Nerdy Dakota Evans makes the biggest mistake of her life by falling in love with her best friend, Aaron Ford. Despite coming from entirely different cliques in school, will their relationship have a chance? *** In a high school where everyone belongs to cliques, nerdy and boyish Dakota Evans' friendship with basketball jock, Aaron Ford, becomes a big issue. Aaron's highly protective of Dakota and doesn't realize that she's in love with him. With their friendship eventually going on the rocks, will Aaron finally realize his true feelings for Dakota before it's too late? [[word count: 90,000-100,000 words]]

Abandoned on the steps of a church as an infant, Evelyn Ferne finally feels as though her life is coming together. At long last she has the parents she's always longed for, as well as her first taste of real romance and love. But try as she might her life has never been normal. Abilities to which she has little control and even less understanding have always threatened to derail the life Evelyn worked so hard to build. Abilities that are steadily growing in strength and diversity. And now Evelyn's tenuous hold on life has been threatened further still. A friend, once thought imaginary, has made a very sudden, very real re-appearance, bringing to life secrets and dangers from a past and a world Evelyn never knew existed. A world that wants nothing more than to tear everything she loves apart. Will Evelyn be able to hold onto the life she's always wanted and protect those she loves, or will the unknown darkness from her hidden past claim her for its own.

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

Five Star Reviews for Atlantis Academy: "Omg this book was amazing I couldn't put it down or stop reading. I carried it with me open on my phone while I did everything just to keep reading. I need more of all of this. Epic story, epic content, epic visuals, just epic. LOVE THIS!" "Once I got into this story, I did not stop reading it. This is a beautiful story about a very awkward girl who is riven with so much pain and angst and yet... this makes her who she is and shapes her into the person she will become. The world she finds herself awakened to is magical and yet filled with the all-too-familiar cliques and tribes of the very human people who inhabit it. One word to describe the story: beautiful!" "The story pulls you headlong to the end and leaves you wanting to shout "No! Not yet!" ...If there were 6 stars, I would have given it that." *** Humanity is one secret society away from extinction. The children of Atlantis use magic to keep us safe. If they make it through the Academy. Hi, I'm Lyric. And I'm kind of a mess. ADHD, that's me. I'm a high school drop-out, late everywhere I go, and one screw-up away from being homeless. I'm a loner, and I like it that way. Who needs friends when you have a Redwood forest nearby? Trees never bully me like the kids did at school. Or get drunk and throw things at my head. After my mom died, I figured life couldn't get much worse. I thought it might even get better. Ha. The universe has a great sense of humor. I should've listened to the rumors about evil spirits. About the angry, ancient magical creatures haunting our small Oregon Coast town. But did I? No. That was my first mistake. And it might be my last. 'Cause now I'm in a battle for my life. A whole new world has opened up... a magical world I don't understand. And the blood in my veins says I belong here. But I have to prove myself to save myself. And when have I ever done that?

|Book 3| Andorra is no closer to taking the throne than when she first entered Anlithamy. Her worst nightmare has come true, and her enemies are closer than ever. With Bazile and her old clan threatening to take over Anlithamy and steal the throne out from under her, Andorra has to figure out how she will save her people and keep her future as Queen intact. With startling news of her heritage and what is in store for her future, Andorra feels unbalanced. Her best friends are in danger, her guards seem less than thrilled to keep her alive, and there's the fact that her betrothed still wants her head on a platter. Will she save Anlithamy and become Queen? Or will she turn into the monster that plagues her soul?

[Book 1 and 2 COMPLETE] Straight-A student Jane Huang cares only about acing her classes and graduating college... until a terrifying encounter with an otherworldly monster plunges her into the mysterious world of Mir. To return to the home she loves, Jane must become an 'avtorka' -- one with the gods-given power to write in Mir's Book of Truths and change reality. A brutal series of tests awaits her, each designed by the gods to target her weaknesses and shatter her resolve. Helping her train for her godstests is Nikolay, a ruthless battlemage whose Oath to protect his dying ruler is slowly killing him. Nikolay needs Jane to break his Oath -- or so Jane thinks -- and despite their mutual enmity, she agrees to help him. But as Jane endures her godstests, she is drawn into a web of magic, mystery, and deceit that forces her to question Nikolay's motives, the godstests, and the very nature of reality itself. ***Earnesty Writing Award Fantasy Winner!*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdMY61yxdPg **First Place in the Punk Rock Awards, 2022, Action/Adventure** **First Place in the Dream Awards 2020, Adventure** **First Place in the Golden Awards, Adventure** **First Place in the Mono Awards 2020, Adventure** **First Place in the Shimmer Awards 2020, Adventure** **First Place in the Sunshine Awards 2020, Adventure** **Second Place in the Paper Awards 2020, Adventure** **Second Place in the First Impressions Award (SUAW) 2020** **Third Place in the Golden Awards 2020, Fantasy** **Third Place in the Noble Awards 2020, Action/Adventure** **Third Place in the Imperial Awards 2020, Adventure**

A painful breakup pushes Kyla Evans to get into a fake relationship with the person her ex-boyfriend hates the most: Seth Everett. But what will she do when the game starts to feel too real? ***** Seventeen-year-old Kyla has sworn off love. After getting dumped all too suddenly by her longtime boyfriend Cedric, she becomes convinced that people are never really who you think they are. So when notorious playboy Seth Everett suggests that Kyla fake date him to get back at Cedric, it seems like the perfect plan... as long as she doesn't end up falling for him. Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions cancer, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

The Many Dates of Indigo is now published as a Paperback, and E-book with W by Wattpad Books! As a Wattpad reader, you can access both the Wattpad Original Edition and Wattpad Books Published Edition here upon purchase. Thank you so much for your support! ***** As Indigo Clark nears her 30th birthday, new male suitors vie for her attention. The trick is to pick the right one... ***** Indigo Clark, a successful businesswoman approaching her 30th birthday can't seem to shake the questions, "Where's your ring?", "When will you get married?", "Are you going to have children?" Tired of the nosiness and the pressure, Indigo sets out to experiment in her dating life. What an adventure she's in for! You have Tate, her gorgeous and loyal best friend, who she has a past with...but they don't talk about it. Then there's Nathan. He seems perfect on paper but is hiding a serious part of his life from her. Owen is a dashing gentleman until he isn't. And Diego, oh Diego, he's a hotshot lawyer used to getting what he wants but Indigo also knows what she wants and isn't going to let him off the hook easily. She is fierce and smart, and yes, it's raining men but Indigo isn't afraid to hold an umbrella... [Highest Ranking: #8 in ChickLit] (Featured) [ Winner of the Genre Awards for ChickLit *First Book* ] [[word count: 90,000-100,000 words]] Cover designed by Eva I (@evadrawssometimes)

After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Elliot's partner was his whole world, but after Allan's death, his ghost haunts Elliot's dreams. Everyone tells Elliot to move on, but he isn't sure he can. ***** It's been a year since the love of Elliot's life, Allan, passed away. Everyone thinks he should have recovered after that much time, but Allan still haunts Elliot every night. He struggles to maintain relationships with his family, and despite a coworkers interest he can't summon up the courage to date. Elliot is living for the past, because to live for the present means he'll have to live with a hole in his heart. But the question Elliot has to face chases him through his monotonous days: is mourning Allan with everything he has truly living? [[word count: 40,000-50,000 words]]