Herein lies a raw exploration of duality, darkness, and desire. A collection of sonnets, haikus, and free verse that brings to the surface our fractured pieces and celebrates how the light and the dark blend to make us whole. An invitation to embrace the shadow and give it its rightful place as a part of the self.

Stone was my best friend. My protector. My everything. Until he wasn’t. Kids like us didn’t have the best life, riddled with trauma, bounced around in a system that didn’t want us and couldn’t handle us. In our darkest hours, we had each other. Until we didn’t. We tried to hold on to what little we had. Maneuvering the rough waters of our circumstance. Until I couldn’t.

According to the FBI, I was considered a serial murderer after three kills. What do they call me after fifty-two? They call me the Silencer. One final bullet would have been all it took to stop me from taking another soul, and I would have been doing Meridian City a service by pulling that trigger. An angel crying for help stopped me, and that night, I took three lives for her. Then three turned into eight. Then eight turned into twenty. Twenty turned into twenty-one. Twenty-one turned into twenty-three.

When my father passed away, I assumed my grieving would be as simple as closing a book and starting another. Only he had other plans. Leaving me his beloved tattoo shop, I’m stuck to figure out what exactly to do with it, all while being constantly reminded of him.

My reputation at Fairview University preceded me. I was the projected number-one pick in the NHL draft and the fan favorite at the rink. People wanted to be me or be with me. Except for Lyla James Marichal. She didn't look at me like I was her next meal. She eyed me with disdain. Instead of vying for my attention, she ignored me and pushed me away. She was completely unattainable, and I became obsessed with her. When I finally got her, it felt like I was on top of the world. I was going to help the team win another championship, going into the draft, and had Lyla by my side.

Welcome to Georgian England, circa 1800. Alastair Thorne is a cad and a rake. Even his mother told him so. Pity for her that he cannot bring himself to care, for he relishes his life of debauchery and licentiousness, and is content thinking of no-one but himself. Except Alastair may have just messed with the wrong fair maiden, and his life is about to be cut violently short. That is until he comes face to face with the enigmatic stranger who's been watching him from afar.

After losing her husband in a tragic accident, Julia Gentry is barely surviving. Raising her young daughter alone takes everything she has—and that’s not enough. She’s barely making ends meet. And then tragedy strikes again. Julia’s only hope lies in the last place she wants to look—in Crew Gentry. Her husband’s brother is broody. Irresponsible. He’s broken her heart more than once and let her down every time she’s needed him.

What I thought was my pre-destined path was very much an illusion. Living seven years with regret, I realized too late that I was broken and that I only had myself to blame. I thought love could wait.... but it didn't. We'd had it all those years ago, and then I foolishly left it behind. She was all that mattered. She was all there ever was. There was no life without Dallas, no reason... except her.

Journey through the dark, winding tributaries of love in this unforgettable live stage show, written and performed by Joe Arden. A unique perspective on the roots of love explored through original reflections and lyrical passages from literature, this sold-out Baltimore event captivates with raw energy and emotional depth. Experience the haunting beauty of Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe alongside contemporary romance, culminating in a never-before-published short story by Joe himself.

Once upon a time, there was a little boy. His belly full of laughter, his life full of joy. Until one day, something changed; stripped his innocence away. The hole inside making space for the devil to come and play.

The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia. At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key. You see, my favorite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favorite song?

Once upon a time… there lived a man with a vengeance-filled heart that held too many secrets and a woman, pure of soul, intent on uncovering them. What they failed to realize is that through the storm their love would create, a legacy would be born.

A dark and twisted maze awaits criminal psychologist London Noble when she falls for her patient, convicted serial killer, Grayson Pierce Sullivan. As she unravels the traps, her sanity tested with each game, she's forced to acknowledge the true evil in the world around her. A buried past is unearthed, and Grayson Sullivan - AKA The Angel of Maine - retaliates against the system who made him, deploying psychological warfare on the woman who initially set him free.

My life has been a series of bad decisions. Marrying an abusive man was the first... but falling for a dangerous inmate where I’m a nurse may be the worst. He’s brutal, heartless, and twisted. But he’s also the only one to notice the bruises on my skin. His forbidden touch becomes my addiction. His drugging kisses my obsession. After I learn the truth about why he’s in prison, I try to escape, but he finds me.

I always knew darkness crept through this city; like a shadow, it never really goes away, always watching, always waiting. People sin and people kill; it's a way of life. I just never expected to be thrown into the middle of a war I had no hope of surviving. Alexander Silver is as brutal as he is beautiful. A devil in disguise. The man destined to end me. I didn't go looking for trouble, and yet it found me, nonetheless. I could either join it or let it crush me.

Compiled by intrepid journalist Neve Pride, this archive of recordings spans the months after dragons emerged on earth, chronicling the communities that sprang up amid the destruction, the scientists, military leaders, and experts searching for a defense, and those steadfastly seeking the missing. Neve and her young daughter Bex travel among the wreckage speaking to those left behind and surviving, against all odds. Neve records everything for history, and in the hopes of locating a clue as to where the dragons came from and how one might stop them.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

Annie has always had high hopes for her future. But the reality of her life just isn’t measuring up. She loves her fiancé, Greg–doesn’t she? She’s going to get her degree and open her own business–won’t she? Then, a strange old woman shows up outside her house, and she seems to know a lot about Annie. An awful lot. Annie could tell the old woman to get lost. Yet there’s something about her Annie just can’t shake. And what she learns could change her life forever–but is it the life she envisioned?

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

One look. One touch. One sound of her beautiful voice and I’m hooked. Like a dream I never want to wake up from, she pulls me in and wraps me around her. Consumed. Driven with need. Fueled by an unrelenting desire to make her mine. One night, I take more than she has ever given before, which only leaves me wanting more. Needing more. Craving more. She’s the one I’ve waited for my whole life.

Journey through the dark, winding tributaries of love in this unforgettable live stage show, written and performed by Joe Arden. A unique perspective on the roots of love explored through original reflections and lyrical passages from literature, this sold-out Baltimore event captivates with raw energy and emotional depth. Experience the haunting beauty of Frankenstein and Edgar Allan Poe alongside contemporary romance, culminating in a never-before-published short story by Joe himself.

Herein lies a raw exploration of duality, darkness, and desire. A collection of sonnets, haikus, and free verse that brings to the surface our fractured pieces and celebrates how the light and the dark blend to make us whole. An invitation to embrace the shadow and give it its rightful place as a part of the self.

Micah Beck is the last thing I expect to find wandering around my brother's beach house, naked, only wearing an acoustic guitar, but he's the first thing that has ever had me craving for just one "anything goes" night. Micah is tempting, talented, and addictive to the last drop. Not to mention, he's completely confident in all that he does. Especially with those fingers, and I can't deny that it's such a turn on.

I ran from him, even though my heart knew better. Love was one thing, but survival another. I should have known he'd come for me. Men like him always get what they want. The temptation in his eyes, the heat of his touch...it's all still there, but his gaze is harsher now and his grasp unrelenting. He's not the boy I fell in love with, although pieces of what we once had are still there. I can feel it. I know what he wants from me, and I know it comes with a steep price. I'll pay it though, if for no other reason than to touch him again.

Dalton, I loved you once. A love I thought irrevocable. A love I mistakenly believed could transcend both time and circumstance. Under the influence of my dimwitted, naïve, traitorous heart, I became intoxicated with what I now know was simply a figment of my self-indulgent imagination. So drunk on the feeling, I couldn't see what was right in front of my face. So foolishly enamored, I blindly followed my heart into the depths of an emotion that would ravage me.

I live for the pain; it's what drives me to keep moving. I thought I was ready to finally live. Until...my brother, Alex; he throws me into the fire - right into the place I could never control myself, the one place I never want to be again. When I put my hands on people, they get hurt. Things happen that bring me back to that night. The one that will forever torment me. I'm doing fine, keeping to myself in order to ensure no one gets hurt by me. Then along comes Lyric, and all I want to do is touch her, to put my hands in places that I know will only lead to her being crushed by me.

He once swore he’d marry me—but now he’s desperate for my ruin. Caleb Asher has everything he could ever want. He’s rich, hotter than sin, captain of the hockey team and king of the school. My return to Emery-Rose Elite derails him. I am the walking reminder of everything that went wrong in his childhood and mine. While I long to be invisible, to slip through school unnoticed, he forced the opposite. He wants my fear, my fight, my pain, all out in the open.

When my father passed away, I assumed my grieving would be as simple as closing a book and starting another. Only he had other plans. Leaving me his beloved tattoo shop, I’m stuck to figure out what exactly to do with it, all while being constantly reminded of him.

My life has been a series of bad decisions. Marrying an abusive man was the first... but falling for a dangerous inmate where I’m a nurse may be the worst. He’s brutal, heartless, and twisted. But he’s also the only one to notice the bruises on my skin. His forbidden touch becomes my addiction. His drugging kisses my obsession. After I learn the truth about why he’s in prison, I try to escape, but he finds me.

Witch Merle MacKenna needs a provocatively charming demon—whom she must keep in check—about as much as she needs a hole in the head. And yet, here she finds herself bound to a demon with a shady past who’s as hot as he is annoying, all so he can find her captured sister. He better track down the kidnapper fast, before he drives her insane. Or worse…steals her heart.

I always knew darkness crept through this city; like a shadow, it never really goes away, always watching, always waiting. People sin and people kill; it's a way of life. I just never expected to be thrown into the middle of a war I had no hope of surviving. Alexander Silver is as brutal as he is beautiful. A devil in disguise. The man destined to end me. I didn't go looking for trouble, and yet it found me, nonetheless. I could either join it or let it crush me.

Ember Solis is a sweet girl from a not-so-innocent world. When it comes time for her to venture out to the real world—to the college of her dreams—Ember is released from the shelter of her home, straight into bad boy and sworn enemy, Ash Ortiz’s addictive spell. Ash teaches Ember everything he knows but soon, the student becomes the master. Ember emerges from the depths of her inexperience to discover she is stronger than she seems. But there is a bigger price to pay for loving Ash, and the way that Ember views her past, her present and her future will never be the same.

With green eyes and an easy smile, Frank McCabe stole me away from the nightmares that awaited me at home. But the son of the Irish Mob would never be mine. I belonged to the Italians. And the moment my mother sold me to the head of the Italian Mafia, I became the one the people of Boston were warned about. The only person more feared than me in our city is the Irish Ghost. When I finally flee my marital prison with my sons and my sister in tow, I unwittingly run straight into the ghost of the Irishman who died in a fiery explosion years ago.

A dark and twisted maze awaits criminal psychologist London Noble when she falls for her patient, convicted serial killer, Grayson Pierce Sullivan. As she unravels the traps, her sanity tested with each game, she's forced to acknowledge the true evil in the world around her. A buried past is unearthed, and Grayson Sullivan - AKA The Angel of Maine - retaliates against the system who made him, deploying psychological warfare on the woman who initially set him free.