Hated by the people she's sworn to protect, dragon rider Neely Lynch searches for her stolen dragon while struggling to control the dark powers inside her. ***** After the Culling of Naughton -- a horrific slaughter that led to the murder of several dragon riders and the destruction of two separate armies -- Neely Lynch is on the warpath. Unbeknownst to most, Neely and her friends survived the Culling and are determined to reunite with their kidnapped dragons at any cost (even if that means leaving a trail of broken and bloody bodies behind them). But finding her dragon soon becomes the least of her problems when Neely discovers her disappearance after the Culling has only added to her reputation as the infamous Vidalin Rider. Hated and scorned by the people she's sworn to protect, Neely must find a way to prove she's not the villain everyone thinks she is before her dark and deadly powers, which are slowly growing beyond her control, transform her into the very thing she's trying not to be. [The Rider's Legend can be read as Book 3 in The Rider series, or as a standalone -- but note that it will spoil Book 1 and 2] [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

Young Bathe always wondered about the endless forests and mazes of mountains that surrounded his village and why no one dared to step near them. Elders spoke the tales of an undead evil sleeping deep inside the forests that must not be woken. It all appeared true to Bathe until one day he came across a mysterious man called Berathelmus, whose knowledge of the world was above all. That undead evil born long ago was the result of an epidemic failure of humanity itself, which once spread like a plague and brought mankind to extinction. It's the whispers of the same evil rising again from the deep corners of the world. It's upon Bathe who must realize the enormous powers contained inside him and dive deep into a mystical sinful past to uncover secrets hidden with utmost secrecy. If not, it will be the last time when humanity fails. ***** Winner of *Wattpad India Awards 2019* in fantasy category

As the first Lady Knight of Monrique, Juliette Van Helsing regularly deals with criminals who threaten the peace and security of her country. When a string of brutal murders among the nobility take place in quick succession, leaving behind one puzzle after another, she begins a race against time to find the murderer. Along the way, webs of lies, betrayals and greed are unravelled, and at each turn, she finds herself questioning her beliefs and assumptions. In the midst of all of this chaos, will she be able to fulfil her duty, and mayhap, find love?

************************************************************************************** An outcast rogue must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he'll need the sword of a maiden, the aid of an immortal, and the power of forbidden magic that could cost him the only girl he ever loved. ************************************************************************************ *** THE JACK OF SOULS won a Silver IPPY this year! *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the PNWA Competition in Fantasy! * *** THE JACK OF SOULS won 1st place in the Southwest Writers competition! * *** A "Featured Book" on Wattpad! * *** Now a "Staff Pick" on Kickstarter! * *** Available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and ebook ! * *** My contract with Kindle Select won't allow me to post more than 3 chapters here, but... *** Sign up for my newsletter on stephenmerlino.com for alerts when it's free on Amazon! * MY INSPIRATION I wrote this out of pure love of trickster rogues; I love the wit over brawn motif -- Odysseus over Achilles, Raven over Eagle -- so I like to play with it in my stories. In JOS I set the rogue and con-artist Harric against a foil of warriors in a land threatened by magic and civil war. Whenever possible I turn familiar tropes on their heads: instead of a handsome young Lancelot, I cast a broken-down ex-champion addicted to pain-killing herbs; instead of a dashing Squire Brian, the old knight reluctantly takes an ambitious young woman as squire. Similarly, I re-imagine the standard medieval milieu by infusing aspects of two of my favorite historical periods, Elizabethan England, and The American Frontier. Both eras boast a kind of nationalistic arrogance that borders on hubris, and a magnificent spirit of resourcefulness and re-invention that is fun to play with. SERIES The Jack of Souls is first in a series. I am posting parts of the sequel here now (The Knave of Souls), to help me refine the story.