(Complete) **A MATURE FANTASY** Book #1 in the Elemental Heir Series. Now published and available in PAPERBACK and KINDLE on AMAZON!! 🤍 "Your ready wit never fails to surprise and delight me, Brenya." He murmured, his lips only inches from my own. I blinked, my lips parting, as his heady scent encircled me. He licked his lower lip, running his teeth over it as his electric blue eyes burned into mine. The heat of his bare chest seeped through my thin cotton shirt, thawing my icy irritation. "Even when you're being cross." He added in a low voice. He leaned closer, before I could respond, and ran his teeth along my jaw. I suppressed a moan. "I wouldn't be cross if you weren't so keen on irritating me." I said, unable to hide the smile in my voice. I felt his answering smile against my neck. "How can I make it up to you?" He whispered, planting gentle kisses up and down the column of my throat. He moved to the other side of my neck, flicking his tongue once against the mating mark near my shoulder. My hands slid up his abdomen, exploring the dips and hard lines of his muscles. Heat uncurled deep in my belly, spreading lower, and lower, until I felt my panties dampen. He growled into my ear, sending shivers down my entire body. *~*~*~*~*~* ~#1 in ROMANCE 9/13/18~ ~#1 in ACTION-ADVENTURE 12/05/18 and 4/25/19~ ~#1 in ACTION-ROMANCE 1/16/19~ ~#1 in DRAGONS 6/9/19~ ~#1 in FAIRIES 7/20/19~ *~*~*~*~*~* ⚠️!! WARNING !!⚠️ This book contains intense violence, mature language, and strong sexual themes.

"A daydreamer, a clueless prince, and a girl from a mountain of ashes. And oh--a dead man they have to hide. Things could not get worse, right? Right?" In a world where words are sacred, Nascha Yakine tells a story of magic and fantasy, deaths and wars, and they are all coming true, one harrowing tale at a time. ***** Nascha has been warned time and time again that the ancient language of Tomesh is sacred and should not be used in writing stories. She does it anyway. As a member of a family of scribes in the desert, Nascha has been working on the king's future tomb for years. And there, in one of the chambers, she secretly carves her highly fantastic tales using the sacred Tomera words. It was all fantasy until things begin to get a little alarming when the king suddenly dies exactly the same way in her tale. As her stories start to come true, Nascha begins to realize who--or what--she truly is. And with that comes enemies who want her for her gift, forcing her to leave the comforts of home to face an epic adventure caused by her own creations. However, she is not alone. She will travel with new friends: Laku, the prince and heir to the throne, and Tia, the mysterious girl from the dark mountains of Achnus. But working together may be a little complicated as they discover more of each other's mysteries, goals, and secret identities.

Skylar pledged her life to protect her homeland, but she didn't expect that she would have to resort to marrying the king's brother and using her wits instead of a sword. ***** Skylar is not a typical noble lady. Captain to her own company, she feels more at home with a sword in hand than in the ballroom. Her whole life gets turned upside down when she is forced to marry Lord General Gawyn Gryphonheart for the alliance. The vicious political machinations will be the least of her problems because a far darker threat is looming in the east. Skylar, with her fighting experience, might be the only one who sees it coming. If only her husband trusted her enough to heed her advice. Can she fulfil her role as a graceful and obedient wife at the royal court and convince the noble families to unite against the monsters believed to be merely a legend? (Book One of Till Death Do Us Part series) [[The Wattys 2021 Award winner in the Fantasy category]] [[Word count: 70 000 - 75 000]] Content warning: This story contains violence, bloodshed and occasional crude language.

#1 in Mythology 9/9/2021. #1 in Fantasy-Romance 9/15/2021. A young princess of Atlantis is born under the cloud of a curse. Two curses, in fact. She's both beautiful and intelligent, two traits that most people don't think go together. As she grows up, she's envied, pitied, and bullied by her older sisters. Then, when she comes of age, she's told that in order to save her beloved homeland from destruction, she must marry a monster. She agrees and embarks on a journey that will take her from the highest peaks of Mt. Olympus to the depths of hell and into the arms of a young man that doesn't seem like a monster.

"There's not a whole lot of magic left anymore, is there? The witches are melted, Cinderella's dead, and the Wolves are endangered. The fey left." ★ "Not all of them," Tilly said with a smile. ★★★ "ABC's 'ONCE UPON A TIME' meets 'SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL'" Hard times have come to Grimland since Queen Cinderella's death nearly 60 years ago, and nobody feels it more than Tilly Lafayette and her family. Despite their propensity for magic, they're just scraping by in Coleville, a deeply superstitious little smudge of a town in the foothills of the Sesmi mountains. When Mama's chronic illness suddenly worsens, Tilly must use her most powerful spell to save her, but to do so she has to leave behind everything she's ever known. ★★★ THE SEAM SORCERESS is a journey through some of the world's most beloved stories, re-imagined through the lens of Appalachian culture and Americana. Leigh Heasley (2017 Watty award winner and author of "Kairos," optioned for a TV series by eOne entertainment) weaves in personal memories and her family's unique history alongside the magic in this deeply personal tale.

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us. The Relic Guild is the award nominated first book in The Relic Guild trilogy. It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned prison. The surviving humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high, and all magic was forbidden. And now the war is returning. The Relic Guild are all that stand against the end of the city. But they are old, scattered and weak, and the enemy is growing in strength... Here in THE RELIC GUILD (and other stories) please enjoy a large chunk of The Relic Guild Trilogy (published with kind permission of my publisher Gollancz), complete short stories, the odd poem, one or two blog posts, and samples chapters from my other novels.

Cara’s mother has disappeared. Her father isn’t talking about it. Her big brother Max is hiding behind his iPod, and her genius little brother Jackson is busy studying the creatures he collects from the beach. But when a watery specter begins to haunt the family’s Cape Cod home, Cara and her brothers realize that their scientist mother may not be who they thought she was—and that the world has much stranger, much older inhabitants than they had imagined. With help from Cara’s best friend Hayley, the three embark on a quest that will lead them from the Cape’s hidden, ancient places to a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. They’re soon on the front lines of an ancient battle between good and evil, with the terrifying “pouring man” close on their heels. One chapter will be posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until all 10 chapters are up. These will be followed by the second book in the series, The Shimmers in the Night. A Junior Library Guild Pick; Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011; Selected for the ABC Best Books for Children Catalog; Locus Notable Books.

"How did you find this place?" Zia asked the King, speaking for the first time since entering the tent. "I've been searching for the location of your Headquarters for months- years, really." Donathan admitted. "We only found it when we got wind that two new recruits would be coming here today. My men tailed them here this morning and sent for me as soon as they were certain of the location." The tent was silent. Finally Arch said thoughtfully, "You say you come to negotiate?" The King nodded. "Very well, then," Arch said, "I will oblige. If I do answer your plea, can I insure that this camp and all those who live in it will remain protected and untouched?" Donathan nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I believe you can." "And," he went on, "can I trust that this place will remain secret to the outside world?" "My men are sworn into secrecy," the King assured him. Arch fell silent once again. This quiet seemed to last longer than all the others. Zia wanted to know what he would say, and His Highness and Jay appeared to be in the same boat. "Very well, then," Arch said, stretching forth his hand for the King to shake. "When shall we sort out the details?" Cover made by the incredibly talented @italychick

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

Shae, the High Queen of Erya, has one rule: Not to fall in love with her husband. Three years into their arranged marriage, Shae is still ignoring her attraction to the handsome king. A simple task when everyone knows the rumours of his love affair with the Sorceress Isobel; the woman he helped save the world, but was not allowed to marry. Felix, the High King of Erya, has one goal: To charm his wife. When an attack forces the couple into forced proximity to reach home safely, Felix sees the opportunity to finally get close to the queen. Defeating the Dark Disciple and his followers was nothing compared to his most challenging task yet; convincing his wife to give him a chance. {Rewritten in 2022}