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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Everything is going to be perfect. Greyson comes home from deployment to live the life she and her husband Caden dreamed of. He has a surgical residency, and she has a psychiatric practice in the basement of their Manhattan brownstone. Caden loves his wife more than he can measure. But he starts hearing whispers. Someone else loves her. Someone else wants her. There's someone else, and though whoever's behind the whispers will move mountains to have her, Caden will move heaven and earth to keep her.

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?

It’s not easy being a woman working in a male dominated field. Add in the fact that my uncle owns the baseball team I work for, and proving I belong here is a constant battle. Dating a player was never an option. Not if I wanted to keep a shred of dignity and respect. Then Ronan Sinclair sits down next to me in first class with his alluring blue eyes and hard-to-resist dimples. To say nothing of his kindness and charm, or his determination to convince me that a steamy vacation fling is what we both need.

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.

Her tireless holiday spirit is like a snowstorm in summer-overpowering, all-encompassing, and a wonder to behold.

Meet Ophelia Hart. Lover of classic literature and unicorns. An orphan with nobody in her corner—no family, no friends. But it’s her loneliness that fuels her life’s ambition to become a social worker and help the forgotten children just like her. For a foster kid with only slightly above-average grades, it feels like a pipe dream. Except it seems that someone is looking out for Ophelia after all. When an unexpected opportunity to attend Montridge University arises, she thinks her life is finally taking a turn for the better.

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.

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.

Two astronomers have detected a strange, pulsing signal from deep space. Within hours, the US government goes into lockdown, restricting airspace and scrubbing scientific data. Was the signal an intercepted communication revealing alarming plans for an enemy’s military strike? Or has humanity at long last found proof of extraterrestrial life?

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.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Aileana is the king's pet. She has lived her entire life in a tower, waiting for the day she will be forced to marry his son. When that day arrives, she has a plan. Armed with her daggers and desire for freedom, she runs from the king and his deadly power. Xander has spent his entire life on the run. He doesn't need anyone or anything, certainly not a mate. But when his path crosses with a feisty elf, nothing will ever be the same again. He has secrets to keep. She wants to leave Ithenmyr behind and not look back. Fate has other plans for them both.

Everything is going to be perfect. Greyson comes home from deployment to live the life she and her husband Caden dreamed of. He has a surgical residency, and she has a psychiatric practice in the basement of their Manhattan brownstone. Caden loves his wife more than he can measure. But he starts hearing whispers. Someone else loves her. Someone else wants her. There's someone else, and though whoever's behind the whispers will move mountains to have her, Caden will move heaven and earth to keep her.

When an A-list celebrity dives deep into a role by utilizing method acting, his wife will have to figure out how to get her husband back in this posh Hollywood romance.

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.

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.

Hot bullies, busted cars, and the party of the year. On an endless loop. I don’t know how, but I’m living today over and over again. Every year, the town of Devil Springs holds a celebration known as Devils’ Day. There’s no magic, but there might as well be: We wear masks, we play tricks, we party hard. Every year, the students of Crescent Reform School party the hardest. They’re the lewdest, the most wanton, ribald, and lascivious.

Meet Ophelia Hart. Lover of classic literature and unicorns. An orphan with nobody in her corner—no family, no friends. But it’s her loneliness that fuels her life’s ambition to become a social worker and help the forgotten children just like her. For a foster kid with only slightly above-average grades, it feels like a pipe dream. Except it seems that someone is looking out for Ophelia after all. When an unexpected opportunity to attend Montridge University arises, she thinks her life is finally taking a turn for the better.

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'm a lass from London setting my life on track. My past left me trapped inside my mind, screaming. Can you hear it? I thought I'd be this way the rest of my days, then I found my passion. To make the world a better place. This artist is ready for new adventures, only just as things are set in play, they spiral out of control, and the one person who means the most may not survive. As my world careens, strong arms envelop me the same time sweet whispers lend their comfort. Only now monsters lurk within the shadows waiting to strike. Will I come out unscathed?