Science Fiction Monsters

In an impoverished border town with a population dwindling as fast as hope, Gwen Tailor aims to change things. She is a daughter of the Seamstress class, drawing on the bloodline skills of her mother, who stitches with a speed that veers into the realm of magic. An awesome feat. But armed with a giant piercing needle, Gwen is more than a seamstress. To save her people from extinction and create a pattern all her own for survival, she must be a monster slayer. In the core of the town is the dungeon, a deep-pitted breeding ground. Gwen is going where the monsters dwell.

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.

In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life. Ballingrud’s stories are love stories. They’re also monster stories. Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires or werewolves.

Stolen from the mortal world by the fae, the last thing I expect is a crown. Enslaved at a mine and with no hope of escape, my life is a grim exercise in survival until the magic of the Court chooses an unexpected ruler: Me.

Can Violet and Noah protect their village from griefers and ensure the Olympic Games continue uninterrupted? Noah and Violet's village is hosting the Olympics for Minecrafters. The events are disrupted when a TNT attack destroys the Olympic stadium. Noah and Violet are forced to gather the townspeople to wage a battle against Daniel and his powerful griefers. They all must stop the griefers before they destroy the games entirely.

After last year's scary adventure, Gabe's a little nervous about being back in Egypt. Back near the ancient pyramids. Back where he saw all those creepy mummies. Then he learns about an Egyptian superstition. A secret chant that is supposed to bring mummies back to life. Gabe's uncle says it's just a hoax. But now it sounds like something's moving in the mummy's tomb. No way can a couple of dumb words wake the dead. Can they?

Alexis hat sich in Sparta den Ruf einer unbarmherzigen, gefährlichen Kriegerin erworben. Das verlockt nicht wenige Männer, ihr Glück bei Alexis zu versuchen. Kharon und Augustus, die beiden düsteren Götter der Unterwelt geben sich jede Mühe ihr zu gefallen. Doch auch Alexis attraktive Mentoren Achilles und Patro sind sich auf einmal sicher, dass sie und Alexis füreinander bestimmt sind. Es sieht so aus, als müsste zwischen den Göttern wählen – aber ist das wirklich eine gute Idee?

Ryker Hayes is a licensed massage therapist, and a damn good one at that. It's a career he's passionate about, and all his plans for life are on track—until he winds up transported to the world of Werifesteria in the body of an infamous warlord, at least. Now all he really wants to do is forget the misdeeds of his alter ego and retire to a life of anonymity with a couple interesting women as his new partners. Together, they open the very first massage inn and spa in all the land,

In this powerhouse of suspense—as brilliantly imagined as Jurassic Park and The Ruins—scientists have made a startling discovery: a fragment of a lost continent, an island with an ecosystem unlike any they’ve seen before . . . an ecosystem that could topple ours like a house of cards. The...

When a horrific loss throws Monster High into a state of grave upheaval, Draculaura and the other ghouls find themselves coping in different ways. For her part, the chaos at school is making Draculaura sick. She finds escape only by slipping away to the cemetery to pore over her mom's old journals. It's there that she meets Poe. If her ghoulfriends find out she's fallen for a normie, they'll freak. And if Poe discovers she's a vampire, his monster-hunting dad may have a stake in the matter.

Everything I needed to fight until my dying breath was right there in my hands, until it wasn't anymore. I made Erick Adams into the monster that he is today. I doomed the whole world by giving him the means to become invincible. Wilder said to me once that, whether it's a blessing or a cruse, I'm never, ever on my own. This time, it will be no different. I'll go to the end of the worlds if I have to, sell my soul to whoever will buy it, just to kill the monster I created, and save the people I love from a fate more horrible than death.

Two pink flamingos. A whole family of plaster skunks. Joe Burton's dad loves those tacky lawn ornaments. But then he brings home two ugly lawn gnomes. And that's when the trouble starts. Late at night, when everyone's asleep, someone's creeping in the garden. Whispering nasty things. Smashing melons. Squashing tomatoes. No way two dumb, old lawn ornaments could be causing all the trouble. Is there?

Tessa—part witch, part werewolf, raised human and now the unofficial leader of a newly minted supernatural alliance—gets a distressing call from her brother, Axel, in the middle of the night. Tessa and her mate, Dastien, race to save Axel, but Tessa's learned that nothing is ever easy in the supernatural world. She has seconds to make a choice, but there’s only one thing Tessa can do to save the two most important men in her life—sacrifice herself.

Keith finds himself at the center of a new quest involving the legendary Nemesis Dungeon, one that will challenge not only his skills as a monster hunter but as a tactician and leader. With limited time and other clans competing for the ultimate prize at the dungeon’s end, Keith and his team will need to move quickly.

Mystic Caravan is full of monster hunters, moonlighting as entertainers. Led by Poet Parker, the motley group of mayhem seekers is always looking for—and finding—trouble. Despite the death and destruction constantly raining down on them, the show must go on...and Mystic Caravan is always up for the challenge. Join them as they travel from city to city, taking on formidable foe after formidable foe. They’ll never stop, and neither will the enemies coming after them.

Keith is facing three existential threats, all at the same time. The Terror of the Frigid Seas, the Assault Boss Denkai the Doomfire Dragon, and the World Monster Sartori the Ore-Guzzler. The city of Layman's Turf stands at his back, and he is the only thing standing between them and utter annihilation.

After retaking the city of Old Saltflow, Keith and Selena are tasked with finding a secret pass into Layman's Turf, one of the Terror's greatest strongholds. Even assisted by the best tracker on the continent, making it through said pass isn't an easy prospect. Especially knowing how the behavior of monsters has been changing recently. An unexpected encounter with the most powerful creature he's ever faced puts Keith on a path from which there is no exit. One he must see through to the end or be crushed under the weight of his enemies.

Get this: you wake up in the hospital. You're not feeling so hot—to put it mildly—and also, you're surrounded by hordes of zombies! After trying to run away, you eventually find a map of the building, but guess what? It's in French! Why? 'Cuz you're in France! You've got nothing on you but a baseball bat, and the zombies are just one step away from biting you on your bare backside. But don't worry, there's still hope, because you've got your own personal shelter in spacetime.

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.

I am a researcher. I read books, conduct experiments, and live quietly on the fringes of the orc town. All I want is peace, quiet, and a female to satisfy the wild urges of my orc body so they don't distract me from my work. Getting a human wife through the Temple seems like a logical solution—until I bring her home and she starts sowing chaos. She moves my books, cuts my herbs to make bouquets, and replaces the blessed silence with laughter and song. For such a tiny person, she can be very loud. And opinionated.