Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

As the youngest of the Davenport children, Dean has an easy life. Some would call him spoiled, but he prefers blessed. His brothers and sister left big shoes to fill, but he feels no pressure to live up to their standards. And as the baby of the family, he can get away it, even with their overly opinionated mother.

After the death of his wife, Annika, Chester Lane is forced to pick up the pieces and start anew. Trouble is, some of the pieces don't appear to fit. There was much more to Chester's late wife than met the eye; her short life had been a troubled one, filled with frightening oddities—some of which may have had a hand in her untimely death. Perishing under horrifying and mysterious circumstances, Annika's absence casts a long shadow across Chester's life. Hungry for answers in the wake of her death, he starts asking questions better left unasked.

The combined military forces of five city states have arrived outside of Audin. They’ve come to punish the arrogant Lord Governor and restore the land’s precious balance. Despite their combined power, Audin has a secret weapon. Built by Ilsa Wright, the greatest magical engineer since Lord Colt himself, the Mark V magical armor is a nearly unstoppable force on the battlefield.

You’ve been chosen to playtest a brand-new survival game set inside the abandoned Propitius Hotel—once home to a notorious serial killer. The producers promise fame, glory, and a shot at greatness. But they forgot to mention one thing: the danger is real. The deeper you go, the more the hotel seems alive—its rooms twisting with deadly puzzles, grotesque traps, and a ghost who never left. Every decision brings you closer to victory… or a violent, unforgettable end.

As a stay-at-home dad taking care of triplets, Andrew Mayhem's days of getting into wild adventures are over. His life is measured in diaper changes. Sleep has become an abstract concept, something oft-discussed with his wife, Helen, but rarely experienced. So, when internet celebrity explorer Percival Longshore asks Andrew and his best friend, Roger, to travel with him on a good old-fashioned treasure hunt, Andrew laughs off the idea.

College athlete Lily Brennon has always been the piece that doesn't quite fit in the puzzle, especially in her blended family, and no amount of rule-following perfection seems to bring her any closer to the love and acceptance she desperately seeks. If not for Jackson Carter, her childhood best friend and the only boy she's ever loved, she's sure she would have run away years ago.

After barely surviving the horrors in ACM mine 1134, Justin Barclay and his ghostly tagalong board a colonist ship bound for a new world. As they explore the futuristic colonist city within the ship, they quickly realize all is not as it seems. The arrival of Dr. Hallie Hayes, a fugitive scientist, arrives on the colonist ship shortly after. Her charge: get her life’s work to the core Coalition planets before it falls into the wrong hands. But she’s too late.

Things are going from bad to worse in The Five Kingdoms as the cult of Ardent Lilly works to cause chaos and build a massive demon army. With so many lives at stake and despite his hopes to the contrary, Danny finds himself drawn deeper into the fight. And the first thing he has to do? Rescue the woman who betrayed and murdered him. Once Lyra is safe, it’s a race to defeat the leaders of the cult before they can bring their plans to fruition. With the Fate of The Five Kingdoms resting in the balance, can this former Marine defeat Ardent Lilly’s cult once and for all?

The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World is a collection of short stories set in the world of The Rising, examining the history of the Siqqusim, the arrival of the first zombie, the fall of mankind, and the terrifying events that occur after City of the Dead's conclusion.

With matters in The Five Kingdoms reasonably settled, Danny sets out for Elfhome. He hopes to make the trip quickly so he can begin his search for the secrets of the summoning spell that brought him to Valindor. Unfortunately, life seldom works out the way Danny would prefer and soon he finds himself mixed up in the search for the source of a deadly plague spreading through the area. No matter his preferences, with people dying by the hundreds, Danny can’t just ignore the problem and move on. Soon he finds himself investigating corrupt politicians, greedy merchants, and mad wizards.

Bill works full-time, plays by the rules, and still drowns in debt. When the final notice comes, it’s not a court summons—it’s a knock at the door after dinner. The collection agency doesn’t want money. They want blood. Flesh. Pain. And they want it now. Lucas, the man sent to collect, never wanted this job. But in a world where the cost of living is your soul, he’ll do anything to keep his wife and daughters fed—and safe from the same fate. As Bill is dragged into a nightmarish system where debt is paid in gore and suffering, Lucas must confront the horrors he's become complicit in.

A couple wins an all-expense-paid trip to an underwater hotel, but their dream vacation turns into a nightmare when an earthquake unleashes an ancient sea creature from its deep sea prison. Trapped beneath the ocean's surface, they must fight for their lives against a monstrous predator that should have remained buried forever.

For over 100 years, the Temple of Ran has been sacrificing young wizards in order to steal their power. When Lorit discovers that he holds the rare ability to use magic, he becomes their next target. At first, he runs, working to master his abilities on the move so that one day he might be able to resist them. But that was before the Temple targets his beloved sister, Chihon. In order to save her life, he infuses her with his own power. Now, they're both targets.

The High Kingdom has known 20 years of peace. The true reason is unknown to everyone, save Sultan Vilos the First. At the height of the Crown War, Vilos made a deal with a powerful sorcerer. Vilos’ 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. The sorcerer is coming to claim his due, and if he doesn’t get it, all Hell is going to break loose.

At seventeen, Mia Rose Ellis is haunted by a tragic summer and painful secrets. Seeking refuge in the forest behind her house, however, she finds two things that change everything: a rotten corpse and an archaic journal filled with horrifying tales. As Mia begins to read the eerie stories of a terrifying, malicious creature, she begins to realize the forest surrounding her house is more dangerous than she could've imagined.

Los Angeles is on fire. Society is collapsing. And Henry Hall is on the run. After barely surviving the horrors of Puzzle House, Henry emerges into a city under martial law, consumed by carnage, madness and fear. Ancient entities summoned by the dark rituals performed at Puzzle House are twisting reality to their will, and in the chaos left behind, human monsters run rampant.

The last thing I needed was a wife… but that's precisely what I got when I showed up at my father's house to discuss the new girl in town. I walked in single, only to storm out a very married man. Mackenzie Mercer can never be mine. Not when she belonged to my enemy. But for better or worse, we're in this together. We both have something at stake. She needed protection. I needed answers.

Immortality Has Met Its Match... Ever since the Ring of Fire, the world's vampires have seen their mortality. They won’t live forever after all — not if the angels who created them decide to snuff them like candles. What do the angels want? What did their command to “restore balance” truly mean? For most, the angels’ decrees mean mass murder and mass turnings … but the humans aren’t sheep, and won’t just lie down and take it forever. As Deacon Maurice tries to maintain order with Reginald by his side, panic consumes the Vampire Nation.

Hotel manager Eloise Price is getting a crash course in being careful what you wish for. After years of dreaming about owning the historic Crane Hotel, she was thrilled when her former boss left half of the hotel to her in his will. But dreams have a funny way of turning into nightmares and all...

Chase’s grandfather is missing, and he asks Odelia to help find him. And since Odelia’s editor has told her to find out who the new Hampton Cove Santa is, she gladly agrees. After traipsing all over New York City in search of Grandpa Kingsley, and the new Santa, they have to declare defeat. Lucky for them, there’s still Max and Dooley, Odelia’s feline sleuths. Will they find out what happened to Grandpa Kingsley? And will they figure out who the new Santa is? Get into the holiday spirit with Max and Odelia and find out in Purrfect Santa. This title features three short stories.