A bold, unsettling, and sinister collection of stories that asks what monster means.

What is a monster? The word encompasses the grotesque, the immoral, or the merely wondrous. Mythical creatures, corrupt executives, and cruel exes are all monsters. Monsters live among us. Sometimes the monster is us.

What do monsters mean to writers? Here is a literary grab-bag: fourteen writers from diverse genres — literary, mystery, horror, the experimental — interpret monsters either literal or metaphorical. The result is a snapshot of contemporary fiction.

Stories from: Sifton Tracey Anipare, Steve Burrows, Brenda Chapman, Chinenye Emezie, Barbara Fradkin, Zsuzsi Gartner, Liz Harmer, Babak Lakghomi, Pasha Malla, Andrew Pyper, Naben Ruthnum, Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson, Andrew Sullivan, and Emily A. Weedon.