your guide to the
joe townsel multiverse
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FEATURE
Updated December 1, 2025
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Multiverses are all the rage these days, and the Dark and Bizarre Works of Joe Townsel are no exception! Beginning with the publication of Anticipation in 2016, the groundwork was laid for an all-encompassing epic with interconnecting tales of horrific world(s) building. Get up to speed now, and check back here with each new published (and broadcast) story to see how it all comes together. Stay tuned faithful readers (and listeners)!
THE MANIAC IN THE MIRROR
From The Unfriend Zone
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A promient business tycoon discovers that his mirror reflection has a mind and identity of his own. The power struggle begins between counterparts, each of whom resides on oppostie sides of the same coin.
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Don't mess with what lies beyond the glass.
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FURY DUTY, BUSINESS AS USUAL and FEAR OF OPEN SPACES
From Fury Duty
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Fury Duty - The victor from The Maniac in the Mirror has risen to prominence as Our Leader, Willard Craig. In this horrifying new world, justice has become the most harsh mistress of all. As the murder trial of the moment unfolds, Juror No. 13 is forced to carry out his "Fury Duty", or face dire consequences.​
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​Business As Usual - A contemptuous efficiency expert visits a branch office of his corporation, with more than financial profit on his mind. His seduction of the beautiful temp secretary may be too good to be true, when her motives also come into question. "Bloodsucker" takes on an entirely new meaning by dawn.
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Ties into Things That Go Bump in the Day and Slim Pickings from Horror Springs Eternal.
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Fear of Open Spaces - The Zombie Apocalypse has consumed the Earth. One terrified agoraphobic woman must face her fears to survive and leave her legacy in a ruined nation that has been claimed by the undead.
Ties into Dead Air - A Podcast Radio Play and Slim Pickings in Horror Springs Eternal.​
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN - BOOK III and
LOVE CONQUERS HELL - BOOK IV
From Mate to Order
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Our Leader, Willard Craig, struggles to maintain order and tyranny in a revolution of androids claiming their creator-given right to become the dominant species of the world. Who will emerge victorious? And will humanity become helpless cannon fodder in the cross-fire?​
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Ties into and has common characters with Three Strikes and Dead Air - A Podcast Radio Play in Horror Springs Eternal.
MULTIPLE STORIES
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All stories in this collection are linked to the seemingly sweet ... yet slyly seductive and cunning ... Rose the Florist, and her minions. Many main characters in one story appear in supporting roles in others.
The Florist answers only to Our Leader, Willard Craig ... for now. Craig grows in power and evil across realities, fated to collide and merge into a single unholy destiny for mankind. Most notable connections:
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Three Strikes - The fate of a pregnant woman and her unborn child will be determined by the State.
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Dead Air - A Podcast Radio Play - Uninterrupted radio coverage of the Zombie Outbreak, following a dedicated roving reporter as she stays one step ahead of the escalating carnage.
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Morning Ritual - A lonely man is helpless to defy the voices in his head, commanding he follow an unwavering routine ... until it's time to fulfill his final bloody task.
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Slim Pickings - An Old World Vampire struggles to maintain his existence in a world where humanity is near extinction.
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Horror Springs Eternal - Poetry introducing us to Rose the Florist, and her origins as a minion to Our Leader, Willard Craig.
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A Simpler Time - A loving couple endures bigotry and prejudice as they build a life together, and for their children.
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How do these and the other Dark and Bizarre Tales tie together? The layers and complex, multi-faceted and terrifying!
THE GOVERNMENT NEWS NETWORK - GNN
From Horror Springs Eternal, Mate to Order and Fury Duty
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The sole remaining news outlet in Our Leader Willard Craig's Indivisible State of America. Propoganda is force-fed to the masses several times a day. Viewing is mandatory. Defiance of this or any other law or command in punishable by death. Or worse.
THE VOID OF ULTIMATE OBLIVION
From Hell and Wellness and Other Works
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The final stop in Hell is The Void of Ultimate Oblivion, commanded by the Beast, who may be ... or may not be ... one of the many guises of Willard Craig. In this expanse that is beyond infinite ... and contains less than nothing .... the Beast has imprisoned the likes of:
Jake Hartman - Hell and Wellness
Brian and Wydia Mansour - Mate to Order
The lonely boy - Here Is the Church from Fury Duty
Yvonne - The Unfriend Zone
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Who else will find themselves trapped and tormented in the Void for an eternity of eternities?​
WHAT ARE THE NEXT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE
JOE TOWNSEL MULTIVERSE?
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The battles of Our Leader, Willard Craig, and his counterparts in seemingly infinite parallel universes will come to a head in future chapters, coming soon! Will those tales take the form of a novel, or short stories? Both! And more!
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Will the worlds in the multiverse collide? Time will tell ...
Look for announcements as those stories unfold, and this Guide to the Joe Townsel Multiverse is updated! The best, and most horrific, is yet to come!​​