Monster Fiction

One year ago, my knight in shining armor stepped out of the fog and rescued me. With a simple thank you and an "I owe you one," I was on my way. Little did I know, that was only the start of our deranged story. Now, our parents are married and we're living under the same roof. Rome presents himself as a masked villain with strikingly good looks and a hypnotic appeal. Girls want him. His friends want to be him. But I only want to run from him.

I've devoted my entire life to safe-guarding exotic animals. When a group of poachers invade the Komplot Toestel big game preserve, I'll take a bullet to the chest in the line of duty. As I laid dying, a mysterious goddess appeared by my side. Her offer was simple: teleport to a new world where I would be a game warden of a different sort. You see, there are no animals that need protecting in the land of Jadu. Instead, I've been tasked with protecting a tribe of lost monster girls. It's a tough job, and I'm just the man for it.

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.

When a truck ran down Tyler, he didn't think he'd wake back up...but he did. Now he's in a fantastical world filled with wonder, adventure, and battling monsters tamed by humans like one of his favorite video games.

Behold the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), today’s fastest growing carbohydrate-based religion. According to church founder Bobby Henderson, the universe and all life within it were created by a mystical and divine being: the Flying Spaghetti Monster. What drives the FSM's devout followers, a.k.a. Pastafarians? Some say it’s the assuring touch from the FSM’s “noodly appendage”. Then there are those who love the worship service, which is conducted in pirate talk and attended by congregants in dashing buccaneer garb.

Harper Hollingsworth wasn't looking for a friend. She wanted peace and quiet. Someplace to lose herself in a book and not think about being a misfit; not think about her coven or her disconnect from the craft as her mother taught it. She didn't want to think about her lack of magical ambition, as she was regularly told by her mother's poison-tongued familiar, and more than that—she didn't want to feel. Anything.

The Monster Hunters are back for more! Gabe, his brother Ben, and his best friends Sean and Tyler are off on a cross-country adventure. They track down cryptids—mythical legendary creatures that may actually exist—and help Ben film his Internet show, Discover Cryptids. What monstrous encounter will they face next?

The Monster Hunters are back for more! Gabe, his brother Ben, and his best friends Sean and Tyler are off on a cross-country adventure. They track down cryptids—mythical legendary creatures that may actually exist—and help Ben film his Internet show, Discover Cryptids. What monstrous encounter will they face next?!

After the devastating events on Prism Lake, Grady and the other survivors head south, hoping to find safety in one of the rumored "Cities of Light". But as they embark on their journey, they quickly discover the monsters aren't the only things out in the snow they must fear.

I'm the new owner of a magical mansion. This mansion, well, it's not your typical building. It's a dungeon from another world, masquerading as just another private residence in the suburbs. It has enchanted rooms, can craft powerful items, build lethal traps, and produce incredible monsters. And it's my mission to protect and evolve its monstrous inhabitants.

Ren is tired of being bullied, but he thinks the bullies are right. He is small and weak. But when his eyes turn golden, and his skin turns scaly, Ren thinks he can finally get revenge on the boys who tormented him. What will he do when he sees what fear looks like?

Wounds is a confounding, strange, and utterly entrancing collection of six stories, including one new novella from Shirley Jackson Award-winning author Nathan Ballingrud. From the eerie dread descending upon a New Orleans dive bartender after a cell phone is left behind in a rollicking bar fight in The Visible Filth to the search for the map of hell in “The Butcher’s Table”, Ballingrud’s beautifully crafted stories are riveting in their quietly terrifying depictions of the murky line between the known and the unknown.

Miles away from the hectic city, Reed and Rebecca hike into the beautiful Northwester woods. They are surrounded by gorgeous mountains, waterfalls, and hundreds of acres of unspoiled wilderness. During their first night camping, an unearthly wail pierces the calm of the forest. Then something emerges from the dense woods. Everything that follows is a blur to Reed—except the unforgettable image of a huge creature carrying his wife into the darkness.

There's an honesty in the turning of the earth, in the turning of the seasons, and I've always preferred its quiet, steadfast company over that of other people. Left alone with an inherited cottage and my beloved pup Rotho to look after, my days are largely given to tending the garden, save for periodic errands in town.

All that stands between rowdy long-haul trucker Jill MacLeod (aka Junkmouth) and her family back in Boston is two thousand miles of asphalt. Well, that and the monstrous game the System has had her playing ever since it descended on Earth. The reward: mana. Jill's goal: kill, score, drive—and stay alive. Behind the wheel of a turreted forty-ton semi named Bertha, Jill hammers east from Montana through a gauntlet of every kind of chomping, hissing, rabid creature imaginable. Barreling forward in her magical soulbound big rig and chalking up a bumper crop of roadkill, Jill isn't alone for long.

Life has been crazy since Tessa McCaide moved to Texas. She's gone from being a normal-ish girl with visions to a superpowered werewolf. She's fought off vampires and broken a nearly unbreakable curse. And she's got a hot mate, Dastien Laurent, to keep her busy. Things are looking up until the full moon ceremony rolls around. Before Tessa can strengthen her bond with Dastien, the local coven crashes the gates, demanding that Tessa - their heir apparent - be returned. If the pack wants to avoid a war with the witches, handing Tessa over is the only option.

The time has come! After discovering the true reason for the monster migration, Rowan is on an expedition to ultimately prove that she is worthy of the ebony monster-slaying sword on her back. She and her twin brother, Rhydd, their friends Dain and Alianor, as well as some other trusted advisors—and the ever-growing group of monstrous companions—are on a mission to help protect the dragon living in their homeland and are traveling to kingdoms beyond to make their case.

I thought I wanted to know what I was. Now that I’ve discovered the answers aren’t so pretty, it turns out there are no take backs. The most powerful monsters in existence fear this one mortal thief. Unfortunately, that means they’re set on stamping out my existence. The demon who was my strongest ally has been caught in the middle, his freedom and his life on the line. And that’s before we get into the genocidal psycho who’s about to unleash a catastrophe that could destroy both our worlds all by itself.

In 1993, Fox debuted a strange new television show called The X-Files. Little did anyone suspect that the series would become one of the network's biggest hits - and change the landscape of television in the process. Now, on the occasion of the show's 25th anniversary, TV critics Zack Handlen and Todd VanDerWerff unpack exactly what made this haunting show so groundbreaking. Witty and insightful reviews of every episode of the series, revised and updated from the authors' popular A.V. Club recaps, leave no mystery unsolved and no monster unexplained.

Our lands are fractured. They have been split into three since before my birth, but they were not always this way. Once, we prospered, magic filling our lands before it was locked away with them: the monsters. Now we suffer and starve even as our king grows stronger and richer. Then my sister is called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Unable to lose the one person I love, I take her place willingly, protecting her the only way I can.