Science Fiction Monsters

Former model and current recluse Jules Lowe would prefer to spend the rest of her life locked inside her apartment doing nothing more than fixating on her empty fish tank and chatting away on a local aquarium forum. But when her online crush sends her an inadvertently suspicious picture, Jules' curiosity gets the best of her. Who or what is Mack Vasser?

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

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?

The small town of Beacon Point has always been plagued by eerie local phenomena. It’s a town where disappearances are common, strange creatures have been sighted with unnerving frequency, and a ghastly secret lurks in the woods. The adults in town are oblivious to these strange occurrences. Others prefer not to talk or even think about them. But over the course of several terrifying nights, a group of kids will come face to face with the horrors hiding within their sleepy town.

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.

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.

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.

I was hanging out with some buddies, doing a little caving, when everything went south. When I woke up, I was in some kind of medieval dungeon. Totally naked and in the dark. Luckily, I had a neighbor in a cell near me. One with a decidedly sexy feminine voice. When she explained to me that she was due to be executed and I was in line to be brainwashed, there was only one thing to do.

Goblin Girl Maid Service is expanding. After some help from Mrs. Pennington, GGMS has more customers than ever, and with it comes the need to hire more help! When we start hiring more girls, we quickly find that a growing company comes with new problems of its own. Not only do we start running out of space, but when a new opportunity with the orc mayor of Dragonmont City goes disastrously wrong from the beginning, I need to move quickly to save the day.

Orne Skull-Stomper is dead and with his defeat, Keith has cleared the first part of the Trickster's quest. Heading out to the continent of Beastland, Keith quickly finds himself embroiled in intrigue, all revolving around the war between the six clans who claim sovereignty over the continent. The last thing Keith wants to do, is get involved in yet another war, but when an opportunity too good to pass up presents itself, Keith finds himself diving in headfirst to claim the ultimate prize.

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.

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”.

A light-hearted, humorous LitRPG adventure of monstrous proportions! Firefighting was tough, but Kevin took pride in it—until a factory fire landed him in a swamp with a monstrous new body and a mountain-sized cube dominating the landscape. Now, survival means more than just putting out fires. With an eldritch horror lurking in the dark, a desperate village in need of a hero, and some rather suspicious orphans causing mischief, Kevin’s got his work cut out for him.

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.

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.

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....