Showing results for "Monstrous Fictions" in All Categories

Thirty years ago the world as we know it was lost. Now humans live like rats, desperate for food and safety. The wall towers before us as a mocking reminder of what happened. The wall that keeps the monsters locked away from us. The wall that keeps us safe. The wall that every day I sneak through. I thought I was safe in the light beyond its scarred concrete. I thought I knew the way of the world. Then, night falls and I’m trapped beyond the wall. Monsters come out to play in an explosion of shadows, claws, and tails. Their black eyes track me like prey until he comes—their leader....

It’s really hard to pretend like life is normal when you’re staring a monster in the eyes, though he’s both tempting and irritating in his human form. I put my days as a hunter behind me, unable to cope with the death and pain anymore, to become an upstanding citizen and for what? To assist Lake, a man who claims he’s not a monster but keeps talking about me like I’m edible and–even worse–wants to woo me?

Predatory kraken that sing with - and for - their kin; band members and betrayed friends who happen to be demonic; harpies as likely to attract as to repel. Welcome to a world where humans live side-by-side with monsters, from vampires both nostalgic and bumbling, to an eight-legged alien who makes tea. Here you'll find mercurial forms that burrow into warm fat, spectral boy toys, a Maori force of nature, a landform that claims lives, and an architect of hell on earth.

“Wickedly satirical . . . nothing short of brilliant.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) New York Times bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett explores the inanity of war, sexual politics, and why the best man for the job is often a woman in this acerbically funny and poignant Discworld...

When I—along with my best friend and his big purple monster boyfriend—come across a fortress-like raider camp while journeying across the monster-infested Wastes, we stop to deliver a message. Somehow, that simple pit stop turns into a seemingly impossible quest to get this camp's missing leader out of the prison where he's being held and forced to fight monsters and other humans. I know exactly where it is because I've been there. Problem is, I'm making this journey with the prickliest and most arrogant guy I've ever met, who seems to hate me on sight. Oh, and he's also half-monster.

I've already mentally prepared myself to kill the screaming, murderous monster in the cage outside our camp. I'm used to it. It's what I do here. Kill monsters and other people. This monster, Seraph, is particularly unstable—has been since the moment he arrived from Collector Mary's monster menagerie to the west, where the military stashed him away. He's in pain. I can see it. But he's not a mindless beast. Not like some of the others think. When I start guarding him in his cage every night, I begin to see the person beneath the agony that tortures his every waking moment.

My role as Moric—ruler of a small and prosperous fiefdom in a quiet corner of the world—has always been painfully dull and stifling. Until a beautiful, otherworldly creature with pink skin and a mane of golden hair falls through a strange void that has appeared in my guestroom. I am instantly captivated by him. I have never seen anything like him. I have no idea where he came from, and what else is through that unsettling void—another world filled with soft-skinned, defenseless creatures like him? No tails, no horns, no claws, no sharp teeth. Tiny clothing, rounded ears, bright blue eyes.

No self-respecting bug sleeps at a slumber party. But there might not be a slumber party at all—Tabitha's house is crawling with monsters!

Catch up with the original monster-human couple, Danny and Wyn, in their Wastes-style adventures. Witness Moth and Wyn's blossoming and potentially concerning friendship. Find out all the new ways Edin has been frustrating Hunter (lovingly) since their story ended. And join Lor and Jugs in welcoming a new furry addition to their monster-world family.

Arden Beacon arrives in the salt-swept port of Vigil with a job to do. Tasked with using the magic in her blood to keep the lighthouse burning, she needs to prove herself worthy of her family name and her ancestors’ profession. But the coastline Arden must keep alight – battered by a sea teeming with colossal, ancient beasts – is far from the cultured, urban world she knows. It is a place of secrets, rumours and tight-lipped expectations of a woman’s place.

After weeks of cruel hostility, the guys I swore to save know how wrong they were—at least about what I did four years ago. Now that they've seen my horrifying new power, will they decide I'm an enemy after all? With what they put me through, I'm not sure I even want to stick with them. These brutal men aren't the boys I fell in love with anymore.

From the beaches of Orkney to the Welsh mountains, and the Derbyshire peaks to the Cornish moors, Britain is home to many strange creatures of folklore. Some are ancient, as enduring as the forests and mountains they inhabit. Others live among us, in our cities, creating new legends as they scuttle through the shadows. And none of them are to be trusted.

Forced to spend her summer in her aunt's strange small town, a teen girl discovers dark secrets hidden in the woods. From the author of Bad Witch Burning comes another pulse-pounding novel perfect for fans of Supernatural and Lovecraft Country. Don't go outside past dark. Come straight home...

Amicae, City of Sweepers, survived the Falling Infestation which nearly destroyed it thanks to the efforts of Laura and Okane. While the ancient monsters have been beaten back for the moment, new and more monstrous dangers face them in the form of belligerent bureaucracy, dangerous gangs, grasping Sweepers bent on personal glory...and Rex, the City of Kings, who breed their own kind of monstrosity. Laura and Okane must go to Rex to reclaim the secret weaponry that keeps Amicae safe and come face to face with a horrifying truth about the Rex and their designs on all of Orien's cities.

1794, London: Camille and Al are desperately hunting Olympe's kidnapper. From the glamorous excesses of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to the city's seedy underbelly, they are caught in a dangerous game of lies and deceit. And a terrible new enemy lies in wait with designs more monstrous than they could ever imagine.... Can Camille play on to the end, or will she be forced to show her hand?

Meet Hel, an ordinary teenager - and goddess of the Underworld. Why is life so unfair? Hel tries to make the best of it, creating gleaming halls in her dark kingdom and welcoming the dead who she is forced to host for eternity. Until eternity itself is threatened.

The North American Pack was always meant to be Ember's birthright, but she grew up far away from shifter culture in a sanctuary city for monsters. Her wolf yearns to scout pack lands and socialize with other wolves, but Ember understands the risks, especially considering female shifters are nearly endangered nowadays. So, she keeps her distance, even if she has to fight her wolf at every turn... And that works until Ember's team is called in on a mysterious case for the paranormal council.

Thirty years ago, the world as we know it was lost. Now humans live like rats, desperate for food and safety, the wall towering before us as a mocking reminder of what happened. Some are born into privilege and wealth, and I am one of those. I spend my days trying to change the world we live in and fighting for the truth as any good scientist does. However, when I am thrust through the wall, I have to fight just to survive. Hurt, alone, and scared, I run smack into one of the very creatures we are taught to fear—a monster. But this monster is intent on protecting me, even as I fear him.

Bossed by a monster—sounds overbearing, right? It is, and this guy's not just any monster. He's a Boggart—the literal being of nightmares—and I swear his sole mission in life is to make mine a bad dream come true. Every time I turn around, he's there. Bedazzling me. Bewitching me. Befriending me. But I won't back down, not even when Mr. Ettin proposes a friendly little bet. Who cares what the stakes are—there's no way my boss is gonna win. Except… he does.

It would be an understatement to call Trevon Beaumont an accomplished monster slayer. He's traversed the European countryside upholding the legacy of his clan one completed mission at a time for the whole of his adult life. Now he's on his most perilous quest yet: slay the cruel but beautiful Countess Dracula. Just as the two of them seem ready to conclude their final battle, however, an unexpected act of betrayal sends them hurtling together through time—bloodbonding them, thus entwining their fates.