In a politically volatile kingdom, Noah is tasked with finding the catalyst, a magical artifact rumored to greatly enhance the potential of the wielder. Joining his efforts are his childhood best friend and an illegitimate prince doing the queen's bidding in exchange for his lover's freedom. It soon becomes clear that many different parties are after the catalyst, though no one seems to know who started this chase or why. In order to survive and save the people he cares about, Noah will have to leave behind everything he thought he knew about magic and adapt to a new reality of unlikely alliances and painful betrayals, high-stakes power struggles, and vengeful entities.

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

Wattys Winner 2018 for The Worldbuilders!!! Harry Potter meets Throne of Glass ~ Highest Ranking: #1 in throneofglass * #1 in wizard * #3 in romance #1 gameofthrones When a Valkyrie falls from the sky to tell two normal teenagers, Laina and Will, they have the fate of two worlds in their hands, they are shocked and skeptical. But with Gods and Goddesses placing wagers, Valkyries joining the fight, and powerful Witches and Wizards taking sides, trouble is brewing. Behind a veil lies a mirror world to Earth, one that runs on magic. But as magic begins to seep out of Htrea and fewer are born with the Talent, the Tainted, those without the ability to do magic, are being persecuted and exterminated. Htrae is run by a mad Empress and a force of rebels -- including Will and Laina's fire-wielding warrior-general sister, Rowan and her best friend, the cheeky Wizard Wiz-kid, Joel -- are garnering warriors for a fight. According to prophecy, the fate of the war of two worlds lies in the hands of one of three siblings: a son or daughter of the remaining bloodline of the Kingdom of Aary. Will they be able to fight together to survive and win the Witch War? ~~~ Thank you to Manu Cabañero for the letting me use this gorgeous photograph in my cover art!

When powerful witch Marithyda Skyelorn becomes a participant of the Royal Exposition, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with the Prince--or to be the cause of his death. ***** Every year, the kingdom of Karvoth hosts the Royal Exposition: a corrupt carnival where a race of citizens who possess powerful magic, known as the Touched, are exploited for the enjoyment of nobles. But when Marithyda Skyelorn's grand performance ends in tragedy and pits her against the deranged King, she must make the impossible choice between remaining in exile and participating again in the dangerous competition that ruined her life--to end it once and for all. (Book One of the Skyelorn Chronicles trilogy) [[2020 Watty's winner, Fantasy]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: Some scenes contain violence that may upset sensitive readers [[Word Count: 50,000-60,000]]

'They wore uniform grey, their expression hard and distant, their muscles taut with expectation, as if at any moment they were ready to lead an assault, to carry out orders, to kill, to die. And yet they were. Kingston had trained these children to kill at a word, to obey their masters without question. They were machines, the ultimate weapons in modern warfare. Children, as young as seven and as old as eighteen, stood impeccable and fearless, but it was what was hidden in their minds that was to be feared most of all.' Nineteen-year-old Charlotte Owens has entered her final year at Kingston Academy and, together with her best friends, she plans on making it through the year in one piece, away from the scrutinising eye of the headmaster and the founder's son. However, when she discovers that she has been thrust into the role of Head Girl, working alongside a boy she can hardly stand, not only are her plans for anonymity destroyed, but her plans for making it through the year at all seem to be in danger of becoming a wistful dream. Charlotte finds herself faced with the monstrous task of learning to play a game for survival in a world that seems determined to destroy her. Not only fighting for her life, Charlotte must also fight to gain control over the genetic alterations that plague her mind, in an effort to become the soldier she must be. A dark and tense tale of the battle between good and evil, Altered brings to life a strange and deadly world full of power and intrigue, as well as casting light on many secrets that so many hoped would remain undiscovered. This is Book One of Altered

BOOK 2 in the White Fire Series: Fire trumps ice, or so it seems when the Fire King becomes victorious in his plan to help the Slynathis Rebels kill the Ice King. With a new King on the throne, anything is possible. Anya, Prince Sebastian and Luca are on the run from the new Ice King and decides to head North where the Prince can promise them a safe haven while working on reclaiming the throne. In a new tribe full of chilly stares and whispers, Anya must keep her identity a secret or else their location will be discovered. With the help of new associates, they learn that their greatest weapon lies on the Mountain of Ire: a hidden cave that houses the winter stone in its purest form. And on the mountain, is rumored to be a man who can teach them how to master the stone. Anya has barely mastered the art of wielding white fire and now has to conquer the art of wielding the powers within the winter stone. If she fails, she will loose everything, but if she is successful, she will be a FORCE to reckon with...

"The favourite food of us all, the pizza, if it's properly baked and has all the right topping on it, it contains over one thousand calories. The American chocolate chip cookies we all love and cherish very much - one of them has roughly three hundred calories. If we drink the three litres we're supposed to drink of water of something else, like one of our very favourite sodas, Coca Cola, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, that calculates up to over half the calories you're supposed to consume per day. And don't even get me started on birthday cake..." Bev Nicholls may be plus-size but that's the least interesting thing about her and certainly not what you should be paying attention to when there's her beautiful, well-groomed roommate who likes to get a manicure after his every gym session, her new job as a teacher with her first class of mid-puberty teens and her views on all of that with just the right sense of humor and confidence, while not taking it or herself too seriously.

***Please note that this book has been taken down because it's been published, and you can see only the sample chapters of the published version. You can find the links to both ebook and paperback in my profile bio. ------------- I have always been bullied and trapped in darkness. I hoped life would get better when I moved to my mother's hometown, but it only got worse because it was there that I met my unrequited crush, Hayden Black. He despised me from day one, and even more when I became best friends with his twin, Kayden. Kayden gave light to my life, but my happiness with him lasted only until one night two years ago. That night Kayden died because of me. Half of me died with him. The other half was left to bleed, suffering Hayden's and his friends' constant bullying. Now I must endure one more year before I can finally escape them and go to college. This year has to be different. Either I will become stronger, or they will finally break me into nothing. ----------- Highest rank in Romance: #1 on 10/28/2017 Bullied won the Best Romance and the Best Diverse Book award and the Bullied series won the Best Trilogy/Series award in The Fiction Awards 2018. --------- I wrote this novel for #NaNoWriMo2016 #NaNoWinner2016

She lives alone in the forest. Nobody knows who she is. No one knows she exists. Only the power knows.

Fourteen-year-old Emily Adams is flunking math - and life. But Emily has a secret, one that she has kept even from her best friends. Soon the ancient legacy coursing through her veins will force her secret to be revealed. Dormant for over a thousand years, an evil has arisen and this time, it will destroy anyone - or anything - that stands in its way. Three teens embark on a dangerous journey and risk everything. For Emily, the fate of her friends - and her world - lies in her hands. Travel with Emily as she unlocks the secrets of her Celtic ancestors as she goes on a mystical journey to the inner house and beyond. Join the Journey . . . WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: "Natalie Wright has divined in Emily's House a simultaneous modern and ancient fairy tale of the greatest kind: sans parents, sans immediate consequence, sans cowardice. Bravery is said to be not the lack of fear, but action in the face of it. Like the best of Grimm, Perrault and Charles Schulz, Ms. Wright's kids find themselves amidst adventure, terror and turmoil, as well as ineffective and/or absent parental units. By their own bootstraps they must find help themselves to find their way home, to save not only each other, but perchance an entire civilization. "Adults drool, kids rule" is the motto for any well-written young adult or children's tale. Natalie's kids indeed rule. This one will last, alongside Grimm, Perrault and Schulz, in the coffers of timeless, fantasy literature. Plus, there's Hindergog and no one could not love Hindergog! Well done, Ms. Wright. Well done, indeed." - Jennifer S. Devore, author of "The Darlings of Orange County"