Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

A long dead evil stirs. An unlikely hero must face his destiny. Squire Col Vanheim wants nothing more than to train, get his spurs, and get away from the capital with its scheming, arrogant nobles. As a commoner raised to a position reserved for nobles Col faces bullying, taunts, and dirty tricks, when he isn't ignored completely. On the day of his greatest triumph, a beastman invasion sends Col running for his life with the arrogant Princess Rain in tow.

Four brand-new horror novellas all about books, stories, manuscripts—the written word has never had sharper teeth. In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths. A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers' Last Ride. In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book. A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story. Full of creepy suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King, and Joe Hill.

Karis Begay is the only surviving heir to the Begay wolves of the Alaskan Pack. Someday she will take her place as Pack Mother, which is a lifelong burden she has always carried with pride. It kept her isolated from others and hesitant to let anyone close to her. As she enters her freshman year at Archibald Reynolds College, no one knows who she is or who she is destined to become. It's a chance at a fresh start, and just maybe...the beginning of something new.

Ian beat the system, but he'll quickly learn the real world wasn't as safe as he remembered. Threats are rising, placing Ian in the crosshairs of global conflict. Reunited with an old ally from the loop, he must prepare to take part in an international tournament where the most powerful practitioners in the world fight for dominance. And unbeknownst to all, a calamity looms overhead - a continent-shattering trial that only Ian can stop.

Diggory Finch had a mother that didn’t seem to want him and a father that chose to run from every struggle the family ever had. The same father lied about the family fortune. But now Grandma Beatrice is gone, and Diggory has inherited Finch Island in Twin Falls, as well as millions of dollars, a house, an old mill building, and the profound, evil darkness that dwells at the center of his family’s heart.

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.

Are you ready for war? An unparalleled genius, Luke Titan managed to fool his colleagues and superiors, creating havoc and death throughout the FBI. Now, he sits atop the FBI's Most Wanted List while his former partners, Tommy Phillips and Christian Windsor, lie in hospital beds. The fight isn't over. Luke Titan wants to watch the world burn, and he wants Christian at the heart of the fire. Hiring a sadistic gun runner, Titan declares war on the entire FBI...giving Christian the only chance to end his carnage. Christian must do an unthinkable act, then Titan will turn himself in.

In The High-Conflict Custody Battle, a team of legal and psychology experts present a practical guidebook for people like you who are engaged in a high-conflict custody battle. If you are dealing with an overtly hostile, inflammatory, deceitful, or manipulative ex-spouse, you will learn how to find and work with an attorney and prepare for a custody evaluation. The book also provides helpful tips you can use to defend yourself against false accusations and gives a realistic portrayal of what to expect during a legal fight.

Grant Phillips has always been a team player. He lives his life for the Force and worked hard to land a coveted spot with Team Bravo. He follows the rules, keeps his head down, and never causes trouble. Grant does everything for everyone else and wants for very little. The mission always comes first, until she waltzes into his life.

Marie Crenshaw hates nothing more than to disappoint people, especially those she cares about. When she lands herself in a bind having made a promise on behalf of a friend, she finds herself stuck to fulfill the duty herself.

Almost since her first shift, Emma has lived in her fur as a leader amongst the gorillas in Africa. With her kind nearing extinction, she worked tirelessly to protect and guide her band. Even when that meant sacrificing herself to the Raglan. They hadn’t been looking for another shifter, just a strong beast that would make them a lot of money in illegal underground animal cage fighting to further their experiments on shifters. Instead, they got Emma.

His job’s at stake, but she may prove to be an even bigger technical threat to his heart. Tarron has met his match with a ruthless cyberhacker who has a personal vendetta against the Raglan. When she breeches Westin Force’s security Tarron must move in to stop her. That proves easier said than done when his Nonna steps up to help and meddle in his love life.

This year brings 22 more in-your-face stories that break boundaries and trash taboos, transgressive tales you can't "unread" (as Chuck Palahniuk says). Some of the stories you'll find here are loaded with very graphic descriptions of violence, sex, and depravities, while others may contain only one shocking moment of brutality. In others, the hardcore aspect may be less graphic and subtler than you might expect. Some of these quieter tales offer the listener some time to recover from the more disturbing ones preceding.

All Callyn thought about was surviving each day and making it through senior year. All that changed the day she met her four mates. Zeke, Graydon, Lucian, and Maximus gave her something else she desperately needed...hope. After barely surviving at the hands of her abusive father, Callyn learns something about herself. She is shifter royalty and the next Alpha Queen. With her father in jail and her aunt on her way to Camden Falls, Callyn hopes that she can lead some sort of normal life. She quickly realizes that's not going to be the case.

When Lee Anderson and her parents discovered a new world teeming with life, it was the dream of every explorer: they were rich beyond their imaginations. But tragedy struck when a herd of creatures overran their camp and killed her parents. The only other adult in her life had been their partner Gordon, who adopted her as parent. Which didn't turn out to be easy, because he wasn't human. He was a large intelligent alien, and to Lee, he was Uncle Gordon, but neither his race - the Derf - nor humans were gracious about accepting their family relationship.

Lee has a lot going for her: tons of money, true friends who will stand by her, an unexpected bonus of extended life from advanced medical treatments, and a start at unraveling some of the secrets in the stars. But there is so much to do to take advantage of these opportunities that she's overwhelmed. Keeping all they've gained may not be easy. Their new allies have received a follow-on delegation from their home world who seem determined to undo everything they accomplished. Eventually everybody is going to find out Lee isn't just a sweet little girl if you keep getting in her way.

Moving back home to my parents' cattle ranch in Texas was the last thing I thought I'd be doing. But, here I stand...in front of my high school girlfriend. A beautiful, confident woman has replaced the young girl I once knew and loved. Hell. I'm still in love with her. Yep. Paxton Monroe was my first love and the one girl in town who now hated my guts. So much so, Paxton swore her revenge on me if it took her until the day she died.

Mistaken for a shifter, superhuman, Jake Forrester found himself amid a paranormal world. Shifters had physical advantages over him, but he stubbornly worked even harder, pushing himself to the max to prove himself time and time again. At last he’s landed his dream job as the newest member of Bravo unit.

Jessie Parker rang in the new year with a bang, or at least that's how it felt when she saw her one true mate for the very first time. Then, he ghosted her. For the last year, she has done everything possible to avoid being home. The ARC has been her safe haven, but there's no way her parents will let her escape coming home for the holidays. Problem: Collier Pack is way too small to think she won't cross paths with him again and she's not sure her heart can survive another rejection.

Fergus Ferguson, repo-man, has one job: find the spacecraft Venetia's Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, ex-nobleman turned power-hungry trade boss. Finding Gilger in the farthest corner of human-inhabited space, a gas-giant harvesting colony called Cernee, was easy. The hard part will be getting past a field of space mines, hacking into the Sword's compromised AI, and fighting a crew of hostile enemies to take control of the ship. But when a cable car explosion launches Cernee into a civil war, Fergus finds himself caught in the crosshairs.