Science Fiction Monsters

A host of the smartest young adult authors come together in this collection of scary stories and psychological thrillers curated by Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea's April Genevieve Tucholke. Each story draws from a classic tale or two - sometimes of the horror genre, sometimes not - to inspire something new and fresh and terrifying. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat.

May finds herself in a world that most certainly does not feel like a fuzzy mitten. In fact it is a place few living people have ever seen. Here, towns glow blue beneath zipping stars and the people walk through walls. Here the Book of the Dead holds the answers to everything in the universe. And here, if May is discovered, the horrifyingly evil Bo Cleevil will turn her into nothing.

I've devoted my entire life to safe-guarding exotic animals. When a group of poachers invade the Komplot Toestel big game preserve, I'll take a bullet to the chest in the line of duty. As I laid dying, a mysterious goddess appeared by my side. Her offer was simple: teleport to a new world where I would be a game warden of a different sort. You see, there are no animals that need protecting in the land of Jadu. Instead, I've been tasked with protecting a tribe of lost monster girls. It's a tough job, and I'm just the man for it.

In the Clandoms, every person is born with wings, along with the ability to fly. But there has always been one deadly restriction to this gift—a rule that must never be broken. Flying in cloudy skies summons gargols, vicious stone monsters that will tear any poor trespassers apart. History doesn't tell where the gargols came from, or why they're so intent on punishing those who soar too high. But now Ellie Meadows thinks she knows why. An aspiring knight turned wanted fugitive, Ellie has seen the truth with her own eyes.

Self-proclaimed conqueror Auroro and his contracted guide, Rynissie, have hit the road. They have had a simple errand (read: most important task) entrusted to them and are heading to the cave-elf city of Cerulean-in-the-Mountain.... Or at least that was the plan. Auroro has decided to be efficient. They're going to do some jobs along the way and make some money! Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, things are not normal in the forests of Viridia.

Rossamund has always dreamed of a career in the Navy, fighting tentacled monsters and rescuing damsels from hook-handed pirates. But fate has chosen him for a different path. He is being sent to train as a Lamplighter – to bring light to the inland roads of the Half-Continent, to shine the way for travellers through lands peopled by outcasts, monsters and worse. But for Rossamund to begin his education, he must first undertake a journey of his own – to the great city of High Vesting.

Nate Ellison's just an ordinary, average college student trying to make the grade in Southern California. Well, definitely not ordinary...and totally not average. You see, Nate's a Troman - a nearly seven-foot-tall guy who's half war troll, half human - and he's working undercover as part of a secret government project, the Monster Exchange Program, to investigate crimes that involve the occult. Once on campus, Nate tries to lay low, struggling to navigate college life while also unraveling a mystery involving the disappearance of several beautiful co-eds.

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.

Zed, Brock, and their friends may have saved Freestone from destruction, but the fight against the Dangers is far from over. No one knows what to expect next from the dark power that forced the elves to abandon their city. And the influx of elf refugees in Freestone strains resources and brews resentment among the townspeople. Things have shifted between best friends Zed and Brock, as well, with their friendship crumbling under the weight of the secrets they're keeping from each other.

The F-Rank Foot Soldier Became An S-Rank Monster Rancher is a light-hearted story of new beginnings and new potentials. Follow Riven as he makes the best of his forced retirement, tames monsters, finds friends, and uncovers the mysteries surrounding the world.

Before Shrek made it big on the silver screen, there was William Steig's Shrek!, a book about an ordinary ogre who leaves his swampy childhood home to go out and see the world. Ordinary, that is, if a foul and hideous being who ends up marrying the most stunningly ugly princess on the planet is what you consider ordinary.

Emily Windsnap is thrilled to arrive at her new home - a secret island near the Bermuda Triangle where humans and merfolk live together, and where being a girl who grows a tail as soon as she enters the water isn't a problem. But, being Emily, she can't resist exploring forbidden places, and as a result she inadvertently wakes the kraken - the legendary sea monster that has been asleep for 200 years! Emily tries to undo the damage as the kraken's terrifying tentacles rise from the deep!

Garin, a young mage, has a growing harem of hot monster girls! He's tamed a kinky lamia, a busty dryad, and a passionate yuki-onna. The three are happy being his, reveling in the delights of his harem. But one monster girl is being naughty. Kazzi, a fiery salamander, is a sultry and deadly monster girl. Her passion burns so hot that it gets her in trouble. Garin will have to use his magic to discipline the wicked monster girl!

Eli is a young stowaway on a ship bound for North America. A strange birthmark on his arm, in the shape of a dragon, begins to sting. Then he meets a sailor on the ship with a dragon tattoo. The tattoo, and a weird cargo hidden on the ship, hold the secret to Eli's read identity.

Dory is brand-new to her neighborhood, so it's a good thing she has a pet monster to keep her company. When she tells the mailman about her monster, he doesn't believe her. Dory begins to get angry that he's not taking her seriously, so she opens up the mailbox to show him the monster—only to find that the mailbox is empty! Is Dory's monster real, or part of her imagination?

When the legend of Lake Lobo comes true, Kevin’s summer vacation gets pretty creepy. Will his dog protect him, or is his mutt an evil monster?

In this fascinating and fantastic collection, Daniel H. Wilson explores complex emotional and intellectual landscapes at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human life. In "All Kinds of Proof", a down-and-out drunk makes the unlikeliest of friends when he is hired to train a mail-carrying robot; in "Blood Memory", a mother confronts the dangerous reality that her daughter will never assimilate in this world after she was the first child born through a teleportation device.

Doug has a normal, quiet life: he has a decent job, eats a lot of tacos, and plays video games with his best bud Ray. But it all goes out of control when Ray brings over a chemical he stole from his job, with the ability to turn animals into amazing human-animal hybrids and people into super soldiers.

Clark can’t wait to go away to camp this year. For the first time ever, he has actual friends to hang out with. Catherine-Lucille and D. A. will both be at Camp I Can with Clark, and C. L. has already promised to induct him into her exclusive camp club - the one for campers who know everything there is to know about the world of Monsters and how Stuffies protect kids from them. And now that he knows (or suspects...very strongly) that his grandma-made Stuffy, Foon, heroically saved his own father from a horrible fate, Clark is obviously bringing Foon to camp along with him.

The DEPP has transported Dave and his lovely women to another even more alien and dangerous version of Earth than the last. They have to begin fortifying their trans-dimensional territory if they have any hope of surviving these hostile environments. Cambrian Era monstrosities and massive tidal surges caused by an angry moon goddess are pretty nasty challenges for anybody to survive, but a flesh eating blob that wants to devour all life on Earth? That’s just not fair.