Crafter's Heart

Crafter #2

by Kris Schnee

An ambitious young man's heart is up for grabs, and the strongest contender is digital. Stan fled from a collective farm to live on Castor, a floating island colony of the Free State of Cuba. His new boss is Ludo, the artificial intelligence who runs a video game called Thousand Tales. Her game sells entertainment to the masses and a form of digital immortality to the elite. Now Stan is one of her corporate empire's official minions. He has a new life ahead. Will he be a reclusive gamer, a cultist of an AI goddess? Or will the three brilliant women he meets help him become something more? This book is a direct sequel to "Crafter's Passion", though you can also start here. The setting is upbeat, hard science fiction, part of the "LitRPG" or "GameLit" genre combining SF with the world of fantasy gaming. ----- The colony was decked with flags of many colors, on the morning of the race. Stan checked an array of sensors on Libertalia Platform, where tourists and locals alike had gathered. He'd helped install a few gadgets to establish virtual boundaries. He gave a thumbs-up to a more experienced technician from Franklin Forge, who conferred with someone from Westwind and a sports commentator guy. Ships at the docks and beyond showed glints of light from binoculars. On a patio of the Fort, several dozen contestants stood with various radio joysticks and computers. Beside them sat a table covered with drones in at least six styles, from off-the-shelf quadrotors to personalized little airplanes and stranger things. Molly Franklin had a little white dragon-bot she said she'd made a few parts of by herself. Nice thing about having daily access to a machine shop, Stan supposed. "Welcome to the second annual Seaskimmer Race!" boomed the announcer. "Contestants, get ready... Go!" The gaggle of robots lifted off and claimed the air. The colony seemed made to provide a cool aerial raceway. The blocky walls of the Fort, the nets and buoys of the fish-farms of Sargasso, the roller-coaster track in the shadows under Libertalia, and the pillars and open space at the diamond heart of Franklin Square flashed by. Ludo had added to the racecourse by building a wide, hollow pipe just above the waterline that drones were now jockeying to fly through. Conveniently the obstacle took the racers right past the new housing tower, where the flag of multicolored wings flew. Stan smiled as he watched not just the drones in flight, but the people who'd gathered by land and sea to pause their work and watch it happen. One of the simple drones was piloted by Bluerose the AI, another was under the control of Volt the dragon-girl, and a third was said to be run by an uploader. The announcer fielded a comment that "there are more drones than racers" by answering, "It's actually a cross-species, cross-world event." Stan stood a little taller and watched machines and people of all kinds soar and dive. Powerful fans blew the fliers around and there were crashes and near-misses. People stomped and cheered. On a split screen by Stan's monitoring station, he had a view into Talespace, where another audience of many species had gathered for companionship and popcorn in front of a big screen. Finally a pair of racers crossed the finish line neck-and-neck. A stylish rocket-thing zipped just after them, and Molly's dragon barely snuck in fourth. People hooted and shouted as more and more drones struggled to finish. Stan was more quiet, keeping one eye on the sensors and making sure all was well. He didn't need to have a fancy robot of his own, or to set high scores and have people know his name.

Genres: Litrpg

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2018

Reviews

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!

Love “The Crafters” series.
I can’t wait to see what happens next with Stan.
I will definitely be reading the other stories that tie into “Thousand Tales”.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique story

Unique slice of life style story. I love that it shows the different ways you can play a game like thousand tales, and how it's more of a world. The continuing development of Stanton is fascinating. I'm really looking forward to the next book!