What would you do if your body and your kingdom were stolen? [A FEATURED STORY] Uther is a young prince who's reluctantly thrust into having to defend his throne against his usurping uncle and all-around powerful wizard, who uses his powers to steal the one thing Uther thought he couldn't take: his own body. After becoming the villain of the realm in an instant, Uther struggles to find anyone that will believe his story. His uncle's unsavory reputation lands him with a family of dark fae, a goblin, and a troll--not the usual team of knightly heroes. Together, this odd team will untangle a web of curses, escape bounty hunters, and confront fae. If Uther can't figure out how to reverse his uncle's curse, he'll be trapped in a body that's not his own--doomed to be a villain--for the rest of his life. YESTERDAY'S PRINCE is The Sword in the Stone with a Freaky Friday twist. Now entered in #Wattys2016

In the kingdom of Highfire, you can pack an entire house into one suitcase, grow a vegetable in a second, and have an intriguing conversation with a tree that is four times your size. If you are Aurelie Dranoir, the chosen heir to the Highfire throne, you might not find all these things as appealing as they sound.

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

***Updated on Sundays*** The gods have died and the arkanists have been blamed. Ash and darkness cloak the land, the Evernight, the free folk call it. Daemons rise from the shadows and the nights are long. Alone upon the road, heading to the College at Oldtowne, Hale finds refuge within a book. That book is called, The Arkanist, and tells the story of a boy called Kaedn Fallow. *** Following his father's unanticipated suicide, Kaedn is left alone and alienated throughout the city he has grown up in, faced with isolation, poverty, and questions. He needs to find out why his father killed himself, and starts off by searching through the library, reading the books his father read shortly before his untimely death. While there, he stumbles upon one man's secret, and changes his life forever. Copyright © 2015, Jack Pagliante. All Rights Reserved. Cover Artwork: Marc Simonetti

Lady Knight goes on a quest to find the Golden Key of her dreams. Will she find the magical Key? What will she learn about herself on the journey? Follow her epic adventures in verse to discover the secret of the Golden Key.

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.

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed. Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills... or someone wants her dead.

Adeleina of Corandell might be a girl and the heir to the throne, but that doesn't mean she can't swing a sword as well as any knight. Yet swords and pretty lies can only take a princess so far... Mysterious attacks plague her kingdom. An enigmatic stranger intercepts her in the woods. Her impending betrothal looms. As dark secrets are unravelled, old wounds reopened, and deadly swords unsheathed, Adeleina is going to be forced to realize that fairy tales are never what they seem.

The goblin horde has arrived! Djar's parents have been murdered, his city is occupied and things look worse every day. But there is one small hope: If only he can reach the sorceress Dymorla. The only trouble is, she already has a plan of her own, and it includes snatching a boy from an alternate plane (Earth), and animating an army of zombies to pose as a group of un-dead heroes to fool a powerful group of warrior priests into helping. Now what could go wrong with that? Dan's first novel - in paperback and eBook - and now FREE in entirety only for Wattpad Readers! NOTE: Glossary at end of story.

*Formerly known as The Arabian Desert.* He was a cold-hearted bandit with the power to imprison her... Maria disguises herself as a helper boy when Zain, the black-hearted, demonically handsome bandit attacks their prosperous town in the middle of the Arabian Desert and claims it as his own, naming himself sheikh, in search of its riches and treasures and a secret goal precious to his dark heart. To innocent Maria, it's either stay hidden or risk being caught and forced into Sheikh Zain's notorious harem. She was a raging spitfire that burned through his every defense... When Maria accidentally bumps into Zain one hot summer afternoon, revealing long hair, Zain is captivated and intrigued by the boy who turns out to be a feisty girl. He immediately desires the azure-eyed beauty whose melodious voice rivals that of a siren, and decides to capture and imprison her in his harem, for he must know who she is and where she came from. Now a woman who craves freedom above all else, Maria will stop at nothing to free herself from the devil himself even as she struggles against the tempestuous feelings that very devil elicits within her, all while a treacherous enemy plots against them. Copyright © 2023 | All Rights Reserved