You can’t have a good tale of monster hunting without monsters. And sometimes the monsters don’t need to be hunted. Sometimes it’s fun sitting back at minimum safe distance and watching the mayhem.

Weird Tales Magazine used to be nicknamed “The Unusual Magazine,” which is a bit of truth in advertising. And this issue hits that bull’s-eye pretty solidly. There are monster stories (short stories and flash), monster poems, and even an essay about monsters to be found here. But they’re each a little outside of the conventional box. Each writer brought a curious kind of game here, twisting the established models, skewing expectations, and having some very dark fun spinning creepy yarns about monsters of all kinds. So, lock the doors, turn down the lights, and dig in. It’s about to get scary in here.

“What Mike Saw” by Isaac Marion“Charakakon” by Johnny Compton“Gorgeous” by Delilah S. Dawson“Kolchak: Bruises on the Flesh of God” by Charles R. Rutledge“Riddle” by Gwendolyn Kiste“Straw Man” by Peter Clines“Lagniappe” by Dennis K. Crosby“Soft Shells” by Clay McLeod Chapman“Termination Agreement: Flash Fiction” by Wayne Brady“My Hideous Secret Garden: A Prose Poem” by Maxwell I. Gold“Death Carries a Peculiar Perfume” by Ellen Hopkins“Dinner with Mom” by Ray Porter“Putting the Hell in Hell Week” by J. Rose“Born in the Bayou: Swamp Monsters Great and Small” by Chris Ryall