Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

In this short novelette, a little girl hires Jonathan to get rid of a ghost that haunts her family every Christmas. The hauntings have escalated from sightings to full possession. It should be an open-and-shut exorcism, but when Jonathan discovers the truth, it's more than he bargained for....

Harper Gale had a good life hunting and living in a log cabin with her father in the peaceful town of Parrville. But that all changed when a pair of wizards show up and murder him. With her life in tatters and her heart burning with rage, Harper and her best friend West set out on the road for revenge. That dark path isn’t an easy one and Harper soon finds herself in deep trouble as she faces murderers, undead, and even a demon.

It will take everything they've learned to stop the rise of evil. The last dragon's egg is discovered in the treasury of Veldwaite, launching Lorit and Chihon into a battle with the Temple Priests. They rescue a young Wizard and enlist his help in the fight to stop the Temple from harnessing the power of the last dragon. Now they're the masters, training him. They've come a long way since the farm. Fought many battles. But will it be enough to save the dragons from the clutches of the Temple in their last effort to ensnare the world in darkness?

A cataclysmic explosion has given earthly teens astronomical powers-when the star Mentarsus-H went supernova at their conceptions, the teens absorbed the shattered soul of the star and inherited unimaginable abilities. Now the Star Shards have become like gods, drunk on their own power-and ripe for manipulation by The Bringer, a creature who would turn them against one another and transform the planet into his own personal feeding ground. But who is more dangerous: The Bringer or the Star Shards?

These drivers got #swag.... Racing is in her DNA. Right alongside money and power. When you're the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country, you have to work harder for success. Joey Gamble's a girl on a male-dominated track. With a daddy who can buy whatever she wants. But she doesn't want anything...except to earn her reputation.

When Japanese nature show host Daisuke Matsumori finds himself on an alien world, he hopes to rekindle his passion for his work. Traveling through a newly discovered wormhole in the Papuan highlands, he joins biologist Anne Houlihan on Junction, a patchwork planet of competing alien ecosystems.

In the aftermath of the release of Dr. Hallie Hayes’ weapon aboard the Nidus, Justin Barclay and his fellow survivors are forced to flee for their lives, but they soon realize they can’t run forever. The weapon is multiplying like a sentient plague...and it will consume everything and everyone in its path. As Justin and Hallie form new alliances with old rivals, facing down monstrous foes and treacherous enemies, they work to destroy the weapon and escape the infected ship. But the plague has other intentions—and it will not be stopped.

When Alexei Medvedev joined the Forgotten Brotherhood - paranormals hired to assassinate other paranormals - he knew it wouldn’t be a cake walk. But his next target is one of Death’s own reapers gone rogue. For the first time since he started this gig, “damn hard to kill” feels more like “damn near impossible”. Tracking Cassie Dobbs brings him to a remote bar in small-town Alaska, where this hot-as-hell reaper is casually serving drinks, as if she doesn’t have a bounty on her head from Death himself.

Thirty years ago, a progressive rock band called The Yellow Kings began recording what would become their first and final album. Titled The Final Reconciliation, the album was expected to usher in a new renaissance of heavy metal, but it was shelved following a tragic concert that left all but one dead.

Matt, a shy but engaging and resourceful student, discovers that his recently deceased father was involved in research that could enable the construction of the world's first conscious machine. Matt's enquiries lead to him being kidnapped, as he is caught in the crossfire between two groups pursuing that goal - one led by a Russian billionaire and another backed by the US military. Matt has to do more than simply survive. He has to harness these powerful forces to his own ends, and his life as well as his family's is at stake.

After 12 years away from his coastal Florida home, Detective Dillon Storm is only now getting his sea legs back. When he pulls the body of a woman from the gulf while on an impromptu fishing trip with his nephew, Dillon thinks things couldn't get stranger. When that body is identified as a woman who was pronounced dead three years ago, he realizes how wrong he is. Now, with little more to go on than a gut feeling and the years' old files from a case that couldn't be colder, Dillon will put his skills to the test.

Nikki Graves has a history of going through the baseball roster with an eye for talent - the kind of talent that keeps things spicy between the sheets. But, once she meets Braden Bradford, catcher for the Ravens, her talent scout days are done. He's the one. Braden has never met a woman like Nikki, and he can't get enough of her smart mouth and big heart. But life isn't always as direct and certain as the connection between Braden and Nikki. When family objections and career trajectories begin to crowd the plate, will Braden be able to keep his catch of a lifetime?

A couple of jerks wake me up at the crack of noon. Seems my klepto uncle stole an ancient deck of Tarot cards from a high-powered wizard, and too many losers want to ruin my day to get them back. The cards are cool, so I check them out, but my magic-happy cousin, Sabrina, tells me I'm not supposed to touch them. Oops. Too late. Now the damn cards are tuned to me, and if someone else wants to use them, I have to die. Why couldn't she have led with that information?

Perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado and Kelly Link, Jo Paquette’s Stories I Told My Dead Lover contains eight searing tales of psychological horror that probe the darkest and most deeply buried parts of the human psyche. A child is forced to grow up too soon. A woman trusts her doctor too much. An abandoned woman isn’t as alone as she thinks. An idyllic holiday masks an unspeakable act of violence. Driven, desperate, fighting for the power to choose their own fate, Paquette’s characters dare to push back at the walls that hold them in.

Norah Sullivan thought she had said "goodbye" to her hometown, Waverly, Texas, for good, but circumstances beyond her control have her packing up and moving home. Now, it would seem fate is hell bent on shoving the one man she absolutely cannot stand in her face everywhere she goes. He's rude and grumpy, and it's a crying shame someone so handsome is so unlikeable.

In the August heat they frolicked on the beaches, fetched sticks, played with the children. Then the summer dwellers left, abandoning them to the island's harsh winter. Ravenous hunger and violent rage have brought them together under a cunning, ferocious leader. Man has betrayed his best friend - now the dogs will have their day. It's a bitter winter, and the dogs of summer have grown hungry...and vicious!

Unfazed by chaos and bad luck, Melvin Scott knows, "Some things a man must do himself. No matter how dumb that man is." His wife disagrees. In debt over his head, he learns that a penny will grow to more than $10,000,000 in 30 days if it doubles every day. He realizes that other things can grow that fast, too. Bacteria. Disease. Cures. Almost anything. Scott finds hope, and the adventures begin.

See You At San Diego is the comprehensive chronicle of Comic-Con International and modern geekdom itself as told through countless stories by nearly fifty of the most integral members of the Comic-Con and fandom scene. This full-fledged oral history—bursting with intimate reflections, hilarious observations, and at times, heartbreaking stories—is about how the geek at last inherited the earth and the story of the transformation of mainstream American pop culture into comic book culture over the past century.

Were you passed over for a promotion, or do you want to ensure that never happens? Are you sometimes unsure how to fit in and get along? The modern workplace is a stressful pressure cooker and a dangerous maze, and how you fare is determined not by your work - but by politics, your workplace conversation skills, and how to make yourself essential and likable.

Bookish librarians are totally capable of finding missing people in the Alaskan wilderness. Said no one. Ever. So why is Grace Tumbler jetting off to do just that? She doesn’t know. All she has are books and a somewhat positive attitude that she can survive her first-ever trip away from home. That is, until her plane crashes....