Monsters; the things we fear most aren’t hidden under the bed Croc-O-Jaws: Billy Daniels and his family are holidaying at Lake Kirriwaka, the bluest of blue natural lakes, but it holds a long dead secret that’s been spewed from the pits of the earth that only the locals know on an intimate level. Godjira: While playing it up at Japan’s newest theme park with his twin brother and parents, Dustin Hooper soon finds out what hell on earth actually means when the depths of ancient Japan spits out a creature not seen in centuries. King of the Castle: Rose and Ricky Thorn may be of rich English decent, but that doesn’t stop them getting into trouble and discovering the secret their great-great-grandfather, Professor Theseus Vessor, discovered nearly two hundred years ago on the family’s very own private island. Arach No Phobia: Mike and Bobby Codsworth may be twelve year old geniuses, but their love of all things eight legged has gotten them into the biggest trouble they’ve ever been in. Until they come up with a genius level idea to capture the Queen. Oh, Yet I Did: Ben Watkins and his family are off to find the menace who has been wreaking havoc in the local town of Yarrumburra. The mayor has called in his family to find out what or who is responsible for the town’s crime spree, and Ben and his cousins soon find something more supernatural than a human...

The Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth presents forty chapters about the unique and terrifying creatures from myths of the long-ago Near East and Mediterranean world, featuring authoritative contributions by many of the top international experts on ancient monsters and the monstrous. The first part provides original studies of individual monsters such as the Chimaera, Cerberus, the Hydra, and the Minotaur, and of monster groups such as dragons, centaurs, sirens, and Cyclopes. This section also explores their encounters with the major heroes of classical myth, including Perseus, Jason, Heracles, and Odysseus. The second part examines monsters of ancient folklore and ethnography, encompassing the restless dead, blood-drinking lamiae, exotic hybrid animals, the so-called dog-headed men, and many other unexpected creatures and peoples. The third part covers various interpretations of these creatures from multiple perspectives, including psychoanalysis, colonialism, and disability studies, with monster theory itself evident across the entire volume. The final part discusses reception of these ancient monsters across time and space--from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to modern times, from Persia to Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and Latin America-and concludes with chapters considering the use and adaptation of ancient monsters in children's literature, science fiction, fantasy, and modern scientific disciplines. This Handbook is the first large-scale, inclusive guide to monsters in antiquity, their places in literature and art across the millennia, and their influence on later literature and thought.

It was still light so I decided to venture out into the garden. I had never walked out of an argument before, and certainly not one at such an early stage. I think we were both quite pig headed, and my pride had taken an instant punch to the kidney. I didn't expect Rachel to follow me outside, and I certainly didn't want her to. I had slighted her suggestion, and she had taken it badly. I knew I should have stayed, talked it through and made her see my side of things. I should have told her that I would do this film, and if the future didn't work out as I hoped then I would consider her proposal. Hell, as an accountant she would set the business up for me and keep all the books. All I would have to do was do up shitty old houses. Most of it was all cosmetic anyway, a lick of paint here, a new carpet there, a few light fittings and stuff. All done on the cheap, supermarket goods made to look expensive. People would pay more for the houses giving me more profit. Once they moved in they could take all my crappy fittings out if they wanted to, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I had the skill for it, and that was one of the most important factors in her proposal. The one thing I didn't have just now was the will to do it, and that made one bitch of a difference. I walked down the path at the front of the house. I marvelled at my own work as I passed by, the grass was neatly cut, and was growing in neat strips, making it look like a professionally cut soccer pitch or tennis court. The gravel driveway was well laid and even. There were a couple of stone sculptures at either end of the drive. In fact they weren't stone at all, but a kind of outdoor material made to look like stone. They were weighted down with sand and looked pretty authentic. I figured that if my movie was a success and I got other roles soon I would invest in some real stone ones. I wandered right down to the end of the drive, where our land meets the main road. When I say main road, I don't mean a major carriageway, it was actually a B-road which led towards the M1. There wasn't a lot of traffic around at the best of times, although tonight was unusually silent. I couldn't even hear the usual dull and distant roar of the traffic from the motorway as a thousand souls passed in the near vicinity of my life. Tonight there seemed to be nobody about, not even in the distance. It was just the night for a perfect murder. Why that thought entered my head I was unsure, it just suddenly popped in there and refused to budge. It was disturbing that I should have such an idea so easy, but there it was. I could kill Rachel, and then there would be no reason why I couldn't do whatever I wanted. I could act forever, I could paint houses forever, whatever the fuck I wanted to do. With her out of the way there would be nothing to stop me except my own ambition. I couldn't quite believe I was having these thoughts. I know that everyone is prone to the occasional lapse in normal behaviour, but it usually passes in a moment or two. It also leads to intense remorse that the thought ever occurred. Not in this case though. The thought of digging a grave right here and now, and luring Rachel here, throwing her into the newly dug hole and covering it with earth. She would scream for a while, but there would be nobody to hear her. I would keep filling the hole with earth, and then the screaming would stop. She would be gone forever. I would report her missing, and she would never be found. I would be looked at with sympathy, and my career would skyrocket because of it. I would be the hero who came back from the brink to relaunch a successful acting career. I would marry a supermodel, but not before a string of torrid but highly sexually charged relationships had taken place. I had a peculiar sensation of déjà vu, as if this wasn't exactly a new thought, or indeed a new experience for me. I did

Over centuries, discoveries of fossil bones spawned legends of monsters such as giants and dragons. As the field of earth sciences matured during the 19th century, early fossilists gained understanding of prehistoric creatures such as Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and Stegosaurus. This historical study examines how these genuine beasts morphed in the public imagination into mythical, powerful engines of destruction and harbingers of cataclysm, taking their place in popular culture, film, and literature as symbols of "lost worlds" where time stands still.

Norman Spinrad's 1972 alternate history, gives us both a metafictional what-if novel and a cutting satire of one of the 20th century's most evil regimes . . . In 1919, a young Austrian artist by the name of Adolf Hitler immigrated to the United States to become an illustrator for the pulp magazines and, eventually, a Hugo Award-winning SF author. This volume contains his greatest work, Lord of the Swastika: an epic post-apocalyptic tale of genetic 'trueman' Feric Jagger and his quest to purify the bloodline of humanity by ruthlessly slaughtering races of the genetically impure - a quest Norman Spinrad expertly skewers through ironic imagery and over-the-top rhetoric. Spinrad hoped to expose some unpalatable truths about much of SF and Fantasy literature and its uncomfortable relationship with fascist ideologies - an aim that was not always apparent to neo-fascist readers. In order to make his aims clear to the hard-of-understanding, Spinrad added an imaginary critical analysis by a fictional literary scholar, Homer Whipple, of New York University.

With her best friend, Kovit's, life in danger, Nita is determined to take down the black market once and for all.

"The Metal Monster" is a science fiction novel written by the American author Abraham Merritt. It was first published in 1920. The novel is set in the remote wilderness of Labrador, Canada, and follows a group of explorers who encounter a mysterious and advanced civilization of metallic beings known as the "Metal Things" or the "Metal Monster." These beings possess highly advanced technology and powers that challenge the understanding of the natural world. The story explores themes of science, the unknown, and the clash between the human and the alien. Abraham Merritt was a popular author of fantasy and science fiction during the early 20th century. "The Metal Monster" is one of his notable works and is celebrated for its imaginative and otherworldly storytelling. It combines elements of adventure, science fiction, and the supernatural, making it a classic of early science fiction literature.