Showing results by narrator "John Thompson" in All Categories

It is plausible that Donald Henry Gaskins was born a psychopath; it may also be said that his life experiences helped turn him into a sociopath. The Meanest Man in America earned the title of the most prolific serial killer in South Carolina’s history. Although it was never confirmed, Gaskins claimed to have murdered more than 100 people, with some reports as high as 181.  

Bret Pine sees something in the woods that leaves him very troubled. He’s not sure he can even talk about it without being labeled as crazy. When the disappearance of a family of four from Europe draws national media attention, some people in town want to point fingers. Then, on the last day before summer break begins, Bret and his friend Ashley blow the school’s electric grid with a single touch. A few people close to Bret seem to know more than they want to admit about the legend of Light Guardians and it has him seriously contemplating his murky beginnings.  

The lure of the find behind the loose hearthstone at Hazleton House was too great. The schematic excited Evan, Reenie, and Ivy for different reasons, but it is Kayla who actually begins building it. Her ability to focus to the exclusion of all else is just one of the effects of her Asperger's. The scribbled initials, E. W., were merely a curiosity, until it's discovered they belong to Eli Whitney. But strange footprints and disturbing visitors let Evan know that the theft of his sister's prize schematic isn't just a coincidence.

It's happening everywhere we look: the industrial, the synthetic, and the mass-produced are making way for the artisanal, the organic, and the small-batch. We care about how things are made. We want to invest in our neighbor, not a distant executive. We choose to spend more for responsibly produced, locally sold, higher quality chocolate than for the Hershey bar we enjoyed a few years ago.

Mickey and Gina are a blue-collar couple with the whole world ahead of them until Mickey's drinking and Gina's unrealized dreams tear them apart. Set against a backdrop of American history from the turbulent '60s through the '80s AIDS crisis, Northeast Local is a bittersweet journey through marriage, divorce, and its aftermath.

Bruce Buckingham is a collector of stories - his own. He loves taking his own real-life experiences and weaving them into fictional (and sometimes not-so-fictional) tales. In this series of short stories, written over many years, Buckingham intertwines intriguing, true-to-life characters with believable, real-life situations - or sometimes, with situations that stretch the boundaries of reality. His imagination knows no limits.

Ben hacks into his stepfather's real estate holdings and provides rooms in an two-story house to various outcasts: the schizophrenic kid, the Goth girl, and the homeless girl who worships him. When Megan needs a place to live she comes to the house with a different set of problems and the ability to confuse and attract Ben. One by one strange and mysterious occurrences stretch the teens' beliefs in the supernatural. How they deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming consequences.

Every man walks with a shadow...but what happens when he acquires a second one? Just ask Brazos, a cold-blooded killer for hire with blood on his hands and a posse on his tail. Desperate for cash, Brazos accepts $200 to gun down a local man named Brant. He’ll earn every penny...but in the end there’ll be the devil to pay. Because to put a bullet in Brant means putting one in his partner as well - an eerie stranger schooled in the black art of witchcraft. This is one killing that brings with it a deadly curse - and a second shadow.