SYNOPSIS

  Oh yes, I’ll join the Discord server of my fave author, meet awesome people, and become super famous, right? Well, that was the idea ’til everything went sideways, and now my life is upside down and inside out.

  Who can I trust? What is real? Is anyone on Discord actually a person? Or is it all just some whack game designed to drive me mad? I’ve got one friend who I sorta count on, but dare I confide in him my deepest, darkest fear: what if no one on Discord is actually real?

  How far down the rabbit hole did I go in my quest for fame and fortune? There’s only one way to find out, so you know what to do. Yeah, start reading.

  What to Expect:

  ? Female lead.

  ? Sapphic characters; slow-burn romance that turns NSFW in Book 6.

  ? An innocent, lovable gal with quick wit who gets in over her head on Discord.

  ? Comedy turned psychological thriller without violence or physical peril.

  ? Character driven. Found family. Slice-of-life moments.

  Chapter 236: How I Joined Discord And Ruined My Life

  “Hangph!” I snorted at my screen. Yeah, I was reading my fave Purple Road stream serial Flopper, and it was yet another no-kiss scene of not-romance.

  Every damn week! Well, the weeks Zoe, my dream-girl author, could be bothered to write a chapter, this was what I got!

  All lead up, flirtation, tease, then NO BACON.

  I went to the fridge for a beer to wash down my take-out curry, still irked about the book.

  Yes, Flopper was the best sci-fi sapphic story on Purple Road. Full of space bikes and bad-ass bitches fucking up monsters and blowing shit up. But it was supposed to be a love story, and I had yet to witness a single kiss.

  I took a look at the story again, but stopped, beer halfway to my lips.

  What was that? At the bottom of the chapter? A link? Discord?

  What’s “Discord?” I wondered, clicking it. A site opened.

  “Accept Invitation?” It wanted to know.

  Invitation to what? I mused and accepted it, wondering if it would suck me in, like a vortex I couldn't escape.

  Shit got real.

  Windows opened, alarms blared, and BOOM, scrolling text. Icons. Usernames. What the fuck even was all of that?

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I went bug-eyed, but couldn’t tear myself away.

  Holy turds. There was Zoe’s name, my crush! And she had a zillion people in love with Flopper. All talking trash about how Pagan wasn’t getting any again this week!

  HAAAA! I wasn’t the only disappointed lesbian, but who were all these people? And what even was this thing? Some type of on-stream community for book lovers?

  It wanted me to “Wave,” so I clicked the little doohickey, and weeeee! An animation started waving, then everyone swarmed me. Noises pinged, messages flared, and whoah. . .

  New Friend Requests?

  I accepted them all, but didn’t see one from Zoe. Hold on, going back to the #FlopperGeneral screen. . . Was Zoe even there?

  Didn’t see her. Humph.

  I scratched my head, trying to figure out what Discord was. Some kind of chat place on stream where people could talk about Flopper or, apparently, anything else.

  Food. Pets. Gaming.

  Damn, the #gaming thread was massive, and of course, I understood NOTHING. Gamer, I was not.

  Scroll. . . Zoe’s name was all over the #gaming thread! Of course it was! She was totally cool into games, and I had no idea what any of them were.

  I’m not ashamed to admit it. I spent the next twenty minutes completely distracted by games about fairyland.

  I needed a break. Or like, carbs, or something. I got up and grabbed the ice cream from the freezer, digging in with a spoon.

  Ping! Another notification.

  I couldn’t stop myself. I went back to Discord. Was it more intoxicating than cookies and cream?

  Hell yes! I had new Friends in my DMs!

  Oh, bummer. Only two short messages saying, “Hi.”

  I said, “Hey,” back, and that was that.

  I went back to the chat, but didn’t join everyone in bashing Zoe for not putting a spicy scene in the most recent chapter of Flopper. I mean, what kind of impression would that make?

  Zoe already knew I was her biggest fan. All I did was comment on her web serial Flopper once, and then she, like, totally commented back. Told me all about how she had a dream that sparked her muse, so she started writing the book, and that was kismet!

  Because I was into dreaming. Big time. I was even writing a book about dreams.

  Ping! New notification. I opened the tab for my Purple Road web serial.

  OMG! My book, Moons Dancing, got a new follower! Twelve total now! Romance for the win!

  Did that mean it was happening? Was my web novel starting a dreams-to-lovers revolution? I hadn’t wanted to write the typical enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers story, so, I made up my own trope.

  And Zoe told me two weeks ago that I should keep following my dreams no matter what anyone else said. I trusted her advice, but my book didn't get that much attention on Purple Road. Because it was true romance and didn't have any pew-pew space battles or stabby-stabby sword fights.

  People wanted violence, but that just wasn't my style. I liked to entertain with comedy and love stories.

  Bong!

  Reminder: Twins tomorrow morning

  Yeesh. I thought. I’d so much rather sit here and write my story or scroll Discord than go to work tomorrow.

  I glanced at the half-empty ice cream container. Nope, gotta buy groceries, and the writing career isn’t gonna pay the bills!

  I switched over to my bank account, seeing a tiny deposit from my second job. I smiled. My gig as a beta-reader brought in a few credits a week, so I would scrape by another month.

  I clicked “Pay" on my rent, and still had a balance left in my account.

  Yes! No more grandma’s basement. Independence in my studio apartment. Steady diet of curry and ice cream.

  Now all I needed was a real career as a writer.

  I figured getting to know other authors was a great way to get my name out there. So, in my spare time, I read all the Purple Road serials I could find and commented the hell out of them. Then I wrote spanking awesome reviews, basically making love to people’s books with my prose.

  That’s how I met Zoe. And now, she’d led me to Discord.

  Was this another step towards my dreams-to-lovers romance blowing up?

  I looked at the empty ice cream container in my hands and sighed. Somehow, I’d found the bottom of it, and my eyes had never left my screen.

  Okay, Discord, I looked at the new app on my pad. Let’s do this. Show me how to meet famous authors and figure out how to be a successful writer too. I’m counting on you. Don’t let me down.

  Oops. Mistake numero uno. Bad choice, me. Bad choice.