Science Fiction Monsters

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit's standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams? If you're Detective Versado's geeky teenage daughter, Layla, you commence a dangerous flirtation with a potential predator online. If you're desperate freelance journalist Jonno, you do whatever it takes to get the exclusive on a horrific story.

The Eldritch Ranch continues to flourish, yielding crops, greenery, and more monsters. This allows Jason to push forward with his plans to bring mana back to the barren Crystal Mountains, and in doing so, restore the power of magic to all the counties that have lost it. However, this isn’t what the nefarious Puppeteer’s Guild wants, and its vicious agents will stop at nothing to thwart Jason’s plans and burn the Eldritch Ranch to the ground.

Having received his quest from Marj, Keith sets off toward Umber City to investigate Cane, a dangerous member of the Necro-Beast Guild. Help is already waiting for him in the form of the Royal Guild, who has pledged to help in the extermination of the Dark Guilds plaguing the continent. Though all seems well at first, Keith soon finds himself bogged down in quests, assassination plots, and back-alley lowlives, not to mention the conspiracy by one of the greatest citizens in all of Humania.

I scented my mate and she disappeared before we could meet, leaving behind a forgotten piece of clothing. It’s driving me crazy. I’ve checked every unmated human female, asking if this mysterious red fabric is hers. Pissing off other males in the process, but what do I care? I’m on a quest to find my future bound, no matter what.

Ava Baldwin has always tried to keep her anger in check, just like her mom taught her. But when know-it-all classmate Owen King tries to speak over her yet again, Ava explodes . . . and Owen freezes, becoming totally unresponsive. Although Owen recovers, Ava's parents whisk her off to her mother’s alma mater, the Accademia del Forte, a mysterious international boarding school in Venice.

Teo never thought he could be a Hero. Now, he doesn’t have a choice. The sun is gone, the Obsidian gods have been released from their prison, and chaos and destruction are wreaking havoc on Reino del Sol. All because Teo refused to sacrifice a fellow semidiós during the Sunbearer Trials. With the world plunged into perpetual night, Teo, his crush Aurelio, and his best friend Niya must journey to the dark wilderness of Los Restos, battling vicious monsters while dealing with guilt, trauma, and a (very distracting) burgeoning romance between Teo and Aurelio.

Jack Miller has spent his entire nine years in the same house on the same street in the same town with the same best friend. One day, while delivering papers on his same ordinary paper route, Jack finds himself amidst a very unordinary world. A world where strange and silly monsters become his friends. In this story, Jack and Annabelle meet Winston who is determined to get their help back in Monster World.

After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she's still a prime target on the black market. There's only one way to keep herself safe. Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on Fabricio, the boy who sold Nita to her kidnappers.

Those sentences might not seem like they fit together, but in my case, they do. Because six months ago, I was turned into a vampire by said ex. And a few days later, my potential mate—who's a demon—fed me his blood on the sly. Now, I'm literally addicted to him. My options are to drink from him for the rest of my life, or die. He's not keen on letting me die, so it's looking like a till-starvation-do-you-part situation.

The game has changed. After receiving a mysterious message from a famous Proxima developer, Chase Knowles takes a step toward an incredible future. With an important tournament coming up, everything seems to be working in his favor. But there are other forces at play, even if some of those forces are internal. Wanting more from his relationship with Lady C., Chase goes to extreme lengths to bring her digital form to New York City through an android shell.

John Hunter isn't bad at this whole monster hunting thing. Along with Shannon and Evan, he's even formed his own company, Hunters for Hire. But events will soon turn deadly as Hunters for Hire is contracted to solve a case so twisted and mysterious, it'll make every conspiracy theory you've heard of sound like just another episode of Golden Girls.

For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys” - orphans owned by chimney sweeps - to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless, and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived - and a girl. But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature - a golem - made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire.

Wounds is a confounding, strange, and utterly entrancing collection of six stories, including one new novella from Shirley Jackson Award-winning author Nathan Ballingrud. From the eerie dread descending upon a New Orleans dive bartender after a cell phone is left behind in a rollicking bar fight in The Visible Filth to the search for the map of hell in “The Butcher’s Table”, Ballingrud’s beautifully crafted stories are riveting in their quietly terrifying depictions of the murky line between the known and the unknown.

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.

What started as a contract becomes a collision of desire, dominance, and something neither of them expected—love. Autumn Blake thought she knew what she was getting into when she signed with the Alien Seed Syndicate—one pregnancy, one payout, and a second chance at motherhood. But from the moment her biodome collapses and she’s dragged from the wreckage by a brutal Trionis warlord, nothing goes according to plan. Sethar Vol didn’t want a human surrogate. He wanted a legacy, not a mate. But when Autumn's scent triggers a rare biological bond, he claims her—body, blood, and soul—...

Erron plans to retire from adventuring to a little farm and live out his days raising crops in peace. Little did he know that fate had other plans for him. When he purchases cropland of his own, he finds that the things he places in the soil don't become plants. They become monsters.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Devil's Desk 3 and experience the apocalyptic world of monsters.

She signed her name for survival. He’ll carve his into her soul. Sierra Adams is out of options. Bankrupt. Barren. Broken. The Syndicate’s surrogacy contract promises restored fertility and a fresh start—but at a cost she can’t fully comprehend until it’s too late. Pheron 6 is no sanctuary. It’s a primal moon teeming with predators, secrets, and Kael Om’ra—her towering, war-hardened Ghoran mate who doesn’t believe in soft touches or second chances. He needs an heir. She needs a cure. What neither of them expected was a bond strong enough to burn through galaxies… or ...

One night, when Ethan checks under the bed for his monster, he finds a note instead: “Gone fishing. Back in a week. --Gabe” What will Ethan do? He needs a monster under his bed. How is he supposed to get to sleep if his monster is gone? Substitute monsters appear, but none are just right. Herbert's teeth aren't sharp enough, Mack's slobbering induces giggles, Cynthia's tail isn't scary at all, and Ralph has nail polish on his claws! This will never work! How will Ethan ever get to sleep without his monster?

Everyone has a reason for joining the Moltov-Human mating system. Some do it for wealth, some do it for endless pleasure, but I just want to find someone to fulfill my fantasies. Over two centuries ago the Moltovs came to Earth. We thought it was an invasion, but they were a peaceful race. All they wanted were humans. There was a need inside of them that burned hot and deep, a fire that consumed their soul when they found their perfect match. On Earth, I’m a chubby twenty-five-year-old who can barely score a kiss. On Hades, my innocence is desired and revered. The choice is easy. When I ...