Some relatives are meant to stay distant. * * * Josephine Lyttleton-Bradley can't understand why she must leave her London home - in the middle of the night during a wicked storm, no less - to live with a relative she's never even met. When Josie realizes she's stuck indefinitely in Great Aunt Donatella's lavish, but spooky mansion in the English countryside, she must uncover why her parents kept details about this branch of the family a secret or risk missing her chance to ever leave. [Approx. 30K word Novella] (c) 2014 All Rights Reserved - R.S. Kovach

Book Three of The Elementals. Val and Cara have been kidnapped by Malum and the 'other' Elementals. Determined to keep his promise to Val, Derrek has vowed to not stop searching until he finds Val and kills the Abled that stole her from him. However, with The Control searching for the mysterious shadow and the four remaining Elementals still under scrutiny, will Derrek be able to find Val and Cara before Malum breaks them? And what does Malum have in mind for his growing army of mutated Elementals?

Most Read in 2013. Book Two of The Elementals. It's the end of Val's first year at Abled University and already she feels as though The Elementals have grown to be family. There are, however, secrets that the Elementals are hiding and with the help of Derrek and Helena they need to find out what those secrets are. Will they be able to coerce the information out of them that could potentially help find and stop the 'inhumane Elementals', as well as destroy Malum?

For fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Blatty, Ted Dekker, and Frank Peretti When forensic psychiatrist Abigail Lee meets a baby-killing mother who has been declared criminally insane and acquitted, she discovers something lurking beneath the surface. Something far deeper and more insidious than mere psychopathy. But can she come to terms with her own struggle with science and faith in time to confront it?

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

"The night is totally black, now, except for the guardian light of the street lamps. No one is out besides me. I fold my arms, missing my army jacket's warmth, and head home quickly. It's dangerous to be out at night. But I don't run. If you run in Rimwick, something chases you." There are two rules in the small town of Rimwick: 1. Don't be different. 2. Don't go outside after dark. Riley Fey broke both the rules. And breaking rules in Rimwick doesn't mean you get grounded; it means you might end up dead. Dead is not a situation Riley wants to be in, even though everyone at school hates her, her dad is MIA, and her mother is the town witch. But when a wolf shows up at Riley's door and takes her to a dangerous land outside her town, "dead" begins to seem a whole lot more likely. #6 in Fantasy A Wattpad Feature Novel Promoted by Goosebumps movie Winner of the HQ Wattys Award Nominated for The People's Choice Award

Lacey is a bat girl. Seven years ago, her mother wished at the well in the heart of the Wish Wood, transforming a young bat-ling into a human girl--mostly human. But Lacey is growing up, Mama has a real daughter now, the kids in town tug on her pointy ears, and the schoolmistress chides her for hissing and baring her sharp teeth at her tormentors. Lacey is overwhelmed by all the typical angst of being a teenage girl, being an outcast, and the animal nature inside her--which seems to be out of her control. Will she give in to her baser instincts or will she be the daughter Mama wants her to be? The struggle brings her back to the haunted Wish Woods, where she learns just what kind of animal she can be. A/N: I appreciate feedback and votes very much. My dedicated readers, you are like gold to me! Every time I see a comment and vote from you I think how lucky I am and how amazing you are. Thank you so much for reading!!

Winner of Most Popular in the Action category in the 2012 Watty Awards. Most Read in 2013. Valerie is Water-Abled. At the age of sixteen she was able to manipulate and freeze water molecules. After she graduates high school she's shocked to find that she was accepted to a university she never applied for - Abled University, at the request of her deceased parents. Valerie soon falls into the Abled community but what should she do when she learns dark secrets that were kept from both her and the entire Abled society?

The Attic is the home to all of the pitiful, lost souls that have died, whether it be from suicide, an unsolved murder, or something even more gruesome. And no living being has ever been there...until now.

Most of us have had imaginary friends. What happens when your imaginary friend isn't so imaginary after all?