Monster Fiction

The world teeters on the brink of destruction. The people who should be saving the Earth ignore Jason Asano's warnings and choose to loot the house as it burns down around them. He lacks the strength to save the world himself, but resolves to do it anyway, impossible be damned. The impossible, in this case, means seizing a power that no mortal should touch. It's a choice from which there is no turning back, and marks Jason's first step into a wider cosmos that he is not yet ready to face. Holding the fate of two worlds in his hands, Jason must decide for himself what home truly means.

Jason arrives at a kingdom in peril and he's surprised to discover that it's not his job to save it. With the authorities fulfilling their responsibilities (for once), he looks forward to some quiet time to rest and recuperate. The locals might not find ceaseless monster onslaughts and an interdimensional invasion relaxing, but Jason has had a rough few years. He's doing his best to let go of his anger. While his team is caught up in duty, Jason has no shortage of people looking to interfere with his rest. Enemies—old and new—are circling, and even would-be allies are trouble.

After a much longed-for reunion, Jason Asano works on moving past old traumas as he looks to a brighter future. Despite warnings of danger that awaits him, he gets back in the saddle as an adventurer, ready to tackle new challenges. But as enemies that have lurked in the background start moving into the light, those challenges are not hard to find.

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.

When hunters from around the world gather in Las Vegas for a conference, a creature left over from a World War Two weapons experiment wakes up and goes on a rampage across the desert. A not-so-friendly wager between the rival companies turns into a race to see who can bag the mysterious creature first. Only there is far more to this particular case than meets the eye, and as Hunters fall prey to their worst nightmares, Owen Zastava Pitt and the staff of Monster Hunter International have to stop an ancient god from turning Sin City into a literal hell on earth.

Sean wasn't expecting to die today. He definitely wasn't expecting to be dragged off to another world or raised as a skeleton infused with Death itself. Yet here he is, tossed down a Necromancer's trash chute, and left to fend for himself against otherworldly monsters. Only as an abandoned minion, Sean no longer has a summoner paying the hourly mana costs he needs to sustain his new form. Which is bad since if he can't pay those himself, he's going to die… again.

When it comes to stealing from mafia men, there are three rules. Don't get caught. Don't be seen. And most of all—don't fall in love with them. After being hired to steal a painting, I find myself ensnared. Damon, Minos, and Aaecus are monsters, and they only want one thing: Me. Seven days of sin in exchange for freedom from the Three Fates Mafia. If only it were that easy. The strings of fate have bound the four of us together, and not even gods or monsters can keep us apart.

One of the many engineers that keep Beta, the city under the sea, running, Mira only wants to make her family proud and to prove herself worthy. She knows the mysterious city better than anyone and it's her dream to help it flourish. Then, on a solo job in an abandoned section of the city, she encounters a monster of legend: an undine, a dangerous merman from an ancient civilization, long forgotten.

Jason and his companions managed to forestall the inexorable undead, but their battle is far from done. Both they and their enemies are scattered across a strange realm, one that someone must conquer if anyone is to get out alive. Territory by territory, factions fight to reunite their people and conquer the realm. Jason must contend with alliances he doesn’t want, friends he cannot find, and enemies ranging from angelic despots to the power of an undead god. He must face a realm that has been warped by his own mind and find a way to save a friend whose sacrifice got them this far.

These aliens seem nice enough, but she needs to figure out how to communicate with them and get back to Earth. Her alien captor finds everything about his new pet adorable, from her tiny toes to her blunted claws to her shiny mane. He will do everything in his power to make sure that his cute little pet remains healthy and happy. But what happens when this giant tentacled alien finds out his lovely pet is a sentient person who wants more from him than pets and treats?

For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large - and, in some cases, very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.

I'm the new owner of a magical mansion. This mansion, well, it's not your typical building. It's a dungeon from another world, masquerading as just another private residence in the suburbs. It has enchanted rooms, can craft powerful items, build lethal traps, and produce incredible monsters. And it's my mission to protect and evolve its monstrous inhabitants.

BONUS FEATURE: Afterword read by the author Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster. FADE...

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.

On a snowy winter evening in 1982, 21-year-old Mary Brown accepted a ride from a handsome stranger in the resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado. The trip ended with her brutally beaten and raped. Mary survived, but her predator's violence had only just begun. After 10 years in prison, Tom Luther was released a far more vicious criminal. Soon, from the Rockies to West Virginia, like Ted Bundy, Luther enticed a chain of women into his murderous trap.

Following the devastating attack on Yaresh, its people are left to pick up the pieces. The city lies in ruins, but its decimated defenders have more to deal with than just reconstruction. Jason's actions during the battle have brought unwelcome attention from allies and enemies alike. While the adventurers question his loyalty, the messengers question his very nature. Both have designs on Jason that he intends to thwart, but a danger comes to light that shifts everyone's agenda.

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.

All his life, Mark Fields has dreamed of joining the Defense Force to fight the vicious, alien Exlian, just like the rest of his renowned family. But so far, he’s … a dishwasher, trapped in a dead-end job with no powers, no money, and even fewer friends. But an encounter with a dying woman changes everything—granting him the abilities he needs to join the training camps—and his life finally feels like it’s turning around, faster than a movie martial-arts montage (just ignore the weird cat).

I’m out for revenge. He’s out to rule the world. Kirill and I are as different as day and night. We shouldn’t have been in the same frame or universe. But we meet under the strangest circumstances. He’s my superior in the military and the man who’ll introduce me to carnage.

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.