# Your Favourite Monster Books



## Writer (Apr 15, 2011)

It seems every horror book is about Vampires or Werewolves but what else is out there?

Let's make a list of all the monster books, old and new.

I'll start with recommending Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and Arthur Conan Doyle's Lost World


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## tmando (Jul 18, 2010)

Just a few I liked
The Killing Room by John Manning - a haunted house
Night of the Crabs - Guy N. Smith
Crustaceans by William Meilke - both about giant crabs
almost anything by Scott Nicholson
And I am currently reading Berserker also by  William Meikle  about vikings vs Yetis.  I'm only about 25% through and so far its pretty good


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

King's _Salem's Lot_.

I'm generally not big on monster novels, but that one is great.


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## geniebeanie (Apr 23, 2009)

Usually do not read monster books but if there is some that I read it is Dracula,Frankenstein,any thing by Poe.  I cannot stand books like Twilight or Diarys of a vampire, flat uninspirering and rather stupid.    I will stick to the classics thank you.


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## SidneyW (Aug 6, 2010)

Looking back a ways there's Monster by Jeffrey Konvitz about the Loch Ness Monster.
The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti has a giant

I'll try to think of some more.


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## BrentNichols (Mar 18, 2011)

I like what Terry Pratchett does in his Discworld books with things like trolls and golems and witches.


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

Early Dean Koontz is a good bet for monster horror that doesn't involve twilight sparkly creations. Twilight Eyes, Watchers, Midnight, and Phantoms specifically, but he has other "science gone wrong" books out there. King does as well, IT for sure, Cujo, The Mist. Robert MacCammon has Stinger and Swan Song. Peter Benchley has at least a few other non-Jaws sea monster books. I would suggest Lovecraft but he so rarely has any direct contact with the beasties I'm not sure they would qualify. The Dunwich Horror is a particularly convincing example though.

Hmm, it appears that I stopped reading horror somewhere around 1990


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## Riteturn (Apr 30, 2011)

Larry Correia - Biff Bam Boom action without a great deal of depth - but FUN in the 'Monster Hunters International' series.


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## Tess St John (Feb 1, 2011)

The Monster in WATCHERS...I think Jason already mentioned it. That's the scariest book I've ever read (years ago I started reading it while my husband was away for work, and had to stop until he made it back into town)! And I loved it! The monster and that dog raised together and still connected...what a story! (I also mentioned this book in the thread for a book that made me cry!)


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Relic by Lincoln and Childs.


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## Averydebow (Jan 20, 2011)

Clive Barker always has good monsters.  My favorite are the Midian dwellers in "Cabal."


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## Writer (Apr 15, 2011)

Well done everyone. All very good choices by everyone. Any more books with monsters ?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

BrentNichols said:


> I like what Terry Pratchett does in his Discworld books with things like trolls and golems and witches.


And don't forget the dragon in _Guards! Guards!_.

I think my favorite monster-related book is Zelazny's _A Night in the Lonesome October_, with the cast including a vampire, a Frankenstein-like construct, a wolf man, and a witch.

And the all-time greatest monster is, IMHO, Lovecraft's Cthulhu.


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## Steve Vernon (Feb 18, 2011)

Owl Goingback's CROTA is a favorite of mine.


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## Laura Ruby (Feb 22, 2011)

I like the monsters in Rick Yancey's novels THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST and CURSE OF THE WENDIGO.  They're marketed as YA, but work well for this grown-up reader.  

-- Laura


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

My husband is the monster aficionado in our family.  He says the best monster novel is Robert McCammon's THEY THIRST, which is about vampires that take over L.A. and then the world.



Julia


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

Riteturn said:


> Larry Correia - Biff Bam Boom action without a great deal of depth - but FUN in the 'Monster Hunters International' series.


Oh, good one. My only beef with Correia (whom I know from the High Road) is that EVERY character of his is a snarky smart-ass. I see he is owned by Baen now, so I shall mosey over to their site to download his books....


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I am so sick of vampires and zombies.  I have always had a soft spot for werewolves, though.

If you want outstanding monster, anything by Lovecraft, especially from this Chthulhu Mythos is great.  I wish he was more popular instead of endless stories of "sparkling" and love sick vampires.  

And it all depends on what you call a monster.  I mean, the shark in Jaws is an all-time favorite monster.  The original Frankenstein may not be scary by contemporary standards, but it helped set the mold.

I am reading a book on Kindle now called Leviathan that seems to be about a sea monster...and it has a bang-up opening scene...good so far...


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## Plotspider (Mar 15, 2011)

Several for me: 

>Interstellar Pig and its sequel.  
>Armor by Steakley
>Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs (if you consider Hannibal Lecter to be a monster)
>The Hobbit (Gollum and Smaug both)
>World War Z about Zombies
>Stuff from Cthuhlu Mythos (though I find much of this to be overrated).  
>Ender's Game, though that really plays with the Monster term, doesn't it.  

I seem to be listing merely the books that have monsters in them, I guess.  Not really about Monsters, per se.  Maybe I'll think of a few more later.


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

I like the monsters in "The Mind Parasites" by Colin Wilson.
They are essentially energy vampires that can body switch by touch. 

I think it was ripped off and made into a bad movie (can't remember the name).
And then it was ripped off again and made into a better movie (Fallen).


Mike


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Really my all-time favorite monster book. Sillies.

The Monster at the End of this Book.

Absolutely without doubt.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

JRTomlin said:


> Really my all-time favorite monster book. Sillies.
> 
> The Monster at the End of this Book.
> 
> Absolutely without doubt.


Came here to say that.  There's a 'sequel': Another Monster at the End of this Book. I don't feel it lives up to the original. Just more cashing in on Elmo.


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## Will Granger (Apr 12, 2011)

How about Frankenstein and Beowulf? Both are definite classics and are often repeated and copied today. Frankenstein is so different from the stereotypical monster we saw in most movies. It is great because it is easy to feel bad for the monster in the beginning.


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

Typically I'm not a horror or monster reader, being as I usually read right before I go to bed and tend to dream about what I read. But i felt the need to get at least one Stephen King book under my belt so I picked up Duma Key. VERY GOOD! I'll probably read more his stuff now.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

mom133d said:


> Came here to say that.  There's a 'sequel': Another Monster at the End of this Book. I don't feel it lives up to the original. Just more cashing in on Elmo.


Haha! Glad it's not just me! I love that book.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I loved Monster at the End of this Book!  My favorite book as a kid.  Grover and Cookie Monster are both the best.


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I thought of another one: DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE.  If you read Stevenson's book, which is just a slim little volume that you can knock out in a couple of hours, you'll see that Hyde really is a great monster; as it happened, Stevenson came up with the idea in a dream.  When his wife woke him too early, he told her that she'd interrupted "a fine bogey tale."

Then he got up and wrote it in a matter of hours.

Julia


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## gryeates (Feb 28, 2011)

Guy N. Smith has done monsters galore:

Bats Out of Hell
Snakes
Alligators
Locusts 
The Slime Beast

Rakie Keig:

The Moths
Terror Island - vampire-werewolf-zombie hybrids

Shaun Hutson:

Slugs
Breeding Ground - sequel to Slugs
Assassin - undead gangsters


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## Glen Krisch (Dec 21, 2010)

I know this doesn't qualify as a monster, but I would consider Jack from The Shining as a "monster within."  Nothing scarier than that.


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## Plotspider (Mar 15, 2011)

I must have said something like this before, but if not, I'll add to my original comment.  

My favorite monster books include: 
World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide as well
Watchers, by Dean Koontz


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

mom133d (aka Liz) said:


> Came here to say that.  There's a 'sequel': Another Monster at the End of this Book. I don't feel it lives up to the original. Just more cashing in on Elmo.


There is an animated version for table that is hilarious. I know someone who has it and their 4-year-old loves it.


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## SJWrightAuthor (Feb 11, 2011)

Tess St John said:


> The Monster in WATCHERS...I think Jason already mentioned it. That's the scariest book I've ever read (years ago I started reading it while my husband was away for work, and had to stop until he made it back into town)! And I loved it! The monster and that dog raised together and still connected...what a story! (I also mentioned this book in the thread for a book that made me cry!)


I'm so with you on this one! Reading Watchers made me a huge fan of Dean Koontz. I think that is the best book he's written.


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