Get Book #1 of The Fall Gauntlet series
Benji and Soren will do anything to save their family, but the Crown isn’t going to make it easy . . .
THE FOURTH PORTAL
Get Book #1 of Song of Saudade series
Upholding her tribe’s highest law, Fenri must keep her heart—the body’s fourth portal—closed at all times, or face execution.
Hailing from the cornfields of Walkersville, Maryland, Job Merkel grew up on a farm with his four brothers and four sisters. They spent their time playing together, running around with no shoes, and doing chores.
Job would often escape to fictional worlds in his mind, wishing for powers that would take him away from his ordinary existence.
Unfortunately, he never got those powers, but some of his characters did …
Books by J. A. Merkel
The Fourth Portal
The Fourth Portal
Fenri is a Knowledger, a brilliant collector of information who dreams of discovering the ocean’s secrets. The tribe’s Masters grant her permission to explore the ocean, but only if she first traverses the perilous desert with four strangers to retrieve a precious base metal. Despite a condition that makes her slower and weaker than her counterparts, Fenri accepts the mission, eager to prove her worth.
She will succeed or die trying.
Books by J. A. Merkel
The Fall Gauntlet
Benji Calyx is so close to saving his mother from her off-world prison when he steps onto the Fall Gauntlet arena for the finals. Victory means his wish—to save his mother—will be granted, but not all is as it seems. The Dei are angry, the Crown is scheming, and Benji’s final opponent, the bear, is Benji’s estranged younger brother, Soren.
Things just got a lot more complicated.
Much to his horror, Benji has created a living nightmare in which the Fall Gauntlet does not end. When a strange man and his “rat” followers offer to help the brothers leave the capital by sewer, the brother’s escape plan takes a dark turn.
If they can’t rise above their own past hurts, and the lies that continue to haunt their family, Soren and Benji may indeed die at each other’s hands.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
In the mountains beyond the desert, a harrowing secret about the totem animals is revealed, one that exposes the very foundations of the gauntlet itself. If Benji doesn’t figure out how to stop a mysterious and ancient force before it strikes, he’ll forfeit any chance he has of saving his mother, once and for all.
The Fall Gauntlet continues . . .
Benji and Soren will do anything to save their family, but the Crown isn’t going to make it easy …
Get Books 1, 2, and 3 in this special edition omnibus collection, which includes BEAR, RAT, and CHRYSIX.
The Fall Gauntlet continues . . .
In the desert oasis town of Oajin, both the Crown and a murderous condor totem appear, forcing Benji to face his enemies head-on. But as the lines between friend, foe, and lover blur, he risks being ensnared in a web of lies that will send him down a one-way track to an endless black hole of pain, one more excruciating than death itself.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
When a desperate mother begs Benji and Soren to help find her missing son—lost to an Original spirit that may have corrupted him in its bid for freedom—Benji doesn’t want to take on another fight, but he can’t outrun this one. Ikanos’s problems are tied to his own. As the spirit closes in, he realizes another precious life is slipping through his fingers.
He won’t get what he wants. But he may finally get what he needs.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
When Benji and Soren join Javao’s crew of tattooed islanders known as “the sharks” on a risky heist to steal masks meant for the Crown, Benji fears Javao is playing a deeper game.
As he nears a point of no return, he realizes his only lifeline is his lynx mask. But putting it on may create more problems than it solves.
Which is exactly what Javao wants.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
Books by J. A. Merkel
The Fall Gauntlet
Benji Calyx is so close to saving his mother from her off-world prison when he steps onto the Fall Gauntlet arena for the finals. Victory means his wish—to save his mother—will be granted, but not all is as it seems. The Deus are angry, the Crown is scheming, and Benji’s final opponent, the bear, is Benji’s estranged younger brother, Soren.
Things just got a lot more complicated.
Much to his horror, Benji has created a living nightmare in which the Fall Gauntlet does not end. When a strange man and his “rat” followers offer to help the brothers leave the capital by sewer, the brother’s escape plan takes a dark turn.
If they can’t rise above their own past hurts, and the lies that continue to haunt their family, Soren and Benji may indeed die at each other’s hands.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
In the mountains beyond the desert, a harrowing secret about the totem animals is revealed, one that exposes the very foundations of the gauntlet itself. If Benji doesn’t figure out how to stop a mysterious and ancient force before it strikes, he’ll forfeit any chance he has of saving his mother, once and for all.
The Fall Gauntlet continues . . .
In the desert oasis town of Oajin, both the Crown and a murderous condor totem appear, forcing Benji to face his enemies head-on. But as the lines between friend, foe, and lover blur, he risks being ensnared in a web of lies that will send him down a one-way track to an endless black hole of pain, one more excruciating than death itself.
The Fall Gauntlet continues …
Benji and Soren will do anything to save their family, but the Crown isn’t going to make it easy …
Get Books 1, 2, and 3 in this special edition omnibus collection, which includes BEAR, RAT, and CHRYSIX.
The Fall Gauntlet continues . . .
I write other stuff too. Some of it makes sense, sometimes.
The Fun Don’t Stop
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