The words graceful, proper, ladylike and elegant could never be used to describe Perrie Beresford, the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Ashwood. Perrie has always had a little too much fire in her to ever be classified as a beautiful young debutante, which is what she will inevitably become in her first Season. But romance, courting, and marriage are the last things on Perrie's mind. Especially when her nemesis, who was once an annoying classmate, suddenly appears in her home as her father's protégé. As Perrie is pushed towards the life of an adult by those around her, she can't help but be pulled into a game of wars within the walls of her very home. But Perrie is about to learn that the line between love and hate are very fine ... and perhaps might not even exist at all.

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

|COMPLETE| Life after death, ironically enough, does not live up to expectations. When the entirety of the afterlife is upended by unexpected chaos after the gods took a leisurely vacation, Death himself enlists Evyionne's help to find out what went wrong. He leaves her with two things: memories of her past life, and his very domain. But with the trouble coming, it might not be enough.

Magic is supposed to be easy; there's Black, White, and Green Magic, and once a Witch picks a path, that's really all she has to worry about. But for Darlena Agara, things just keep getting harder. She's torn between her best friend's choice of the Black path, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend's choice of the White path, so she tries to stall, waiting for divine inspiration. Darlena isn't expecting the form it takes, though. Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, shows up in her living room and pressures her to choose her path, and Lena does something stupid; she declares that she'll be a Red Witch, something that doesn't exist...or does it? Daughter of Chaos is the first book in the Red Magic series, and I'm happy to share it here with you! Enjoy! If you want to read the rest of the series, book two is called Gods of Chaos, and book three is Triumph of Chaos. Both are available wherever books or eBooks are sold.

Raised by her witch Grandmother deep in the forest, Skyler has lived a friendless life of isolation and magic. Her fortunes change when she accidentally binds herself to the powerful demon known as Rayne. This former Prince of Hell is inexplicably drawn towards Skyler and finds himself determined to protect her. Skyler on the other hand has no desire to spend the rest of eternity bound to evil. However when her lonely world is plunged into danger as ancient prophecies, assassins, werewolves and army of demons invade her life, the only thing that stands between Skyler and death is Rayne. This is the third book in the The Imperial Vampire Court Saga.

Blythe and Arabella are best friends. They are linked in a way unimaginable. It cannot be broken. Together they hunt. But when their friend Maiko gets a boyfriend, something goes terribly wrong.

He had spent centuries with only himself for company, he fed, tortured and killed that was his life and he liked it that way, until she came along and stirred something in him, something he couldn't and wouldn't accept. “If I were you I’d keep that stake sharp. Don’t expect anymore visits like this, next time I come I expect you to use that thing,” he told her pointing to the stake on the bed, and then he was gone.