"If ever something was lost...Zuri Ayim was the one who could recover it." _____________________________________________________________ Twelve years ago, a meteorite fell among the seven city-states of Kiro, and birthed a new legend. They are called Celestials: normal people given supernatural abilities from the meteorite's impact. Eighteen-year-old Zuri Ayim received the ability to look into people's minds when the meteorite struck, and since then has used her power to make a business for herself, in the hopes of paying off her father's debt before it's too late. But Zuri's life changes quickly when the Queen herself asks Zuri to find something for her: a talented weaver who is said to stitch the future into his tapestries. With the help of four other Celestials, Zuri sets out on a lengthy journey to locate him. Except, complications soon arise when they discover that this man's power isn't so simple. That, and they're not the only ones looking for him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Updates every Saturday. As always, vote and comment if you enjoy!

When Veia Phelde is cursed, she hardly expects the ruin it will invoke, but will breaking the curse come at a cost more than its worth in blood? +++ Veia Phelde had been satisfied with her life in her small cottage in the woods, never bothering anyone save for her job as a blacksmith's apprentice. But when she loses her job, Veia is forced out of her comfort zone only to run into a simple book that means so much more than she wants it to. With blank white pages and a title carved by knife, the single word that scars the leather can only be the work of fate, and the danger it contains... well, let's just say that's fate, too. When a devilishly handsome traveler offers to take her to the City of Magic to break the curse, Veia finds herself hopelessly entangled in a danger more powerful than she could ever know. +++ ~ Featured Wattpad Picks: Hidden Gem (May 2020) ~ @StoriesUndiscovered Diamond list (2019) ~ 2nd place in action/adventure, Coral Awards 2021 ~ 2nd place in action/adventure, The Pantheon Awards 2020 ~ 3rd place in adventure, The Blue Rose Awards, August 2019 ~ Written for the Open Novella Contest 2019, gen fic open prompt (since expanded; 45k word count) ~ Also available on Inkitt, Prose, Sweek, and Quotev (but Wattpad has the best version) ;) Beautiful cover by @TheFashionPixie

Pirates of the Caribbean comedy and adventure meets a naive narrator, werewolves, fish people, and more in this fantastical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless Treasure Island. After the murder of his mother, Walter Avery sets off on an expedition to a supposedly nonexistent island, led by the X-marked map that Lisa Avery had left in his possession. With this as his only lead to those that had torn his life apart, Walter disembarks with a varied cast of personalities on a voyage of revenge, while those with him seek peace, knowledge, glory, and adventure. "AUDIOBOOK" for chapters up to "The 'Just Right' Captain": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNQrysFZubI&list=PLCZjhmwo5_DGvtPux_sn7IeVlB5p5uy-z 1st place winner in the Action/Adventure category of The Butterfly Awards 2020 1st place winner in the Adventure category of The Chaos Awards 8 2020 1st place winner in the Adventure category of the Glory Awards 2020 1st place winner in the Fantasy category of The Belle Ame Awards 2020 Featured on @ StoriesUndiscovered official reading list from March-April 2020 Featured on @ talesofthedeep official Ships Ahoy ~ Pirate Tales reading list Featured on @ Wattpad's Editors' Choice List January 2021

No room for failure, an ancient brewing secret, and perfecting magic art. In a world where magic can only be cast through a vessel, an ongoing battle between good and evil encircles the lives of all casters, whether it's fighting corruption of the soul or ridding evil auras from the world. After seven whole years apart, Kael Smaradine finally meets his brother who comes with news that Kael will attend the only academy in the world that teaches casting. Saphir Casters Academy is a prestigious academy that only a select few will have a chance to graduate. To learn how to eradicate phantoms - casters corrupted by their power - Kael leaves his home country for the first time in his life. Once in the melting pot of cultures, Kael learns what it takes to become a phantom hunter - and the dangers that follow. With friends and enemies alike, Kael must survive his class or face elimination. Kael believes he's got what it takes to attend the academy, but as his skills are tested, surviving even the first semester of this harsh academy proves to be difficult. And the possibility of elimination strikes too close for comfort. *Cover by @loopsydaisys* * Updates every Saturday*

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

2020 Watty Award Winner: Science Fiction In the city of Slatehallow, Eldon begins having strange dreams about a giant mechanical bird attacking the foreign city of Ironport. When his childhood friend, Timothy, arrives at Slatehallow, a strange power is awakened in Eldon, one he doesn't quite understand. Joining forces with the mysterious Marquise of Millingford and her Master, Eldon and Tim will begin training like they did in their youth, uncovering truths from their past and discovering who the real enemy is. #1 in #dystopianfuture: 12/12/20 IMPORTANT: If you are reading this story on any other platform other than Wattpad, you are very likely to be at risk of a malware attack. If you wish to read this story in it's original, safe form, please go to: https://www.wattpad.com/story/218850058-a-timely-knight Thank you.

Watty winner + Featured by @GoosebumpsMovie THE FAIRYTALES ARE REAL, deals are bound in blood and debtors come to collect, with interest. When the clock strikes twelve, nightmares return. Doris McQueen has her whole life planned out until she is thrown into the world of magic, quests and curses. Ten impossible Herculean tasks, there are lives at stake and betrayals around every corner. Bloodbinds cannot be broken. She has three days and a not-so-worthy team to help her through- a questionable fairy godmother with motives of her own and a slightly hysteric fairytales expert with a secret he will guard with his life. Can Doris complete the quest? Or will the clock strike defeat her? [© circularities, 2016]

Half-blooded Wren escapes her old life among humans to go live with the fae. After a warm welcome, Wren slowly begins to accept herself for who she is, until she encounters a more sinister court that would rather see the child of their enemy dead. ***** When an unexpected attack on the nearby village effectively renders Wren homeless, she encounters the wild and frightening Thain, who would take her to the Wyldes: the land of the fae creatures. As a half breed raised among humans, Wren was shunned for her non-human half and taught to fear the fae. Now that she's living among them, she has to face her fears and accept her own heritage in order to live among them. But as the mystery of her parentage begins to unravel, Wren might find herself in more danger than she could have ever imagined. Book 1 of the Wylde Series *SHORT LISTED* Wattys 2018 Wattpad "Hot Off The Press" featured book April 2018 Thank you @AWFrasier for the awesome cover!

A Grimdark Fantasy Novel of Epic proportions. In the North Mountains an ancient danger lurks, a powerful being set on destroying all Erdil, and only the Girl Child can defeat it. Emeline lives on a farm near the small town of Aysgarth in the North of Öldeim. Torn from her home by a mysterious warrior, she embarks on a journey which will force her to face her past and her destiny as the Girl Child, but in a world where dreams are real and Immortals from Gotteril play games with the Erdilers, this will be the hardest thing she ever does. © 2015 by Joy Cronjé. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

**Featured on DARK FANTASY and ADULT FICTION reading lists** WARNING: EATING OR DRINKING WHILE READING THIS STORY IS HIGHLY INADVISABLE. Once Upon A Time, Good Omens, Monty Python, and Arrested Development had a back-alley three-way and birthed a fairytale. Gerald wasn't supposed to be stuck living seven centuries in the future. He definitely wasn't supposed to be "mentoring" The Dark Lord's progeny in the hopes that she would decide to save the world rather than destroy it. In fact, he wasn't even supposed to be named Gerald (the name of every other male in his family for three hundred years), because everyone assumed a weak-chinned, balding, forgettable man, who was just a magician, could never be who Geraldo The Foreshadower prophesied. But that's what assuming gets you, and here he was saddled with a fate he never asked for, in a time he didn't know, surrounded by people he didn't want to like, and he was out of Firewine AGAIN! The Dark Heir is a darkly satirical tale of assumptions, anti-heroes, and apocalypses, where the road to hell is actually a themed water-park slide covered in slightly less urine than a real one. It drops literary and film references faster than an NYC socialite drops names, and promises endless laughs - including, but not limited to, sad chuckles, guffaws, uncontrollable giggles at inappropriate moments, brays, barks, cackles, snorts, cachinnations, and the occasional howl (though that may be the Welsh Werewolves showing up unannounced). Consider yourself warned... Reviews: "Completely and adorably bonkers," says @floranocturna "Hilarious in every way. Even when I cringed, I laughed," says @LadySapphire2018 Winner of The Trident Awards