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AR Horvath's Fidelis Book 1 One of Birth Pangs Series AR Horvath's Birth Pangs Spero book 2 tolkien potter lewis Role Playing Game RPG Stage of Game After the Desolations

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Read an Excerpt of Spero

"Spero is an imaginative fantasy that subtly instructs, entertains, and intellectually provokes the reader. It is fascinating reading. I'm definitely hooked on this series." Jean Heimann at Catholic Fire.

"...intelligent as well as inspiring..." Terry Barga at whattodoabout.com.

The first book in the Birth Pangs series, Fidelis, is Latin for faithfulness. The second book, Spero, is Latin for hope. Spero is an exploration, in fiction, of what hope is and why we need it. It is an exploration of what things are good to put our hope in and what things aren't. In the America of the future portrayed in the Birth Pangs series, all of the things that people have traditionally put their hope in have been brought low. There are no government agencies, no schools, and not even churches. In the face of daily perils, people have to figure out how where they are going to place their hope in dealing with them.

In the end, there is one daily peril that surpasses them all: death.

Spero is about people- even good people- putting their hope in lesser means to tackle lesser problems and being confronted with the consequences. Spero is a 'discussion' about our chief problems and what solutions, if any, are available to resolve them.


The Birth Pangs role playing game is unique in that it aims to reflect the book series in the game world. There are some limitations to how accurately the RPG can do something like that but literally hundreds of hours have gone into rendering it as close as possible. What really makes the game unique is that the author of the Birth Pangs series himself participates and the characters in the book also makes appearances in the game. But what is potentially ground breaking is the fact that it is possible that there can be reverse inspiration, where events in the RPG might actually come to be reflected in later books… !

The Birth Pangs world is one with post-apocalyptic feel to it. There has been a terrible disease and some nuclear strikes and now there is virtual anarchy. This plays out in the game as players are able to conquer cities and territory, build city defenses, and tax travelers, as well as uncover material that will help them understand the Birth Pangs series itself as they read the books.

Technology continues to shape how books are marketed and promoted today. The close interaction between Horvath and his fans and the real potential for ‘fan fiction’ (in the RPG sense) to be integrated into future books is just a sign of how the industry is transforming.

In anticipation for the Christmas season, Horvath has released a special RPG package where a small donation gets new members some advantages as they begin playing. Normally, players start out with just the clothes on their back, but Horvath will give new donating players money, weapons, and a ride so that they can quickly immerse themselves into the fantasy world that is the Birth Pangs universe.

The promotional donation amount is just $5.00 and puts new players in a position of strength right to start with.  Go here to purchase the promotion resource bonus and/or go here to play the role playing game: www.birthpangs.com/rpg


NOTE: This is for new players only, as existing players already know that they can donate through the game and that since they are already strong characters, they don’t need this special help to get started.