Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

In 2043, Capes Online is the biggest, most popular VRMMORPG in the world. With over one billion active players and counting, gamers can become brave Heroes or cunning Villains, their every choice determining their alignment. Everyone wants to play this game and almost everyone does. Except for 25-year-old police officer Nyle Maxwell, who can't log out. Killed in a car accident on his first day on the job, Nyle gets his mind uploaded to Capes Online to save his life.

When Comet Press put out the call for submissions for Stiff Things, we said we were ready to ratchet up the eroticism and visceral intensity with hardcore stories that penetrate new depths of psychosexual horror. But we weren't as ready as we thought we were for the extreme stuff that came flooding in on waves of blood and other bodily fluids we won't mention here. Not that we're complaining. In other words, we got what we wished for...and more.

On Memorial Day, 1992, three decorated navy officers disappeared in the sleepy beach town of Hansville, Washington. Thirty years later, their medals were found in the marshlands of Foulweather Bluff. So were their bones. For private investigator Thomas Austin, this case hits close to home. The son of a JAG lawyer, Austin grew up around the navy. To solve the case, he must piece together clues buried in the marshlands and dark secrets hidden in navy history.

Throughout history and infinite dimensions, there exists a secret group of supernatural investigators operating on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows, working strange cases with little reward. They are hardboiled zombies and ghosts, mythological creatures, ass-kicking vampires, tortured humans, and uncanny sleuths whose normal is the bizarre and weird.

Conryu Koda wants nothing more than to be left alone to live a quiet life. But the universe seems to have other plans for him. While back at the Arcane Academy to watch his friend’s graduation, Conryu is summoned to hell by The Reaper himself. What new threat has appeared that warrants the attention of the lord of hell?

Professor Stephen Barlow is no longer a skeptic. Having faced the horrors of Chaythe Asylum, he turns his attention to the man responsible for the Third Ward Incident - the enigmatic Dr. Corvine - in the hopes of finding answers to his many questions. But some things, he soon learns, are better left lost to history. Traveling to a remote cabin in Michigan in search of the doctor and his research, Stephen finds himself descending deeper into a world of terror and madness.

As captain for the Boston Blades, I've spent years working toward bringing home the Stanley Cup. But when the owners sell us out to Hollywood, suddenly we're not just playing for thousands of fans, we're cracking open our lives on Getting Pucked, a new reality show. I agree to sign the contract on one condition: They hire New England's reigning queen of media to call the shots. Holly Belliveaux Carter. The woman who drives me to insanity and turns me on with nothing but a quirk of her lips and the sound of her laugh. The only woman I've ever loved. The problem? She's my ex-wife.

Three Books. Filled with dark magic, sinister villains, and nonstop adventure. Fans of D.K. Holmberg, Will Wight, and K.F. Breene will love this complete trilogy, bundled into one epic omnibus edition.

After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt by a ninja, Nyle Maxwell (Winter) learns of a new ninja guild on the block. Its goal is to conquer all of Adventure City and force player and NPC alike to bow to their master's rule. Such an event threatens to spark a war between the two biggest ninja guilds in the city, a war that will tear the city itself apart. Things get worse when Nyle gets infected with a deadly virus that will turn him into a mindless zombie in three days' time. Now, Nyle must stop the coming ninja war and find a cure for his virus before it's too late.

Detective Dillon Storm is headed back to Naples for the first time in a dozen years, and the occasion is not a happy one. The illegitimate son of the richest man in America's richest city, Dillon spent his entire life in the shadow of a family that would never accept him. Now, he's come to bury the man who neglected him and, in doing so, put that part of his life behind him forever. But when the lawyer dealing with his father's estate is murdered and Dillon's number is found on his phone, it sets the detective on a path that will unearth family secrets.

Conryu Koda is ready for a rest. His hopes are dashed when Chief Kane asks for another favor. Ratings are down for the Four Nations Tournament, and having the world's only male wizard participate is just the thing to give them a boost. An exhausted Conryu has no interest in playing in an event broadcast worldwide. Unfortunately for him, everyone else thinks it's a great idea. Before he knows it, he's off to London for the games. But Conryu isn't the only one visiting the city. The sinister Lady Tiger is in town, and she's got her eye on the other half of the broken elf artifact.

A seasoned invader with multiple home invasions under their belt recounts their dark victories while offering tutelage to a new generation of ambitious home invaders eager to make their mark on the annals of criminal history. From initial canvasing to home entry, the listener is complicit in every strangling and shattered window. The fear is inescapable. Examining the sanctuary of the home and one of the horror genre's most frightening tropes, Anybody Home? points the camera lens onto the quiet suburbs and its unsuspecting abodes.

Jim Bauer is shocked when he inherits a large sum of money and a historic mansion. The mysterious gift comes with a stipulation, however; he must use the funds to restore Mansfeld Manor to its original condition. What Jim doesn’t know is that this home has a terrible history. As he works to restore the manor, he begins to learn the terrifying secrets of its past. He discovers tales of missing persons, rumors of occult rituals, and sightings of a ghostly wolf on the grounds.

When a missing person case lands in the lap of Black Knight Investigations, Jimmy Black and his partner, Greg Knightwood, jump back into action - until their missing person rises as an uncontrollable vampire and all signs point to a supernatural coup orchestrated by an unknown vampire of immense power. With the case going sideways, more missing girls, and a new cop in town way too curious about Jimmy's perennial youth, life in Charlotte is about to get interesting again.

For over 100 years, the Temple of Ran has been sacrificing young wizards in order to steal their power. When Lorit discovers that he holds the rare ability to use magic, he becomes their next target. At first, he runs, working to master his abilities on the move so that one day he might be able to resist them. But that was before the Temple targets his beloved sister, Chihon. In order to save her life, he infuses her with his own power. Now, they're both targets.

Reclusive chef Heinrich Schauer has invited six guests to a blind 12-course tasting menu. As they eat, each guest is overtaken by carnal appetites, unaware of their host's savage plan - or of the creature lurking below.

Robby Asaro is dead. And alive. He's a ghost in the machine, keeping a watchful eye on the arcade where he lost his life two decades before. And the afterlife is good. The best thing ever to have happened to him. But when the conscious electric current formerly known as Robby Asaro makes a decision to protect one of his favorite patrons, Tiffany Park, from a bully, he sets loose a series of violent supernatural events that can't be stopped.

The power of social confidence: it lets you see a world of possibility and potential versus a world of stressful anxiety and constant fear of failure. Fearless Social Confidence gives you more than victory over shyness - it gives you social invincibility and forever eliminates the feeling that you're just not good enough.

Out of the darkness of the fetid Hudson River, the undead rose to eat their victims alive.... Horror-movie monsters burst from late-night TV screens - to turn their viewers into victims. Biker gangs of decomposing corpses rode the highways of America, on the hunt for unsuspecting motorists.... Take a front seat in the baddest nightmare in town. Superstar Izzy Stark has the power to make your dreams - and nightmares - come true. He's the master of disaster, the guru of gore, the doctor of doom, the duke of death and destruction - and you can't escape this command performance.

What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist Gregory Berns and his team began with a radical step: they taught dogs to go into an MRI scanner - completely awake. They discovered what makes dogs individuals with varying capacities for self-control, different value systems, and a complex understanding of human speech. And dogs were just the beginning. In What It's Like to Be a Dog, Berns explores the fascinating inner lives of wild animals from dolphins and sea lions to the extinct Tasmanian tiger.