Showing results by narrator "Joe Hempel" in All Categories

Of all the white American pop music groups that hit the charts before the Beatles, only the Beach Boys continued to thrive throughout the British Invasion to survive into the 1970s and beyond. The Beach Boys helped define both sides of the era we broadly call the sixties, split between their early surf, car, and summer pop and their later hippie, counterculture, and ambitious rock.

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.

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.

Deep down you know you were meant for more in this world but you can't shake this feeling. What's stopping you from making it happen? What's holding you back from unlocking your maximum potential? I know exactly what is holding you back. Everything you want in life can still happen. Financial freedom, personal success, creating a legacy; it's not out of reach. In fact it's all within your grasp. But first you need to do one very important thing. You need to get out of your own way.

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.

Sebastian “Seb” McAlister has run out of luck in Vegas. Cornered by a trigger-happy gang and shot through the stomach, he makes a desperate escape in his supercharged Hellcat. Fate guides Seb safely out of Sin City and into the desert, but as his wheels fade into the horizon, he fades into darkness. He awakes among a tiny community in the middle of nowhere. A mountain range circles the hodgepodge of shacks like prison walls looming high. And the warden that resides in those mountains is big, ugly, and deadly - a creature straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare.

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.

No one is more surprised than Asher, one of the oldest vampires on Earth, that he's attracted to vamp hunter Jo Radcliffe. She's smart, a talented slayer, and she's gorgeous. Something about her pulls at him, like no one ever has before. For a man whose name strikes fear in everyone - this is something new and intriguing. And quite possibly deadly, if she discovers his secret.

As the age of the singularity dawns and artificial intelligence begins to rival mankind, the stakes have never been higher. Will robots and androids work side by side with mankind to make the world a better place or will they become our most bitter enemy?

Nikki Graves has a history of going through the baseball roster with an eye for talent - the kind of talent that keeps things spicy between the sheets. But, once she meets Braden Bradford, catcher for the Ravens, her talent scout days are done. He's the one. Braden has never met a woman like Nikki, and he can't get enough of her smart mouth and big heart. But life isn't always as direct and certain as the connection between Braden and Nikki. When family objections and career trajectories begin to crowd the plate, will Braden be able to keep his catch of a lifetime?

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.

On the night of a long-awaited comet sighting, Erich, a university student, comes back from the dead. Making a miraculous recovery after a horrific car accident, he quickly returns to his musical studies and seems to have a new zest for life. Though he mingles with his fellow students and dedicates himself to his work, those close to him can't help but notice something is wrong. Very wrong. Erich isn't himself anymore. His personality has changed radically, and where he was once a middling musician, he's suddenly and unaccountably developed a virtuosic talent....

Ah, the cycle of fear: I’m afraid. Now I’m thinking irrationally. Now I can’t stop fixating on it. Now I’m even more afraid. Ready to cut through the self-sabotage, end the cycle, and overcome the fears which hold you back in life? Is fear the main reason you are a bystander in your own life? Beat Fear uses a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure that your life is your own, not hijacked by your brain, emotions, heart, or circumstances.

Does public speaking make you feel paralyzed and tie your stomach into knots? Or do you want to learn how to get a standing ovation every time? Does the prospect of facing embarrassing judgment make your heart race? Maybe you just want to learn how to absolutely own a room from the stage and become a magnetic speaker? Wait...what do people even say to open and close?!

Kyrie Kent hates baseball. She hates players even more. When her best friend drags her to a Ravens game, she spends the innings reading a book. Until she gets a glimpse of the closer - a pitcher who draws her like a magnet. Fighting her attraction to Easton Holliday is easy. All she has to do is keep her distance, avoid the ballpark, and keep her head down. At least, all that would have worked, but Easton doesn't intend to let Kyrie walk so easily. When another player vies for Kyrie's attention, Easton will swing for the fences.

I'm on a mission to get an artifact that can cure disease. I'm good at what I do, and I work by myself. I don't need a man. To survive, I switched places with a stranger on a starship. I didn't know where it was going, and I didn't care. She never told me she was a TerraMates bride. When I arrived, a sexy ex-military man was waiting for me, expecting marriage. I don't need a man, but I want this one.

A couple of jerks wake me up at the crack of noon. Seems my klepto uncle stole an ancient deck of Tarot cards from a high-powered wizard, and too many losers want to ruin my day to get them back. The cards are cool, so I check them out, but my magic-happy cousin, Sabrina, tells me I'm not supposed to touch them. Oops. Too late. Now the damn cards are tuned to me, and if someone else wants to use them, I have to die. Why couldn't she have led with that information?

This odd, irreverent spiritual memoir chronicles the author's accidental hallucinogenic journey to God and back with blunt comic undertones, undercutting the lofty gravitas typically associated with the "meeting God" genre. While making no claims regarding the "proof" of God in any way, this light-hearted true story is an entertaining and thought-provoking journey into the psychology of religion and the existence of God.

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?

Jonathan Shade and Kelly Chan reunite with Brand, the former Sekutar warrior, and Esther, the ghost who has an unbreakable bond with Shade. They set out for California to stop powerful wizard Harry Winslow from stealing life energy from his parents. But the Barbary Coast is a dangerous place where life is cheap. Their paths will cross with thieves, cutthroats, crimps, prostitutes, gangs, magic, and a supernatural threat. Time is running out on their mission, and one thing is certain - not everyone is going to get out alive.