Rings

Join Alexander his strange younger brother Einstein best friend Jake and schoolmate Layla as they become game characters in the hybrid open world adventure realm of Rings. All they have to do is reach the 5th Ring and defeat The Boss but no one has ever done that and they won't make it this time -- not if The Boss and his minions can come into the real world and kill them first!Excerpts from Rings...The text exchange ended. Jake just stared at his phone which shook in his hand. …No it was his hand that was shaking not the phone. Rings? Impossible.Impossible!Because Jake knew all about Rings. His family had moved to this lame town because of Rings. They were poor because of Rings. His life had been wrecked by Rings. Because of Rings Jake had a new name for the face he saw in the mirror every morning…Murderer.It was hard just to breathe for a minute. Alexander playing Rings? That wasn’t even supposed to be possible anymore.-----------The Boss felt sluggish. His face with skin the color of old blood seemed to drape the front of his skull like a shroud. He slouched in his easy chair his thick leather cloak pulled close around him. It was a slow morning. His horns felt cold and they ached. The windows surrounding his central chamber let in only gloom which served to thicken the gloom already in his mind. Earlier he had gone down to enjoy a bit of torture but the few prisoners left in his dungeons had been completely unresponsive.“Perhaps they have all died” his associate suggested at hearing the tale.This associate — Mister Needles — was a wiry man dressed in a clean pinstripe suit skinny and tall covered head to toe in stitches and scars. His skin was paler than a cloud and his dark eyes crawled around his head like spiders never staying in one place. For the most part Needles was retired though he still served The Boss in certain ways.-----------They saw Jester right away. He stood on a fragile window sill grinning holding onto the charred frame. In fact the steeple might as well have been all windows for the walls were burned away down to the posts and beams and they could see far enough to make out the inside of the dome wall in the distance — Fool’s Paradise indeed.“Well well” came the jangly wheezy voice again. “Well well. Knower strong. Knower strong. Doesn’t take the golden piece. Doesn’t come to stay. Wants to go away?” His smile grew wide the sharp yellow teeth wet with pleasure. “Too bad! Too bad! Must catch me but can’t! Can’t! Can’t!” And with that Jester leapt from the high window to the ground ready to escape to one of his many lairs.About the BookLet the near-future tech of Rings take you on a VR ride into a dangerous game world run by AI avatars and a bent genius. Be ready for game and real-world violence (blade bow and martial arts sometimes gruesome) a bit of terror occasional profanity and a brief touch of teen intimacy.Four imaginations collaborated to bring Rings to life — three teens (all avid gamers) and a veteran writer with an eye for plot and action. The authors all agree that Rings qualifies as Young Adult fiction (contemporary science fantasy litrpg/gamelit coming of age) appropriate for teens and up and for more sophisticated middle graders.