Hey everyone! I am very excited that Shirtaloon is doing a book signing event in the Chicago suburbs next month. I created my own Jason Spirit Coin, and will be handing some out to fellow fans in line. In case you are 3D printing enthusiasts as well, I do have the file I created available on Maker World. I will see about putting the link in the comments.
The wireless charging area in most cars kinda suck. I wish there was a 3D scan of that area of the K4 to create a MagSafe charging puck mount that would charge the phone and not overheat it.
I recently started posting a new LitRPG / portal fantasy story on Royal Road called TwinBound: Shards of the Rift, and I’m trying to get it in front of readers who enjoy character-driven progression fantasy with faction conflict, system mechanics, and morally messy choices.
The story follows Caleb and Mira Hart, eighteen-year-old twins who get pulled from Earth into the game-like world of Elyndra, where levels, classes, quests, factions, and system messages are very real. But instead of arriving as a chosen hero duo, the summoning goes wrong.
Caleb lands with the Emberborn, a rebellion made up of refugees, deserters, former prisoners, and unregistered Riftborn.
Mira wakes inside the Aurelian Dominion, a powerful order-based faction that controls cities, ward roads, registration systems, and protected territories.
Both sides claim they are the ones keeping people alive. Both sides tell partial truths. Both sides give one twin exactly what they were missing back home.
Caleb gets freedom, action, and people who finally see his recklessness as courage.
Mira gets structure, answers, and people who finally see her control as leadership.
And the system? It seems very interested in rewarding them for becoming enemies.
The core hook is basically:
Born together. Forged apart. The Rift chooses no side.
If you like stories where the factions are not just “good rebels vs evil empire,” this might be up your alley. The Emberborn are not saints. The Dominion is not cartoonishly evil. The fun tension is that both twins have very good reasons to trust the side they landed on, and very good reasons to fear the side their sibling is with.
Some comparison points/vibes:
I also want to be upfront about the AI tag/usage because I know that can be a dealbreaker for some readers.
I selected Royal Road’s AI-Assisted Content option because I wanted to be transparent about using ChatGPT during the process. That category says the author may have used AI for editing, proofreading, tone, or small generated snippets.
For TwinBound, ChatGPT is not writing the story. I’ve been using it mainly as an organization and reference tool for the worldbuilding I’ve been putting together over time. I have about three years’ worth of ideas scattered across Apple Notes, Google Docs, random Windows Notepad entries, outlines, faction notes, character concepts, and half-formed story beats.
The tool gives me the ability to recall that information quickly and keep it in one place while I write. It helps me reference character names, faction logic, chapter outlines, system terminology, locations, and continuity without digging through years of messy notes every time I need to remember something.
So the short version is: ChatGPT is not writing the story. It helps me recall and organize the information I’ve already created.
The opening chapters start with the twins fighting during an online RPG raid before the real system finds them, identifies them as Twin-Bound candidates, fails to synchronize them, and separates them across enemy lines.
By Chapter 2, Caleb is already dropped into battlefield chaos, unlocking survival-based abilities like Rift Step and Unbound Will, while Mira wakes in a Dominion ward chamber being classified as Order-Compatible.
The longer plan is a 30-chapter Book 1 arc where the twins level into opposite factions, become useful to people who may be manipulating them, eventually collide in the war, and start realizing the system itself may be the real enemy.
New chapters will be posted every Monday and Friday on Royal Road.
I’m still early in posting and would genuinely appreciate anyone willing to check it out, give it a follow, or leave feedback if the premise sounds like your thing.
Title: TwinBound: Shards of the Rift
Genre: LitRPG / Portal Fantasy / Progression Fantasy
Where: Royal Road
Posting schedule: Mondays and Fridays
Royal Road link:TwinBound: Shards of the Rift
Best fit for: Readers who like sibling drama, faction politics, system mechanics, morally gray sides, and “chosen ones” who may have been chosen for the wrong reason.
With the US dropping regulations and “fortifying” gas by allowing all gas stations now to have E15. Is it safe to put into my 2024 Kia Sportage and 2025 Kia K4 GT