Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

Welcome to a very special issue of Weird Tales. This issue celebrates the Bram Stoker Awards, the “Oscars” of the horror trade. They are presented every year by the Horror Writers Association (horror.org), a group founded in 1985 (and incorporated in 1987) by a collective of masters of that genre, including Joe R. Lansdale, Karen Lansdale, Robert McCammon, and Dean Koontz. This issue is packed with short stories, flash fiction, poems, and an essay—all written by past winners of the Bram Stoker Award.

Garrote House has seen its share of blood. Since Christopher's ancestor Oliver Hedgewood built the house in the 1800s, many spirits have taken up residence in "the Moving House", including horror author Rex Garrote, who'd burned to death in his private library. Christopher Hedgewood and Sara Jane Amblin, inventor of the Recurrence Field, return to Garrote House one final time before it's relocated to Ghostland.

Conversation Tactics, Book 3 focuses on the subtle and nuanced tactics that will allow you to command any social situation. I'll shine a light onto the secrets of those that can own a room, always have a witty reply, and are never caught without just the right thing to say. I want this book to arm you with definitive tactics, maneuvers, and replies to whatever comes your way in a conversation.

Kim and Julian try to adjust to their new home, but reminders of the previous owners are many. For Kim, it's difficult not to fixate on the mysterious disappearance of the house's last tenants and she quickly grows obsessed with learning more about them. All the while, the house's quirks and flaws become more than just an annoyance. They're becoming frightening. The strange door in the basement, which had been wallpapered over so as to keep it hidden, has opened of its own accord.

When Dillon Storm's grandfather invites the gang to a "living memorial service" for himself over in his beloved vacation spot of Vero Beach, Florida, Dillon thinks it's a strange idea. Funerals are for the dead, and his grandfather isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Still, if it's what the old man wants, who is he to turn him down? When the daughter of Vero Beach's police chief goes missing along the shoreline and a man Dillon believes to be innocent is fingered for foul play, things take a turn.

Detective Dillon Storm is headed back to Naples for the first time in a dozen years, and the occasion is not a happy one. The illegitimate son of the richest man in America's richest city, Dillon spent his entire life in the shadow of a family that would never accept him. Now, he's come to bury the man who neglected him and, in doing so, put that part of his life behind him forever. But when the lawyer dealing with his father's estate is murdered and Dillon's number is found on his phone, it sets the detective on a path that will unearth family secrets.

Create a bulletproof first impression and turn strangers into lasting relationships. Beat surface level small talk and truly connect. You've seen them - people who have the ability to walk into a room of strangers, instantly befriend everyone, and leave with 20 new contacts in their phone. What makes people open up, engage, and connect with them? They've mastered the first 60 seconds of any interaction. Learn the subtle signs people actually pay attention to.

He didn't want to be in the game. Now, he has to save it. Killed on the first day on the job, 25-year-old police officer Nyle Maxwell finds his mind uploaded to Capes Online, the world's biggest and most popular VRMMORPG. Yet, the one-way, mind-to-game upload process means that Nyle can never return to his physical body. Now, he must become a real superhero and protect Capes Online from both hostile players and malevolent AIs and NPCs alike that seek to destroy the game itself.

What if it were possible to upload years of knowledge into your mind in hours? To become an expert in multiple scientific fields, become an MD, or learn several languages - in a single day? The benefit to humanity would be immense. But so would the danger.... Rachel Howard is a brilliant neuroscientist trying to make this capability a reality. But when she crosses paths with Kevin Quinn, a Secret Service agent desperately trying to kill the president, she finds herself at the epicenter of an insidious plot.

Do you want to save hours a day and do more in less time? Feel productive instead of stressed, defeated, and overwhelmed? If (1) you wonder where your time goes, (2) you can't motivate or organize yourself, and (3) you struggle to buckle down and concentrate when it really matters - newsflash! Your to-do list is not cutting it anymore. You need to develop superhuman focus and all that comes with it. Superhuman Focus teaches the most important of skills - the ability to get stuff done.

Meet Lawson. A cynical, wisecracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance - the secret existence of a race of living vampires that have evolved alongside humanity for thousands of years. Named after the Hindu god of destruction, Shiva is half-vampire and half-lycanthrope. Able to change her appearance into anyone she pleases, she is one of the most dangerous assassins on the planet. Belarus, the head of the vampire governing body, the Council, is Shiva's next target.

Meet Lawson: A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance - the secret existence of a race of living vampires who have evolved alongside humanity for thousands of years. A fixer. Part-spy, and part-commando-James Bond with fangs, Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home. Arvella: A power-hungry member of the vampire governing body, the Council. She wants power and will stop at nothing to get it. Even if it means kidnapping a child.

When Lorit's friend and mentor goes missing, he has no choice but to seize the leadership of the Wizards' Council to win their support. He must undertake the life and death challenges on his own to become a Master Wizard even though the trials have been subverted by the Temple. The evil Wizard Priests have bound his partner, the Sorceress Chihon, in their plan to turn her into their next High Priestess. Can Lorit avoid the traps the Temple has set for him and free his friends, or will he fall to their treachery and face them as enemies?

Tim's a streetwise detective, investigating the death of a homeless woman on his turf. Paired with grizzled veteran Gabe, they have to determine if the murder is a one-off, or if something more sinister is afoot. The trouble is, Tim doesn't always play by Gabe's rules. Nikki's past made her strong. Survival has been her goal since she was a girl, and it's the one thing the killer never counted on. She'll need to use everything she's learned if she doesn't want to become his next victim. Will the detectives overcome their differences and piece the grim puzzle together?

Maccus Fury, a fallen angel, is trying hard to keep his sanity. Seems being an assassin might be catching up with him. Now, heaven, or hell, has sent a beautiful assassin to kill him. Lovely. She’s pretending to seduce him, and he’s okay with that. She’s smart and snarky - but she has no idea what she’s walked into. And he’s more than peeved that they only sent one person. They’re going to need an army if they want him dead.

When Vince Carter takes a shortcut to work, he notices a billboard that nearly sends him into an oncoming van. The ad is for Dream Woods, New England's answer to Disney World. It closed decades ago, but now that it's back in business, Vince is eager to take his whole family, hoping the magic he remembers will save his failing marriage.

Carjacked and snatched by escaped mass murderer Terrence Hingle, timid diner waitress Tilly Mulvehill becomes the meat in a maniac sandwich when she and her kidnapper encounter the deranged Ritter twins, Dwayne and Dwight. As Tilly fights for her life, she soon discovers that sometimes the only choice you have is to do or die...to Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet. This pulpy Southern Gothic thriller takes no prisoners as it roars towards its gruesome conclusion.

Mark's always been a bit insecure as a father; his own childhood sucked. He's been terrified he will ruin his perfect daughters. So he buys them presents and hopes he won't screw them up. They certainly won't forget this dollhouse. He doesn't know how to stop it, and all he wanted to do was be a good father. He was worried they'd grow up to hate him; now he's worried they won't grow up at all.

Transported by unknown magic, Joran and his companions find themselves in a vast, lifeless wasteland. Struggling to survive in the hellish landscape, they search for any clue to a way back home. Unknown to them, a familiar foe is on a different quest.

When US DEA Special Agent Lelisa Desmond refuses to follow an order to bury evidence in a high profile case, her superior hires a hit man to forever silence her deep in the ocean off Grand Cayman Island. Lelisa survives the first attempt on her life, but someone close to her is mistakenly murdered in her place. With no one to trust, Lelisa enlists Inspector Alec Dyer for assistance but soon learn she's his number one suspect in the homicide. She sets off on a daring mission to bring down the man who ordered her execution.