Horror Fiction Monsters

Not all monsters are fantasy. Some are very real, and they walk among us. They're our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They're the people we're supposed to trust...and they know it. Contained within this anthology are 35 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors and best-selling novelists. Brace yourself for the unexpected and unimaginable horror of...human monsters.

31 Brand-New Dark Fantasy Horror Stories. Bloody corridors of ancient rock. A castle surrounded by poisonous thorns. A lost temple of traps and corpses. A subaqueous cave at the bottom of a cursed lake. These are the places where secrets are buried, where ancient evils are summoned, where beasts are imprisoned, where the insane lie in wait. These are tombs of darkness and nightmare, where if you stare into the abyss, the abyss will stare back. Heed the warnings of your elders and return from whence you came. Ahead lie monster lairs.

The Monster series. Based on the most disturbing true cases! A killer stalks the streets of Belton. Targeting young kids, their bodies found mutilated, the actions of a savage. The task force hunting him have no clues, no witnesses, nothing. Yet impossibly, kids are still allowed to roam the streets alone at night making it easier for the killer. Or could he be doing the unthinkable; taking them from their own beds while they sleep? Then, as if this wasn’t bad enough, kids start to disappear, kidnapped, unlike the previous deaths. Meaning another copycat killer may be at work too.

For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the 1985 Chicago Bears were more than a football team: they were the greatest football team ever - a gang of colorful nuts, dancing and pounding their way to victory. They won a Super Bowl and saved a city. It was not just that the Monsters of the Midway won but how they did it....

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during WWII included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju? This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history.

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.

John Birmingham is the master of alternate history adventure - and now he's mastered a new genre with the volcanically fast-paced and wildly inventive Dave Hooper urban fantasy series. The series is anchored by a thrilling high concept: An oil rig opens a rift deep in the ocean that unleashes terrifying monsters into the world. But perhaps its coolest asset is its hero, Dave Hooper, a tough, bleakly funny, down-on-his luck oil rig worker with an unlikely destiny as a monster-slayer and world savior.

As the heir to the Halliday name and fortune, Win's entire life has been carefully orchestrated from the moment he came into the world. He's never been allowed to aspire for anything outside that plan, including love. After the tragedy that followed his younger brother chasing his foolish heart, the Halliday Matriarch insists on picking a bride that's up to her outrageously high standards. Unfortunately, the only woman Win would ever consider marrying isn't found anywhere on his mother's list.

26 terrifying tales from the bestselling author of Dead Meat and Cadaver. Werewolves. Ghosts. Vampires. Psycho killers. This huge horror collection delivers relentless scares, chilling twists, and a dark imagination you won’t forget. Perfect for fans of Stephen King, Darcy Coates, Jeremy Bates, and Iain Rob Wright.

Cole Harper is struggling to settle into life in Wounded Sky First Nation. He may have stopped a serial killer, but the trouble is far from over. A creature lurks in the shadows of Blackwood Forest, the health clinic is on lockdown by a mysterious organization, and long-held secrets threaten to bubble to the surface. Can Cole learn the truth about his father's death? Why won't Choch give him a straight answer? Where the heck is Jayne? Oh, and high school sucks.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK NATIONAL BESTSELLER A timely, passionate, provocative, blisteringly smart interrogation of how we make and experience art in the age of cancel culture, and of the link between genius and monstrosity. Can we love the work of controversial classic and...

It's Peretti's ultimate monster story. And this time, the monster is real. Miles away from the hectic city, Reed and Rebecca hike into the beautiful Northwestern woods. They're surrounded by gorgeous mountains, waterfalls, and hundreds of acres of unspoiled wilderness. But something - or someone - begins closing in on them. Something no human has ever seen. And it's killing everyone in its path without remorse.

Adrian's dark past left him with a twisted imagination that takes him deep into the forest where he does unspeakable things. Kendra is new to town. She has a dark secret of her own—and an unhealthy obsession with a boy she hasn't even met yet.

Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans. To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of monsters. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.

Veteran horror screenwriter and novelist Jamie Nash leads us into the shadows of Blake Snyder’s legendary Monster in the House genre—and sheds light over the secrets to crafting truly terrifying tales.

This 7,100 word stand-alone tale of adventure, romance, and action was originally included in New York Times bestselling author Mike Stackpole's Chain Story Project. Each of the stories in the series begins with a scene set in The Wanderers' Club in London, where patrons take turns telling stories of their adventures and derring-do. Though the plots and characters of the various tales differ and each adventure is self-contained and independent, every story-teller starts out by referencing the story before his in some fashion before telling his own tale.

In the backwoods of the Miskatonic River valley, an unspeakable creature seeks to come through the veil into our world.

Benton Bertrand is a banshee, cursed with the ability to sense death. Every time he sleeps, he becomes a trapped passenger within a murderer’s skin: able to hear, see, and feel every part of their kill. No matter how hard he tries, it always ends the same way - with death.

Heidi Waters, CEO of billion-dollar startup Vitality+, is all the rage in Silicon Valley. Her company’s promises to roll out a neurochemical cure for caffeine-related anxiety are set to change the game, a godsend for anyone who’s ever got the jitters from upsizing their morning coffee order. There’s just one problem. There is no cure. The product doesn’t work.

As the daughter of Dracula, you would think I’d be born the perfect monster. You couldn’t be more wrong. As far as monsters go, I’m a screw up—if I’m not tripping over my own feet, I’m accidentally murdering someone (it’s a real issue, guys). Left with no choice, Dad decides to send me to Prodigium—otherwise known as Monster Academy—to train me on how to be a better monster. When bodies turn up on campus, I’m the prime suspect (not that I can blame them).