Okay guys, this is a really old account that I created when I was 13 years old. This book is a really old story of mine but I'm not going to delete it cause, well, it's my first novels (as embarrassing as it is). I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're reading this in 2016+, this is all really, REALLY old haha don't judge me. I do NOT post updated or new stories anymore, please please stop asking, I'm sorry it's just that posting your writing on the web may affect a publisher's decision and starts lots of arguments with copyright and public domain stuff so I'm avoiding all that.
Although I don't post I'm still active on this account so feel free to message me with questions and requests and the such.
Thank you all for understanding xx
- I
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Fate is never in your favor.
Willow Glasspiers was eating lunch with her best friend, Jasper, when she first sees them; Ganashes who claimed they were from the UnderWorld. These Ganashes-Michael, Alicia, Chelsea and Chris-take her to the Ganash Headquarter of RiverPlain on a quest to find her fate.
Machire is part of the Amnesian Government in the UpperWorld. He is a well-known, persuasive man and his job is supposed to be keeping peace amongst the Faery world that his hidden within Earth. But, when he discovers the UnderWorld, his thirst for power grows. And just like any other greedy man would do, he tries to put the UnderWorld under his wing.
A legend claims that this will not go well, that instead of ruling the worlds, he will destroy them. It claims that the girl who slays the Incoy Dragon is the Savior, and that her name is Willow. In a rush to speed up the prophecy, Ganashes have been taking Willows and sending them on almost-sure-death missions to kill the monster. Willow Glasspiers is next in line to determine her fate.
Is it to slay the Incoy Dragon, or is it to have her corpse piled among the hundreds of Willows who have attempted to kill the monster?
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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.
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*** 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.