Looking for stories that are NOT do-overs, NOT time-travel, etc.. that has the MC become successful due to using their brains. Might qualify as Rags-to-riches but doesn't have to.
Examples include The Earl's Man by FantasyLover or the Richard Jackson Saga by Banadin.
Preference leans towards stories set in a pre-Industrialized setting. Thanks for any recommendations.
I know people love that story but I thought it was amazingly boring and probably the author's least interesting.
Tooting my own horn again, but my "A Charmed Life" has the main character investing in a home fusion company owned by one of his math teacher mother's company and hitting it big when the company takes OFF.
LAZ has already said he doesn't have a problem with me emailing EPUBs to people. They're still available on Bookapy, too. I had to take them down here (and on FS) because of problems at home...
It's only PART of the story, and it's also an alternate history story, but a self-made person is part of it...
The Outsider
theoutsider3119@gmail.com
My 'Climbing the Ladder' series is in the genre you seek, though in the 1980s, so pre-internet, but not pre-industrial.
I'll second this one! Even though I'm impatiently waiting for the next book in the series! I ain't getting any younger ML lol! Seriously though a great, entertaining series!
https://storiesonline.net/series/1619/climbing-the-ladder
SunSeeker
I ain't getting any younger ML lol!
Thanks for the endorsement. I'm writing as quickly as I'm able.
I have over 40 chapters available via my support sites; the book is about half done.
Yep I know about your support sites but sadly inflation where I live has made me cut almost all "non-essentials" from my budget for the time being. Kicking coffee was hard the first few months let me tell ya!
I am looking forward to the book and will do my best to wait more patiently lol. Thanks for writing it!
SunSeeker
Yep I know about your support sites but sadly inflation where I live has made me cut almost all "non-essentials" from my budget for the time being.
You are not the only one, and raising prices isn't really an option for me, given that would likely create a downward spiral in patrons.
In any event, all AWLL universe stories (i.e. AWLL, GM, CTL) will always be available for free on SOL (well, until some future day when my heirs may decide to allow them to go behind the premium access limitation).
sadly inflation where I live has made me cut almost all "non-essentials" from my budget for the time being. Kicking coffee was hard the first few months let me tell ya!
OMG! 😱 😲 😱
I thought I was having difficulties, but at Least I can still afford Coffee ☕ 😬
It might be lower quality Coffee, not the Whole Bean Coffees that I grind fresh myself ☕ 😅
But, Dang!
I have been through Coffee Withdrawal once. "Just Once!" as Johnny Dangerous said.
During some military Training. It wasn't intentional by the Cadre. I didn't Know what was Wrong with Me, and I Didn't Care about my Peers! One of my fellow NCOs went off on one of the Cadre! That senior NCO looked around and asked, "When did you guys Last drink Coffee?"
It had been 36 hours, and we were All Wrecked, angry 😠 😤 unfocused, and lethargic, Headaches too!
Taught me a Lesson about Addiction. If Coffee ☕ Withdrawal is that Bad, I can only imagine other Addictions! 😐
May you soon have it Better, Sunseeker!!!
For the life of me I can't understand people's obsession with coffee. I am one of the few and proud to say I have never had a Starbuck's coffee. I have one cup of Folger's a day.
I didn't start drinking coffee until I started in EMS. Then, when I got hired at the pinnacle (near me) of 911 paramedic EMS, I tried to keep up with someone who drank 4 to 5 large Dunkin Donuts coffees a day and carried chocolate-covered espresso beans to back that up...
Hint: shaking from caffeine overload is not good when you're trying to start an IV...
Hint: shaking from caffeine overload is not good when you're trying to start an IV...
Was your nickname "The Pincushion"?
It's funny, but I call every Saturday that now, because I go to acupuncture. "Pincushion Day..."
And, thankfully, it never got that bad, because I stopped trying to keep up with him REAL quick...
Even after college and 15 years as an over the road truck driver, I never developed a taste for coffee. I got many free fresh mugs of tea and hot chocolate when the waitress would walk down the counter and just top off all the mugs. One morning I heard, "OOPS, that was tea," 4 times.
SmokingDriver has:
17th Birthday
Nick i&II
Son of a Sailor
FantasyLover has a few, my favorite is Goatherd
I think Fantasy Lover's Lucky Jim series applies too, although in the last one he wasn't starting from scratch.
I think Fantasy Lover's Lucky Jim series applies too, although in the last one he wasn't starting from scratch.
Technically, none of the Lucky Jim's started from scratch. On the other hand, what they had at the start was insignificant compared to what they had at the end of their story.
The search category you want for this is "Rags to Riches". I'm not sure when the tag was added so there may be stories without the tag.
However, there's a problem in that the further back you go, the less social mobility exists. A pre-industrial rags-to-riches story would be hard to justify in a realistic way since class determined your career options and money couldn't buy class.
So there are some good historical stories on SOL and some good rags to riches stories, but not many realistic rags to riches historical stories. It's a tough combination.
As a test, I did a search of SOL with both the "Rags to Riches" and "Historical" tags. There were 24 results. Ten use time travel of some form (including the restart tag, which you missed). Only one of these is truly pre-industrial and there are two more which are borderline:
"Joerg Isebrand" by Argon takes place in the early 16th century [https://storiesonline.net/universe/620/knights-and-commoners].
"Low Country Slave Boy" by ChrisCross begins in 1773 [https://storiesonline.net/s/20109/low-country-slave-boy].
Finally, "The Adventures of Young Will Potter" by Argon starts in 1795 when the protagonist is 16 [https://storiesonline.net/n/32649/the-adventures-of-young-will].
There are a handful that take place in the mid-19th century, mostly Westerns, then the rest are 20th century.
Ignoring the historical aspect, I'll mention aroslav's "Living Next Door to Heaven" (https://storiesonline.net/series/1620/living-next-door-to-heaven) as a fun modern rags to riches/ coming of age type story. Note that it's also poly/harem and has some mild fantasy elements not listed in the tags (ie, magical kung fu powers). This is not a major focus of the story, but it does come as a bit of a surprise when it shows up.
A pre-industrial rags-to-riches story would be hard to justify in a realistic way since class determined your career options and money couldn't buy class.
Simony worked, and bishos could grow quite wealthy.
It was also possible to buy noble titles. There is evidence of the sale and purchase of noble titles back to the 13th Century.
It was also possible to buy noble titles. There is evidence of the sale and purchase of noble titles back to the 13th Century.
Yes, but if you're wealthy enough to buy a title or marry your children off to nobles, then it's hardly a self-made success/ rags to riches story.
My point was that a character who starts off as a poor peasant or equivalent won't have many options to become wealthy on their own merits because those doors will be closed to them due to class. At least in Europe. I don't know much about the Caliphates and Asia in that period.
However, there's a problem in that the further back you go, the less social mobility exists. A pre-industrial rags-to-riches story would be hard to justify in a realistic way since class determined your career options and money couldn't buy class.
You wrote:
money couldn't buy class
Which is what I was responding to. Money absolutely could buy class. A merchant could by a title, moving from the merchant class to the nobility. THAT is what I was responding to — the blanket incorrect statement.
This is the story of Pelle the Collier; how he saved Birkenhain lands and avenged his father and his liege lord. It is also the story of Ingeburg, the late Baron's beautiful bastard daughter, who was banned from the castle as a small girl. 14th century fiction!
You also had cases of people becoming warriors (including vikings in the right era and geography) and being successful enough to eventually join the lower nobility through combat, especially during times of turbulence. Of course the chances of that for an untrained peasant were about the same as high school football player becoming a professional, but still.
about the same as high school football player becoming a professional, but still.
A HS friend who graduated the same year I did played several years in the NFL. Definitely the exception, not the rule.