A complete fantasy book. Technically ... a weird western. Gunslingers, hex witches, dogmen, minotaur, trains that run further than you can imagine ... Mikeos Jones is a gunslinger, faster than thinking, part of the gunlaw, a man who can seldom afford the luxury of looking past the end of any given day. Jenna Crossard is a hex-witch, but her ambitions are larger than spells and charms - the need to understand the world consumes her. They say the gunlaw keeps men safe from the endless horror of the sect, but to Jenna it's a cage and she wants out. If that means breaking open the world and killing a few gods ... so be it.

A 2000 word story about life, death, and the dance in between.

Do not let the Watchmen catch you. Do not let the Chancellor find your notebook. Do not let the man in the long coat know you're alive. These are the rules Kilter has survived alone in the streets of the quarantined city of Istravol by for years. And he's tired of it. All he wants is to understand the cryptic marks inside the notebook he's had for as long as he can remember, and so get out. Because if the Chancellor who is scared of nothing but the Reavers outside the city wants that notebook, it must be worth something. At least, that's what old Dmal, Kilter's only friend, says. And he's right. When both Dmal and the Chancellor stumble upon the first thing from his notebook that Kilter's ever seen in real life - a gleaming feather - the legends and secrets of Istravol's history come rushing into the present. It's not sickness that keeps Istravol, and Kilter, locked under the Chancellor's control, but a blood feud. A blood feud spurred by the legacy of the notebook and Kilter himself, and the force that could either destroy or restore it all: hope. But will hope be enough to mend the past and save the future and a world Kilter never knew he belonged in? Armed with only the feather and notebook, he has only one chance to find out: catch it before anyone else does. ~~~ An exploration of courage, identity, love, and grief, THE PHOENIX THIEF is complete at 150,000 words, and readers seeking adventure and a dash of magic will find it a satisfying escape.

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

To rule the streets, one must learn sacrifice. A smart thief surrounds himself with myth, sacrificing truth. A dangerous thief writes his name in blood, sacrificing his soul. A Thief King gives his heart to no one and lives a life of solitude. Koltin Seaward thought he was all three without sacrifice. In a city where the rich live frivolous lives and the poor barely survive there are two kings. One who earns the title by inheritance, the other paid for in blood. Koltin paid the price and earned the title to rule the underworld, but his world is about to change. To protect those he holds dearest, Koltin has to fight in order to save his family, his city and himself, but at what cost? What will he sacrifice? His heart or his soul...

A short story from the Broken Empire, written for the Unfettered Anthology. Jorg and the Nuban find themselves in trouble.

Irwin Gilbert is a hoarder, a bookworm, and after a cosmic event leaves the earth void of all electricity, the owner of what might be the world's largest remaining cache of novels. Irwin has a dilemma, however, the world has turned cold and he has no idea how long it will last. When faced with freezing to death, can he dare to burn "his friends" and how will he choose which will be used to keep him alive. This short story originally appeared in "The End: Visions of Apocalypse" edited by N.E. White. I wrote it the weekend I learned of Ray Bradbury's death and is a homage to this master of science fiction.

A short story.

WHO WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH? Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A thief, a candlemaker, an ex-mercenary, and a pig farmer walk into a trap…and what happens is no joke. When Riyria is hired to retrieve a jester’s treasure, Royce and Hadrian must match wits with a dwarf who proves to be anything but a fool. Difficult choices will need to be made, and in the end those who laugh last do so because they are the only ones to survive. This is a standalone short story of 7,200 words. No prior knowledge of The Riyria Revelations or The Riyria Chronicles is required to enjoy it to its fullest, making this a perfect introduction for new readers or a chance for Riyria veterans to spend a little more time with old friends. The Jester is a story of adventure, bonds of friendship, and a recognition that the choices we make dictates the future we find. NOTE: This short story was originally published in the Unfettered Anthology edited by Shawn Speakman.

A fantasy short story.