About Jay Cartere
Jay Cartere is an author of dark progression fantasy and LitRPG novels for readers who love dystopian worlds, competent villains, and dry humour.
He grew up in London and spent more than a decade creating online content, songwriting, and studying digital marketing to promote his creative projects. Over time, he garnered hundreds of millions of views across his content and became obsessed with the psychology of what makes people tick.
Along the way, Jay ran a gaming YouTube channel that grew to more than 70,000 subscribers. He loved RPGs, strategy games like Crusader Kings and Stellaris, and story-generating games like RimWorld—even though the CPU often beat his arse. What he enjoyed most was seeing how choices could alter a story and create unexpected narratives through gameplay.
When he stumbled upon Game of Thrones, it was love at first sight: the politics, scheming, shifting alliances, and consequences of characters' choices kept him hooked—until the tragic final season broke his heart.
After a period of soul-searching and recovering from the crushing betrayal, Jay got back into reading fiction and fell in love with webnovels, dark progression fantasy, and LitRPG.
He devoured story after story, looking for more dark worlds, ruthless protagonists, kingdom building, and compelling progression systems.
When he couldn't find quite what he was looking for, he decided to write the story he wanted to read.
The Stories He Writes
Jay's books live in the darker corners of progression fantasy and LitRPG. He writes for readers who enjoy dystopian worlds, deep worldbuilding, hard magic systems, and ruthless, competent protagonists over goody-two-shoes heroes.
Expect:
- Morally grey or outright villainous protagonists willing to cross lines to achieve their goals
- Rational characters who make calculated decisions to further their own interests
- Progression and magic systems that shape the story in meaningful ways
- Dystopian worlds where power comes at a cost
- Political intrigue, scheming, shifting alliances, and factions with their own agendas
- Grounded action and strategy where characters' choices have lasting consequences
- Kingdom building and characters trying to reshape the world around them
- Dry British humour cutting through the bleakness
What He's Writing
Jay Cartere is currently working on Death God’s Gambit, a dark progression fantasy series about Kai, the son of Death God, who must scheme and claw his way to power to take revenge on the mob boss who killed him.
The series combines progression fantasy and LitRPG with political intrigue, kingdom building, and a protagonist who cares more about winning than being a hero.
If you enjoy competent protagonists, scheming factions, selfish gods, and watching a character rise from street thug to terrifying overlord and crime boss, Death God’s Gambit is for you.
You can read the original rough draft on Royal Road by clicking here:
Or join my Patreon for free to preview the rewritten version:
Outside of Writing
When Jay's not writing, he's usually studying storytelling and marketing, reading dark fantasy books with terrible protagonists, watching exceptionally long video essays about games he’ll never play, binging anime, or falling down a medieval history rabbit hole.
What You’ll Find on This Site
This site isn’t just about Jay's books. It’s also where he writes about:
- Dark fantasy, LitRPG, and progression fantasy novels he's enjoyed
- Book recommendations for readers looking for their next obsession
- Tropes, themes, and ideas that shape the genres I love
- Thoughts on writing dark fantasy, progression, and worldbuilding
- Behind-the-scenes looks at his writing process
If you enjoy dark fantasy, progression systems, morally complex characters, or ruthless protagonists, you’ll find something here worth reading.
Connect with Jay
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