapter 28 recap

“Oh, Kaida, here’s your… sash,” I say awkwardly, holding out the torn fabric to her.

Kaida blinks, taking it gingerly. Her eyes dart between the sash and me, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What happened to it?”

I glance away, rubbing the back of my neck. “He, uh… he tied me up with it. And then… well, he cut it off.”

I shook my head angrily, dispelling the memory that clung and reeked like Dace’s pinche weed. Through my still-clenched teeth I said, “I’m not seventeen anymore, and you are fucking with the wrong goddam woman!”

NEIL
I couldn’t really sleep that night, my nerves all over the place. What if I got another stiffy while talking to her, for example? I woke again at about four, and realised I wasn’t going to drop off again. I rolled over in bed to light up my computer, and yes, there was a room in Durham. Before I could chicken out, I booked it. I doubted that the B and B would complain, as they would keep my money for the extra nights, and kept the space to fit in another guest.

The woodworking classroom smelled of sawdust and machine oil, a scent David had come to appreciate over the semester. Unlike other classes where he felt constantly out of place, here the expectations were clear: design, measure, cut, sand, finish. A project either worked or it didn't. No social navigation required.

Heart of a Lion
A Short Story of Reimagined History
By Maryanne Peters

Who was he, my master and Lord of my Heart? Richard the first of his name King of England, Duke of Normandy, and of Aquitaine, and of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus. Count of Poitiers, and of Anjou and Maine and Nantes, Overlord of Brittany, Richard Coeur de Lion – the Lionheart.

MADDY
“Riiiiiight… Now, we both prefer monochrome, but you mentioned colour. Shall we get the pudding served, so we can clear the table to look at your portfolio?”

He hoovered up the ice cream I offered, so it wasn’t long before the table was cleared, dishes left soaking for the moment. That was what I normally did, but he didn’t need to know any of that. His portfolio was a large folder of paper prints, and one set caught my eye, as while it looked monochrome, there was a tiny dot of colour down near the bottom edge. I stood on the brake several times, but we got there, and in summary, the bite-sized chunks made perfect sense. I could feel the commas and full stops reasserting themselves in his speech.

Another week successfully completed; in a few hours, I can head home and enjoy some peace and quiet in my little corner of the desert. Well, hopefully for at least two days. Of course, then the grind starts all over again: five days of my job and the commute that goes along with it. My little corner of the desert is quite a ways from our offices, requiring a daily commute of almost fifty miles.