These terms cover the free private alpha, optional Support Lantern tip cup, and any limited Leave a Light test. Story checkout, reader subscriptions, royalty agreements, and paid promotion remain inactive.
Accepting these alpha terms
By accessing Lantern, creating an account, commenting, or submitting material during private alpha, you agree to these terms and the linked Privacy Policy, Community Standards, Copyright Policy, Content Guide, and Submission Guidelines. If you do not agree, do not use the alpha.
Adults only
You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to agree to these terms. Lantern may suspend an account when it reasonably believes this requirement is not met.
A free and unfinished service
Private alpha access and every alpha story feature are free. Story purchases, reader subscriptions, paid promotion, and author royalties are not open. Lantern may separately test optional direct author support through Stripe. Features may be incomplete, changed, paused, reset, or removed; stories and accounts may be unavailable; and Lantern does not promise continuous access or preservation of alpha data. Keep your own copies of everything you submit.
Optional support for Lantern
The Support Lantern tip cup accepts voluntary one-time or recurring payments to help cover hosting, email, and community tools. Support does not purchase story access, membership, influence, moderation outcomes, services, equity, or special treatment. It is not a charitable donation and is not represented as tax-deductible. Recurring support continues monthly until canceled through Stripe or by contacting Lantern. Except where law requires otherwise, completed voluntary support payments are nonrefundable.
Optional support for authors
When Leave a Light is available on a story, a reader may send a voluntary one-time payment directly to that author’s connected Stripe account. A Light does not purchase story access, membership, influence, services, ownership, or special treatment, and it is not represented as a charitable donation. Lantern does not deduct a platform fee from the Light; Stripe processing fees may apply to the author. The author is the merchant of record and handles refunds, disputes, payout details, and related tax obligations through Stripe. Lantern may pause or remove this test feature at any time.
Accounts and invitations
Provide accurate contact information, use only accounts and invitation codes you are authorized to use, and do not impersonate another person. You are responsible for activity through your sign-in links and should promptly report suspected unauthorized access. Invitation-only access may not be sold or publicly distributed.
Authors keep ownership
You retain copyright in material you submit. For the alpha, you grant Fantasy Slayer Publishing LLC a limited, nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, reproduce, format, display, moderate, and technically adapt that material only as needed to operate, test, promote the presence of your Lantern story, and improve Lantern. This license does not transfer ownership, prevent publication elsewhere, or authorize Lantern to sell your work during the free alpha. It ends after removal except for reasonable backups, records, previews already shared with your permission, and legal needs.
Your promises about submitted material
- You own the material or have every permission required to submit and display it.
- It is not plagiarized, scraped, impersonated, or unauthorized fan fiction.
- Images, video, maps, covers, music, and AI-assisted elements are rights-cleared for this use.
- Labels and content notes are honest enough for readers and moderators to make informed choices.
- Private or identifying information about other people is included only with lawful permission.
AI-assisted work
Lantern does not ban responsible creative tools during alpha. The submitting author remains accountable for originality, coherence, disclosure when moderators request it, and every necessary right. Fully automated spam, scraped imitation, fabricated author identities, or mass-generated nonsense may be rejected or removed.
Serialization and completion
Alpha authors are expected to submit stories they genuinely intend to complete, provide a reasonable episode estimate and target date, maintain an honest release cadence, and communicate material delays. One account may hold up to four pen names, and each pen name may have up to five actively publishing stories at a time. A sixth story may enter review under that pen name after one of its prior stories is marked complete or withdrawn. Lantern may label a delayed or inactive story accurately, pause new submissions, or remove abandoned work after reasonable outreach.
Comments, profiles, and feedback
You retain rights in original comments, profile text, and feedback. You grant Lantern permission to display approved public contributions and to use alpha feedback without restriction or payment to diagnose, design, and improve the service. Do not include confidential ideas or information in feedback.
Moderation and removal
Lantern may review, reject, limit, label, unpublish, preserve as evidence, or remove content or accounts that violate these terms, create safety or legal risk, or undermine the alpha. Moderation is not a guarantee that published material is lawful, accurate, safe, or suitable for every reader. Authors may request withdrawal, but Lantern may retain limited records and must consider access already promised to readers before any future paid removal process.
No warranties; limited responsibility
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Lantern is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of uninterrupted operation, fitness for a particular purpose, noninfringement, commercial success, readership, discoverability, preservation, or error-free service. Fantasy Slayer Publishing LLC is not responsible for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or lost-profit damages arising from the free alpha. Nothing here excludes rights or liabilities that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Ending access and changing these terms
You may stop using Lantern and request account or material removal. Lantern may suspend or end alpha access for violations, legal risk, security, inactivity, or service changes. Material changes will be dated and, when appropriate, announced before continued use is treated as acceptance. Paid-launch terms and author agreements will be presented separately; these alpha terms do not silently convert into a paid publishing contract.