Science Fiction Monsters

Sam’s life has always been strange. After all, his family have no idea that he’s half monster, half fairy. But now he’s keeping an even bigger secret. He alone has the power to bring monsters to life! (He’s even got a tiny gargoyle hatchling hidden in his sock drawer.) When Queen Maggie finds out, she’s delighted. She wants Sam to create her a whole new legion of vile ogres. When he refuses, she vows that she will destroy everything Sam holds dear.

I'm having a hard time. And no, that's sadly not an innuendo. Depression is slipping back into my life like a toxic ex, and I know I need to do something before it consumes me. So when I run into the man of my dreams on my first attempt to get out of the house, it feels like fate.

After surviving an encounter with the Beast, the pinnacle of power in the Nexeus, Salvos decides she still needs to get stronger. But power does not come easy, especially at the higher levels. Fortunately for Salvos, she has made an enemy out of the Demon King himself, and she will take advantage of his animosity towards her. If the Deathsquad Hunters want to come for her head? She will welcome them with open arms.

Former model and current recluse Jules Lowe would prefer to spend the rest of her life locked inside her apartment doing nothing more than fixating on her empty fish tank and chatting away on a local aquarium forum. But when her online crush sends her an inadvertently suspicious picture, Jules' curiosity gets the best of her. Who or what is Mack Vasser?

The small town of Beacon Point has always been plagued by eerie local phenomena. It’s a town where disappearances are common, strange creatures have been sighted with unnerving frequency, and a ghastly secret lurks in the woods. The adults in town are oblivious to these strange occurrences. Others prefer not to talk or even think about them. But over the course of several terrifying nights, a group of kids will come face to face with the horrors hiding within their sleepy town.

After telling a goddess of love and passion that I would conquer her, I was dropped into another world: Mistrim. I have no memory of who I was, I have a wicked awesome power born from my desires, and I have a timer on my arm counting down to my death. Not the worst starting point, I would say. But where there is adversity, there is the opportunity for good fortune. Elves, werewolves, harpies, bunny girls, and more—Mistrim is inhabited by all manner of monsters given humanoid forms—Sentients. And, as I found out, harems are commonplace in Mistrim.

A wild band of smoking-hot shifters rescue me from hunters who claim I’m Death’s daughter. I want to be grateful, but the shifters turn out to be assholes as well, especially Jared, the Alpha Heir and apparently my fated mate. He’s chosen another, a powerful shifter princess, over a nobody like me. Even worse? He claims I’m a spy for the vampires and drags me to the fortified Shifter City. After dumping me at a shifter military academy, he thinks he can forget about me. Only he underestimates his hot and heavy lust for me.

Ryker Hayes is a licensed massage therapist, and a damn good one at that. It's a career he's passionate about, and all his plans for life are on track—until he winds up transported to the world of Werifesteria in the body of an infamous warlord, at least. Now all he really wants to do is forget the misdeeds of his alter ego and retire to a life of anonymity with a couple interesting women as his new partners. Together, they open the very first massage inn and spa in all the land, and take on all the responsibilities that come with it. Turns out, it's a lot of work!

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.

For most kids, catching fireflies is a fun summer activity. For twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng, it's a matter of life and death. That's because Serwa knows that some fireflies are really adze, shapeshifting vampires from the forests of Southeastern Ghana. Adze prey on the blood of innocents, possessing their minds and turning them into hulking monsters, and for generations, slayers like Serwa and her parents have protected an unknowing public from their threats.

Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage—and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley. Ada Lovelace knows a thing or two about superstar parents, what with her dad being Lord Byron, the most famous poet on Earth. But her passions lie far beyond the arts—in mechanical engineering, to be exact.

For the first time in her life, Moriah has an open door of possibility before her. Recently divorced, she's free to do what she's always wanted. There's only one thing holding her back—the desire to have a child. Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic offers a unique service—trigger a heat and breed with a werewolf.

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.

Julie Crews is a coked-up, burnt-out 30-something who packs a lot of magic into her small body. She’s trying to establish herself as a major psychic operative in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs to claw her way to the top. Desperate to break the dead-end grind, Julie summons a guardian angel for a quick career boost. But when her power grab accidentally releases an elder god hell-bent on the annihilation of our galaxy, the body count rises rapidly.

Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don't like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady - for the future of the universe.

In a gauntlet-throwing essay at the start of this brilliant assemblage, Cynthia Ozick stakes the claim that, just as surely as critics require a steady supply of new fiction, novelists need great critics to build a vibrant community on the foundation of literary history. For decades Ozick herself has been one of our great critics, as these essays so clearly display. She offers models of critical analysis of writers from the mid-20th century to today, from Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, and Kafka to William Gass and Martin Amis, all assembled in provocatively named groups.

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.

Gaia has an eldritch problem, and Cain is tasked with stopping it before it gets out of control. To do that, he'll have to make an uneasy alliance with a human black-ops organization called Aegis. Run by the US government, Aegis has the personnel and resources to stop an eldritch invasion in its tracks. The problem is, Aegis has been taking a short-term approach, blowing up eldritch wormholes as they form on Gaia rather than cutting them off at the source.

Gloriously rich and utterly delightful, Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders is an indispensable guide to the peculiar world, perfect for longtime fans and new listeners alike. Covering everything from how to blend in with suspicious normals to the most popular time loops to visit as a temporal tourist, this essential volume is ideal for anyone curious about the world of Miss Peregrine: its strange history, curious practices, fascinating places, most famous (and infamous) names, and much more.

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.