Arcturus is just an orphaned stableboy, when he discovers he has the ability to summon demons from another world. As the first commoner to have this skill, he is sent to Vocans Military Academy, where the lost arts of summoning, spellcraft and demonology are taught to the noble children of the Hominum Empire. With no one but his demon Sacharissa to help him, Arcturus must survive the gruelling challenges of the Academy, whilst navigating the political fallout that his discovery set in motion. ************************************************************************************ This is the first part of THE OUTCAST, prequel to THE NOVICE, but you don't need to read them in any particular order. You can buy THE NOVICE now in all good bookstores and online, including Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, Amazon, Kindle, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo and Nook. THE OUTCAST will be available in the same places in May, 2018.

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

"It's unlike any paranormal book I've read--very smart, very fresh, and very addictive, and very still in my mind." –And Anything Bookish In 1692, when witch trials gripped the community of Salem, Massachusetts, twenty-six children were accused as witches, exiled, and left for dead. Fourteen of them survived. The Survivors is the first installment of the tantalizing tales of the fourteen ill-fated Survivors and their descendants, who have been content in hiding for over three centuries. Isolated on a Montana mountainside, only Sadie, the rogue daughter, dares to abandon the family’s sacred hiding place. But no matter how far Sadie runs, something always pulls her back. On a muggy summer night in Tennessee, she witnesses a shocking scene that will change her life forever. It is the first in a sequence of events that will drag her from the human world she’s sought to belong to for over a century and send her back to her Puritanical family. Sadie is thrown toward an uncertain future filled with cunning witches, mysterious nosferatu shape-shifters, dangerous eretica and vieczy vampires, millennia-old mythology, and the search for her own mortality. After all… HOW DO YOU KILL A SURVIVOR? The Survivors will steal your heart and invade your mind. Fall into the pages of Sadie’s life, a world so frighteningly similar to your own, you’ll find yourself wanting to go to the Montana mountains to find the Survivors for yourself. And it is only the beginning. "The way Ms. Havard has taken the history of the Salem witches and made it her own is truly fascinating... great debut from a talented writer." –DJ DeSmyter, author of Hunted “[THE SURVIVORS is a…] promising debut and an incredibly unique paranormal romance. Unputdownable, engaging, realistic and dark..." –Fragments of Life Review Blog Can't wait to read the whole story? THE SURVIVORS is available for purchase now through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, the Apple iBookstore, and

Creatures of the Night is now published as a Wattpad Book! As a Wattpad reader, you can access both the Original Edition and Books Edition upon purchase. Milena, an obedient teenager, has to team up with the supernatural creatures she was taught to fear in order to escape the people she once loved. ***** In a world where humans must hide underground to stay safe from the creatures who roam the night, Milena's life as an outcast is hardly worth noticing. But on the day her village is attacked and her life is spared by the mysterious Elias, Milena is forced to throw everything she thought she knew about her world out the window. Because while Elias looks just as human as she is, he's actually the leader of a pack of wolf shifters, and the bond she feels with him compels her to start asking questions about the things she's been told about the creatures of the night. Because if her village was willing to lie about something like this, what other secrets might they be keeping from her?

{WATTY'S 2020 WINNER & EDITOR'S PICK.} Hopeless romantic and aspiring writer Mare Atwood has fallen madly in love with her childhood correspondent. There's only one catch-she doesn't know who he is. When the beaus of Star's Crossing return from boarding school to begin the courting season, Mare is determined to uncover the identity of her writer, flout her family's intentions of orchestrating an advantageous marriage, and procure the life of writing and romance she's always sought. But as in the tales she so adores, it won't be easy. Galas, masquerades, picnics, and hunts-alongside an old friend, a former teacher, and an unlikely ally, Mare delves into an investigation that leaves her torn between three clever, deceptive, and wealthy young bachelors. If Mare can confirm which is her writer and claim his hand before the courting season ends, she'll have her wish: the love of her life, a valuable marriage, and a future of writing romance. But with the eyes of Star's Crossing upon her, a business plot forcing invisible hands, and the unwillingness of her writer to come forward-Mare's future may not end in triumph, but tragedy. Set against the gilded Victorian backdrop of coastal Connecticut and lush with pre-war luxury, fans of Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell, and Louisa May Alcott are sure to enjoy this lighthearted, lyrical novel of young love, independence, and identity. #1 Literary #1 YA Romance #1 Victorian #1 Lyrical #8 General Fiction

Just another little Arno x Élise fan fiction :) Enjoy!

What if Èlise hadn't truly died at the end of Assassin's Creed: Unity? But what if Arno has THOUGHT she died??? Find out in Part one of the (Im)Perfect Unity series! Trigger warning for Nightmares and Alcoholism!

From a very young age, you were raised as an assassin to follow the Creed. After reading a letter meant for someone else, you make your way to London, to help in eradicating the Templars and to free the city from oppression. Once there, you meet Henry Green and the Frye twins, and assist them to achieve their ultimate goal; freeing London. You were taught to not let personal feelings interfere with missions, that's how it's always been. However, that becomes difficult when you suddenly feel something towards the younger twin, Jacob. Can you forget about your feelings and focus on the mission? Or, will you submit to them and compromise everything? Does he even feel the same way about you? With the mission being your top priority, do you even have time for romance? Finally, what happens when it's all over? Warning: Minor swearing

Edward Jacob Arno Shay Evie Ezio Readers :D

What happens when two game designers come to find out that thier consoles broke and now the characters from Assassin's Creed have shown up disoriented in thier living room and in thier world? A lot! Join the two girls as they try to handle a bunch of assassins and templars!