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

Meet May Bird: a very shy, very precocious young girl who wants nothing more than to live in a world where she’s accepted and loved. One day while walking in the woods she finds that world—or falls into it, really. Through a pond, May enters the Ever After, a world of ghosts. Here, towns glow blue beneath zipping stars and the people—are they really people?—walk through walls. Here, the Book of the Dead holds the answers to everything in the universe. And here, if May is discovered, the horrifyingly evil Bo Cleevil will turn her into nothing. May Bird must get out. Fast. As May journeys through fantastic lands, she gathers an unusual group of new friends who join together to overcome Bo Cleevil and find the way back home.

This book will be taken down on the 1st March 2017 due to being published on Amazon and will only have the first part sampled here. Beyond Fear there is Courage. In a world ruled by The Elements and torn apart by darkness, a new evil has arisen, to take the throne of Kaimeara. Trapped within their prison, the once great Elders of Valista hang onto their last glimmer of hope, a hero prophecized to save them all. Dragged into their treacherous world, 16 year old Lizzie Somers finds herself on a terrifying journey across an unknown land in search of the legendary Winged Horses of Air and her only possible way of returning home. Helped throughout by an unlikely ally and hunted at every turn by a deadly enemy she must fight for survival. But as Lizzie's quest spirals out of control, can she find the strength inside to face her fears and defeat the evil or will she lose everything forever, including herself? Beyond Fear © Stephanie Olivia Hanlon Cover Design © Carly Chapman

After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called “secondary creation,” the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own. Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.