This concludes the Book 1 of The Infinite Labyrinth, Shanghaied. Thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed the journey of discovery by Jonas Sims and his merry band of ordinary Londoners turned RPG characters.

The Infinite Labyrinth is my second attempt at publishing a complete story. It was initially conceived as an open-ended web serial, before turning into a much-more contained story. There are four books for the series and quite a few side stories that will be collected into a separate "volume".

I owe a great thanks to Alston Sleet whose story, Age of Victoria, inspired me to use the setting and put some historical love into the LitRPG genre. When I set out, I wanted to write a less epic, more ordinary slice-of-life story than is usual for the type of setting that is reality-based LitRPG (those where the RPG aspects manifest in a real-world rather than a game). As such, several tropes of the genre are subverted or deliberately set aside. Instead, you have some more classic science-fictional aspects of alternate history. While the setting is not entirely steampunkish, you have modern technologies being present: skyships (hot air dirigibles), horseless carriages, etc. The French use landcruisers - mega tanks inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's imagination, capable of carrying small artillery and up to fifty infantry, while the Americans make exoskeleton armours, with gatling-style guns. The Chinese, like their real-historical counterparts, don't rely on modern technologies but embrace the mystical aspects of the Heavenly Planes of the Labyrinth.

As for the mysterious African fifth Gate... you'll have a tiny bit more of it in the next volume of the Infinite Labyrinth, Shortcuts.