Monster Fiction

In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life. Ballingrud’s stories are love stories. They’re also monster stories. Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires or werewolves.

Satisfy your craving for extraordinary authors and exceptional fiction: Meet the women writers who defied convention to craft some of literature’s strangest tales, from Frankenstein to The Haunting of Hill House and beyond. Frankenstein was just the beginning: horror stories and other weird fiction wouldn’t exist without the women who created it. From Gothic ghost stories to psychological horror to science fiction, women have been primary architects of speculative literature of all sorts. And their own life stories are as intriguing as their fiction.

Mirabelle is part of a very unusual family. Between Uncle Bertram transforming into a ferocious grizzly bear and Aunt Eliza’s body being made entirely of spiders, it’s safe to say they are an extraordinary lot. To the human residents of Rookhaven Village, the family is a threat. So long ago, a treaty was reached between them - in return for sundries and supplies, the monsters won’t eat the townspeople - and an invisible glamour was set around the perimeter of the Manor to keep strangers out. But it also keeps Mirabelle and her family hidden from those who would do them harm.

When a strange woman shows up outside our camp in the Wastes with monsters chained up to her RV, it feels like I’m the only one who actually wants to help them. That big, grey-skinned monster with the cage on his head and the chain hanging from his back—something is telling me I need to help him. I need to free him. But I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to do that, especially when he can’t even talk to me to tell me how. Collector Mary is finally leaving our camp to head back to her monster menagerie, so I do the only thing I can think of to help him: I go with her.

For five years, Cason Cole has been a chew toy for a god. He walked away from his wife and son and devoted his life to a predator who holds nothing and no-one dear. Now, as the man he loves and hates lies dying at his feet, the explosion still ringing in his ears, Cason is finally free. For centuries, the swarming gods of the Earth were content to lounge in Heaven, forgetting the mortals they left behind; but 30 years ago, the all-powerful "Usurper" ejected them all. Now it's back to the bad old days: cults and sycophants, and the terrible retribution of the gods.

Terrence Mack was born poor, grew up tough, and died hard. Waking up in a sea cave with nothing but the clothes on his back and a new bullet scar was enough to convince him that wherever his death had brought him, it wasn't paradise. His new world quickly proves to be a place of danger, magic, monsters, and - for Terry at least - women. Known on Celestine as a template, Terry's genes are key to the survival of the eldritch races. But the fiercely competitive eldritch don't typically leave their lovers alive long, and aren't accustomed to taking 'no' for an answer.

The monsters already own my body…but do they want my heart? Left to die in a monstrous land, I’m saved by the monster I least expect. He hates me, but he loves what my body can do for him. I shouldn’t want to keep him. I shouldn’t want to keep all of them. I’m just their plaything, after all. But, one by one, they find their way into my heart. Even as the world falls apart around me, I realize that I’ve become just as obsessed with my monsters as they are with me.

Astrid is the kind of Hunter that all Hunters aspire to be: lethal, focused, ambidextrous. In contrast to her disgraced sister, Astrid has done everything right. Now, she’s coming to realize that everything she’s ever known is wrong. Soren wants to be the kind of Shade that all Shades aspire to be: brave, decisive, powerful. But his disgraced sister is determined to ruin him, and now there’s a deadly Hunter in his realm, smelling like the most delicious thing he’d ever taste. And the king wants them to work together. And the king wants them to work together.

After my grandmother passed away, it left me with this feeling of emptiness. I had a dead-end job, no friends or family, and I was trying to navigate this new world while being utterly alone. The perfect solution? Take a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska and reconnect with the wilderness and all the things that make me happy.

Ben and Mira have set off on their raft to travel to the nearest island. There, they encounter a race of beautiful, long-legged deer women, and Ben meets the woman his daughter Marella foresaw in a vision. But this isn’t just a fun vacation. The voyaging duo will be put to the test against aquatic sea monsters, rabid bunnies, vicious wargs, and Ben’s mortal enemy: The orcs.

Gemma Cassata lives with her mother in an isolated antiques shop in Michigan, near a seductive patch of woods concealing an enchanted gateway to fairyland. Gemma knows she’s not supposed to go into the woods—her mother, Virginia, has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there—and yet she can’t resist.

Bones Malone feels like he can’t do anything right in his new small town: He almost punched the son of the woman who babysits him and his brothers, he’s one of the only Black kids in Langille, and now his baseball team (the one place where he really feels like he shines) just lost their first game. To make matters worse, things in town are getting weird. His mom isn’t acting like herself at all—she’s totally spaced out, almost like a zombie. And then he and his brothers have the same dream.

Traveling the country camping was supposed to be an escape from the strange and unusual that clings to my family. My family’s calling to fame terrifies me. The ghosts, the hauntings, the supernatural—I want nothing to do with it. Too bad it wants everything to do with me. Where did the trip first go wrong? Maybe when an old friend with dark secrets insisted on coming—a rising rock star whose fame is now putting me in the limelight. Then there is the West Virginia local legend.

Recon Marine Conor McCall didn’t expect action during his training op in the icy waters off Norway. But when a bizarre summer fog engulfs his boat, he and his team find themselves in a fight against strange, cruel monsters from the depths of the North Sea. When even their allies are enemies, the Recon Marines must do what they have always done: adapt or die. But with a world of ice and monsters seeking to destroy them, every second is mission-critical.

Framed for the grisly murder of his shellan, Kane is condemned to the notorious prison camp—unaware of the dark truth behind his arranged mating. Centuries later, when he is horribly burned while attempting to save others, he prays he’ll finally be reunited in the Fade with his mate…not knowing what revelations await him. Nadya is a self-taught nurse who does what she can to ease the suffering of the prisoners.

Enter a land of wizards, warriors, mythical creatures and powerful Magic in an exciting fantasy adventure. Wish and Xar are outlaws on the run, hunted by Warriors, Wizards and, worst of all, Witches.... Can they find the ingredients for the spell to get rid of Witches before the Kingwitch gets his talons on the Magic-that-Works-on-Iron? Their next Quest is the most terrifying and treacherous of all...and someone is going to betray them. Are you ready to Knock Three Times?

When my ex-boyfriend puts a hit out on me, there's only one man I can run to for protection. Cristian Marchetti. The head of the Marchetti Mafia family. My best friend's father. My last resort. But Cristian's protection doesn't come for free. What he wants might cost me my life. He's the Mafia king, and I'm his sacrifice. And now, I must become his wife.

Panic seizes the country when three children are seized by a gang of kidnapping aunts. But far away, on a mysterious island, the children soon realize their strange captors are not like normal criminals. In fact, Aunts Coral, Etta and Myrtle are on a secret mission. And the children have been specially chosen to help them in an extraordinary, dangerous and magical adventure…A hilarious, charming fantasy from bestselling author Eva Ibbotson, read by Susan Jameson.

A giant redneck in Fairyland, what could possibly go wrong? Everything. Absolutely everything. Monsters, Magic, & Mayhem collects four novella chronicling Bubba the Monster Hunter's trip through the lands of the Fae in search of his kidnapped sister.

Her entire life, Xo has brought others happiness and love, complete with endings tied in pretty little bows. This year, she wants that for herself. Love. Romance. A happy ending. And there's a grumpy Santa who's more than willing to grant her this wish in exchange for finding his love for Christmas again. Where there are candy canes, there are happily ever afters... and they're both about to find theirs.