Herokiller

Ready Player One meets Gladiator in this high-octane thriller that mixes fight-to-the-death UFC-style cage matches and black-ops espionage.

In the near future, the line between entertainment and brutality has blurred. Mysterious billionaire and entertainment magnate Cameron Crayton is a household name from his questionably legal televised spectacles where death-row inmates fight to the death. But his old shows pale in comparison to the recently announced and eagerly anticipated global event, The Crucible. A gladiatorial tournament open to the general public to enter, the show’s winner is promised unimaginable wealth and fame if they’re able to survive a series of globally-broadcast, fight-to-the-death cage matches.

Former black-ops operative Mark Wei wants nothing more than to be left alone with his drink after sacrificing everything—including his family—in America's covert war against China, a war won largely because of Mark. But there are rumors that Cameron's background and business dealings involve shady connections to foreign powers, and soon Mark is reluctantly convinced to dust off his training and enter the tournament as an undercover agent. It's the most dangerous assignment he's ever been given—racing to expose The Crucible founder's secrets while navigating the pitfalls of fame from a viral phenomenon where the stakes are literally life and death.

Paul Tassi decided after years of consuming science fiction through a steady diet of books, movies, TV shows, and video games to try writing his own stories in the genre. Now the author of the Earthborn Trilogy from Talos Press, Paul also writes for Forbes, and his work has appeared on IGN, the Daily Dot, Unreality, TVOvermind, and more. He lives with his wife in Chicago.