Monster Fiction

Monsters Unleashed - where you catch virtual-reality monsters on your cellphone - is one of the hottest mobile games around, and Bex and Charlie just can't stop playing. They even check out an old map in Charlie's grandfather's attic in hopes of discovering some forgotten places in town where the rarest monsters might hide. But they find a strange machine up there, too, and after Charlie switches it on, the wifi goes down...and Bex's entire catalog of monsters vanishes!

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.

As a monster, Shrubley is forbidden from joining the adventurers guild. In a world where essence artists rank up in power and most monsters are feral beasts, Shrubley is among the weakest of creatures and is treated as an outcast. With curiosity essence bound to his spirit, Shrubley might be weak, but he's intelligent and determined. Against all the odds, he discovers a loophole from the Druid that gave him life—but there's a deadly catch. For a chance of ever being accepted as a true adventurer, he must challenge an otherworldly realm threatening to consume everything.

Max Best is not living his—ahem—best life. His job's a drag, his home's a shooting gallery, his hopes are nil, and lately, even his beloved game of football has devolved from a chaotic, ecstatic delight into a cold, calculating equation complete with stats, tech terms, and mindless lingo. But then Max rescues a mysterious old man from a mugging. "Nick" seems friendly enough . . . until he innocently asks his savior, "Would you sell your soul to be a top football manager?" Naturally, Max says yes, and in that instant, everything changes.

After finding my apartment ransacked for the third time, I'm done being stalked. I'm just some nameless orphan who's only trying to survive in this broken city. I shouldn't matter. I shouldn't be a target. I shouldn't have to live on the run. But here I am, trying to find a hideout when living beyond the city without a permit is punishable by death. I'm desperate. But I'm scrappy too, and soon I'm surviving off the land with only the rodents for company. Everything's fine. Until he shows up.

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during WWII included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju? This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history.

When Steve's friends, Max, Lucy, and Henry, get their hands on a map with the location of the legendary Mine Mountain, Steve questions if the map is a fake. Going to this fabled mountain, rumored to contain an endless supply of diamonds, is every treasure hunter's dream. Many believe the mountain doesn't exist, and although Steve is doubtful about the map's authenticity, the gang convinces Steve and Kyra to embark on a journey to find this magical mountain.

Steve and his friends are back at the wheat farm, trying to find a way to secure their crops from hostile mobs, when their old friend, Georgia, comes to them for help. Georgia's village is in the middle of a serious skeleton attack. The skeletons appear at dawn, and nobody can go to bed without risking death. Steve and the gang agree to help, but the journey to Georgia's village isn't easy, especially with a new batch of rainbow griefers on their trail.

Andrew has one chance to pull himself up from his humble beginnings and make something of himself. He has been found to have a spark of magic deep within himself. To bring it forth, he must first learn to summon the familiar. He must use every drop of his magic to search the Lands of Mist and find the one meant for him. The one he will be bonded to for life. The one who is actually capable and willing to make all his dreams possible. Andrew may be small now, but he has big dreams.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting - he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.

When Josh Underwood is thrown through a wormhole and lands on an unfamiliar world, he is immediately attacked by flesh-eating worms and snarling wolves. He has one huge advantage. A ring sits on his finger, but it's no ordinary ring. It's alien tech designed to improve its host’s strength, speed, agility, durability and combat instinct. Not all boons are infinitely wondrous. This tech has to understand what Josh needs for it to evolve, and time is of the essence.

I messed up. I broke two of the Arcane Council's laws in one day. I swear it was an accident - but try telling that to the Arcane authorities. Before I could catch my breath, my simple gypsy life of peddling potions with my guardians is wrenched away. I'm forcibly enrolled into the prestigious and supremely snotty Arcane Arts Academy, given shackles under the guise of mercy for my crimes.

When everything is on the line, how far will you go to protect those you love? What if the cost of saving them is your soul? Would you pay it? I thought I was prepared for what was coming; that if I made sacrifices, I could win this game. I’m no longer afraid of the darkness or the monsters that hide in the shadows. I’ve become what I feared most, allowing it in to protect those I loved. Sometimes it takes a monster to win. Sometimes to fight monsters, you have to become one. My only fear is…can I come back from it?

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.

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams? If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story.

There’s more to the swamplands than meets the teeth. In this supernatural tale of magic and mysticism, Henry Lemarchand grew up in Philadelphia knowing very little of his family—his father disappeared when he was young, leaving behind only a strange pouch of animal teeth. When he is sent to the Louisiana bayou to spend the summer with his eccentric uncle and cousin in their decaying ancestral mansion, Henry learns about his family’s supernatural legacy.

I thought I was done with romance, until a certain pompous elf reappeared in my life at the illustrious Monster Ball. A little teasing led to bruised lips and captured hearts. No one wants Jhaeros and me to be together, not even my favorite sister, Melarue. But she's a teenager just coming into her elemental powers and discovering boys - the wrong kind - the type I want to shoot arrows through.

Berkeley and her best friend, Garth, live on an old cruise ship, scavenging for supplies from the drowned cities left behind on the ocean floor after the sea swallowed up all the land. They think they’ve seen every kind of aquatic creature, but they never expected to find sea monsters.... After awakening a Hydra, Berkeley and Garth are sent to live on a submarine, where they study and hunt sea monsters. But the Hydra wants revenge on their home ship - and if it succeeds, their families will go down with it.

Ben is now Draco Rex the dragon king, and his dynasty is steadily growing. His women give him a new dragon-kin child every few weeks, he has fortified and improved his village and palace, and the water dragons are coming back from the brink of extinction. Life is good for him, but the gods have further plans, so it is time for the new ruler to build a raft and expand his domain.

In Monsters, Inc., join monsters Mike and Sulley on a wild adventure that takes them from the Scare Floor at Monsters, Inc., all the way to the dangerous human world. Joined by the human child, Boo, the best friends must return the little girl before an evil plot prevents her from ever going home.