Steve Harthun

Steve Harthun writes gritty LitRPG and, starting this winter, sci-fi thrillers. In both, the rule is the same: nobody gets handed anything.

His progression fantasy series Ashes of Vaeltharion follows Trace Veeran, a former Army Ranger pulled out of a Kentucky alley and into a world with levels, a spear with a history, and a kingdom that regrets summoning him. It began on Royal Road, lives on Kindle Unlimited with audiobooks narrated by Kenneth Fuentes, and runs five books. Book 4 is already written.

The Infinite Protocol, a reincarnation thriller, opens this winter: a Kentucky electrician dies saving a kid, wakes up in a stranger's body with every life he has ever lived intact, and learns that was never supposed to happen. Someone is coming to correct it.

By day he manages IT for a very large company. By night he tracks every level, kill, and coin in spreadsheets so his readers don't have to. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Susan, and a family big enough to name half the cast.