Monster Fiction

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: They become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.

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.

Daisy Dumont tries so hard to be normal. She doesn't talk about the night her parents were murdered, or the fact that she can't remember it. She certainly doesn't talk about her imaginary friend who disappeared shortly afterward. Then the MRF calls. The research facility finally admits that they took her former friend, and now they want her help to save him.

As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many.

One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother has been shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence.

When Owen Pitt and the rest of the Monster Hunter International crew are called away to mount a month’s-long rescue mission in a monster-infested nightmare dimension, Julie Shackleford - Owen’s wife and descendant of MHI founder Bubba Shackleford - is left behind. Her task: hold down the fort and take care of her new baby son Ray. The slow pace of office work and maternity leave are starting to get to her. But when a routine field call brings her face-to-face with an unspeakable evil calling itself Brother Death, she’ll get more excitement than she ever hoped for.

Agent Franks of the U.S. Monster Control Bureau is a man of many parts - parts from other people, that is. Franks is nearly seven feet tall and all muscle. He's nearly indestructible. Plus he’s animated by a powerful alchemical substance and inhabited by a super-intelligent spirit more ancient than humanity itself. Good thing he’s on our side. More or less.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

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.

The world is aware of Princess Raven Haley Scarlet Dragen—twin sister to her charismatic twin brother, Rook, the daughter of the Queen of the Unified Nations, and the offspring of a notorious dark dweller. Or so they think they know her. But she has been hiding a secret since she was born—the monsters within. She had to keep them locked away because one desires blood, and the other craves death. They are the reason the President of Russia seeks revenge and wants her dead. Now, the monsters are set free among a world of beasts and darkness.

Blaze and Starla discover a map that leads to a bouncing bull racetrack, and race through the desert to find it!

Zeg leads a dinosaur parade through Axle City. But when some of the dinosaurs get lost, it’s up to Blaze and his truck friends to save the day!

Dolli had a very hands-off approach to ruling her once booming village. She preferred to use her alchemical skills to brew a nice cup of tea and keep whiny petitioners off her lawn with Wendigo repellant. But she pays the price for her apathy when her neglected village transforms into a Dungeon, making it fair game for any Hero with a lust for loot.

Stories of famous monsters in a new horror anthology featuring Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and many others.

A sailor recalls the monstrous terror that lay at the bottom of the deep in this, Lovecraft’s earliest tale of unspeakable horror from outside our universe.

One hot chocolate crisis at a holiday dinner party, an unforgettable mistletoe kiss, and suddenly, I'm falling for one of the hottest goalies in the NMHL. Ehrokk is a sweet orc with hard muscles, a soft heart, and the kind of submissive eyes that draw me right in. As a vampire, I've been alive for centuries, but there's something about him that calls to me. After a New Year's Eve that changes us both, we wonder if we're fated to be together. But we lead such different lives that we aren't sure we can make it work. Can we give true love a shot?

The kingdom of Cornucopia was once the happiest in the world. It had plenty of gold, a king with the finest moustache you could possibly imagine, and butchers, bakers, and cheesemongers whose exquisite foods made a person dance with delight when they ate them. Everything was perfect - except for the misty Marshlands to the north, which, according to legend, were home to the monstrous Ickabog. Anyone sensible knew that the Ickabog was just a myth to scare children into behaving. But the funny thing about myths is that sometimes they take on a life of their own.

It’s Monsters Night, the annual event where the portals to other realms and realities open, and monsters flood the streets to search for their potential mates. And I’m one of the candidates. Why? Because I broke all the rules. I fought back against the elitist system hellbent on enslaving humankind. And f--k if I’m going to let one of these monsters claim me. Let alone three of themOrcus.

Dolli was just getting to like the idea of being the overlord of Monster Haven when a roaming Warmonger set his eyes on her dungeon core. Some of her citizens have defected to the enemy horde for the promise of safety, and now Dolli has a choice to make. Does she wipe them out to save those who remain, or does she sacrifice herself to save them all? But the defectors don’t know that the Warmonger has an even more sinister plot than just consuming Dolli’s core—and when they finally see his true monstrous nature, will it be too late?

Luna Thorn’s past is a mystery...even to herself. She arrived in Detroit amid a swirl of lights and magic. She had no memory of where she came from. No idea why she was there. Years later, she’s established herself as a force to be reckoned with on the Detroit magical scene. She ingratiated herself with the local reapers. She set up a community called the Cathedral to help those who had been displaced from their homes and families, declaring that nobody would fall through the cracks. Still, doubt remains.