this is NON FICTION.

This epistolary series was originally published as nine short stories by Daily Science Fiction between January and March, 2014.

Book 3 - It's been one full year since Prince Tenarreau struck a bargain with Vincent - his cooperation with the prince's plans in exchange for information regarding the circumstances concerning his family's murder. Vince has done everything Prince Tenarreau has asked for and more, but intrigue and betrayal are a fundamental part of Haraelian politics, and promises are only worth the integrity of the person making them in the first place. But Vincent has made a promise . . . one he fully intends to keep.

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

Bliss has always been different. Because of a condition called CIPA, she’s never felt pain–no headaches, no cramps, no charlie horses. She also can’t sweat, cry or even play sports without endangering her life. And the worst part? She knows she has an expiration date, and it is probably fairly soon -- most people like her don't live past the age of 18. So, what's a girl to do? Well, if you're Bliss, you give the world the finger and decide to live life on your own terms. For her, this means training with her top-secret government agent mom in the art of hand-to-hand combat, and convincing her mad scientist dad to invent a special suit that will let her seek out the world's dangers without overheating and biting the big one. She is determined to take the world on, fighting the “bad guys” and leaving her mark during the short time she has. But when an old friend from CIPA camp asks her to help track down others like them who've suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances, her reckless lifestyle is put to the ultimate test. Especially when the junior government agent-in-training her mom assigns to help them with the case turns out to be totally hot--and totally into her. Torn between her feelings of anger toward the life she's been dealt and the one she could have if she just let others in, Bliss takes off on a mission that might just be her last.

After being kidnapped and thrown into a VRMMORPG, 17-year-old Suzuki Mato must find the line between his real and in-game personalities before it kills him. ***** Following the death of his popular online persona, seventeen-year-old Suzuki Mato decides it's time to retire from professional VR gaming. However, his plans are abruptly cut short when he's kidnapped from his high school and forced to be a guinea pig for Genaco Gaming, the world's largest esports and entertainment company. Armed with nothing but his wit and a new online persona, he's thrown headfirst into the virtual reality of "Live No Evil," a VRMMORPG littered with overpowered bosses, secretive NPCs, and backstabbing gods. His mission? Find a way to conquer this new world and get back at the company that took over his life, all while avoiding 'Parallel' -- a condition that would make it impossible to separate his real and virtual personalities. Because in a world obsessed with VR gaming, Parallel means death, and Suzuki just doesn't have time for that... [Parallel Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 out now, Vol. 3 coming soon] Content/Trigger Warning: some transphobic language