Every reputable city needs its supplies of teachers, firefighters, policemen and lawyers. Gotham was hardly a reputable city. Nevertheless, it still needed its surgeons. Clara Moore, a former war doctor, had her own rules and morals. Schemes that kept her alive in the eye of the raging war. Tactics of actions. Systems and formulas that ensured her survival. Plans. Control. But one man decided to test her rules. After all, he knew that sometimes only a little push is required to make someone's order crumble.

[OLD VERSION] [NOT EDITED] Morgana was satisfied living her normal life on Earth, until one night she was pulled into a parallel universe. Surrounded by strange and wonderful creatures, Morgana is forced to adapt to her new life, whilst the lies coiled around her old life are slowly unravelled. Her future is uncertain, all relying on whether or not she can save her new kingdom from the threat lying in the darkness. The Thariels. She is taught they are evil to the core, but when a Thariel saves her life, Morgana is unsure who speaks the truth and who she can trust. With hundreds of people counting on her to save them from an enemy that may in fact only be misunderstood, what can Morgana do?

When Eliza Twitchel's little sister is kidnapped by gobblings and whisked through a magic gateway hidden in an old growth forest, she sets out on a rescue mission, ill-prepared for the dangers lurking in a world where witches and ogres are real and life is anything but a fairytale.

Book One of the Scary Tales The zombie sequel to Snow White begins where the classic fairy tale ends, with the Prince’s kiss waking Snow from her cursed slumber. Snow wakes up, but she doesn’t wake up right. Now a deranged zombie, Snow infects both the Prince and the seven dwarfs’ leader. That leaves the young dwarf Grouchy, who is secretly in love with Snow, to find a cure for her malicious curse. So begins an epic journey that pits the lovesick Grouchy against dwarf-hating human soldiers, Snow’s ever-growing zombie horde, and his own bad temper. But when Grouchy and his motley crew of survivors escape Snow’s clutches and seek refuge in a nearby human village, he soon finds that her affliction has spread faster and further then he ever could have imagined. Snow is hell-bent on spreading her horrid curse across the land, and it’s up to Grouchy to stop her before it’s too late. That Risen Snow is the first book of THE SCARY TALES, a series of dark fantasy novels being published by StoneGate Ink. If you enjoy this book and would like a free ebooks of the next book in the series, please post an honest review of That Risen Snow on Amazon.com. Once you're review is online, email me and I will send you a free ebook of That Wicked Apple, book two of THE SCARY TALES. If you'd like to receive free ebooks of future books in THE SCARY TALES series in exchange for honest Amazon.com reviews, please visit my website and sign up for my email newsletter: http://www.robboley.com Plus, all email newsletter subscribers receive a free short story! Buy/Review THAT RISEN SNOW on Amazon: http://myBook.to/thatrisensnow Buy/Review the sequel, THAT WICKED APPLE, on Amazon: http://myBook.to/thatwickedapple Thanks so much for reading!

A cursed prince. A vain beauty. Glory is the seventh daughter of Balthazar, High King of the Twelve Kingdoms. Glory hopes that - of all her sisters - she can escape the fate of a loveless marriage. But on the night she plans to elope with the royal falconer, her world comes crashing down: Her father announces Glory's betrothal to Eoghan of the Blood Realm - a prince no one has ever seen. The prince is said to be a recluse, cursed and deformed by the gods for the sins of his power-hungry father. Yet when Glory is trapped in Blackthorn Keep she discovers that not everything is what she expected. An insulting gryphon, a persistent ghost, and a secret plan to usurp the prince keep Glory reeling. Can she overcome her vanity to learn that what you want isn't necessarily what you need-and save the cursed prince?

Seventeen-year-old Scarlett Hayes is living her life by her own rules. Losing her parents at a young age has made her strong and fiercely independent. She knows exactly who she is and nothing is going to change that. Everything starts to change for her when she moves to a new town. She meets Cade Presley. He is domineering and arrogant which makes her detest him at first sight. She learns a secret that will unravel her perfect life and lead her into a world she never knew existed. Embracing her new life is difficult when it pulls her closer to Cade. Finding out you are destined to be with someone forever is hard to handle especially when you want to throttle them every time you see them. The attraction she feels for him is undeniable and there is no fighting destiny. *Please note this is only a five chapter sample of the published book.

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

Sam is the most promising swordsman among this year’s crop of Paladin trainees...and knows it. Brash, cocky, and unbeatable with a sword (well, almost), Sam is the kingdom of Thule’s best hope against the violence wrought by demons. The only problem is that Sam is really Lady Samantha, daughter of the seventeenth Duke of Haywood, and if her father has his way, she’ll be marrying a Paladin, not becoming one. But Sam has never held much interest in playing damsel-in-distress, and so she rescues herself from a lifetime of boredom and matrimonial drudgery. Pity that Tristan Lyons, the Paladin assigned to train her, is none other than the hero of her childhood. He hasn’t recognized her as Lady Samantha--yet-- but if he does, he’ll take away her sword and send her packing. Sam is not the only trainee hiding secrets: Braeden is a half-demon with a dark past that might be unforgivable. Sam, Braeden and Tristan set out for the western coast, charged with rooting out an infestation of demons that has made the West unlivable. As they travel, they uncover a deep-seated corruption of power that threatens to derail everything they stand for. Rebellion stirs, led by a rival faction of warriors who tempt Sam to join them with an irresistible offer. A war between men is coming, and Sam must pick a side. Will saving the kingdom cost her life -- or just her heart? Reminiscent of Mulan, but with a medieval fantasy twist, Paladin is a tale of adventure, action, and romance.

Cherry blossom lipstick: check Smokey eyes: check Skinny jeans: check Dead kid in the mirror: check For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She's been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too. Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. There's a little glitch this time. The ghost she sees is her foster sister, Sally. Everyone thinks she's just another runaway. Mattie knows the truth, though-she's dead, murdered. Foster kids look out for each other and Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can't do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young police officer and together they set out to discover the truth of Sally's disappearance. Now the killer has set his sights on her. It becomes a race to see if she can find the truth before the serial killer finds her.

Callum O'Donovan, trained in the intelligence corps of the British army, travels the globe guest starring in the pivotal events of the cold war. It is a life of mystery and excitement, yet he longs for the lovely Scottish school girl he once left behind. Clandestine is a mixture of Forrest Gump and James Bond set against the political backdrop of the late twentieth century.