Monster Fiction

I was stolen from my family and raised in the wastelands to the north. I did what I had to ensure my survival. I became the Champion, with my history carved into my skin for all to see. Now, I spend my days drinking and hiding from my past, until four newcomers offer me a job I can't refuse. When my past and future mix, I must once again rise and fight. This time it's not for my freedom, it's for my happiness.

Stories of famous monsters in a new horror anthology featuring Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and many others.

My name is Marek, and I hunt monsters for gold. But now, with the help of a magic beacon, I'm seeking those who are tainted. The impure. Abominations. Monster girls. But not to kill. They need my help. All kinds of help. I'm more than happy to provide it, to do all I can to keep them safe from the real monsters that exist in the world.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free, especially magic. When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it.

The Eldritch Ranch continues to flourish, yielding crops, greenery, and more monsters. This allows Jason to push forward with his plans to bring mana back to the barren Crystal Mountains, and in doing so, restore the power of magic to all the counties that have lost it. However, this isn’t what the nefarious Puppeteer’s Guild wants, and its vicious agents will stop at nothing to thwart Jason’s plans and burn the Eldritch Ranch to the ground.

Sam Ryder's life already sucks, and it's about to get worse when he's fired from his dead-end job as a programmer. He's about to head home to escape into his favorite RPG, Alien Civilization, when he's offered a thrill ride on a death machine by a gorgeous woman straight out of one of his games. Before Sam can say "WTF?", he's been whisked away to a dark world of monsters and goddesses, his body transformed from Outcast to Warrior, the second level on a ladder that may eventually carry him all the way to Demigod.

I messed up. I broke two of the Arcane Council's laws in one day. I swear it was an accident - but try telling that to the Arcane authorities. Before I could catch my breath, my simple gypsy life of peddling potions with my guardians is wrenched away. I'm forcibly enrolled into the prestigious and supremely snotty Arcane Arts Academy, given shackles under the guise of mercy for my crimes.

Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated—and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings’ lives are still deeply entwined.

The Aether Shift. An event that changed the world forever. Unleashing untold powers onto the minds and bodies of humans on Earth. Some were chosen, against their will, to become something new. Azaria, finally allowed leave the house on her own for the first time, ends up as a Dungeon Core, however, the situation gets turned sideways during the process and she's left alone for nearly a year. Lance, an individual with a hidden past has been struggling in the changed world that is Earth. Meeting Azaria through a twist of fate, what will change with the two brought together.

Many centuries ago, desperate to save her dying sister, Dianna made a deal with Kaden, a monster far worse than any nightmare. Locked in servitude to him, she is forced to hunt down an ancient relic held by her most dangerous enemies: an army led by Samkiel, the World Ender. After the Gods War, Samkiel hid from everything, denying his crown and deserting his people. Now, an attack on those he loves sends him back to the realm he never wished to return to, and into the sights of an enemy he had hoped to forget.

Getting stuck in the hockey locker room was not how I envisioned catching my next story. After a fateful encounter with two of the hottest players in the NMHL, I'm swept into an unforgettable first date.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting - he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.

In the wake of a disastrous affair with her married archeology professor, brilliant Wilhelmina Cooper arrives back at the doorstep of her hippie mother-turned-born-again-Christian's house in Templeton, New York - a storybook town her ancestors founded on the shores of Lake Glimmerglass. Upon her arrival, a prehistoric monster surfaces in the lake, bringing a feeding frenzy to the quiet town. And Willie learns she has a mystery father her mother has kept secret for Willie's entire life.

It's more than 20 years since Spider Robinson revealed the existence of Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, and the original bar is gone. Mike Callahan is gone, too, but his spirit lives on in the new bar, named Mary's Place for his daughter. On this particular day, nothing seems to be going right for Jake Stonebender, proprietor of Mary's Place.

In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll, a runaway bride encounters a sea monster, a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time, an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman.

Fans of Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines can meet Blaze, AJ, and all their monster machine friends.

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.

Three sexy-but-psycho monsters. The witch they're determined to protect. And a high-stakes heist about to go very wrong… I've made some pretty questionable choices in my life, but summoning the dark goddess to save my sisters? That was just plain stupid. Now I’m in her debt, and goddesses don’t exactly do payment plans. She wants the blood of the dark fae warlord of Midnight, a realm of exiles where the sun never rises and torture is a competitive sport. It’s a death trap only three men have ever escaped—my newly appointed escorts.

Shrubley, the Hero Adventurer, has vanquished the serpentii threat. Everything he ever wanted is within his twiggy grasp: fame, fortune, adoration, and the love of the people who had once shunned him for being a monster. But Shrubley is an adventurer at heart. Along with his monstrous friends, Cal, Slyrox, and Smudge, Shrubley embarks on a long journey to the fabled monster city of Pandaemonium. Guided by Countess Haalften, Shrubley seeks to master his Sage Knight essence healing powers even as vampyrs, monsters, and bandits ambush the party along the way.

From New York Times bestselling author J. T. Geissinger comes Carnal Urges, a sexy-as-sin dark romance about a powerful mafia king who kidnaps the one woman who will threaten to bring him to his knees. This program features multicast narration.