When Alam promises a dying priest that he will return a sealed box to it's true owner he unwittingly puts himself in the center of world shaking events beyond his abilities. Within days he, and everyone he loves, are under threat. An unstoppable hunter, beasts of the night, and sorcerers able to tear the very fabric of reality begin to converge on the box. Alam must decide. Should he give up the box? Should he fulfill his promise to find its rightful owner? Or can he somehow open it himself and discover why it is the center of so much destruction? Engraved - the Hunted Warrior is a fantasy novel set in a Central Asian inspired land of long winters and warring clans. It is full of adventure, action, and more than a hint of romance. Copyright © 2017 | All rights reserved.

Forever Torn is the true and amazing story of two brothers and three generations of one family - a family torn apart by deaths, poverty, deceit and a promise made by a small boy to his Grandfather over 80 years ago. It is the story of one man who refused to acknowledge his past and his brother who remained bound to protect the secret, despite his own pain. If you have enjoyed fictional epics such as Blood Brothers and Kane and Abel, you will love Forever Torn, which unlike the aforementioned is based on a true and tragic story.

On the run in a strange world after pirates kill her parents, Elise plows into Dorothy Blainwick, a young and powerful witch with a monster inside her. Like fire and water, the two have to learn to get along as they try to escape the law, ancient magic, and their own prejudices. However, there's something that neither one accounts for. While Elise runs and runs, Dorothy falls, in love. ~ ~ *Wattpad Featured, July 2017* *Wattpad Editors' Pick, December 2020* High Ranks: #3 Steampunk, #6 Epic Fantasy, #5 Transgender, #4 Witch

The year is 1879. When thirteen-year-old Ruth Merritt Holbrook emerges from her family's burning estate, bloody and charred, but entirely numb--She makes headlines. Reporters believe she is deranged. They accuse her of having set the fire. All the headlines read: "UNSUSPECTING FAMILY SLAIN BY DERANGED DAUGHTER." Everyone believes it. How else could a highbred girl exit a burning building, injured yet senseless? Why did she not scream or cry? The police tell her she is a killer. The doctors tell her she is mad. The nuns at St. Agatha's tell her she is possessed. Perhaps, Ruth Merritt Holbrook is all of those things-or perhaps she is much more. Mysterious and Paranormal. Romance. More than meets the eye. ******* Sgt. Barton Rucklesbee September 13, 1882 The following is an account sent to our office on the first of this month. The whereabouts of those listed in this document are currently unknown. Case Notes: Personally, I don't believe a word of this. It seems like a child's story to me. Best not to be taken too seriously. Read at your own folly as it is quite the elaborate tale and you may find yourself wasting the entirety of a day on it. Sgt. Barton Rucklesbee ******* Senseless: The Unnatural Case Of Miss Merritt Holbrook ******* Author's note: This is a novel I wrote for my undergraduate thesis. I studied the Victorian era/ genre and wrote a novel in the styles of "Dracula" and Leanna Renee Hieber's "Darker Still." There are a lot of sections but they are all fairly short. Also, it may not be perfectly edited. To the wonderful grammar wizards out there, don't worry about it. Just sit back and enjoy the story and characters, I'll deal with the grammar later. Thanks for reading! Enjoy. :) First Posted: August 31, 2018 {On the Wattpad featured list 9/20/18}

Season 1 of Confessions of a Fake Psychic Detective * Her psychic powers are fake, but the kidnapped girl she must find is real. * Zandra is an infamous "psychic" who grifts the gullible residents of her small Wisconsin town using her wits, not anything supernatural. Her skills are put to the ultimate test when the police tap her to help find a kidnapped girl. But there's a catch. The girl's father apparently got away with murdering Zandra's husband years ago. Can Zandra put aside her grudge for the sake of a missing child? Or is this the perfect opportunity for revenge? Also available on YONDER, the next-generation reading app from the Wattpad family. Prequel to the 2016 Wattys winner, "Black Eye" (Featured by @TheGirlOnTheTrain)

(Featured Story 2016 & 2017) Oregon, 1940s: Eve Miller, a young war widow, rebels against the ordinariness of womanhood in the post-war era. Eve is enlightened as she succumbs to the sensual temptation of an adulterous affair. In its aftermath, Eve Miller's life unravels and leads to unexpected violence and moral isolation. Exuberance Is Beauty, is a contemporary interpretation of Adam and Eve's biblical allegory and Eve's fall into desolation. The story examines the consequence of erotic obsession and the repentance the female protagonist must pay for her sins of the flesh. Exuberance Is Beauty has been described as "an intense psychological thriller," "hauntingly beautiful," and "terrifying." WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JEFF: * controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * I really don't like Jeff, he's a bully and controlling her life. * Manipulation then seduction, a typical narcissist. Poor Eve. * Jeff is such an evil narcissistic...I bet he does mistreat his wife...physically and threatening to dump her if she doesn't back his projects and that he has had affairs regularly...It will all come out eventually. I just loathe him WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT EVE: *Why do I feel Jeff will ruin her chance of happiness? * I am trying to understand Eve but to be sincere I just cant. Jeff's behaviour is disgusting but it was wrong for her to follow him to his bed. I understand that she feels she now has control over her life but I just have this bizarre fear that she'd go back to him again, it seem as if they are obsessed and dats not love * I felt bad for her knowing that the only reason for all of this is a man- a controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * She didn't deserve any of this * What a frightening life this character led. I only hope some of the women that were tortured during this time frame were able to recover to some degree

* 4 Sample Chapters * When an eccentric old neighbour dies and names Violet March in his will, she is even more surprised than his estranged and spoiled family. To make matters stranger, she learns that all must attend a pretend murder-mystery weekend for any to claim a share of the inheritance. Being a good sport under constant scrutiny and suspicion becomes trickier when she finds herself torn between the romantic attentions of both the deceased's "favourite" grand-nephew and the charming black sheep of the family. Loyalty forces her to favour the former, but when it is the latter who inherits the bulk of the estate, a grave case of mistaken identities is revealed leaving Violet to determine whether pride and an unwillingness to be labelled a gold-digger may stand in the way of the love of a lifetime. *Cover from "Lake Louise, An Alpine Wonderland" by Norman Fraser, which is to the best of my research and knowledge in the Public Domain. *No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author.

Love and the scales of justice hang in the balance when Maren finds out that Caleb, her new beau, is defending the person out to kill her. ***** 25-year-old Maren Cole has never felt more different. As a person with Autism in a fast-paced city－trying to survive day by day is an uphill battle. Forget about dating. Forget about marriage. Maren's goal is to keep everything in her carefully constructed world in check. When she meets the arrogant, hotshot lawyer, Caleb Allan, the last thing they both expect is to get lost in each other. And soon, feelings the two can't contain begin to take the lead. Maren, however, is the only witness to a crime that could wreck the course of Caleb's career. Will Caleb choose the career he's worked so hard to achieve over this unexplainable and undeniable pull on his heart? Is love really worth it after all? [[Winner of Watty's 2019 in Romance]] [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]] Cover designed by Ashley Bandy

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

The Awakening changed the face of reality itself. A cataclysm of dimensional proportions, the event unleashed all manner of demonic beasts upon the world of man and left humanity's scattered survivors trapped in an endless battle for survival. That's a battle Council Academy all-star Seth Wright learned the hard way, barely surviving his first encounter with demonic entities. Now aware of the peril mankind faces, he's desperate to learn what he must to defeat them - but the only person willing to help him is veteran demon hunter Astral Daamon, and only so she can pursue her own investigation into corruption within the walls of the Council Academy. But what they uncover together is far more terrifying than mere conspiracy - challenging everything Seth thought he knew about fighting demons. Beneath the foundations of the academy itself, an ancient and malevolent evil is stirring from its slumber - and unless Seth is willing to sacrifice what he believes could protect humanity from annihilation, this demon will rise and devour everyone he cares about. Seth is being forced to weigh the lives of his classmates against the fate of humanity. When the moment comes, will he make the right decision?