Religion rules Constantine's world...and she has been condemned as the Spawn of the Devil. She is a Champion, a human being blessed with superhuman abilities by the deities of her world. However, her patron happens to be the Lord of War and Strategy - and women were never supposed to be Champions of War. In order to survive in a world that would rip her apart, she disguises as a boy, training to fulfil her supposed destiny. But fate has other things in store for her. An ancient evil is rising - and only Constantine may have the power needed to fight it. Along with a brash warrior and a too-perceptive scholar, Constantine begins to unravel secrets of a prophecy foretelling the end of the world. Now, she must learn how to fight evil with nothing but a magical knife as well as powers she knows next-to-nothing of. The real problem though? She may have been the one to call the great evil in the first place. ************ Now a Wattpad Featured story! Highest ranking: #1 in Fantasy Cover by @seventhstar Previous cover by @TrafficCop Original cover sketch by @MissBookNut, colours by @AFlyingPug

Mongrel, half-breed, dirty grub. Nyani's been called all these things, and she's about to earn a few more epithets. Banshee, spy, and liar, for a start. Her people stand on the brink of extinction. Her father and her lover are dead at the hands of her enemy - and her mother has lied to her all her life. If she wants her revenge, she will have to change the course of history. Ancient history. To do that, her only choice is to cross the mysterious Way Stones. Forced to unite with a self-exiled warchief in her quest against a mad druid and their common enemy, ties she has yet to discover bind the young widow to them both. As she is caught up in a web of secrets and betrayal, fueled by ambition and jealousy, she is torn between her desire for revenge and her need to belong somewhere - even this world. But Nyani's choices threaten to destroy the people she loves, including the one she comes to love most of all. For there are other forces to contend with. Forces that come from far beyond the Seventh Gate. And a mysterious foreign trader knows far more about those than he's telling. Then again, nobody is telling anyone the truth. *** Inspired by the great love stories and tragedies nestled in the pre-historic roots of Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology, the series follows a relationship across the course of a lifetime, set against a backdrop of worlds at war within themselves, and with each other.

THE SILENT DEAL is an award-winning explosive adventure. The Magic Trick (book 2) is out, and book 3 comes out next year. Within these pages lies mystery, magic, mythology, and wide cast of gypsies, gamblers, fire-jugglers, and thieves. The Card Game awaits... ** WHEN VIKTOR AND ROMULUS, two peasant boys, dig too deep into their town's strange past, they awaken the wrath of a mysterious overlord. As the blood brothers struggle to survive, their search for answers takes them through gambling parlors, fortune-teller dens, and moonlit forests full of monsters and men alike. But even with the help of their friends, can they escape the deathly experiments that their foe is creating in Staryi Castle? ** WINNER of 'Outstanding Fiction' at the California Writers Con. 5 STAR Finalist of the 2015 Readers Favorite Awards.

BOOK 1 OF RECOVERY SERIES Grace Adams has battled with depression for the majority of her life, but her best friend Chey always kept her sane. But after Chey disappears from her life, Grace completely loses it, falling back into all of her old habits. When her therapist suggests sending her to a ranch for troubled teens over the summer after nothing else works, her parents agree as a last resort. While there, Grace is paired with a stallion rescued from an abusive home. Both Grace and the horse are broken inside- can they put each other back together? This is a story of pain, love, loss, and hope. This is a story of recovery.

When Vincent Tucat learns he's to be robbed, he turns the tables on the thief to enhance his own reputation. However, in city ruled by thieves, burglary and politics often go hand in hand, and things are rarely as straightforward as they appear.

The Dragon Oracles THE NEW EPIC FANTASY SAGA A continent on the brink of war. A journey to save a kingdom. Forced onto a path he does not wish to follow, a young man finds himself the focus of ancient powers. When Gialyn accompanies his father on a dangerous trek across their homeland, he attracts the gaze of an ancient dragon. The dragon offers Gialyn power, but the price may prove too much to bear. Meanwhile, Brea, the Dragon Guardian, has plans of her own. With the power of her dragon charges, she summons an ancient warrior to aid in their cause. But will this powerful being help them, or add itself to their growing list of enemies? http://geni.us/B014LXVQP4/

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

When Adrian the Brave, an arrogant con-artist posing as a knight, eats a mushroom he finds deep in the forest by his village, his life takes a turn for the worst. Immediately after he eats it, he becomes addicted. In his search for more mushrooms, he finds a trapped rabbit. The rabbit, whom he nicknames "Lackwit," offers to lead Adrian to an enchanted part of the forest where the magical mushrooms thrive, in exchange for freedom. Adrian soon discovers, however, that this forest is home to more than just mushrooms, and not all of the inhabitants are what they appear to be.... Cover illustration by Anthony Moravian. http://antmora.deviantart.com

“A breathtaking new epic fantasy series. Morgan Rice does it again! This magical saga reminds me of the best of J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Rick Riordan, Christopher Paolini and J.R.R. Tolkien. I couldn’t put it down!” --Allegra Skye, Bestselling author of SAVED The epic coming of age story of one special boy, a 14 year old from a small village in the Kingdom of the Ring. The youngest of four, the least favorite of his father, hated by his brothers, Thorgrin senses he is different from the others. He dreams of becoming a great warrior, of joining the King’s men and protecting the Ring from the hordes of creatures on the other side of the Canyon. When he comes of age and is forbidden by his father to try out for the King’s Legion, he refuses to take no for an answer: he journeys out on his own. But King’s Court is rife with its own power struggles, ambitions, jealousy, violence and betrayal. King MacGil must choose an heir from amongst his children, and the ancient Dynasty Sword, the source of all their power, still sits untouched, waiting for the chosen one to arrive. Thorgrin arrives as an outsider and battles to be accepted, and to join the King’s Legion. Thorgrin comes to learn he has a special gift, and a special destiny. He falls in love with the king’s daughter, and as he struggles to make sense of his powers, the king’s sorcerer takes him under his wing and tells him of a mother he never knew, in a land far away, beyond the Canyon, beyond even the land of the Dragons. With its sophisticated world-building and characterization, A QUEST OF HEROES is an epic tale of friends and lovers, of rivals and suitors, of knights and dragons, of intrigues and political machinations, of coming of age, of broken hearts, of deception, ambition and betrayal. It is a tale of honor and courage, of fate and destiny, of sorcery. It is a fantasy that brings us into a world we will never forget, and which will appeal to all ages and genders.

Ryder found about his ability when he was eight. Now, at fifteen years old, he's put them to good use-or so he thinks. But when more important, more powerful people start to go after him, will he be able to survive? Follow Ryder on his journey as he realizes that if you cannot be controlled, then you cannot be trusted. Then you are dangerous. ++++ "Memories of when I first found out about my powers flood my brain. When I wasn't in here. When I decided to use my powers for the good of people. But not everyone saw it that way. After all, not everyone likes a person who is uncontrollable."