Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

In the vein of Mary Karr’s Lit, Augusten Burroughs’ Dry, and Sarah Hepola’s Blackout, As Needed for Pain is a raw and riveting - and often wryly funny - addiction memoir from one of New York media’s most accomplished editors which explores his never-before-told story of opioid addiction and the drastic impact it had on his life and career.

Jaunty the Clown just wants to entertain families with lighthearted slapstick antics, but people think of clowns as terrifying, nightmarish creatures who hide in closets or under beds. When Jaunty, along with his fellow performers, are fired from the circus, they're told that the world just doesn't like clowns anymore. Still, clowns have to eat. And since these clowns don't eat children, to make ends meet they're eventually forced to take a job in a popular haunted attraction, the Mountain of Terror. But millions of oversized spiders are about to invade....

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.

The Art of Finding Flow provides a masterclass on getting into a flow state at will. Each step is accompanied by a specially designed exercise to help you develop this amazing ability at their own pace.

A group of boyhood friends in the summer of 1977. An annual rite of passage in a dark and alluring Pennsylvania wood. The channeling of a malevolent Presence. And a childhood game about to go terribly wrong.... Two brothers in the summer of 1995, reunited by the unspeakable nightmare of their past. A bewitching tavern proprietress and psychic intuitive from New Orleans. The revelation of an apocryphal prophesy.

When an airship crashes under mysterious circumstances, the Magebreakers find themselves embroiled in an investigation that takes them across the Audish Channel to foreign shores. In Belgrier, many blame Audish sabotage for the accident, and for the death of the influential nobleman on board—a dear friend of the Belgrian Kaiser. And if Tane and Kadka can't prove otherwise, it could become a diplomatic catastrophe. But the suspicion of a government that views all Audlanders as dangerous pro-magical radicals isn't the Magebreakers' greatest concern.

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.

Ford and Neuland are paranormal mercenaries--one living, one undead; one of them kills the undead, the other kills the living. When a job goes bad in New York, they head west to wait for the heat to cool down. There, a young woman named Tilda Rosenbloom hires them on behalf of wealthy landowner Shepherd Mansfield to track and kill a demon haunting a mansion in remote northern California.

For centuries, the governments of the world have kept the half-elf Morgana locked in a prison where she couldn't use her magic. Now, her fanatical followers are on the verge of setting her free. Meanwhile, the best hope of defeating her is trapped in an inter-dimensional library unaware of the chaos engulfing the Alliance.

Childhood trauma doesn't change people, it breaks them. Nathan Burns would be no different! Once a caring teen, now a diagnosed sociopath in the state penitentiary for murder. Then he is thrown into a chaotic world where everything involves RAGE! The parasitic worms make animal to human transfer sending the world into a frenzy of apocalyptic bloodshed. For once he can let himself free destroying all that get in his way.

Conryu Koda wants nothing more than to be left alone to live a quiet life. But the universe seems to have other plans for him. While back at the Arcane Academy to watch his friend’s graduation, Conryu is summoned to hell by The Reaper himself. What new threat has appeared that warrants the attention of the lord of hell?

Some people are just too evil to stay dead. An old enemy Conryu Koda believed he’d dealt with once and for all has returned. And what’s worse, he doesn’t even know it.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first issues of Weird Tales Magazine, 100 Years of Weird is a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.

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.

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.

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.

Steel City. The slaver capital of Carttoom. Yaz learns from his rescued friend that the villagers were sold at the Steel City slave market. And if he wants to learn to whom, he'll need to infiltrate the headquarters of the notorious Slavers Guild and copy their records. If that wasn't hard enough, there are still bounty hunters on the group's trail. Staying free themselves might prove an even greater challenge than saving the villagers.

Unfazed by chaos and bad luck, Melvin Scott knows, "Some things a man must do himself. No matter how dumb that man is." His wife disagrees. In debt over his head, he learns that a penny will grow to more than $10,000,000 in 30 days if it doubles every day. He realizes that other things can grow that fast, too. Bacteria. Disease. Cures. Almost anything. Scott finds hope, and the adventures begin.

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.

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.