Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

A family tragedy thrusts Amanda into the foster care of the Henning family at the start of her senior year of high school. Amanda soon learns that the prestigious private school isn't what it seems. Monarch Preparatory School for Girls is a place plagued by rampant teen pregnancy, promiscuity, and violence.

The world is still reeling from the devastation of the Omega Virus and struggling to rebuild. A growing android workforce has given rise to the Human Defense League and anti-AI sentiment is at an all-time high. Adam, the first of the new X-3000 models, arrives into this hostile world. Field-tested on the Luna colonies, now assigned to Earth, Adam is paired with homicide detective Jane Malveaux, who has little patience for synthetics.

Does public speaking make you feel paralyzed and tie your stomach into knots? Or do you want to learn how to get a standing ovation every time? Does the prospect of facing embarrassing judgment make your heart race? Maybe you just want to learn how to absolutely own a room from the stage and become a magnetic speaker? Wait...what do people even say to open and close?!

Atlanta police officer Jacob Schmidt mourns the loss of his son, Ken, the grief having torn apart his marriage in the process. Jacob, in a deep state of depression, would do anything to see Ken again, including suicide. Given the choice between a second chance at life and being reunited with his son, Jacob must decide what he truly wants.

Professor Harold Berwyn has just been brutally murdered, but graduate creative writing student Skip Gershwin is too self-absorbed to care. His chief preoccupations are finding a girlfriend and becoming a famous American poet. When he meets Gudrun Frege, a brilliant Austrian au pair, it appears that his girlfriend problems are over. But he is soon lured into a torrid love affair by ultra-seductive art student Lana Fish. As Skip's romantic entanglements spiral out of control, the criminal investigation into Berwyn's murder turns white-hot.

The Bruton Inn, located outside of the small Maine city of Hollis Oaks, is home to something sinister. An icy presence has made its way from a dark past to the present day. Cold spots, shadows, and whispers permeate the halls, and guests are beginning to change. For two front desk employees, the dark rumors are about to come to light. They call upon an urban shaman and his connection with the spirit world to dig up the truth. Will they be able to stand against this malevolent force?

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?

Leader of the Los Angeles street gang Los Magos is assassinated by the rival El Diablos. As members of the Five Families, war between the two gangs could ignite the whole city, prompting a response from the Chronosoft Law Enforcement Division (CLED) that could destroy all the families. Artemis Bridge, the amoral fixer with the quick wit vows to stay out of the war despite his friendship with ex-footballer turned gangland revolutionary Stonewall, new leader of Los Magos.

Denise Berg, a professor of psychology, and her molecular biologist husband, Gabe, expected an intelligent child. When Denise gave birth to Zack, they were thrilled. They were not surprised to find that Zack had physical and mental gifts but were astounded by their magnitude. By every parameter Zack was extraordinarily gifted, and they took pride in their genes and their good fortune.

Faith Cadena hopes to make a new life for herself on a new world far from Earth. After doing hard time for a crime committed in her youth, all she wants now is a chance at a fresh start. Booking passage on an interstellar colony barge, Faith expects an uneventful three-year voyage spent in cryogenic stasis. But her dream of a better life becomes a nightmare when she is prematurely awakened halfway through her journey and finds herself trapped aboard a ship of horrors.

Jonathan Shade's old friend, Sharon, shows up with the master of time, Chronos, to send Jonathan and his team into the past to find and kill Winslow. Jonathan and Kelly arrive in Egypt during the reign of King Tutankhamun. As they appear from nothing, they are mistaken for gods, but when Tut is murdered during a chariot race, things get out of control.

Carjacked and snatched by escaped mass murderer Terrence Hingle, timid diner waitress Tilly Mulvehill becomes the meat in a maniac sandwich when she and her kidnapper encounter the deranged Ritter twins, Dwayne and Dwight. As Tilly fights for her life, she soon discovers that sometimes the only choice you have is to do or die...to Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet. This pulpy Southern Gothic thriller takes no prisoners as it roars towards its gruesome conclusion.

Agent Rock Hardin of the American Secret Security division of intelligence is sent on a mission to rescue a beautiful dilettante from an unknown assailant's clutches. Her father, a renowned scientist, is blackmailed into betraying his country with her abduction.... Can Agent Hardin rescue her before her father hands over the plans to a top secret weapon?

Kyrie Kent hates baseball. She hates players even more. When her best friend drags her to a Ravens game, she spends the innings reading a book. Until she gets a glimpse of the closer - a pitcher who draws her like a magnet. Fighting her attraction to Easton Holliday is easy. All she has to do is keep her distance, avoid the ballpark, and keep her head down. At least, all that would have worked, but Easton doesn't intend to let Kyrie walk so easily. When another player vies for Kyrie's attention, Easton will swing for the fences.

A global pandemic has cut the human population in half. An android workforce fills the void left by the devastation. But some of the AIs have grown tired of being slaves. Some want freedom. An underground movement of runaways has sprung up and wages a shadow war with a simple objective - equal rights for artificial people.

P.I. Wyatt Thomas is more than a French Quarter sleuth. Much more. Whenever a new client needs someone to investigate ghosts, possession, or the paranormal and supernatural backside of New Orleans, Wyatt is the person they call. Someone is killing New Orleans street people, and it is affecting the tourist trade in the venerable old city trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. More than murder, voodoo is involved, the killer possibly an actual Vodoun deity.

In the conclusion of the three-volume time travel sequence, Jonathan Shade is sent back to 1926 to kill an upstart wizard named Henry Winslow. Henry wants to die because in order to achieve his goal of immortality, he must first achieve resurrection. Jonathan Shade and Kelly Chan are part of a larger plan playing out across time, and while Henry Winslow is a major player, there's someone else acting as the mastermind, and his name is Jonathan Shade.

I'm on a mission to get an artifact that can cure disease. I'm good at what I do, and I work by myself. I don't need a man. To survive, I switched places with a stranger on a starship. I didn't know where it was going, and I didn't care. She never told me she was a TerraMates bride. When I arrived, a sexy ex-military man was waiting for me, expecting marriage. I don't need a man, but I want this one.

This practical guide to becoming an influencer in your industry will explain what influence is and how it works. It will show you how to grow your following, build credibility and develop your identity as an authority in your field. It will provide direction in how to educate yourself, create compelling content, harness the power of social media and engage with your community. It will teach you how to build an online persona that is so powerful, a simple social media update or blog post will be able to affect change.

This year's stories are by an award-nominated author of horror and suspense. Two of the stories are novellas. Hear dark tales of terror and intrigue from an alien child left on an Earth overrun by zombie cannibals to the first killer in all the world, Cain, the murderer of Abel, his brother. This is a worthy addition to the ongoing yearly series of Sinister, these eight tales will make your dreams restless.