this story is complete fiction and entirely my own story, but due to the news of Technoblade's passing, I no longer feel comfortable gaining views and likes and comments from his namesake. I will not be touching this book again and I will be deleting Wattpad off of my devices to separate myself, I'm sure you all understand. I started writing this story in a time when I didn't know who I was yet. I was making new friends and starting new hobbies and this book became my driving force behind learning who I was and what I liked and who I wanted to be. my skills as a writer have improved strictly because of my constant work on this book and I would not be the person I am today if not for the person who inspired it. I've never felt so much gratitude towards a single streamer for how they've positively affected my life and I hope he rests easy. - 6/30/22 Started: December 10th, 2020 Finished: October 17th, 2021

Eli didn't think much about the city's newest so-called hero, but he supposed Vigilante wasn't all that bad. Granted, he was kind of a jerk and if he ever tried to kiss Eli again he was definitely getting punched. A story about a starving college student, making a living serving coffee and the local vigilante with a crush. - - - - - - - - - Highest rank #1 in Action, Wattys 2016 winner in the Trailblazers category! Featured 6/3/2016-7/23/2017

Season 4 of Smallville pretty much ticked me off. Some good episodes, more bad ones. I figured the writers were going to ruin something about the Fortress of Solitude, so I took matters into my own hands. For continuity purposes, this takes place at the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5. It goes without saying that I own no rights to Superman, Smallville, Clark, Chloe and any other characters in this work. They are owned by Warner Brothers. I enjoyed bringing characters I love to life with words that I gave them. Enjoy. **Note: I put this up on Fanfiction.net YEARS ago. With this new outlet for writers I am also putting it up here.

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

"Moby-Dick" tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this voyage: to seek out Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg, which now drives Ahab to take revenge.