Monster Fiction

Dark figures in the night. An owl's cry on the wind. Monsters watching from the edge of the wood. Some of the creatures in this book might only have a message for you, but some are the stuff of nightmares. These 32 short stories - from tales passed down for generations to accounts that could have happened yesterday - are collected from the thriving tradition of ghost stories from American Indian cultures across North America. Prepare for stories of witches and walking dolls, hungry skeletons, la llorona, and deer woman, and other supernatural beings ready to chill you to the bone.

When a secret society offers me an invitation to stay in their isolated forest retreat, I can't possibly refuse. Not if I want to find out what my mother was hiding before she died. But it's not just any forest. The noises in the woods at night aren't animals—they're monsters. They watch me from the trees, slither through the lake, and creep in the shadows outside my window. By day, the society hides their secrets from me. By night, I disappear into the world of monsters and discover secrets of my own. Secrets about being meant for their world, the Void.

I'm bound to a demon. For my entire life, I avoided magic at all costs. Now, I'm responsible for a demon who wields magic more powerful than the toughest mage or sorcerer. Demons are evil. That's what my textbooks say. That's what I see. He's ruthless, he's temperamental, he's cold. But he protects me without fail. I wonder if he's hiding a heart behind his hostility. My demon is a monster.

The beautiful monster girls of the Archipelagos were in need. They needed a man to help build their homes. They needed a man to teach them to survive. They needed a man to defend them from the evil slaver-pirates. And most of all, they needed a man to impregnate them and rebuild their population. Fortunately for them, a man named Ben came from our world to give them everything they needed.

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. Death is the Grim Reaper of the Discworld, a black-robed skeleton with a scythe who ushers souls into the next world. He is also fond of cats and endlessly baffled by humanity. Soon Death is yearning to experience what humanity really has to offer, but to do that, he'll need to hire some help. It's an offer Mort can't refuse. As Death's apprentice he'll have free board, use of the company horse—and being dead isn't compulsory. It's a dream job—until Mort falls in love with Death's daughter, Ysabell.

My father had just sold me off. Bartered my body to erase his debt to the very devil himself. A Beast of a man. Literally. A creature whispered about amongst the villagers and feared by all. He was a beastly visage at three times the size of a man, his monstrously huge body covered in fur. Sharp fangs and eyes that held an unearthly red glow. He had paw-like hands tipped with claws and horns that arched back from his inhuman face. I was to live with him, to be his in every way—all ways—he saw fit.

With the fall of Alvin the Unconquerable, the face of the Fourliance changes drastically. New alliances are made as the Factions prepare for war, and all while the Necro-Beast Faction keeps pushing for more territory. Keith, meanwhile, has other concerns. Mainly with the discovery of the next World Monster's location, and the formation of his Guild in the Fourliance. With powerful new allies backing him, things should be running smoothly, but when a raid goes south, he finds himself facing a powerful enemy he cannot hope to defeat.

Not all monsters are fantasy. Some are very real, and they walk among us. They're our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They're the people we're supposed to trust...and they know it. Contained within this anthology are 35 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors and best-selling novelists. Brace yourself for the unexpected and unimaginable horror of...human monsters.

When Crusher breaks down during a race, Blaze transforms into a powerful tow truck to pull him to safety! Boys and girls ages 2 to 5 will love this story based on a fun-filled episode of Nickelodeon's Blaze and the Monster Machines.

Getting stuck in the hockey locker room was not how I envisioned catching my next story. After a fateful encounter with two of the hottest players in the NMHL, I'm swept into an unforgettable first date.

Violet is a typical, down-on-her-luck millennial: mid-twenties, over-educated and drowning in debt, on the verge of moving into her parents' basement. When a lifeline appears in the form of a very unconventional job in neighboring Cambric Creek, she has no choice but to grab at it with both hands.

In the backwoods of the Miskatonic River valley, an unspeakable creature seeks to come through the veil into our world.

John Birmingham is the master of alternate history adventure - and now he's mastered a new genre with the volcanically fast-paced and wildly inventive Dave Hooper urban fantasy series. The series is anchored by a thrilling high concept: An oil rig opens a rift deep in the ocean that unleashes terrifying monsters into the world. But perhaps its coolest asset is its hero, Dave Hooper, a tough, bleakly funny, down-on-his luck oil rig worker with an unlikely destiny as a monster-slayer and world savior.

The Monsters and Miseries Boxset includes all three books: Hellish Fae, Sinless Demons, and Spiteful Creatures. This sexy reverse-harem series features creatures of heaven, hell, and all the dark fae realms in between.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good. Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when a quick-witted mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake...and a hungry Gruffalo!

Jack Miller has spent his entire nine years in the same house on the same street in the same town with the same best friend. One day, while delivering papers on his same ordinary paper route, Jack finds himself amidst a very unordinary world. A world where strange and silly monsters become his friends. In this story, Jack and Annabelle face off with the a very difficult monster called Iris. What they learn while inside the house will change everything.

Rebekah Daniels is just your ordinary spunky 9 year old girl living in the small town of Curtis Bay...EXCEPT she is determined NOT to be ordinary at all! Her small town is filled with mysteries and Rebekah is sure that she, along with her best friend Mouse, will be able to solve every last one of them.

The city of Elendhaven sulks on the edge of the ocean. Wracked by plague, abandoned by the South, stripped of industry and left to die. But not everything dies so easily. A thing without a name stalks the city, a thing shaped like a man, with a dark heart and long pale fingers yearning to wrap around throats. A monster who cannot die.

In the wake of his confrontation with Lihng, Keith finds himself stranded deep in Necro-Beast territory, surrounded by waves of the undead. While this is happening, Lihng–who is furious that Keith has managed to slip her grasp–proposes an alliance with the Empress. Keith’s enemies only grow more powerful, as he prepares to confront the most terrifying and cunning World Monster to date. The Terror Queen is unlike any creature Keith has faced, and he’ll need more than a little luck to bring her down.

Savage (adjective): 1) Not domesticated; wild and untamed 2) A brutal or vicious person 3) Malek Antonov. He’s a myth. A ghost. A legend. A Bratva assassin so feared, some won’t even dare to speak his name. He comes in search of vengeance for the death of his brother, but what he finds instead is me.