Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

College professor Stephen Barlow needs cash. Badly. He puts his skepticism aside and signs on to a paranormal research organization in the hopes of scoring a fat bonus. Enter Chaythe Asylum: a long-shuttered and controversial institution where patients were allegedly subjected to unethical experiments. Stephen deems the old building, closed in 1989 after a series of grisly murders, as good a place as any to explore the possibility of the supernatural, and arranges to take a tour with his students. But it turns out that the asylum is not as abandoned as it seems. There is something sinister in the building.

Since Night of the Living Dead, zombies have been a frightening fixture on the pop-culture landscape, lumbering after hapless humans, slurping up brains and veins and whatever warm, fleshy matter they can clench in their rotting limbs. But what if they were real? What would happen if, tomorrow, corpses across the nation began springing up out of their graves and terrorizing the living? Employing hard science and solid police work - not to mention jaw-dropping (literally!) humor - Zombie CSU is the only guide available to staying alive and avoiding the undead.

Tanner thought church camp would be boring. That this summer would be forgettable, uneventful, and lifeless. Then, he was surprised to make two friends, both of whom share his interests and anxieties. Together, maybe the three of them have a chance of surviving this long, hot summer. But all is not what it seems at Creston Camps.

College students Eric and Lydia are looking for a novel way to spend Halloween. They decide to put together a documentary about the supernatural and take a camcorder into the long-abandoned house on Kenwood Drive. It's said that a vengeful spirit lives there, and Lydia thinks it the perfect location. Eric, though, has his reservations. Having grown up in the area, he's familiar with the stories of the spirit they call the "Upside-Down Man", and as their trip to the house draws near, his fear begins to mount.

He didn't want to be in the game. Now, he has to save it. Killed on the first day on the job, 25-year-old police officer Nyle Maxwell finds his mind uploaded to Capes Online, the world's biggest and most popular VRMMORPG. Yet, the one-way, mind-to-game upload process means that Nyle can never return to his physical body. Now, he must become a real superhero and protect Capes Online from both hostile players and malevolent AIs and NPCs alike that seek to destroy the game itself.

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.

Everyone in Yaz's village has vanished. The only clue, a strange golden coin marked with mysterious runes. Can Yaz and his friends figure out what the coin means before it's too late? And what are the sinister Dark Sages up to in the northwest? It can't be anything good for our heroes. It's a race against time to rescue the missing villagers.

Thirty years ago, cynical sleaze ball director Tito Bronze took a tiny cast and crew to a desolate island. His goal: to exploit the local tribes, spray some guts around, cash in on the gore-spattered 80s Italian cannibal craze. But the pissed-off spirits of the island had other ideas. And before long, guts were squirting behind the scenes, as well.

When former career criminal Westlake finds himself semi-zombified and shuffling towards Atlantic City, he freaks out. He's supposed to be dead, after all. Kidnapped, he becomes part of a savage gladiator-styled show for the amusement of a heartless overlord. Lucky for him, ex-cop Estela Ramirez and her crew of mishap heroes are already on their way to save him and stop the horrors being inflicted on the humans in good ol' AC . . . if they can figure out a way to fly a plane there, that is.

If you have felt (1) massive relief at cancelled plans, (2) mild annoyance in huge gatherings of strangers, and (3) want to figure out how to socialize better and more effectively without social fatigue, this book is for you - written by someone exactly like you. Introvert Survival Tactics is going to shed light on exactly how you function, and how to use your tendencies to your advantage.

It’s Halloween night in 1987. The era of fast cars, big hair, and glam metal is in full swing. A group of young friends push their appetite for destruction to the limit as they race along dark and dangerous back roads in search of a rumored epic spook night beer bash out in the boonies. But things take a tragic turn when they encounter a smirking villain in a sinister black car. They become trapped in haunted nightmare country with no obvious way out. Before long, it’s time to strap in tight, grab another cold one, and race with the devil. First to the finish line might even get to live.

Dogs do it. Millipedes do it. Dinosaurs did it. You do it. I do it. Octopuses don't (and nor do octopi). Spiders might do it: more research is needed. Birds don't do it, but they could if they wanted to. Herrings do it to communicate with each other. In 2017 zoologist Dani Rabaiotti's teenage brother asked her a most teenaged question: Do snakes fart? Stumped, Rabaiotti turned to Twitter. The Internet did not disappoint. Her innocent question spawned the hashtag #doesitfart and it spread like a noxious gas. Dozens of noted experts began weighing in on which animals do and don't fart.

Some girls say no. Some boys don't listen. When Grace meets Ian, she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses Zac, the town golden boy, of rape, everyone turns against her. Ian wouldn't be the first to call her a slut and a liar. Except Ian doesn't reject her. He's the one person who looks past the taunts and the names and the tough-girl act to see the real Grace. He's the one who gives her the courage to fight back. He's also Zac's best friend.

At the height of The Crown War, Vilos made a deal with a powerful sorcerer. Vilos’s reign would be secured in exchange for his first born daughter. The sorcerer promised to come for the princess on her 18th birthday. That day is today.

Enter Eternity. Ian ascends, finding a world unlike anything he has ever known. Eternity is a harsh place where immortals go to live forever. Immortality is as much blessing as curse, with infinite planes of existence to be explored and plundered, but scarce ways to find a final end. Ian can’t rest. Back home, the Infinity Loop promises the destruction of the world. With the help of unlikely allies, Ian must find a way to destroy the technology, and soon, before its ruination reaches critical mass.

A comprehensive guide to setting goals.

Six-foot-9 and 400 pounds, hailing from parts unknown, he is the one-man walking gore machine of the Deep South Wrestling Conference, and his name is Goon. But Detective Phillip Straker isn't a wrestling fan. The bodies pile up like dirty laundry: sex-obsessed tramps used as playthings by some unspeakable creature. Straker is determined to solve the rash of mutilation murders with trimmings that beg description. Is it just coincidence, or do all the victims have something in common?

Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns.

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.

Neal Hudson is a twenty-year veteran of Maintenance. A surveyor who drives through the streets of Ash Creek, Ohio constantly scanning for the deadly energy known as Corruption. Since the death of his previous partner, Neal prefers to work alone, and he’s not happy when he’s assigned to mentor a rookie.