In the era where swords rule, where women consider their modesty their greatest virtue. Where a man would kill to find his wife warming another mans bed, a time when women would consider it the greatest of adultery or fornication to warm a bed other than her husbands. A time when an honorable man guards his gaze, for his gaze is solely for his wife alone, as well as his heart. He's feared, ruthless, cold, heartless, manipulative, cunning, a rake. Or so they assume... She's beautiful yet silent, not by a defect, she simply dislikes to mingle with gossip.Yet she has emotional scars that no one sees behind her smile, but a few. Cover by @forcade

************************************************************************************** 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.

To the world he was a beast but for her he would do anything. He could have the world but all he wanted was her. They say the things we want most are the things we can't have. For she was so afraid of him that even the thought of him could have her running for the hills. Little did she know that she was the only one who didn't have to be afraid of him. Credits for the cover go to @Chatachino for the amazing cover.

Ana's unfortunate encounter with 'The Beast' wasn't her last. Forced to stay with him to pay him back for saving her life, she stays in the condition of being able to pay both her debt and her fathers'. Now, Ana must help her family out of the debt they have been in for so long and in the mean while repaying hers by staying in the lair of the beast. With his foul temper and beastly ways, can Ana deal with him until both debts are paid off? *New Cover #3 in Beauty and the Beast #2 in Castle #14 in General Fiction #103 in Truth © Copyright 2015 All work is property of _Hikari, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Senior year couldn't be better. Avery Nelson's finally dumped her brain-dead boyfriend, she's taking all easy classes, and she finally has a job working at the local McDonald's. Her life couldn't get any better. But when McDonald's gets robbed by a psycho with a gun to the back of her head, Avery can feel everything falling apart. A mysterious masked man dressed in all black appears out of no where, saving not only her life, but the rest of the restaurant's as well. And thus begins the meetings between Avery and the masked man. He hasn't claimed a name for himself, yet the media has been all over him. Unoffically known as The Man With The Green Slash, he has taken a liking to Avery. His arrogant attitude matched with the mystery of him leaves Avery curious for more. And soon she finds herself struggling to figure out who the Green Slash really is under the mask.