Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

Revenge is on the program at this year's Splatterfest convention! Horror authors, critics, and fans from all over the world have gathered to share stories, enjoy each other's company, and to take part in the yearly Gross Out contest. But some attendees have arrived with ulterior motives. Clay Kayden, whose story at the last in-person Gross Out contest got him "canceled", wants to tear down the convention from the inside. Moira Mead is desperate to impress her favorite horror director. And Clay's former mentor, David Ennis, just wants to find his muse again…no matter the cost.

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle. The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages.

It has been 20 years since the serial killer known as The Black Heart Killer terrorized the town of Newport in 1979. Life mostly returned to normal after the killer was captured. All the townspeople have to do is stay out of the woods where the bodies were abandoned.

After the failure in Straken, Otto is forced to accept that as long as Garenland’s enemies can send reinforcements through the portals, the Northern Army has no hope of taking Marduke. But Otto has a plan: Seize control of the portals, and turn the enemy’s strength against them. To accomplish this seemingly impossible goal, Garenland’s top spies are dispatched to place magical patches on the portals in every capital. Behind enemy lines and on their own, it will be a miracle if the spies can survive, much less complete their missions.

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.

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.

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.

Just your average father-son story. But with abduction, torture, and murder. Out of nowhere, a retired 60-year old handyman goes on a murder-spree, abducting healthy young people and torturing them with hand-tools. After he's caught, a media fascination in The Handyman swells. People want to know why he snapped. They want to hear all the grisly details. But he'll only tell his gruesome story to one person - his estranged son.

Early in their three decades of correspondence, Neil Peart sent Kevin J. Anderson extensive descriptions and travelogues of his adventures bicycling solo across Africa. Peart painted a vivid and unsettling landscape as memorable as the lyrics to his songs. Anderson, award-winning and best-selling fantasy and science fiction author, used those descriptions as the backdrop for plotting an intense, atmospheric dark fantasy story that followed Peart’s experiences, though with a much more ominous twist.

In Healing Your Child's Brain, child-development experts Matthew and Carol Newell arm parents with the knowledge, confidence, and tools they need to help their special-needs child flourish. The Newells have treated more than 20,000 children and are the parents of two special-needs children. They know firsthand, as both parents and practitioners, what works - and what doesn't.

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.

The zombie apocalypse has driven humanity up into the Adirondacks. Enter Westlake, hardened career criminal on the path of "the Villa", a legendary mafia hideout where he can escape the devastation. When he's ambushed by the undead, an old FBI "friend" and his squad of survivors rescue him...and then force him to reveal his secrets. The jokey myth of the Villa suddenly becomes salvation for the settlements scattered around Saranac Lake. Reluctantly, Westlake is saddled with an oddball team to navigate mine fields, trip wires, and flesh-eating zombies to find their safe haven.

Never fall in love with a sports star. That's what my stepfather always said. He told me athletes are complicated and moody - that the higher their paycheck, the lower their morals. As public relations for the New York Stingers, I know exactly what he means, but I can’t seem to say no to a friendship with one beautiful, damaged man. What started out as hate turned into something else. We tried to stay away, to keep our distance, but the pull was too strong.

Learn conversational agility to think quickly on your feet, be incredibly smooth, funny, and clever - all at once. Goodbye awkward silences! No matter where you lie on the spectrum of awkward to engaging, witty banter is always the end goal - and it should be. Witty banter, and all the steps that lead to it, allows you to disarm and connect with anyone, immediately exit boring small talk mode, and instantly build rapport.

Thaless is still reeling from the actions of the assassin known as the Emperor's Mask, and in the aftermath, believers in magical superiority have been greatly emboldened. When a goblin girl named Tinga Vreeg goes missing, it seems like a tragic consequence of the atmosphere of hostility and anger toward the non-magical. But when Tane and Kadka investigate, they find a much deeper mystery. Tinga isn't the only one missing—and she might have been on the trail of something important herself.

The woods and forests can be a true dichotomy of experiences. For many they offer a peaceful connection to nature, but for some they have been a source of terror. In the shadows of towering trees and hidden in the brush, these unlucky few have encountered creatures or monsters that most think only inhabit our nightmares. Steve Stockton, a veteran outdoorsman and paranormal researcher, has put together a vast collection of over eighty terrifying, odd and strange encounters. These chilling tales may leave you questioning whether you ever want to journey into the woods again.

Justin is excited to start his new job at an energy mine on a distant planet—until things begin to go wrong. Small things. Annoying glitches in the mining complex's tech. Enough to aggravate him. Enough to notice a connection. When the first miner dies from a tech-related accident, Justin can no longer turn a blind eye. But the mine's brass don't want him digging for answers even though something from the mine's past is lurking beneath the surface...and it wants blood.

From the outside looking in, Jennifer Pan seemed like a model daughter living a perfect life. The ideal child, the one her immigrant parents saw, was studying to become a pharmacist at the University of Toronto. But there was a dark, deceptive side to the angelic young woman. In reality, Jennifer spent her days in the arms of her high-school sweetheart, Daniel. In an attempt to lead the life she dreamed of, she would do almost anything. For many years she led this double life. But when her father discovered her web of lies, his ultimatum was severe. And so, too, was her revenge.

When Guy finds the deed to a house in his mother's attic, it seems like an incredible stroke of luck. Sure, it hasn't been inhabited in years, and vines strangle the age-stained walls, but Guy's convinced he can clean the building up and sell it. He'd be crazy to turn down free money. Right? Rookward House may be hours away from its nearest neighbor, but he can't escape the feeling that he's being watched. Still, he doesn't believe in ghost stories and decides to camp in the crumbling old mansion while he does repairs. Surely nothing too bad can happen in the space of a week.

Laugh Tactics is full of strategies that dissect, break down, and analyze all of the types of humor that you'll encounter in daily conversation - stuff you can really use with people you talk to. We're not all trying to become standup comedians, and this isn't a book about ha-ha jokes with setups and punch lines. Learn to simply make a better impression on people, put them at ease, charm them, and make them smile with you.