Science Fiction Monsters

Meet Warren the 13th, a cursed 12-year-old Victorian bellhop who's terribly unlucky...yet perpetually optimistic, hard-working, and curious. Orphan Warren's pride and joy is his family's hotel, but he's been miserable ever since his evil Aunt Anaconda took over the management. Anaconda believes a mysterious treasure known as the All-Seeing Eye is hidden somewhere on the grounds, and she'll do anything to find it.

Despite all of the odds, Joan achieved the impossible. She reset the timeline, saved her family – and destroyed the hero, Nick. But her success has come at a terrible cost. She alone remembers what happened. Now, Aaron, her hard-won friend – and maybe more – is an enemy, trying to kill her. And Nick, the boy she loved, is a stranger who doesn’t even know her name. Only Joan remembers that a greater and more dangerous enemy is still out there. When a deadly attack forces Joan back into the monster world, she finds herself on the run with Nick – as Aaron closes in.

It's time. The gloves are coming off. The mob has disrespected Taylor's people, and he won't stand for it. However, DESK is more than willing to help everyone bet their bank account on the outcome. But will Taylor be able to take out two very large mob guys and take home the scratch? To get Niki's hand, will Taylor have to go through her DOD guys to get their permission? Perhaps, but perhaps they better not let Niki hear them say it that way.

"Perfect deadpan marks the opening of Ali Simpson’s The Monster'" writes Susan Merrell of The Southampton Review in her introduction to this issue of Recommended Reading.

A gas station clerk at twenty-seven with no future prospects on the horizon, Mike Reynolds is a dropout with an addiction to video games and a less-than-ideal living situation. Life definitely isn't great, but could it really get much worse? When monsters appear on Earth and begin destroying the fabric holding together humanity, that thought is thrown out the window: everything is getting worse, and fast. 'Is my world becoming an MMRPG Apocalypse?' Can Mike make good on his prior experience and carve a foothold for himself as a Necromancer in this RPG world?

I finally have everything I've always wanted: I'm part of a team with my brother and best friend, I'm spending my free time on missions hunting down monsters, and I'm about to turn nineteen, the age we fully come into our power. But it all still just feels empty. After last month's disaster, the members of Team Six abandoned Guild Headquarters, leaving me alone to deal with the crippling shame for my part in the events that night. And I can't say that I blame them.

The Darkness has taken Malem. The Breaker fights for Vorgon now. But that doesn’t mean Malem is going to let anyone harm the five women he’s bound to. They give him the power to control monsters, after all. Besides, they’re super hot. Vorgon doesn’t like the devotion Malem shows his women, so the evil demon decides to send him on a fool’s errand - his mission is to infiltrate the kingdom of the Tree Elves and Break their queen. No easy task, given that she is surrounded by an army of bloodthirsty fighters and merciless mages, not to mention a crapload of monsters.

The Battle of the Second Slayer is won, but peace in Dúramair is short-lived. Ylvain's darkling elementals still roam the kingdom in a violent storm, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Even Faer Dinnán, the faerie king, is fading, and unless the darklings are stopped soon, all of Dúramair will find itself in mortal danger. It falls to Alyen and the new Trianid to stem this evil and restore balance before all hope of victory is lost. But soon Alyen finds herself facing more than just the storm.

Jodie loves visiting her grandparents' farm. Okay, so it's not the most exciting place in the world. Still, Grandpa tells great scary stories. And Grandma's chocolate chip cookies are the best. But this summer the farm has really changed. The cornfields are sparse. Grandma and Grandpa seem worn out. And the single scarecrow has been replaced by twelve evil-looking ones. Then one night Jodie sees something really odd. The scarecrows seem to be moving. Twitching on their stakes. Coming alive...

London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges – searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone. But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It’s not the first corpse she’s encountered, but by far the strangest.

I’m the Hyrrokin High Priest of a remote monastery on the planet Salo. I spend my days in quiet contemplation, keeping my flame-throwing banked and nursing my war wounds. And I take my vows of silence and celibacy very seriously. Very. Seriously. Then one day a mouthy, gorgeous human female is dumped onto the stone steps of the main altar. And suddenly I’m tempted like never before.

The Kadrixans. Even their name inspires terror. Fiery-skinned and devil-like, they stand head and shoulders taller than any human man. Our colony made a terrible bargain with these monsters. The Kadrixans give us precious ore in exchange for the one thing they need.

A grumpy demon warrior who doesn't want a mate. A secret spy mission to a mysterious outpost. One pretend mating to protect me from human-hating savages.

Noah and Violet, treasure hunters and protectors of the Overworld, are back in this fifth installment of the League of Griefers series. When skeletons corner Noah and Violet, the duo escapes through a portal to the Nether. Trouble brews as Noah accidently leaves the portal open, and the mobs from the Overworld enter the Nether. Noah and Violet must battle hostile mobs from both worlds to survive. Taking shelter in a Nether Fortress, they befriend treasure hunters who help them battle the mobs.

Snorp loves his big-city life. He loves his job. He loves his friends. However, Snorp does NOT love his extra long tongue. It's always in the way. Hopefully his cousin Barker will have a solution for Snorp's big problem.

All the lines of fate have been pulling Edra Tendric to LA. It is the last place he wants to go, leaving his mate Inspector Jordan Kells in San Francisco to deal with a fractured mytho population and an increasingly tense political situation. Someone wanted Edra removed as Mytho Liaison, and they got their way. With the exposure of their relationship, Jordan has to negotiate the fallout at work and among the people he called friends.

The monsters already own my body…but do they want my heart? Left to die in a monstrous land, I’m saved by the monster I least expect. He hates me, but he loves what my body can do for him. I shouldn’t want to keep him. I shouldn’t want to keep all of them. I’m just their plaything, after all. But, one by one, they find their way into my heart. Even as the world falls apart around me, I realize that I’ve become just as obsessed with my monsters as they are with me.

Cyril woke up in a hospital bed with a ruined body and no memory of how it happened. His only chance at a normal life was agreeing to a splicer's experiment with a twisted condition: he was forbidden to learn the circumstances surrounding his injuries. Rose saved a life and wound up exiled from her gang, friendless and broke in Oolytau. Given an out by a notorious mob boss, she found herself in the Tracts working with a man who might be everything she never knew she needed.

I'm in a predicament of historic proportions. I've learned I can't inherit my grandfather's highly profitable business unless I'm married? Yes, an entirely ridiculous rule. I live with a herd of rescue cats and nary a boyfriend in sight. I'm also considered plain, sharp-tongued and overweight. And I've never, once been interested in marriage. Hence my reason for applying for a mail-order husband. The next morning I scream with fright when I find a huge, satanic-looking alien lurking on my doorstep.

Rescued by a mysterious monster who vows her sanctuary, Evanthia must piece back together the woman that Birsha tore apart. Quiet sanctuary is no cure for her endless hunger, but the war brewing on the horizon is the last place she wants to be. Hiding with sleeping dragons and lonely monsters in a castle made from dreams might be a fantasy, but it’s not enough to keep the nightmares at bay.