Science Fiction Monsters

Gloriously rich and utterly delightful, Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders is an indispensable guide to the peculiar world, perfect for longtime fans and new listeners alike. Covering everything from how to blend in with suspicious normals to the most popular time loops to visit as a temporal tourist, this essential volume is ideal for anyone curious about the world of Miss Peregrine: its strange history, curious practices, fascinating places, most famous (and infamous) names, and much more.

My plans didn’t include sexy time with the Loch Ness Monster. But maybe they should have… My fiancé turned our wedding into a viral sensation for all the wrong reason. At the time, I didn’t know anyone was filming it. But millions of people saw me getting jilted at the altar. So, going on my honeymoon trip to Scotland was an even better idea than I’d initially thought. Being able to quietly fall apart in a boat in the middle of a peaceful loch, far from the chaos my ex created, was a blessing

His name is Taylor McFadden, survivor of eighty-three trips into the ZOO. Now he's retired, and yet his country still needs his skills to save people in the country he calls home.

My clients at my vet clinic have always called me an animal whisperer. I’ve never questioned it. Until I started hearing monsters, too. A man came in right at closing with a sick dog. The dog told me why he was sick, and I was able to treat him. I had no idea his owner would kidnap me. I had no idea his owner had an entire dungeon of monsters he wanted me to treat. I’ve met a minotaur, a mysterious kraken, a phoenix, and this really massive spider. I can hear them, too. If monsters are real and I can talk to them, then what am I?

Mark Henson is a riverboat gambler at heart. But as a practiced cheat and card counter, he’s been 86’d from half the casinos on The Strip. In his mind, he’s always one game away from his luck turning around. That is, until The System arrives—and warps Nevada (and the rest of the world) into a digital card-based game. When Mark awakes in the slums of Lost Vegas, a deck of cards rests on his chest. But these aren’t just ordinary playing cards.

Being raised as the Cursed One does things to a person. It changes your relationships and makes you a very paranoid young woman. This is how Sophy ends up in her fourth decade, looking 18 and having no love life. The Mage Guild provides her with a liaison so that she can stop calling to rummage through their archives, and the voice in the machines around her becomes an admirable partner, such as he is. He files a request with her to assist him in his own personal journey, and it takes her into the Guild Hall to face a mage who wants her as a trophy.

"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.

When John Hunter finds out he can get paid $5,000 for trapping a rogue chimera, it's game on. Now, he'll have a crash course on the goings-on of the secret underworld and more than a few bruises to prove his mettle. But not all is as straightforward as it may seem. There are those closest to Jonny who are more than they're letting on. And the humans in his life turn out to be the worst kind of monsters. Jonny may be able to save himself, if he wants to save the city from an unspeakable, ancient evil lurking in the shadows, he'll have to catch up fast.

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.

I'm John Taylor. I was born in the Nightside, that square mile in the hidden center of London where it is always the hour of the wolf, where gods and monsters walk side by side, and where every dark question ever asked can be answered—for a price. I left for a while, but I did come back, to make my living doing what I do better than anyone else: finding things—lost or stolen, real or imaginary. Recently, I found the most dangerous thing of all: the true identity of my long-gone mother. Turns out she's a being who's been around since before the dawn of history.

Recon Marine Conor McCall didn’t expect action during his training op in the icy waters off Norway. But when a bizarre summer fog engulfs his boat, he and his team find themselves in a fight against strange, cruel monsters from the depths of the North Sea. When even their allies are enemies, the Recon Marines must do what they have always done: adapt or die. But with a world of ice and monsters seeking to destroy them, every second is mission-critical.

Craig's goal is a simple one: complete the World-level quest given to him by Daimon, the mysterious immortal with the power to halt the progress of time. While his world remains in limbo, an instant away from total annihilation, Craig must tackle the challenges set forth by the quest. With nearly two centuries of experience under his belt, it should be easy. If only he were competing against himself. Marsh, his most bitter rival, has been sent to this world as well and given the same quest.

With the birth of my two baby boys, it’s clear the curse that destroyed the male population has faded away. But the witch Brunhilda threatens to unleash a new curse, even deadlier than the last. However, an uprising of radical witches threatens Brunhilda’s rule. Their cunning leader, Fang, has summoned dark powers that will kill Brunhilda—releasing her curse when she dies—and ignite an apocalyptic “Final Revolution”.

Rowan is Tamarel's Royal Monster Hunter, and her twin brother, Rhydd, will be its king. After the events of The Gryphon's Lair, Rowan, along with her friends, her brother, and an entourage of monstrous companions, makes her way back to the Dunnian Woods to deal with the pack of dropbears the group trapped in an abandoned cabin after a vicious attack. The dropbears are just one of a number of rare monster species acting erratically in Tamarel.

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.

Evan visits an eerie old toy store and buys a dusty can of Monster Blood. But then he notices something weird about the slimy green ooze. It keeps growing. And growing. And growing. And all that growing has given the Monster Blood a monstrous appetite....

I've made some pretty questionable choices in my life—dabbling in necromancy, double-crossing vampires—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.

When she finds her best friend, Meredith, getting sick in the bathroom, Tessa knows something’s majorly wrong. Meredith was cursed years ago, and the dark magic kept her wolf dormant - only now the wolf is awake, and that same spell is killing her. Tessa has no intention of sitting around while Meredith wastes away. Even if it means playing with magic she doesn’t understand, she’ll do anything to save Meredith’s life. Including bargaining with the local coven of witches and its crazed leader, whose only goal is getting Tessa to join the witchy ranks.

The hot, dominant vampire god and I have a bad history together, one I can’t remember and he can’t let go. I won’t deny the scorching heat and attraction between us, but I’ll be a fool to surrender to Marlowe’s seductive and destructive power. And we have a bigger problem. War, the third horseman who refused to leave Earth, has set his sight on me. If Marlowe can’t forgive my sins and I can’t trust him again, War will take me and terror will reign on Earth.

Celestine is a land of beauty and horror where the heroic souls of men are tempted to fall from heights mere mortals were never meant to attain. Terrence Mack has managed to survive in this brutal world, gathering bonds of great power and ability, passing trials and tribulations that would crush lesser men. Yet his own unwillingness to let others share his burdens may be his undoing, and his greatest challenges are yet to come. To even reach his destiny, Terry must once again cross the Wildervast, a dream world where desires rule fate.