Science Fiction Monsters

Three months ago, Tansy Bloom quit monster hunting. Since then, she’s been trying to live a normal life (whatever that means), but ending up single, unemployed, and living on a boat outside her godfather’s pub definitely wasn’t part of the plan. So, when Tansy’s ex-husband – fellow monster hunter Rex Barclay – turns up like a bad penny and asks for her help with his latest investigation, Tansy reluctantly agrees. At first, the job appears to be a straightforward monster hunt – following a spate of large creature sightings, Rex believes a werewolf is on the loose in Norfolk.

A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together. Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good? Savannah, a professional BDSM switch, discovers a new turn-on: committing brutal murders for her eldritch masters. Mareva, plagued with chronic tumors, is too horrified to acknowledge her divine role in the coming apocalypse, and as her growths multiply, so too does her desperation.

Washington D. C., 1925. Clara Johnson talks to spirits, a gift that saved her during her darkest moments in a Washington D. C. jail. Now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So, when the Empress, the powerful spirit who holds her debt, offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, a desperate Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.

Using forbidden Marrangha magic and the three stolen vapours, the evil sorcerer Zharradan Marr has created a creature....but for what purpose?

Alchemist Zoe Faust is no stranger to magical mayhem, but when her boyfriend's new tea shop is vandalized and his special tea blends stolen, she plunges into a baffling mystery to save him. The clues lead Zoe and her gargoyle sidekick Dorian to an eerie mansion high in the Portland hills, filled with creeping carnivorous plants and enigmatic topiary monsters. When they stumble across a corpse in the conservatory that appears to have been killed by sinister shrubbery, an estranged member of the family is implicated in the murder.

Steve is back and ready for more adventures! But this time the excitement lands closer to home. While walking home from the village, Steve is surprised to hear a loud BOOM! When he returns home, he finds his wheat farm destroyed and a huge crater where the wheat once grew. And his diamond sword is missing! Steve believes it's the act of a griefer with a lot of TNT. Devastated, Steve wants to rebuild and find his sword, but with his wheat destroyed, he must call on old friends to help him.

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. In this story, Jack and Annabelle meet Orville, who will stop at nothing to keep the humans from returning to Monster World.

Each day, Owen rises with the sun. Creatures cheer as he shovels food into the trough. Enchanted plants dance and sway while he waters their stalks. This is a strange, wild world. A place where mushrooms can sprout sentience. A place where forest slimes make the best pets. It’s cozy. Simple. But that’s the tip of the monster-farming iceberg. The more his creatures work, the stronger they become. They grow and grow, morphing into unbelievable, frightening beasts.

Rebekah Daniels is just your ordinary spunky 9 year old girl living in the small town of Curtis Bay...EXCEPT she is determined NOT to be ordinary at all! Her small town is filled with mysteries and Rebekah is sure that she, along with her best friend Mouse, will be able to solve every last one of them.

A man becomes targeted by witches after he inherits some very special real estate.

From almost the first day I arrived in Valorae, having been abducted by dark magical creatures, I’ve had one thing on my mind: kill the demigod Aeyr. For all those he’s slain, including my best friend. Here I am, with the friends and family I’ve gathered while fighting for my life in this strange world. A world so different from my own. One thing is universal, though. Tyrants whose sole purpose is to exploit and destroy people need to be put down. In Valorae, somehow, the task fell to me.

Victor Wolfe has roamed his country for twelve years now. Ever since leaving his tiny village to escape to a life that felt worthwhile, he has been traveling the lands, fighting battles, plundering old tombs, and bedding fierce adventuresses. It's been quite the life. But that all changes when he has an intimate encounter with a monster girl, a dryad who opens his eyes to the possibilities of pleasure that only monster girls can provide. Now he is headed north, towards the famed Hinterlands.

The universe is a strange, all but impenetrable mystery. Every scientific advance sponsors countless new questions, and every new explanation spawns immeasurable unknowns. How can dinosaurs of all kinds and from all epochs of evolution suddenly and randomly appear all over the world? What would you do with a tyrannosaurus peering through your bedroom window? How would you deal with pterosaurs soaring above your roof? His is an unpredictable world surrounding an entirely too predictable suburban neighborhood. Then everything changes. One thing is certain, during a plague of prehistoric ...

"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.

She's a bunny. She's a girl. And she's going to evolve. Elise was always made fun of for her big ears and buck teeth. She tried her best to overcome the mockery, only to work herself to death and wake up as... a big-eared, buck-toothed rabbit. Now, with nothing but an almost worthless System Assistant to help her, she needs to survive in a world full of magic and monsters. On top of all that, for some reason she's been given the ominous skill. She has no idea what it does, but things keep happening to her, most of them unpleasant.

Dollitrice Grandmeir never thought her village would turn into a dungeon or that she’d battle a Kaiju overlord with the help of her giant tortoise. Now she’s got an all-new weirdness on her radar. The Twelve Days of Crisismas are coming, and without a special brew of eggnog, Taffy and the Ex-Mas Posse will transform into horrific Grumpus monsters, annihilating Dolli’s dungeon from the inside out.

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.

With her crooked spine and reckless heart, Princess Meera always knew she wasn't meant to become queen of Ezo. But when her sister, the rightful heir, is cursed on the eve of her coronation, Meera must defend her kingdom from ruthless invaders by taking the throne.

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.In the final installment of "Jack's Big Secret" find out if Jack and Annabelle finally find and save Bellion.

Life is finally going right for Lazarus Kerrigan, necromancer and Pale Horseman. Business is booming, and no gods have tried to kill him for a whole month. But the past is catching up to him. There's a serial killer on the loose in New Orleans, one that targets children and leaves behind only bones. When the case develops eerie similarities to his sister's murder, Laz knows the police are in over their heads. They need help, and the dead aren't talking. Well, except for the ghost of a 200-year-old pirate, and Laz doesn't like what he has to say.