Meet The Author
C.L. Merklinger, the author of Baker’s Dozen, the Realms and Realities series, The Verge, and her intro Horror piece - Sated - grew up with an insatiable appetite for reading and all things scary. Inspired by horror authors such as Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Edgar Allan Poe, she was also deeply influenced by great mystery writers like Lawrence Sanders, Agatha Christie, and Mary Higgins Clark.
A major departure from her prior work, Sated was inspired by a writing challenge from her local Horror Writer’s Association. C.L. resides in San Antonio, TX, where she dabbles in photography, immerses herself in true crime, and explores all things spooky.
Current Releases
A LOST SOUL
After suffering an untimely and violent death, young Astrid ascends to the Seventh Realm where souls of good and evil are separated. Chosen to learn the ways of the Master, no longer bound to the Earthly confines of the living, she is trained to be of service to humankind. Soon she finds herself envying the person she is set to serve and protect.
AN UNWITTING HOST
A southern beauty, raised in a strict religious household, finds comfort and friendship in her imaginary friend. Sharing her life and experiences, she eventually senses something is off. Her friend and confidant is now her nemesis.
A GRIEVING DAUGHTER
Grieving the loss of her mother taken too soon, she questions the experts who deem it a natural death. Through her mother's journals, she sets forth to solve the mystery and find the truth. The spirit sent to be her mother's friend and protector is, in reality, a sinister entity determined to take over her mother's life force.
THREE WOMEN INTERTWINED BY FATE AND DESIRES.
INTERLOPER URGES YOU TO CONTEMPLATE WHO WOULD YOU KILL TO LIVE AGAIN?
WHEN THE GATES TO OTHER REALMS HAVE BEEN OPENED, CAN YOU EVER BE SURE THEY ARE CLOSED?
Whirling from the recent death of her mother, Charlie struggles to come to grips with the realization that other realms and their inhabitants DO exist. Having opened her energy to the other side, Charlie is now a beacon for forces both dark and light.
Having defeated the sinister being that threatened both her and her family, Charlie longs to heal from the events of the prior year. In an attempt to put distance between her and the source she ventures on a summer of fun and relaxation.
A harmless gesture from a new acquaintance, Charlie receives a gift which she accepts without a second thought. Making a home for it, she soon begins to experience dark forces.
With the door open, evil seizes opportunity. As seemingly playful things start to plague Charlie, the games turn diabolical. Hoping she can put a stop to the activity, she soon realizes that this entity wants more than to just play.
It Wants Her.
Every family recipe has its secrets. Hers are lethal...
Harmony Hollow thinks it knows Riley Baker. Dutiful daughter. Skilled baker. A woman grieving the sudden death of her mother, Paulina.
But Riley knows the truth. Paulina wasn't the sainted matriarch everyone adored - she was a predator. A master of control who shaped her daughter in silence and shadows. Now the bakery, and everything it conceals, belongs to Riley. And with it comes the crushing weight of choice: bury her mother's legacy, or surrender to it.
As she struggles to maintain her carefully crafted mask, the lessons Paulina drilled into her refuse to fade, echoing like a second heartbeat. And in the quiet corners of town, a presence lingers - someone watching, someone who knows too much, someone ready to tear the mask away.
Baker's Dozen is a descent into inheritance and identity, a story of a woman trapped between who she was made to be and who she dares to become. Dark, relentless, and impossible to put down, it asks a chilling question: when violence is baked into your bloodline, can you ever truly escape it?
Some legacies you escape.
Others are in your blood.
