Monster Fiction

An alien invasion comes to one man’s doorstep in the form of a story-creature, followed by death and rebirth in a transformed Earth, in this Tor.com Original science fiction tale from Jeff VanderMeer, the New York Times best-selling author of the Southern Reach trilogy.

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.

Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions. Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.

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.

Dianna is hellbent on revenge. As the last shred of her humanity is ripped from her, she decides to embrace her monstrous side and set the worlds alight. Samkiel alone refuses to believe that she has become the monster that everyone else sees, and he'll do anything in his power to save her from herself, even if it means losing her. With every realm now at risk from Kaden's army, and a myriad of new threats on the horizon, Samkiel can't afford to let his guard down. And as Dianna's thirst for blood only increases, he is running out of time to save them both.

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. This is the first of several adventures that Jack and his best friend, Annabelle, will have in the secret world that Jack discovers that fateful day.

Blaze uses wind power to beat Crusher and Pickle in a sailboat race!

Travel writer Amelia Balfour's dream of touring Egypt is halted when she receives news of a revolutionary new surgery for her grotesquely disfigured brother. This could change everything, and it does...in the worst possible way. Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he's gone into practice with, but he can't stop him from operating on Amelia's brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man's death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo?

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.

The Cryptids have started to kill a large amount of humans in the Upper Midwest. Banks' bosses told her not to call in the Cryptid Assassin.... He's too expensive. Now, the showdown between Taylor and the creatures will stop when one or the other is dead...and it isn't looking good for Taylor.

My labyrinth is dying. For my kingdom to survive, I must convince my fated mate to invoke the most ancient of magics—the carnal kind. Too bad my mate's a human who didn't know monsters existed until she saw me.

Ben and Mira have driven the orcs off the deer women’s island, but the question is not if the orcs will return, but when. As if the orcs weren’t bad enough, Ben spots a simultaneously new and ancient enemy on the horizon.

A larval Great Old One is growing day by day in power and just about ready to pop. If Chad Gadenier can't convince "the powers that be" to get involved, not only New Orleans, but the entire world, is going to fall under the power of the nastiest of nasties. Now on the outs with the US government and in exile from his usual job of saving the world, Chad must rally the forces of light against the coming darkness. The problem is one guy with a sword and a sub-gun isn't going to solve this one.

After a wedding cake catastrophe, local decorator Tegan finds herself being helped by a solid wall of fur and fangs named Atlas. She's never met anyone like him and finds herself enamored by his wolfish charm. After their sweet encounter, Atlas invites her to his gym anytime she needs his cake-lifting services. Tegan decides that instead—she wants to lift the cakes herself. She signs up for a membership with Leviathan Fitness, determined to build her strength.

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.

The zombies are disappearing. This might seem like a good thing, since zombies eat your brains, but normal human kid Jack Sullivan is suspicious. He keeps hearing an eerie shrieking noise that seems to be almost summoning the zombies - but to where, and for what (probably) foul purpose? Jack, his three best friends (maybe the only people left on Earth), and their pet monster Rover need to get to the bottom of this. Along the way they encounter a lot more than they bargained for.

Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka. Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she's formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past.

A dreamlike tale of haunting melodies and visions of alternate worlds.

Robert "Bubba" Brabham never wanted to hunt monsters. He mostly wanted to drink beer, hunt deer, and chase women, like every other giant redneck in the world. But life interfered, and Bubba found himself holster-deep in the family business: monster hunting. Now he's the Southeastern Regional Hunter for the Holy Roman Catholic Church...Bubba has to save the world from the things that go bump in the night! Just as soon as he's done with his beer. And maybe after one more lap dance.

So . . . I didn't handle the zombie apocalypse well. I used to be a third-grade teacher, but since the Gorging, my life has been . . . kinda rotten. I lost my group to the undead, became indebted to one of the gangs, and now I've been sold as a blood-slave. My new owner is Atlan, one of the vampire warriors who guard Blue City's walls and defend us from the zombies. The vampires are like celebrities around here. It's my job to provide Atlan with a clean blood source and any other services he needs.