Hey, readers! I wanted to let several days pass so that I could have a lot of questions to field for the Q&A. But... I actually didn't really get a single question! That's fine, I thought that might happen. I was originally planning to write two posts, with one focusing on the criticisms TLP has received, and the next focusing on successor and followup stories.

But after a week of thought, I decided there's no point in bothering with the first one. Basically, TLP is what it is. Some people REALLY like it, and some just don't. Your ability to 'get' TLP and approach it as a piece of fiction relies entirely on whether or not you just want to read some fairly generic and tropey piece of writing or something more ambitious and how many twists you're willing to find believable. I feel that most people who finish TLP will either really enjoy it, or if they still don't enjoy it, they will at least have good reasons for doing so.

That being said, I think I'd rather focus on what comes after TLP now.

The Cryoverse is a huge multiverse of possibilities. In fact, I decided to write a Cryoverse explicitly to give myself as much writing room as possible. Many Cryoverse characters are immortal. Revival is possible. Reincarnation through the cycle of Samsara is possible. I can write a LitRPG under the premise of a universe constructed by the Evolved. Other galaxies? Galaxy Wars? Cosmic Eldritch Horror Story? Westerns???

I can write pretty much any type of story my heart desires, and all stories can in one way or another pertain directly to the main thrust of the Cryoverse: "The War is unending."

So, with that in mind... let's start looking at my many, many, MANY plans for upcoming Cryoverse content. All of the ideas in this first section are directly related to The Last Precursor. They are prequels, sequels, and spinoffs. After this first section, we will focus on other series I have outlined plans for.

Finally, at the end of this post, I will add a poll. Please vote for the stories you think interest you the most!

Story Title: The Cryopod to Hell (The first story and namesake of the 'Cryoverse,' also a prequel of sorts to TLP)

Premise: Jason Hiro is a young man who is cryogenically frozen and ends up traveling 100,000 years in the future by accident (sort of like in Idiocracy). When he arrives, he finds that humanity has been enslaved and the demons have killed the angels. Now he is part of a War the likes of which he'd never have imagined. However, he is also the reincarnation of a Hero, and he possesses a unique power known as Wordsmithing, so he must fight to restore humanity's greatness.

Genre: Primarily fantasy, but the further into it you read, the more sci-fi it becomes. Many of the story's themes are about technology versus magic.

Story appeal: TCTH is a very long story, currently over 1.7m words in length and 420+ chapters. If you enjoy well-written longform fiction, you'd probably enjoy TCTH. Additionally, it does not have a 'standard' storyline with basic three-act structures, but instead hyper-dense lore, a massive cast of three-dimensional characters, particularly villains, and lots of emphasis on plot twists, huge reveals, and so on. Even 400 chapters into the story, it has not slowed down and if anything the story is only growing bigger and betters.

If you love structured and well-explained magic/power systems, you'll probably love the Cryopod to Hell!

Story Title: Demons and Cyborgs (You can read the first preview chapter here) (This is a direct prequel to TLP, but also a sequel based on TLP's ending)

Premise: Nicholai Azaram and Jose Rodriguez are powerful supersoldiers who work for Ramma's Chosen. They are sent through Ripgates to alternate universes where they must find exploitable worlds rich with resources for their faction. When they arrive on their first habitable world, they discover it is a planet populated with primitive humans ruled over by demons. They must subjugate the demonic populace and make the world available for their superior's needs, all within the limited span of just two short years.

Genre: 50/50 sci-fi and fantasy. It is another case of technology versus magic being a central thrust of the Cryoverse.

Story appeal: Whether you enjoyed TLP or not, this is going to be a fun ride that will set up a 'magicverse' within the Cryoverse, one where humans ultimately come to possess powerful magic that allows them to fight against their enemies, the demons. I've put a lot of work into that magic system, but it won't bear immediate fruit in CaD, but instead its sequel. This story is also going to further develop Jose Rodriguez, but he's not even the main character. Nicholai Azaram is, and while it may not be obvious now, Nicky-boy is actually even more of a hardened badass than Jojo.

If you're looking for even more TLP, or a more straightforward premise without too many major surprises, this is a more 'standard' story than TLP!

Story Title: The Lightbringer's Rebirth (Sequel to Demons and Cyborgs)

Premise: Jose Rodriguez and Evelyn Oakley have a bunch of children, and their firstborn is named Joseph Rodriguez, after his father. Joseph becomes the most powerful magus on the planet and rapidly advances humanity's scientific capabilities. However, one day, he dies in battle to a powerful enemy and sends his soul two thousand years into the future, where it arrives just in time to possess the body of a young woman on the verge of death. HOWEVER, this is not a simple transmigrator/reincarnator story, as he ends up saving her life, and the two of them begin swapping control over the teenager's body at seemingly random times, Freaky Friday-style

Genre: Heavily fantasy, not much sci-fi.

Story appeal: This story will be about Joseph's battles against demonkind in the far future, perhaps when they have adapted to humanity's advancing magical capabilities. I am also debating inverting the premise and having Joseph find out humanity pacified demonkind over the past 2000 years and now they're actually good friends! This would make him that racist old grandpa who can't look at the demons with anything but hatred while people give him side-eyed glances. But even if demonkind isn't humanity's enemy, there will always be another enemy in the Cryoverse, don't you worry.

Story Title: Andaron Saga. (This story is actually being worked on now! It is a videogame sequel to Lightbringer's Rebirth!)

Premise: Prince Baudimon is the son of King Thorgrim, the man who defeated and killed all of the Lightbringers and their noble heritage some years earlier. However, with his father falling into old age and bad health, Baudimon finds himself embroiled in an annoying and deadly succession struggle for the throne. He himself has no aspirations to power, being something of a drunkard and womanizer, but his evil older brother, Randall, will stop at nothing to become the next tyrant king.

Genre: Strictly old fantasy.

Story appeal: This is a Fire Emblem romhack, but it shows the far, far distant future of Jose Rodriguez's life, after he has traveled back to the past to live with Evelyn Oakley, have children, and thousands of years pass. Additionally, this is a really fun story with a ton of twists and turns! I am the head writer for the game but it is a collaborative project between me and another writer.

Story Title: Forbidden Cargo (First preview chapter is readable here!) (Spinoff of TLP)

Story Premise: Charles Weston is the leader of a small family-run smuggling business. He owns a single frigate, where he ferries cargo and people from star system to star system. However, his long-time acquaintance, Janice Green, has a new job for him. She needs him to ferry an ancient artifact out of a hot zone. This artifact also happens to be something the galaxy's most fanatic zealots, Ramma's Chosen, will never let anyone else touch.

Story genre: Strictly sci-fi, set in the 50th era of the Joseverse.

Story appeal: Do you want to see Jose Rodriguez as the villain? In this story, he and the rest of Ramma's Chosen are on the hunt for another character, someone who has obtained a forbidden power no human should ever possess! It's going to be a lot of fun seeing our lovable boy Jojo becoming a terrifying force of nature capable of tearing through starships, unleashing his psionic powers, and melding into an army of his allies. This story will be all about a frantic chase and a big reveal at the end!

Story Title: Return of the Precursors (This is a planned direct sequel to the events of The Last Precursor!)

Story Premise: On the run from a group of pirates, Captain Renault Edwards and his small fleet of ten trader vessels jump to warp to escape their enemies, but instead of entering Inverted Space, they jump into Folded Space, instantly traveling 100,000,000 years into the future! Shocked and horrified, Renault finds that he and his crew have arrived in a universe populated by sentient crocodiles, cats, and dogs! Now, he must rebuild humanity's might with the knowledge that he will become the future Divine Emperor of

Genre: Strictly sci-fi.

Story appeal: The events of RotP will take place directly after the events of Jose Rodriguez's assault on the Sentients and his subsequent departure from the Milky Way. This is a more straightforward take on The Last Precursor, which will focus on Renault's efforts to rebuild Terrankind as a dominant force in the Milky Way. If you liked TLP but wish it was less about the Umi Twist, you'd probably like this one more.

Story Title: Human Hunt (This is a COMPLETED 3-part mini-series set after TLP's sequel! Read it here!)

Story Premise: The Kraktol send their fresh recruits to train on a world known as Tarus II. However, these fresh-scales don't realize their 'prey' is actually the deadliest hunter in the known universe: A Neanderthal, brought back to life from the ancient Terran times. This is a short three-part mini-series, set as a sequel to Return of the Precursors.

Genre: Strictly sci-fi.

Story appeal: Watch as a Neanderthal (The Cryoverse's interpretation, mind you) fights back against Kraktol recruits and beats their tails into submission! It's a fun little short story worth reading :D

With the exception of The Cryopod to Hell, all of the above stories are or will be directly related to The Last Precursor. However, TLP is not the main story of the Cryoverse; the Cryopod to Hell is. All of those stories you just read about can and will be explored eventually in the coming years; my only goal now is to figure out which ones readers are most interested in exploring.

The stories below are going to be quite a bit more varied. These are story premises that do not directly relate to TLP, but the greater Cryoverse as a whole, often Umi or other characters related to Umi.

If you're more interested in exotic stories with lots of fun premise-shakeups, cool systems, LitRPGs, and other things of the nature... consider voting for these in the poll at the bottom!

Story title: Chosen by God (You can read a detailed writeup about it here)

Story Premise: Chosen by God is the first story in a planned Superheroverse within the Cryoverse. This story will be somewhat short, perhaps 50 chapters or fewer, and focus on the development of Kate Hawkens as she inadvertently is 'chosen' by the Creator to become one of a select one percent of humanity granted superhuman abilities. However, Kate does not want to become a superhero, and despite being the strongest of them all, she tries to refuse her 'duty.' This story is an exploration of privilege and duty itself. Just because someone has the means, does that mean they must follow the calling?

Genre: Fairly grounded superhuman antics. In between sci-fi and fantasy.

Story appeal: I've always found it odd that so many stories grant the MC incredible abilities and then just assume it's their duty to save the city/world/galaxy/whatever. Do they really owe the world something if they never asked for those abilities? And what if the world treated them like shit before? Are other people truly privileged to their assistance?

Story Title: World Resurrection Project [WoRP] (MMO LitRPG!)

Story Premise: Susan Carver is your fairly average middle-aged woman. She works as a paramedic at a hospital, but is underpaid and overworked, not to mention underappreciated. One day, while exhausted from work, she is struck by truck-kun and dies, arriving inside MMO World, which is basically the afterlife. Or at least, that is what she thinks. She discovers that Earth is actually just one of many tutorial levels, and dying allows people to advance to the 'true game' where they can begin playing with any buffs and traits they've obtained from the tutorial.

Genre: LitRPG. This is going to be very 'gamey' and will have something to do with the battle between Evolved, as seen in the end of TLP.

Story appeal: The premise itself (Earth is only a tutorial!) is quite fun, but we'll also be seeing all sorts of characters from across the Cryoverse represented inside MMO World (name pending) along with other fun stuff. I'm quite excited for this story and have written a ton of ideas for its characters, but it does need more time in the oven so I don't halfass it. It'll probably be years before I'm ready to tackle this bad boy, plus I want to develop the universe further. This story will also probably be a direct sequel to The Cryopod to Hell.

I have listed nine stories in total. All of them have the potential to be a lot of fun, so now I'm just interested on gathering feedback!

Do you RR readers have any opinions? Let me know! I'll read the comments and consider any suggestions. Thanks for reading TLP, and in the future when I post TCTH on RR, I'll be adding one last 'chapter' to TLP as a notification for you guys!

Peace out!