Showing results by author "Robert A. Walker" in All Categories

Tens of thousands are flocking to a bustling wind-swept metropolis in the middle of America for the great Exposition of 1893—to see the future and to ride Mr. Ferris' remarkable wheel. A city of hope and hardship has caught the attention of the world—and a maniacal killer has made it his hunting ground. Inspector Alastair Ransom carries the burden of the dead on his shoulders. But a demon far worse than Ransom's own is loose—a bloodthirsty killer who preys on Chicago's most vulnerable citizens.

The body parts were first discovered in the bellies of sharks. Marine scientists in the Florida Keys insist sharks rarely dine on live humans, so there can be only one explanation: They were dead before they hit the water. Dr. Jessica Coran knows why. They call him the "Night Crawler". And he's out there, riding the tides with his victims, feeding the waves after his own perverse hungers are satisfied. But when similar murders surface in London on the Thames River, Jessica faces double jeopardy. One killer? Or two....

The Dungeons, Dragons, & Psychology Podcast is a TTRPG podcast that helps collaborative storytellers build great campaigns using psychology. Each episode dives into different aspects of tabletop roleplaying games, and offers listeners (psyclithids) tricks of the trade for how to improve their own games. Your host, Robert Walker, is a longtime DM and holds a MS in I/O Psychology. He is also the author of "Session Zero: The DMG to Writing Great Campaigns in any System."

He felt most alive when he watched them die - writing, breathless, gasping for oxygen that wasn't there. But, he could only draw out the pleasure for so long before his victims expired. And, then it was time to choose another. Death by asphyxiation. That's what Chicago medical examiner Dr. Dean Grant was forced to conclude by the gruesome evidence before him. Recognizing the work of a serial killer, Grant knew he'd have to move fast.

In this rousing 1852 romp through the eerie woods surrounding Hannibal, Missouri, and up and down the Mississippi River, 14-year-old Daniel Webster Jackson runs into a counterfeit Underground Railroad when he decides to run away from his foster home. At every turn, he musters courage to survive in a land where the law is at odds with the heart and soul of a people, where the Missouri Compromise forces everyone into a disguise or a secret identity.

When the Louisiana Bayou folks calling themselves members of the Bayou Wulf’s Clan turn out to be real werewolves, it’s a bit late in the day for archeologist Abraham Stroud, whose bayou dig puts him and his people directly in harm’s way. In fact, this wulf coven has created a safe haven for their kind - Oasis, Louisiana, an entire town filled with Bayou Wulves, many fathered by Bayou Wulf itself - their disputable and dubious leader.

Hauntings, banshees, incubi, nightmares, phobias, cyborg disease, hit men, serial killers, vampires, and more. The range of these 10 stories is wide and inclusive of many genres. Each story packs a one-two punch, and will leave the listener questioning what it means to be human from "A Snitch in Time" to "Human Error" and "Bed Bait & Beyond", these tales skewer what we think we know and supplant it with what we should have known from sentence one to end.

When FBI psychic Dr. Aurelia Murphy Hiyakawa is asked in on a case in New Orleans, she soon learns that the missing Gone Girls may as yet be alive and that their abductor is a "collector" rather than a typical serial abductor/killer. With three missing and as yet no clue as to where they may be, the only saving grace is that no bodies have shown up. There is little about this case that resembles anything that "Rae" Hiyakawa has faced before in PSI Blue and DEJA Blue. But the case takes on a new wrinkle that no one could have predicted.

A spy working for religious organizations, Jere Wakely is summoned to Salem Village Parish, where it has become obvious to church authorities that there is serious trouble. He is reluctant to return to his hometown for many reasons, not the least being that his heart is broken, and he's worried about running into his former lover, Serena Nurse. During his investigation, he has no expectation that their love will be rekindled. But their renewed passion parallels a greater fire - one of terror amid the infamous Salem Witch Trials.

This is a short story dealing with an injustice, a town without patience or pity in 1912 for the last living slave woman in this town. Each of six scenes builds to a crescendo of action. It is an old story of injustice brought about by those in power toward the poorest and least powerful in the community. It is also a story of rage when the last straw is put on old, dear Aunt Tilley who has changed the diapers of those who want to remove her. Told in the best tradition of Mark Twain's more serious tales.

Off a near-death experience in chasing down one serial killer in Upstate, New York. Dr. Jessica Coran is back at her Quantico forensic labs, in safe confines. That is until she gets a call from Andover, Massachusetts Police Chief, Shamus Hale. Hale, a descendant of Rev. William Hale of Salem Witchcraft infamy, has a horrid, inconceivable, and huge problem on his hands - a serial killer murdering abducted children, infants in fact.

The sequel to Vampire Babies, book number nine in Bloodscreams Series, this is book number 10 Mindbreach. The return of Dr. Abe Stroud, vampire slayer and archaelogist.

Dr. Abraham Stroud, who has faced down monsters and supernatural beings from vampires and werewolves to man-sized spiders from space, as well as Satanipedes in Texas, a hero who has astrally traveled through time in search of the origin of evil, now faces a new kind of horrid threat. He's asked on/begged to come on a dig in a faraway ancient and foreign land near Malta...a dig that has uncovered a children's graveyard from ancient times; a cemetery of suspected vampire babies.

Texas Cherokee Detective Lucas Stonecoat is back, and with help from FBI profilers and police shrink Meredyth Sanger, now Lucas' wife, he is on the trail of a serial killer the press calls The Baby Slayer. It is a grisly if apt name given the killer. Lucas and his task force are soon on the track of the pedophile murdering monster, possibly the worst excuse for humanity that Lucas has ever come across. But all the systems of law enforcement have become obstacles to catching and keeping this particular suspect behind bars.

Following a massive EMP strike against the nation’s power grids, Frank Tilley faces the startling chaos of a powerless world. With his trusty dog in tow, he embarks on a dangerous journey to save his grandchildren from a perilous fate.

In a flash, an EMP blast disables North America's entire East Coast. When an EMP brings the United States to its knees, Mary must fight to survive amid the terror descending upon the city and rescue her family.

The thin thread holding the civilized world together has been severed. A ranch on the outskirts of a city becomes the sanctuary for a family during the unfolding crisis of an EMP. The nation's power grid has failed. Hundreds of millions are left without basic utilities, and the enemy responsible for the EMP's detonation now wreaks havoc throughout the countryside.

Inspector Alastair Ransom, Chicago PD is back, pulled from a poker game when his snitch is found murdered in a back alley. The seemingly unimportant victim comes to full-blown life and recognition as Alastair uncovers the clues to his murder. With each new revelation, Henry Bosch, aka Dot'n'Carry (due to the sound of his wooden leg) becomes more real to Ransom than when he was alive. The old veteran of the Civil War, town drunk, gambler, hobo and storyteller, who'd become a staple of life on Chicago's streets, in death, becomes Inspector Ransom's latest obsession.

Archaeologist Dr. Abraham Stroud has faced off against vampire colonies, werewolf packs, and zombie hordes, in previous digs. Abe now faces the worst monsters in his experience - the SubterraneanS: creatures straight out of the earth, cemeteries to be exact, but now they are expanding and are the root cause of sinkholes. They are tired of feeding on the dead in cemeteries and are now coming after you and me. This is a creature like nothing seen before, and it threatens all of mankind.

It is 1896 in Chicago - which means it has been three years since Inspector Alastair Ransom beat the charge of murder of a cleric, but his enemies have been working behind the scenes to hang him for the very same crime. Such a thing may appear impossible given double-jeopardy laws, but the Chicago Archdiocese and other powerful groups want Ransom's head. The book opens with this battle being waged by Ransom from behind bars.