Books with author bill-thompson

2019 FIRST PLACE INDEPENDENT BOOK AWARDS WINNER FOR HORROR!2019 SILVER IPPY AWARD FOR HORROR!2018 FIRST PLACE EVVY AWARD WINNER FOR HORROR!Deep in the Louisiana bayou, an ancient mansion sits empty and abandoned.Callie Pilantro inherits the house and finds a mysterious child there who appears and disappears at will.Even the walls of the mansion hold long-forgotten secrets.Get your copy today!Follow Callie as she struggles to find the secrets of her house even as someone or something tries to stop her. It all ends one eerie night. Will it be too late for Callie?Buy it now!

Everything’s been quiet in the bayou town of Jeanerette, Louisiana for years. The last big news was when those rich people burned to death at their plantation in 2003. Most people have forgotten the details, but no one can forget Amelia House, the beautiful old home on Bayou Teche where the Morisset family lived.Craig Morisset grew up in Jeanerette and started a company when he was in college. He sold it for almost a billion dollars and became the town’s most talked-about product. When his parents died in the fire, he never returned and didn’t even afford them a funeral. Instead, he ordered Amelia House shuttered. Since then, only the occasional caretaker goes inside, and they make sure to be out before nightfall.For years people have whispered about the awful things Craig’s parents did in the name of science, and some brave teenagers who went up to the house after dark reported ghostly wails coming from somewhere on the upper floors. Famous ghost hunter Landry Drake comes home to Jeanerette to interview Craig, who is in town for a class reunion. Craig regrets coming back and when a hurricane heads their way, he makes a fatal mistake. Since they have no place to stay, he invites three classmates and Landry to spend a night inside Amelia House. The mansion may have been closed up for years, but Craig’s mother and father have patiently waited to resume their life’s work. The operating room’s all prepared; all they need is a patient. When Craig and his friends arrive, they can at last resume the experiments.

WINNER OF 2019 EVVY AWARD FOR HORROR!The once-famous Hotel Iberia was where society’s finest gathered in the days before 1859 when Victory, Louisiana became a ghost town. A building where people had laughed, dined and passed the time among friends became something dark, sinister and evil.The town was dead, so no one complained when the Victory Institution for the Criminally Insane opened in the old hotel. The state sent its problems to the Asylum — violent, disturbed men who entered the gates of hell and never came back.Hundreds died inside those walls before scandal closed the prison in 1907 and the corpses of those forgotten men were buried in a cemetery at the back of the property.For a century, the building has been abandoned. But only by the living.The dead couldn’t leave. Their tormented spirits couldn’t escape the horrors they had experienced. Unspeakable things kept them locked in the ancient cell blocks, doomed to haunt the building forever.Rookie deputy sheriff Landry Drake spends a frightening afternoon inside the Asylum, investigates a series of apparently unrelated, unsolved murders inside the prison. He and a friend are caught in a trap. Kidnapped and chained in the old prison’s underground torture chamber, they know what fate awaits them at the hands of a maniacal sociopath. He’s killed many times before, and they will be next.Landry must solve a puzzle before more people die, and he must find a way to keep himself from becoming the next name on the list of terrifying crimes at the Asylum.

2019 INDEPENDENT BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR PARANORMAL ACTIVITY & REGIONAL FICTION!2019 EVVY AWARD WINNER FOR HORROR!A house that sat empty for fifty years as its dead owner instructed. A locked room with no key. A single father with eight-year-old twin girls. A nursery from long, long ago that no child ever played in.There are eerie things going on at The Arbors in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Architect Jordan Blanchard is joined by his friend Callie Pilantro (“Callie – The Bayou Hauntings 1”) and Landry Drake (“Forgotten Men – The Bayou Hauntings 2”) to learn the secrets of a domineering matriarch whose two husbands died in bizarre ways. They explore the house as someone watches from a hidden place high above. The Nursery, the third book in the series, will keep you up late at night wondering what’s behind the next door, what lies beyond the mirror and who hides and waits at The Arbors.

Covering 300 of the most common birds in all of the United States and Canada, The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America is loaded with color photographs, drawings showing typical behaviors, range maps, an easy-to-use checklist, fun facts, and authoritative information about each bird, its vocalizations, and its habitat. While other field guides might overwhelm kids who are new to birding, The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America was created with help from kids. Bill Thompson’s own son and daughter and their elementary school classes helped select the content. Kid tested, kid approved!

oThe Pope hears the confession of a senior official of the Vatican Bank. What he learns could shake the foundations of the Christian faith.oA suicide bomber destroys a Fifth Avenue antiquities gallery. A dozen people die and an eighteenth-century manuscript is whisked away. Who went to such lengths to obtain an old Knights Templars diary, and why?oA Mafia godfather with a deadly agenda escapes from a Guatemalan prison and plots revenge on those who put him there.oA Cardinal decodes pages of ancient symbols to learn the secret of Oak Island and its enigmatic Money Pit.In 1795 three teenage boys dug in an old pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. They wanted to find out whose engineering expertise created a shaft nearly two hundred feet deep and if it contained treasure as the local people believed. The boys eventually gave up but syndicate after syndicate was formed over the next two hundred years to find the answer to its secrets.Millions of dollars were spent and several lives were lost in the treasure hunt. None of the searchers found riches. A mysterious rock inscribed with a symbolic clue turned up. It said, “Forty feet below two million pounds are buried.” But as excavations in the pit went deeper and deeper those backing the project faced bitter frustration. A set of elaborate traps caused the Money Pit to flood each time someone neared the prize at the bottom. Brian Sadler and a devious Cardinal of the church are pitted against each other in a race to learn secrets protected by the Knights Templars for a thousand years. A former kingpin of the New York mob, dethroned and disgraced, plans a systematic elimination of his enemies. Sadler and his girlfriend Nicole Farber become targets of the ruthless killer as this story careens to its incredible conclusion. Does the Money Pit contain relics that could shake the very foundations of Christianity? The Pope himself becomes involved as Brian Sadler discovers the startling answer to the secret of Oak Island.

Now available in paperback, this fourth book in the action-packed Guts & Glory series takes readers through the exciting and fascinating history of the American Revolution. Perfect for history buffs, reluctant readers, and fans of Hamilton! From George Washington crossing the icy Delaware, to Molly Pitcher fearlessly firing her cannon, the people of the American Revolution were some of the bravest and most inspiring of all time. Jump into a riot in the streets of Boston, join the Culper Spy Ring as they steal secrets in the dead of night, and watch the signing of the Declaration of Independence in this accessible, illustrated guide to the birth of the United States. History buff and popular blogger Ben Thompson's extensive research and irresistible storytelling make history come alive in this fourth book in the unforgettable Guts & Glory series.

2019 INDEPENDENT BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR POLITICAL THRILLER & RELIGION-FICTION!For over two thousand years there have been whispered rumors of a vast treasure hidden somewhere in Israel. Using the prophecies of Isaiah as their basis, many believe there is a cavern where a thousand golden objects – the sacred relics of the Second Temple – lay strewn about in disarray where they were hurriedly tossed the night the Romans burned Jerusalem.Television personality and antiquities dealer Brian Sadler and his wife arrive in Jerusalem and find danger and uncertainty everywhere they go. In a controversial move, the U.S. president has moved the American embassy to West Jerusalem, inciting riots and anger from the Palestinians.Brian’s colleague, a Syrian who owns a shop in the Old City, offers to show him a cache of wondrous objects, but everything isn’t as it appears. Brian questions if the treasure exists and in a dank underground room, he learns that danger and deceit must be overcome before he can learn the answer. He faces both a ruthless terrorist and someone he once trusted, both of whom want the same things he does. If the words of the Bible are correct and if Isaiah’s prophecy is about to be fulfilled, who will find the hidden treasure of Jerusalem’s Second Temple? An imminent war and a kidnapping put Brian’s mission in peril. It’s a race to find the relics before ISIS does, and the sacred icons are lost forever.

Discover legendary commanders, tremendous fights, elite soldiers, and courageous individuals whose deeds truly made the difference in this jaw-dropping guide to the biggest war the world has ever seen. From massive aerial battles that clouded the skies with planes to deathly secret operations deep behind enemy lines, the events of World War II are some of the most awe-inspiring of all time. Packed with trivia, epic battles, and amazing illustrations, World War II comes alive for kids like no textbook can in this account from Ben Thompson that's perfect for history buffs and reluctant readers.

FIRST PLACE EVVY AWARD WINNER IN TWO CATEGORIES - ACTION/ADVENTURE AND THRILLERS/SUSPENSE!NOT SINCE 9/11 . . .One evening in the midst of prime-time programming, networks worldwide interrupt programming to announce that Air Force Two, a Boeing 747 carrying the Vice President and Secretary of State of the USA, has disappeared after leaving Honolulu, Hawaii on a flight to Hong Kong. An extensive search and rescue effort will soon be underway.President William Henry Harrison IV hears the news aboard Air Force One as he flies with his wife and children from the Caribbean to Dallas. The president's plane changes course, heading now to a secure military installation in Florida.Then the unthinkable happens. Twenty minutes after the first plane disappeared, Air Force One vanishes too. Its last reported location was over the deepest part of the Caribbean Sea, an area known as the Cayman Trench. These two incidents, now unmistakably part of a single plan, harken back to that terrible morning on 9/11 when one tragic crash became two, then three, and the world realized it was all part of a massive terrorism plot.In Washington, Speaker of the House Chambliss T. Parkes, a greedy, vulgar buffoon, is rushed to a secret location as the nation goes to DEFCON 1, the highest threat level, for the first time in history. If the planes are truly gone, Parkes will become President of the United States.As financial markets crash, rioters take to the streets and mass hysteria threatens to destroy the framework of free-world government, the CIA must find answers. Were the two most secure aircraft in the world sabotaged? How could it have been anything else? But how could it have happened? Who is behind it and why?Brian Sadler, a wealthy adventurer and the missing President's closest friend, becomes part of the mission to uncover a plot with worldwide implications. What could possibly get worse?

A rainy day. Three kids in a park. A dinosaur spring rider. A bag of chalk. The kids begin to draw. . . and then . . . magic! The children draw the sun, butterflies, and a dinosaur that amazingly come to life. Children will never feel the same about the playground after they experience this astounding wordless picture book and the power of the imagination. Bill Thomson embraced traditional painting techniques and meticulously painted each illustration by hand, using acrylic paint and colored pencils.