Monster Fiction

When the Monster Relations Bureau tells me I've been identified as a kraken shifter's mate, my first instinct is to run. I learned the hard way what it means to be treated like someone's possession, and I'm not about to make the same mistake twice. Only, Elias is… different. Patient and careful with me, willing to wait as long as it takes for me to let him in. The more I learn to trust him, and the more he draws me under with the dark temptation of his touch, the more the defenses I've held onto for so long start to crumble.

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.

My role as Moric—ruler of a small and prosperous fiefdom in a quiet corner of the world—has always been painfully dull and stifling. Until a beautiful, otherworldly creature with pink skin and a mane of golden hair falls through a strange void that has appeared in my guestroom. I am instantly captivated by him. I have never seen anything like him. I have no idea where he came from, and what else is through that unsettling void—another world filled with soft-skinned, defenseless creatures like him? No tails, no horns, no claws, no sharp teeth. Tiny clothing, rounded ears, bright blue eyes.

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.

My husband killed me. Then he screwed his way through the city. The only problem? I didn’t stay dead. It seems killing me woke something deep inside, something so dark and buried so deep I never knew it was there. I don’t know what I am, I don’t really care. All I can think about is revenge, even as the monsters in the dark start to surround me. Their horns and black eyes, mouths filled with fangs claiming I am theirs.

I was hanging out with some buddies, doing a little caving, when everything went south. When I woke up, I was in some kind of medieval dungeon. Totally naked and in the dark. Luckily, I had a neighbor in a cell near me. One with a decidedly sexy feminine voice. When she explained to me that she was due to be executed and I was in line to be brainwashed, there was only one thing to do.

What’s better than three monstrous hotties? How about four.... While helping the trio of sexy-as-sin monsters who followed me home, I lost my apartment, my sense of security, and more blood than was really healthy. Somehow my new lovers make me feel like I’ve gotten the better part of the bargain. Unfortunately, their newly-rescued boss isn’t so keen on humans. I get the feeling he’d rather rend me limb from limb than give me the time of day. Too bad for him my mortal skills are just too useful to toss aside.

Before the Age of Monsters, there was Monster Island. Top-secret habitat for genetically-resurrected dinosaurs. But something has gone terribly wrong. Somehow, the beasts have escaped – first there were scattered sightings worldwide – then people went missing. But now a pleasure-cruise shipwrecked on a tropical beach has discovered an entire savage prehistoric jungle.

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.

As a witch in the walled city of Chernograd, Kosara has plenty of practice treating lycanthrope bites, bargaining with kikimoras, and slaying bloodsucking upirs. There’s only one monster she can’t defeat: her ex, the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters. She’s defied him one too many times and now he’s hunting her. Betrayed by someone close to her, Kosara’s only choice is to trade her shadow—the source of her powers—for a quick escape.

Zee went missing for a year. And when he came back, he was...different. Nobody knows what happened to him. At Zee's welcome home party, Justin and the neighborhood crew play Hide and Seek. But it goes wrong. Very wrong. One by one, everyone who plays the game disappears, pulled into a world of nightmares come to life. Justin and his friends realize this horrible place is where Zee had been trapped. All they can do now is hide from the Seeker.

An existence spent being forced to kill others to satiate a monster. Where the only thing to look forward to was the blessed, if brief, period of time between paying that bribe. Except that very same monster is and isn’t Rene. It just happened to live inside his own mind and force him to do what it wanted - rather than him being an actual monster. That was Rene’s entire life until a fateful day changed that. A day that his career as a hitman for hire built on the monster’s needs will end. Where Rene will be forced to atone for his actions. To be held accountable and judged.

When a missing person case lands in the lap of Black Knight Investigations, Jimmy Black and his partner, Greg Knightwood, jump back into action - until their missing person rises as an uncontrollable vampire and all signs point to a supernatural coup orchestrated by an unknown vampire of immense power. With the case going sideways, more missing girls, and a new cop in town way too curious about Jimmy's perennial youth, life in Charlotte is about to get interesting again.

Paxton is heartbroken. His best friend, Alice, is moving away in a month, and their summer plans seem dashed. Determined to have one last adventure together, Alice and Paxton vow to explore deeper into their nearby forest than ever before. Soon, the pair stumbles across a cave that hides a great, big, hairy secret. Alice is over the moon! She wants to strike it rich by capturing a picture of a legendary creature. But Paxton isn’t sure that’s such a good idea.

The story of a teenage girl who's turning into a monster—literally. Chloe Dark is an ordinary girl in an extraordinary world. But when her closest friend is kidnapped and the police seem powerless to help, she sets out to find her alone. But things are not what they seem and in this dystopian world, anyone can be a target.

Carly Beth thinks she's found the best Halloween mask ever. With yellow-green skin and long animal fangs, the mask terrifies the entire neighborhood. Before long, it has a surprising effect on Carly Beth, too. She tries to take it off... but it won't budge! Halloween is almost over, but fright night is just beginning. Now with all-new bonus materials!

So, this is rock bottom. Not only did I lose my job and my apartment, but now, an ultra-secret snow leopard shifter group wants me to marry a guy I never met and have babies to save our species. And they’re coming in three days to take me away. Cue me getting smashed alone on a Thursday night. That is until the world’s sexiest, brooding stranger walks in, all sharp angles and hard lines. He’s massive and covered in muscles, and his mesmerizing green-gray eyes has my knees turning to jelly. In a moment of brilliance—or perhaps it was the gin and tonic—I ask him to marry me.

Bucky Drake literally just got his managerial position at McDaniel’s, but he’s already been promoted to "Hero" whether or not he's interested in the job. Dragged against his will through a yawning purple vortex by a mouthy catgirl, he finds himself in another world full of vivid colors—and peerless beauties. Cowgirls, lamias, satyresses, unicorns, and even elves of all colors of the rainbow make his acquaintance early and often...and he handles them pretty darn well for a random fast food worker in over his head.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Queen of Myth and Monsters (French Edition) and experience the compelling world of witches and magic.

Princess Candra must remain locked inside a tower for seven long years in order to protect her people from their goddess's wrath. Seven years without a friend—or a lover—by her side. And locked inside the tower with her? A fearsome winged Fellian warrior, Nemeth. He's terrifying, cruel, and disturbingly magnetic . . . and the only other living being in the tower. Candra is torn between wanting to kill him for his supplies or having her way with him. After all, seven years is a long time to be alone.