From a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author comes a novelette in the Mind Dimensions series. This short story does not require you to have read the other books in the series. I can stop time, but I can’t change anything. I can access memories, but not far enough. My name is Mira, and my life is about finding the Russian mobster who killed my family.

~~(EDITED) ~~ (COMPLETE)~~ Asilla Williams has been through a lot in her life. Her whole family died at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange and she is stuck living at a muggle orphanage. There's something special about her though. She's not just your average witch, she's a true seer. Going into her fourth year at Hogwarts, she sees some pretty unruly things about to unfold. Some dark and dangerous, and some about a certain red headed boy who, whether she likes it or not, is going to steal her heart.

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

Highest Rank: #1 in Action #58 in Teen Fiction #225 in Romance ========================================================================= Cathrine Blackwood is the outcast at school. Hated by everyone she knows with the exception of her best friend. Her double life Black Widow attacks underground fighting. Caleb Grant is the mysterious Bad Boy. He comes out of nowhere and immediately takes an interest in Cat. Determined to befriend her and find out who she really is, Caleb discovers that he will get more than he asked. Will Cathrine be able to accept another guy into her heart? Will she open up and get over her past? Will Caleb be the one to open her up? &--------------=====================================================--------------& FIRST BOOK! PLEASE IGNORE THE CLICHES, GRAMMAR PROBLEMS, SPELLING ERRORS, ETC!! COMMENT AND VOTE!! <3

Faith Mitchell was never confident. She was happy to blend into the background, much to the protest of her friends. At 16, her life was a normal teenage cliche. She was in love with Jace, the obnoxious player who she couldn't have, and her biggest worry was whether or not he would finally come to his senses and see that she really was the one for him. That is until she is kidnapped and recruited by a secret agency of assassins. She is torn away from her normal teenage life and thrown into a world of guns, knifes and criminals. The agency mold her into the perfect killing machine, and at 19 she is no longer the shy girl that was snatched away from her uncomplicated life, but a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to complete whatever mission she is on. Then, the agency has a new mission which involves Faith returning to her hometown, and facing her friends, family and the very boy who broke her heart just before it turned into stone. What will happen once Faith comes face to face with Jace? Will the obnoxious player be able to reach out and get the old Faith back without pressing any of her wrong buttons, considering that the shy girl he once knew now has a gun. (WATTY AWARDS 2011) (THE FICTION AWARDS 2017) ©makeandoffer

Evelin is known as the wild Fendway sister. She dreams of someday escaping to the Forbidden Lands to the west, despite the rumors of its danger and dark magic. Evelin escapes to the lands and finds them to be not exactly how she expected. The creatures there need help, and only Evelin will save them. On a journey filled with bandits, elves, faeries, kingdoms, and a prince, Evelin tries desperately to break an enchantment cast long ago. Completed 9/30/15

BOOK ONE. Meet Faye Foreigner. She comes from a good family, who are kind as well as wealthy. She has a great personality, and seems to have her whole life ahead and ready for her. But something's off about her family, and Faye starts to notice it. The Foreigner family's past is long, painful, and hard. War, love, anger, peace and greed shake this family's secret-filled past. When the secret her family is keeping is to much for them to handle, it all comes spilling out: Faye, along with her family, are dragon riders. But when Faye finds out how powerful she really is, will she be able to handle it along with the information to come? Or will she lose her grip and, possibly, everything else she loves so dearly? [Highest Ranking so far: #9 in Fantasy.] [Edited.] [I hope you enjoy reading!] [One more thing: Thanks to everyone who has given this a chance, read it, voted, commended, and shared. It means the world to me!] -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED! IF YOU STEAL THIS, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO REPORT YOU!

Leading means taking mortal risks. Hiding is not an option. With a tumultuous year behind her, Valerie is ready to start a life that doesn't include running from enemies and risking her life. Too bad someone wants her dead. No matter how much she resists, Valerie is thrust into a position where it is up to her to lead the Conjurors against the power-hungry Fractus or suffer the consequences of two worlds ruled by those who wield magic as a weapon. But the clashes don't stop on the battlefield. As Valerie finds herself torn between her new love and her best friend, it will be up to her to figure out who she can't live without. In the fast-paced second novel of The Conjurors Series, Valerie searches for the father she thought was long dead and begins to come to grips with the immensity of her new power. The battle has begun.

Belief is a powerful magic. Valerie Diaz has a power that she can't contain, and it's killing her. Bounced between foster homes and the streets, she only has time to concentrate on staying alive. But a visit from the imaginary friend of her childhood opens a world of possibilities, including a new life half a universe away on a planet that is bursting with magic. The Society of Imaginary Friends follows Valerie on a journey that straddles two worlds. In order to survive, she must travel many light years away to a realm where anything is possible. On the Globe, imaginary friends come to life, the last of the unicorns rules the realm, and magic seeps from the pores of all the Conjurors who live there. But choosing to embrace her potential will set Valerie on a treacherous course - one filled with true love, adventure and perilous danger.

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