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

I give credit to my bro, Colin, for dis story. This short story is sure to make you laugh your socks off with joke, and ridiculous alliteration!

The lost boy, Lucas, is not the ordinary orphan you would think of. He went through a lot after the death of his mother. He finds himself in a New York hospital/orphanage with his wings missing.

The Beginning Spirit is a young wolf pup who along with her sister, Lily, discover that they have abilities

***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

The history of Tiseria is littered with ferocious battles. Battles, between the many different races, which threatened to engulf the entire realm. Races and creatures have become extinct, or very close to it, but, no war had been as terrible as the Dark Wars. Over a thousand years ago the Cultists of Volkin tried to bring forth their underworld god into the living realm. They almost succeeded. The cult had been defeated by the allied forces of the Four Kingdoms, and by the Covenant of the Magi. Tiseria prospered and there was general peace in the wake of the Dark Wars. Peace which had gone, relatively, unbroken, until now. The armies of darkness are rising once more. After more than a millennia the Cult of Volkin has returned, returned to finish what they had started. The cult is more devastating than ever, equipped with powers bestowed upon them by Volkin himself. They intend to wreck havoc, spread corruption, fear and distraught, through the kingdoms, and raise their Dark God once again. Releasing a corruption upon the physical realm, and causing the various races to become hosts for evil spirits, the Cult of Volkin is demonstrating their power to all. The descendants of the Covenant of the Magi and Knights Order, combined to create the Order of Light, must once again brave the horrors brought forth by Volkin's minions. Two knights have been chosen to undertake the suicidal mission of reuniting the races of Tiseria and retying the bonds of allegiance between them. The fallen, and dishonoured, Knight-Captain, Ryan Quinn, and the proud, and noble, Michael Crow, must traverse the three remaining kingdoms in hopes of uniting the Human, Dwarven and Elven races once more against the terror that is Volkin. With dungeons, dragons, magic and goblins set to cross their paths, can these two knights survive and what else will they encounter?

Sythra is the curly haired queen of the River Elves, a kingdom of peculiar elves. She leads her castle with fairness to all, and all is well until a group of elves is spotted at the edge of her forest. Little does she know, the leader of the group is going to change her world. *This story is no longer being updated!*