Monster Fiction

A collection of creepy, disturbing, shiver-inducing short stories ranging from dark psychological fiction and science fiction to downright horror, this book features fiction and poetry from early in JG Faherty's career that is no longer available in print or on the web. It also contains several never-before-published pieces. Guaranteed to keep readers up at night!

When Owen Pitt and the rest of the Monster Hunter International crew are called away to mount a month’s-long rescue mission in a monster-infested nightmare dimension, Julie Shackleford - Owen’s wife and descendant of MHI founder Bubba Shackleford - is left behind. Her task: hold down the fort and take care of her new baby son Ray. The slow pace of office work and maternity leave are starting to get to her. But when a routine field call brings her face-to-face with an unspeakable evil calling itself Brother Death, she’ll get more excitement than she ever hoped for.

The main character is a virtual game developer, who forces his way into the game. His character is a beetle who has lost his memory and doesn't consider himself a monster. He begins to upgrade his skills and get different achievements. He's trying to get to the truth as he pieces together shards of his memories, which he can't completely trust. As his intelligence grows, his memories are coming back. The realm he falls into is an underground world, which consists of 10 levels, with different caves, tunnels, and monsters.

When marine private Oliver Chadwick Gardenier is killed in the marine barrack bombing in Beirut, somebody who might be Saint Peter gives him a choice: Go to heaven, which, while nice, might be a little boring, or return to earth. The Boss has a mission for him, and he's to look for a sign. He's a marine: He'll choose the mission. Unfortunately, the sign he's to look for is "57". Which, given the food services contract in Bethesda Hospital, creates some difficulty. Eventually it appears that God's will is for Chad to join a group called Monster Hunters International.

I was stolen from my family and raised in the wastelands to the north. I did what I had to ensure my survival. I became the Champion, with my history carved into my skin for all to see. Now, I spend my days drinking and hiding from my past, until four newcomers offer me a job I can't refuse. When my past and future mix, I must once again rise and fight. This time it's not for my freedom, it's for my happiness.

Slain by the Gods and reborn as a Dungeon Core, Ace becomes the only dungeon in the world able to resurrect adventurers after killing them and stealing their power. Centered in the battlefield between the six elemental factions, Ace begins his ascension through the ranks of advancement in tandem with the first human to enter his domain. Dungeons of the six factions live symbiotically with humans, each growing in power from interacting with the other, however that quest for power has left the human world in a state of constant conflict— a conflict made exponentially worse by the recent ...

I’m out for revenge. He’s out to rule the world. Kirill and I are as different as day and night. We shouldn’t have been in the same frame or universe. But we meet under the strangest circumstances. He’s my superior in the military and the man who’ll introduce me to carnage.

New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during WWII included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju? This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history.

When I climbed out to the surface this morning, to scavenge some food for my village, I knew the odds were severely stacked against me. A mere nurse, I had no business going out into the sun, where all kinds of monstrosities roamed. As if to prove my fears right, I was only out in the open for a few minutes when a pack of Kinru spotted me. I was quickly cornered. In a desperate attempt to defend myself, I managed to hurt one in the face...right before the creature was snatched by an even bigger monster. Then everything became a blur. And when I came to, I wasn't the same anymore.

Many centuries ago, desperate to save her dying sister, Dianna made a deal with Kaden, a monster far worse than any nightmare. Locked in servitude to him, she is forced to hunt down an ancient relic held by her most dangerous enemies: an army led by Samkiel, the World Ender. After the Gods War, Samkiel hid from everything, denying his crown and deserting his people. Now, an attack on those he loves sends him back to the realm he never wished to return to, and into the sights of an enemy he had hoped to forget.

On a hot summer night in Montauk, the bodies of two local bar patrons are discovered in the dunes, torn to shreds, their identities unrecognizable.... In another part of town, a woman's backyard is invaded by four terrifying creatures that defy any kind of description. What's clear is that they're hostile - and they're ravenous....

I couldn’t swim. I’d never learned. So you can guess how screwed I was when our little tourist ship crashed on a planet that was entirely water… I was convinced my time had come, until a big blue alien captain stumbled upon us. Except he was not interested in saving us, he just wanted to salvage the materials from our busted ship. Still, he was the only shot we had at getting off this planet. Oh, and apparently I was his mate.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Haunted Forest Tour! Sit back, and enjoy a smooth ride in air-conditioned comfort as your heavily armored tram takes you through nature's most astonishing creation. The forest is packed to capacity with dangerous and terrifying creatures of all shapes, sizes, and hunger levels, and you'll get to observe these wonders in complete safety.

When Josh Underwood is thrown through a wormhole and lands on an unfamiliar world, he is immediately attacked by flesh-eating worms and snarling wolves. He has one huge advantage. A ring sits on his finger, but it's no ordinary ring. It's alien tech designed to improve its host’s strength, speed, agility, durability and combat instinct. Not all boons are infinitely wondrous. This tech has to understand what Josh needs for it to evolve, and time is of the essence.

My name is Frank Moon, and my life is completely in the toilet. Most of my friends, along with a large portion of New York City, are dead following the arrival of a bizarre meteor. The otherworldly phenomena brought with it a sickness—a disease—the likes of which this planet has never seen. A nightmarish species of super predator was born that day, something I call the Unseen. But at least I still have Jill, though, it was close…really close. Now, my wife and I find ourselves back in our old stomping grounds of South Florida, hellbent on locating our parents. Sadly, our triumphant ...

After a devastating car crash wipes out her family, Laura struggles to get her life together. Grieving, she becomes forgetful. She doesn't remember how money got into her purse, or buying that pint of milk....Adam is the perfect boyfriend. He cooks meals. He does the housework. He looks after Laura's every need. He knows everything about her. But Laura has never met Adam. And she knows nothing about him. What turned him into a monster who stalks his victims? How did he become warped from a sensitive boy who adored the fairy tales his gran read to him?

Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me: Monster.

All that stands between rowdy long-haul trucker Jill MacLeod (aka Junkmouth) and her family back in Boston is two thousand miles of asphalt. Well, that and the monstrous game the System has had her playing ever since it descended on Earth. The reward: mana. Jill's goal: kill, score, drive—and stay alive. Behind the wheel of a turreted forty-ton semi named Bertha, Jill hammers east from Montana through a gauntlet of every kind of chomping, hissing, rabid creature imaginable. Barreling forward in her magical soulbound big rig and chalking up a bumper crop of roadkill, Jill isn't alone for long.

One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother has been shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence.

Light years from home, an off-the-books corporate mission beyond the boundary goes horribly wrong, and the crew’s starship crashes onto an alien world that shouldn’t exist. To make matters worse, they trigger an ominous light that appears in the sky, and provoke the native wildlife. Though saved from disaster, the survivors learn they’ve moved out of the frying pan and into the fire.