Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

For much of his 30s, Jesse Bering thought he was probably going to kill himself. He was a successful psychologist and writer, but the impulse to take his own life remained. At times it felt all but inescapable. Bering survived. And in addition to relief, the fading of his suicidal thoughts brought curiosity and questions. In Suicidal, Bering takes us through the science and psychology of suicide, revealing its cognitive secrets and the subtle tricks our minds play on us when we're easy emotional prey.

Since the late 1980's, The Square had been one of the most important clubs in New York for the alt-comedy scene. But before that it was something much darker and is now a place where evil lingers, waiting for a chance to spill blood. After a night of killing on stage, four comics find themselves in a desperate situation as the spirits of the past come out to play, and a fight for laughs becomes a fight for survival in the most unlikely of places.

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.

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.

A man content with his life has no idea what he's missing. Clay lives a quiet and steady life. He's a simple man with few needs. Or at least that's what he told himself. One out of town business trip. One sweet and tenacious cowgirl with a zest for life. One night they'll never forget. Meeting Winnie not only disrupts his careful routine but changes his life forever.

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.

After a near-death experience caused by the park's star haunted attraction, Ben has come to Ghostland seeking to reconnect with his former best friend Lilian, whose post-traumatic stress won't let her live life to the fullest. She's come at the insistence of her therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler, who tags along out of professional curiosity, eager to study the new tech's psychological effect on the user. But when a computer virus sets the ghosts free and the park goes into lockdown, the trio find themselves trapped in an endless nightmare.

Low on fuel and hunted by the Fleet of Knives, the sentient warship Trouble Dog follows a series of clues that lead her to the Intrusion - an area of space where reality itself becomes unstable. But with human civilization crumbling, what difference can one battered old ship have against an invincible armada?

Jackson Holt is about to graduate college, but he isn't ready to grow up just yet. He hasn't realized his dreams of being a gaming designer. He knows once he leaves the ARC, that dream might as well be flushed down the toilet. His parents were ready for him to come home and take on a real job within the Pack. Something respectable and boring that he would do almost anything to rebuke. He's already added a fifth year for his undergraduate degree, but his time at the ARC is closing fast. A chance encounter online late one night pairs him with a team featuring his biggest gaming rival.

Video game sales as a whole have continued to grow, now raking in twice as much money per year as the entire film industry, and countless psychologists have turned their attention to the effects gaming has on us: our confidence, our identity, and our personal growth. The Psychology of Zelda applies the latest psychological findings, plus insights from classic psychology theory, to Link, Zelda, Hyrule, and the players who choose to wield the Master Sword.

Achemiss is a thousand-year-old necromancer with potent shadow magic and a trove of artifacts. To save his world and honor his deal with Karanos, Ian has one task. Assassinate him. With Maria, Karanos, and the ever-charming Crystal at his side, Ian seeks out artifacts to level the playing field. He explores treacherous planes and participates in a trial run by the white faction. He’ll learn that the upper limit on power is far greater than he thought.

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.

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.

Joran and his companions have returned safe and sound from the wasteland that was The Black Iron Empire. But they aren’t the only ones. The fallen White Knight Samaritan also survived, and he’s grown even more powerful and determined to destroy everything Joran cares about.

When a missing person case lands in the lap of Black Knight Investigations, Jimmy Black and his partner, Greg Knightwood, jump back into action - until their missing person rises as an uncontrollable vampire and all signs point to a supernatural coup orchestrated by an unknown vampire of immense power. With the case going sideways, more missing girls, and a new cop in town way too curious about Jimmy's perennial youth, life in Charlotte is about to get interesting again.

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!

Professor Stephen Barlow is no longer a skeptic. Having faced the horrors of Chaythe Asylum, he turns his attention to the man responsible for the Third Ward Incident - the enigmatic Dr. Corvine - in the hopes of finding answers to his many questions. But some things, he soon learns, are better left lost to history. Traveling to a remote cabin in Michigan in search of the doctor and his research, Stephen finds himself descending deeper into a world of terror and madness.

Haunted by a childhood tragedy and estranged from her family, Heather finds herself back in Hunther, Wisconsin, after 20 years running from it. She returns to finally put the past to rest but uncovers another tragedy and finds herself in the beguiling grip of a young woman who knows more of her family secrets than Heather does. To survive this homecoming, Heather must piece together a toxic history that she long tried to forget.

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.

Thirteen-year-old Joey Speight never expected the bone-chilling events that awaited him in this small river town. Uprooted from Chicago after his father's job loss, Joey’s resentment grows as he's forced to live with a Great-Grandma he barely knows. But the mysteries of Willow Falls soon engulf him, turning his anger into dread.