VRMMORPG has been a huge hit since the first full virtual dive-based games were released in 2025, and now, in the year of 2045, a new VRMMORPG has been released. Among many other VRMMORPG that have been released in the past years, this game boasts about the freedom it gives to their players. A young man, who has been looking for his lost self, attracted to the promise of freedom that the game gives. The young man with a black heart, a dark past, and a cold pair of eyes, enters a world he has never seen before, where creatures from fairy tales and mythical books reside. Meeting old and new friends alike, will he able be to regain the warm, gentle heart he once had? Or will he forever be consumed by the monsters he created inside his heart and mind?

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

A NaNoWriMo LitRPG starring a videogame QA tester named Sam Nagai. Sam thought testing videogames would be a dream job until he got saddled with a ton of barely playable mobile games. The lack of fun in these games and small pay makes Sam typically reluctant whenever he gets a call for a new gig, but customers for his art commissions have been scarce and Sam needs all the money he can get. He finally gets a call for a new gig with potential bonus pay, but not much else is known about the game itself. From what he does know, it sounds sort of interesting. Virtual Reality? Dark gothic fantasy? Uber hard difficulty? Sam's all in for that. After all it's not real so there's no real danger... Expect a dark and scary atmosphere, nightmarish creatures, madness and despair, beautiful and desolate locales, leveling up, and epic battles. This one is for you fans of the souls-like genre and other dark fantasy games like Legacy of Kain and Onimusha! Please comment, critique and vote at your leisure! I love to hear your opinions! **Hell's Glitch in its original form. The last updates before my final draft.

Darius escaped Envy's reckoning with his life, but lost much in the process. Mortal and vulnerable, he seeks a new reason for his continued existence, and may have found it lurking below the mage city of Itheria. The Sins and their immutable control are broken. The streets are bloodied by Wrath's wayward children. Magic clashes. A winged harridan descends. The King Below threatens Terrestria with destruction. Darius's quest to find redemption will lead him into the void itself, where the former Sin of Pride will be forced to decide just what he is willing to sacrifice for a world he has long ignored and the blue-eyed woman he failed to save. __________________________ Sequel to Bereft: Demise. [ORIGINAL DRAFT ONLY]

A young boy, Eckhardt, was planning to become an Elite, the King's most trusted guards with elemental powers chosen by the element themselves. His father was the King's right hand man and is also the reason why Eckhardt wanted to become an Elite himself. He trained and trained until the day of choosing arrived. During the exams, the Dome was infiltrated by demons, but not just any kind. Phantom demons. First class warriors with overwhelming strength and are the pawns of the Phantom King, the kingdom's worst enemy. All the participants fought back, but were outnumbered. As he was fighting, Eckhardt was hit in the head with the hilt of a weapon, and was taken away. When he woke up, Eckhardt found himself sitting on a throne in front of an army of demons. In the front was beautiful woman with long black hair and crimson red eyes. "Let us welcome the new Phantom King!" she announced to the soldiers. Thanks to one of my best friend Renmista who made the awesome book cover. Go check out his youtube channel: youtube.com/Renmista Games

A vast land of turmoil and grace, a land large enough to be called its own world, the Endless Continent, encompassed all of the known human race, a population of nearly fifteen billion people. Here, where large beasts roam, adventurers strive to conquer the 138 Dungeon Worlds, and be known throughout the lands as a Hero. Grey, a young boy of only five years, dreams of being a hero, but fate has dealt him a cruel hand. He is destined not to be a hero, but the most terrifying of villains. This is his story.

Alpha Realm Online, the most highly-anticipated VR game on the market. Alpha Realm Online, the largest death trap in history. Now, 10 000 players fight to survive and escape their virtual prison, without dying along the way. *NOTE* This story has been revamped and renewed after a long hiatus. Most chapters in the book are part of the older first draft and will not be continued. The new, reworked chapters are at the back of the book.

If dish soap, rutabagas, and firecrackers aren't an essential part of your zombie apocalypse kit, you better grab them now! Season 1 of The Virus Within (SERIES IS COMPLETED!) * * * * * * * Trinity fights against the bloodthirsty influences of the zombie virus as she searches for her sister, hoping to find her still alive among the scattered survivors. But even if Trinity manages to find her, how will Jess react when she discovers Trinity is a zombie? When a group of survivors gets stranded by a vehicle malfunction, Trinity decides to guide them to safety. Rediscovering her sense of humor was the last thing she ever expected, but it just might be her best defense in keeping her humanity, especially on a zombie-infested road trip with more bad luck than potholes. But time is running out as the third wave of the deadly outbreak rapidly spreads. Trinity must decide if she can trust a backwater scientist who thinks she can help her new friends, all while combating the effects of the virus that threatens to steal what's left of her humanity. Cover designed by Marie Tilmant

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?