When I was six I was kidnapped by some men. And that brought me to a very strange place and I didn't know where I was and I was scared but I continued on. I was stranded, of course but I was found. I was found by a boy, and brought to his home and taken care of and loved. The boy's mother would invited me over to live with them and though I didn't have a strong bond to the father, he let me be there everyday and asked about my day. I even took care of the baby whenever they needed me to. It was only matter of time for me to fall unconsciously in love with the boy. And you know what? I regret nothing. I would fall for Itachi Uchiha over and over again and not care even once.

Update: This story has been discontinued. - I am terribly sorry. Your mother lied to you. She told you that you were unique, and that as a teenager you have a whole bunch of options you can choose from to determine who you want to be. She must have been high. Look, I'm going to tell you this honestly. Somewhere out there in this floating sphere of green and blue, there's a person who acts just like you. It's the combinations of different personalities - which eventually lead up to an actual human being - that makes us all unique. But it can't hurt to find out where your personality stems from, right? Wanna know who you are? I'll help you out. There are 36 students in my classroom. Which one are you?

Let's face it. There are way more cliché books on this website than there are unique ones. Even the ones people say are unique tend to have some kind of cliché undertone. And then the ones that really are unique almost never ever get discovered. And it sucks. But for those of you who don't know your book is cliché, this book is for you. Because it seems to me like that is the case for some people. Not all books are going to be entirely unique, but sometimes there needs to be a balance between both sides. And I'm here to help you find it. If there are 500 words in a chapter, can you spot the clichés?

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

Have you ever wondered how it was on the other side? The "evil" side? Athena, the daughter of Pitch Black knows. Shocker that he even has one. She lives with him underground in his hideout with his wife, Lynette and son, Isaac. They've all done a pretty good job of avoiding the Guardians. But, of course, Athena eventually meets the Guardians many times, but not in the ways you'd expect. She uncovers secrets about all the Guardians as well as their past life. She even finds a little surprising thing about her Dad, Pitch, and his past. Course being Pitch's daughter has its ups and downs, and everything comes with a price. When a mysterious half-sister (So Pitch had more kids....? >.<) enters Thea's life, everything turns even more twisted than before. Her bravery and skills will be put to the test as new enemies arise. (Edit 6/12/15: Wow I wrote this so long ago and it sounds really cheesy.)