Most Popular Books by Ian Thompson

Super-saving Short Horror Bundle... GLANCING BLOW: Late at night, a man drives through a hellish storm on a dark, secluded forest road. When a creature lunges out in front of his car, he strikes it a glancing blow... Resulting in a nerve-shredding drama of pursuit, violence and suffering as his unintentional victim seeks revenge. Can he survive this grotesque beast? HOOKER: Beauty can be only skin deep. Horror can go right through to the bone. Nigel Fawson is down on his luck - he''s lost both his job and his family - so he sets out to get drunk in a seedy bar. Soon Fawson is comforted by a beautiful girl named Valerie. When he discovers that she is a prostitute, he decides to throw caution to the wind and return to her apartment with her... And that''s when his night turns from awful to utterly lethal. CHAINED: A derelict building. The police find forty-two human skeletons... and one man chained to a wall. He is barely alive. He looks helpless, starved and possibly tortured. What happened to him? What did he witness? What is responsible for all the horrors of this house? And what is the reason for the victim''s strange, desperate request? Also contains the bonus tale INTO THE HOLE - and more! Short Horror Tales are quick reads written to captivate the reader with thrills, chills and unexpected twists. Here are some reviews from this author''s horror releases: ..".thoroughly spooky, enticing and well written from start to finish." ..".great... I could feel the fear..." (Glancing Blow - Short Horror Tales #1) "Great short story..." (Ignition Source - Short Horror Tales #4) ..".well-written, descriptive and enthralling page-turner, that''s not for the faint-hearted... The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat..." (God Of War) "Gory, scary and totally unpredictable." (God Of War)

Crime reporters Ray Hammett and Jessica Summers are asked to do a favour for their police contacts DI Matt Dean and DS Donat, who would like some good press for a job well done. The officers were called to the scene of an apparent suicide, but have quickly uncovered and solved a murder... Or have they? Ray and Jessica are too shrewd to simply write up the news item and take a few pictures. Something doesn''t feel right. So they begin to nose around... and find that the pieces of this puzzle don''t fit... If Rafe Masterson was forced to drink poison by his business partner to fake a suicide... why is there a bullet hole in his desk? How could the partner''s plan to escape the scene by car have gone so wrong? Does the murder have more to do with the infamous gangster who was threatening Masterson? And what does the innocent-looking secretary have to hide? Much to the annoyance of their police friends, Ray and Jessica start to put together what really happened. The case hinges not only on who wanted Rafe Masterson dead, but who would want him to die in the manner he did... If they get it right, the pair might just prevent a second, truly awful crime. The clues are all there, alongside the lies, red herrings and misdirections. Can you solve the mystery before Ray and Jessica? From 5-Star Reviews for the Ray Hammett & Jessica Summers series: "...very intense and very well written" "...a great story, well written and beautifully constructed, with well drawn characters". "...a thriller... you can''t stop reading" "I went back to Sherlock Holmes, this was awesome" "The mystery combined with the action and murder made it something I couldn''t resist" "...characters were interesting and real... full of twists and turns" "...a fantastic whodunit thriller... Highly recommended" "...an absolutely awesome, intense read."

Volume I: The Apocalypse Begins Hatred, distrust and conflict divide the nations of the world of Emeran - at a time when an apocalyptic threat is rising. Hordes of demonic warriors swarm from beyond the great Wall of Light. They crush opposing armies. They eradicate towns and villages. They have already slaughtered the Unseen Gods... This is an invasion like no other. Their purpose is not to expand their territory, to instil their doctrines on other people or to plunder the riches of their prey, but simply to destroy every living thing... Experience the rising conflict through the lives of characters across Emeran... Inside the walled city of Tremok, the Human princesses Lar and Pec suddenly find themselves in command of a Kingdom, even while they mourn the loss of their father. Lar, a trained warrior, must lead the defence of the city; her mystic sister sets off on a suicidal quest against their enemies... The traveller Cu''si''war returns home to warn his people of the oncoming threat and to urge the pacifist Graex to revert to their former warrior ways... In the Callis lands, a condemned coward named Corfel struggles frantically to save his family... The Callis Captain Plynn and the Human Captain Ku are unaware of the invasion - and are about to engage their armies in a great, futile battle of their own... And The Death, a member of the hunted and now-rare Vere race, continues on a solitary mission of vengeance... Plunge into a realm facing annihilation: Epic battles and gritty action. Dark magic and horrendous monstrosities. Soul-crushing choices. Impossible odds, defeat and despair. Witness the fall of the Wall of Light and the first encounters with the invading hordes. Be at the centre of conflicts erupting all over Emeran: in the forest townships of the Callis; at beautiful Mesamir, capital of the Graex; on Deshnere Plain where vast armies collide; and inside the city of Tremok, under assault by hundreds of thousands of invaders. Join the desperate mission behind enemy lines. Feel the wealth of emotions embroiled in this war-torn saga - from love and unswerving loyalty, to the bitterest sorrow, to savage bloodlust and unbridled terror. Against the coming of the Era of Darkness, heroism, desperation and self-sacrifice will surely not be enough... Extinction is inevitable. Volume II: Extinction Hundreds of thousands of warriors have already perished in the war against the demon invaders. Now the conflict reaches a devastating conclusion... Queen Lar''s defence of Tremok has inflicted massive casualties upon the demon hordes. In response, the invaders amass all their forces from across the world of Emeran to besiege and annihilate the walled city. The Demon Masters know that once Tremok falls, all hope is lost for Emeran. The raw heroism of Tremok''s defenders faces a force which utterly outnumbers and outmatches them. Battles become more and more desperate. Human numbers dwindle in every slaughter. Survivors are exhausted and losing hope... Can the unexpected arrival of reinforcements possibly turn the tide of the conflict in Lar''s favour? And what of the new demon reinforcements? More lethal warriors. More terrible weapons. More horrific allies... Yet, worse is to come... What has happened to Pec''s expedition to the Demon Masters'' citadel? Has an insidious betrayal consigned the nations of Emeran to extinction?

When the world needs a hero, what are the chances one will come along?Max Fry has just had the worst date in his entire life. When he finds himself dumped and thrown out onto the street, it''s the middle of the night and even the local Starbucks is shut. Seeking refuge on a park bench, he didn''t think things could get worse.Fate has other ideas...Felicity Ward is head of a little known arm of the British Intelligence service called MI9. It''s little known because it does absolutely nothing. What they need to become operational is a mostly dead body; unfortunately, mostly dead bodies are hard to come by.Until fate intervenes...Trillian Jackson is stuck in a dead end job working for a national newspaper. She''s got her blog, but she needs that one break, that one scoop that will launch her from obscurity to an overnight, Internet sensation.Fate is watching her...Scroll up, scroll up, Max Fry waits for no one!

The fourth super-saving Short Horror Tales omnibus... THE LITTLE MEN Frozen suicides, gunshot victims and shredded corpses. What the hell is going on in Shilsville? Two men investigate: Dave Renfield, a Native American detective, and Nick Guggenheim, a retired old cop. What begins as a series of baffling deaths evolves into a battle against a horror the police can barely believe in. The Little Men have been unleashed and their sole purpose is to slaughter... COLD CALLERS How far will a mother go to protect her infant child? Marcie and her baby are alone in the creepy old house they call home. A frantic knocking on the front door heralds the arrival of the Cold Callers - and a night of harrowing terror begins for the mother and her child. The house is under siege by creatures than are neither human nor animal... Creatures with horrific intent... ACID RAIN After a weekend stopover in the big city, the passengers of a double-decker bus encounter a truly hellish storm... This rain is raw, searing acid. Just a drop on human skin is enough to inflict an agonising burn - anyone caught in the downpour suffers horrendously. Chaos consumes the streets as victims go wild from excruciating pain. Vehicles collide in the panic and the bloodshed escalates...

If you saw someone being attacked, would you stop to help them? A salesman driving on a late-night errand sees a thug assaulting a woman on the side of a forest road. The driver is an ordinary guy, he''s no hero, but he can''t just allow the victim to be hurt or killed - so he stops his car and rushes to her defence... After a fight, he finds the woman wounded and unconscious. She needs hospital treatment soon or she might die. Scared and close to panic, the man drives the victim towards Clarrington Hospital... Unaware that her attacker will stop at nothing to reclaim his prey. A desperate chase begins... Suddenly things get far, far worse. The reluctant rescuer finds himself facing an enemy beyond the limits of his understanding: something grotesque, with an insatiable appetite for human flesh. A supernatural abomination which is almost unkillable... Can he survive the vengeance of the Manananggal? This is the fifteenth in the series of Short Horror Tales - quick reads written to captivate the reader with thrills, chills and unexpected twists. Reviews from this author''s horror releases: "...thoroughly spooky, enticing and well written from start to finish." "...great... I could feel the fear..." "...shows true mastery of the short horror story... a wildly imaginative antagonist unlike anything I''ve read before... a quick, captivating read full of horror and thrills. The tense action and suspense of Glancing Blow make it incredibly hard to put down..." (Glancing Blow - Short Horror Tales #1) "...When the blood starts to splatter, Nigel''s day gets really rough. Thompson has devised a brilliantly brutal creature to sic on his leading man. Creative and twisted, the monster is a total terror... Hooker is an absolutely insane, blood-pumping ride... With a wicked cool monster and a page-turning climax, this is one Creature Feature you won''t want to miss out on..." (Hooker - Short Horror Tales #2) "Great short story..." (Ignition Source - Short Horror Tales #4) "...well-written, descriptive and enthralling page-turner, that''s not for the faint-hearted... The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat..." (God Of War) "...extremely well written and very dark. The author did a great job of creating a palpable sense of doom that surrounds the main character from the beginning, and then creating more tension and horror as the story went on..." (Into The Hole)

Prince Hector, the greatest defending warrior in the epic Trojan War, is brutally slain by his nemesis Achilles... And finds himself reborn in an astounding new realm. Traumatised by separation from his family, nation and world, Hector finds it hard to accept the prospect of a new life. His rigid codes of honour and loyalty make him feel as if he has abandoned his war-ravaged home. The beautiful Elsha of the Nemalite people, introduces him to an Elysium of kindness, harmony and magic, where living gods can walk among mortals. The Trojan Prince is enraptured by his new friend and the apparent miracles around him, and at first believes this world is perfect. He gradually learns of a grotesque force which holds the Nemalites under a thrall of fear and hopelessness. Hector cannot stand by and watch the horrors around him - he acts to save his new friends... But the result of his efforts is not peace, rather the unleashing of a menace that plunges Elysium into hellish turmoil. Guilty of the murder of innocents and hated by his companions, Hector fights to curtail the disaster he has caused. Against him stands an army of Shaltine - supernatural warriors which exude an aura of Fear, rendering all opponents helpless. Countless lives, both on Elysium and back on Hector''s home world, are threatened by a fate far worse than death. And amid all the chaos, desperation and destruction, there awaits a malevolent revelation for Hector... Something so awful it may destroy Hector''s sanity before it takes his life.

The Burning Rider: a childish legend or a merciless supernatural executioner? For over three centuries, no one has entered the village of Lydchurch at night and survived. There have been over six hundred reports of the apparition, and untold numbers of deaths and disappearances. Modern-day investors don''t want to believe the old legend. They want to quickly prove that the apparition doesn''t exist and start developing the land... When a small team investigates the abandoned village at night, their task begins with grisly discoveries and evolves into nightmarish horror. Soon the survivors are trying desperately to escape the molten wrath of the Burning Rider... The Burning Rider is the eighth in the series of Short Horror Tales - quick reads written to captivate the reader with thrills, chills and unexpected twists. Here are some reviews from this author''s horror releases: ..".thoroughly spooky, enticing and well written from start to finish." ..".great... I could feel the fear..." (Glancing Blow - Short Horror Tales #1) "Great short story..." (Ignition Source - Short Horror Tales #4) ..".well-written, descriptive and enthralling page-turner, that''s not for the faint-hearted... The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat..." (God Of War) ..".extremely well written and very dark. The author did a great job of creating a palpable sense of doom that surrounds the main character from the beginning, and then creating more tension and horror as the story went on..." (Into The Hole)

After being slain in the epic Trojan War, Prince Hector found himself reborn on an extraordinary new world. He befriended the Nemalite people, lived among them, met their Viron gods... and set out to save the Nemalites from the vicious threat of the Atlans... But everything since his rebirth had been lies and manipulations. His attack upon the Atlans plunged those innocents into hellish turmoil and condemned many to a fate far crueller than death. Now Hector fights alongside the surviving Atlans in an effort to undo the terrible harm he has unleashed. Despite the Atlans hating and condemning him, he teaches them how to fight the Nemalites

Late at night, at a huge warehouse, a disabled security guard expects another boring, routine shift of work. He is utterly unprepared for the horror and terror he will have to endure. First there are intruders, then a raging fire, horrific murders... and a monstrous secret that is both alive and utterly lethal. In the face of a challenge which makes him doubt his sanity, can he survive..? Ignition Source is the fourth in the series of Short Horror Tales - quick reads written to captivate the reader with thrills, chills and unexpected twists. Here are some reviews from this author''s horror releases: ..".thoroughly spooky, enticing and well written from start to finish." (Glancing Blow - Short Horror Tales #1) ..".well-written, descriptive and enthralling page-turner, that''s not for the faint-hearted... The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat..." (God Of War) ..".extremely well written and very dark. The author did a great job of creating a palpable sense of doom that surrounds the main character from the beginning, and then creating more tension and horror as the story went on..." (Into The Hole)

Simple experiments demonstrate the workings of wheels, winches, pulleys, gears and levers. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.

This expanded second edition provides a deep cultural portrayal of the relationship between Indigenous Choctaw society and the landscapes of the Choctaw homeland. Focusing on foodway, it presents traditional knowledge, seasonal activities, ingredients, cooking implements, and recipes that had already made Choctaw food a world-class cuisine at the time of first-sustained contact with Europe. With the goal of cultural revitalization, the book draws upon generations of cumulative, land-based experience for insights into sustainability and improving quality of life in the 21st century.