Mistress Rose is her dominatrix name, at home she is just a mom and a wife. In her past... she has no past. From sugar cookies and private schools in a Silicon Valley idyll, to vinyl and stilettos in the underbelly of San Francisco; taunted by KGB specters from a cold-war Ukraine with its chestnut-tree-lined boulevards, bleeding cherries, and pungent scents; addicted to a double life-Rose is living through writing and writing through living. But when a dungeon client threatens to topple her elegantly orchestrated lies, Mistress Rose unleashes her inner monster.

"[P]itch perfect, with wit, romance, and a lovable found family." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review) "This smart and entertaining, magical heist novel hits all the right notes!" ―T.L. Huchu NPR Best Book of 2022! Paste Best Fantasy Book of 2022! "Never make a deal with shadows at night, especially ones that know your name.” Washington D. C., 1925: Clara Johnson can talk to spirits—a gift that saved her during her darkest moments, now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So when a powerful spirit offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, Clara seizes the chance, no questions asked. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District. Clara can’t pull off this daring heist alone. She’ll need the help of an unlikely team, from a handsome jazz musician able to hypnotize with a melody to an aging actor who can change his face, to pull off the impossible. But as they race along DC’s legendary Black Broadway, conflict in the spirit world begins to leak into the human one—an insidious mystery is unfolding, one that could cost Clara her life and change the fate of an entire city. The Monsters We Defy is a timely and dazzling historical fantasy that weaves together African American folk magic, history, and romance.

For fans of Rene Denfeld and Shari Lapena comes a rich, atmospheric family drama set in the 1980's following the disappearances of two paperboys from a small midwestern town. It's August 1984, and paperboy Christopher Stewart has gone missing. Hours later, twelve-year-old Sammy Cox hurries home from his own paper route, red-faced and out of breath, hiding a terrible secret. Crystal, Sammy's seventeen-year-old sister, is worried by the disappearance but she also sees opportunity: the Stewart case has echoes of an earlier unsolved disappearance of another boy, one town over. Crystal senses the makings of an award winning essay, one that could win her a scholarship - and a ticket out of their small Iowa town. Officer Dale Goodkind can't believe his bad luck: another town and another paperboy kidnapping. But this time he vows that it won't go unsolved. As the abductions set in motion an unpredictable chain of violent, devastating events touching each life in unexpected ways, Dale is forced to face his own demons. Told through interwoven perspectives--and based on the real-life Des Moines Register paperboy kidnappings in the early 1980's--The Monsters We Make deftly explores the effects of one crime exposing another and the secrets people keep hidden from friends, families, and sometimes, even themselves.

Nothing scares these goofy and ill-mannered monsters, who frighten and abuse everyone, except children hiding under their beds.

'Do monsters always stay in the book where they were born? Are they content to live out their lives on paper, and never step foot into the real world?' The Villa Diodati, on the shore of Lake Geneva, 1816: the Year without Summer. As Byron, Polidori, and Mr and Mrs Shelley shelter from the unexpected weather, old ghost stories are read and new ghost stories imagined. Born by the twin brains of the Shelleys is Frankenstein, one of the most influential tales of horror of all time. In a remote mountain house, high in the French Alps, an author broods on Shelley's creation. Reality and perception merge, fuelled by poisoned thoughts. Humankind makes monsters; but who really creates who? This is a book about reason, the imagination, and the creative act of reading and writing. Marcus Sedgwick's ghostly, menacing novel celebrates the legacy of Mary Shelley's literary debut in its bicentenary year.

Quotes, maxims, short stories to provoke thought and give tired warrior's purpose and direction. The author is the founder of the website Spotterup.com. Spotter Up has 35+ writers who are accomplished former or active duty members of the Special Operations community (Green Berets, Navy SEALS, Rangers, Marine Scout Snipers, S.W.A.T, etc.), master-level shooters, special agents, case officers, athletes, and outdoor enthusiasts who like to share their knowledge with anyone interested in learning more about subjects such as fitness, nutrition, shooting, martial arts, mindset, survival, and far more. The writers of Spotter Up have completed nearly 900+ gear reviews on subjects such as: footwear, body, tactical clothing, armor, optics, and firearms and is known as a credible site for its opinions by the tactical industry. Spotter Up is about "spotting" a problem and coming up with solutions.Spotter Up promotes the idea of the classical "whole" man found in ancient texts. For our modern day he is a person who aspires to be the GUNFIGHTER, WRITER, WILDMAN, MONK: Man of Action, Man of Intellect, Man of Emotion, Man of Spirit. Consider the Athenian ideal of a balanced education from the book Greek Realities: Life and Thought in Ancient Greece, By Finley Hooper "They could play some flute but should not neglect wrestling. They avoided the excesses of life. They might focus on music or philosophy but spent enough time so that their bodies did not become soft."Spotter Up is for anyone, whether they are military, law-enforcement, emergency response or not, that is searching for ways to become more well-rounded.We Fight Monsters is a collection of quotes, maxims, poems and more written and posted by the author originally on Instagram, over a four-year period of time, as a way to provoke thought, and simultaneously inspire men and women. The author of We Fight Monsters hopes it helps readers transcend the ordinary world by relishing the unexpected. The book was written because many of the followers of Spotter Up's social media sites stated, "the writing got me through some very hard times."The cover illustration is based off the Greek Hydra and the Hercules myth. Man has an internal struggle after he's battled a beast, and sometimes he must battle the beast within himself. He isn't a demigod. He's just a regular Joe who is a hero to many, that lives to win against evil. Maybe he's a Marine who did several deployments and lost some friends, maybe she's a cop fighting crime on the streets. The illustration symbolizes the brotherhood of man, (men and women), that fight the good fight despite experiencing PTSD, physical injuries, loss of friends, lovers etc."WE FIGHT MONSTERS. I'm not afraid of anything in this world that's been seen. I have scars on the inside. My badges of honor. There's a light inside my heart; it's for others to see. I live to show the way to those lost and in pain. And you? Walk with magnificence. Cock of the walk. Lead the way or follow those who use their pain to fight monsters and the injustices in this world" ~Michael Kurcina.

“A humorous—and richly illustrated—book full of quirky monsters. SanCartier’s creatures are somehow both cute and terrifying.” —USA Today Meet the world’s most unusual monsters in this darkly funny collection of creatures and cryptids from folkloric history. Illustrator Emma SanCartier captures the bizarre and hilarious elements of seventeen monsters from around the world in a light, tongue-in-cheek tone, from the Japanese dream-eater Baku and the Persian carnivorous unicorn Shadhavar to the Eastern European Shurale, a literal tickle monster. Illustrated in lush watercolor, Monsters You Should Know is a perfect primer for the many strange, frightening, and compelling things that go bump in the night. “An important book on monsters you should know about, mostly because it turns out they’re really cute.” —Buzzfeed

Homo sapiens began to explore the worldbeyond Africa only 100,000 years ago.These people were not primitive cavemen,but as intelligent as ourselves. Thousands ofyears before Cook or Columbus, theypioneered a route from Africa throughEurasia to Australia, northern Europe, theAmericas, and ultimately the shores ofremote islands such as New Zealand. Whatour ancestors found was not the planet thatwe know today, but instead a prehistoricworld ruled by giant animals, 'monsters' thathad risen from the ashes of the dinosaurs.Monsters We Met tells the greatest untoldstory of our species: how humansdiscovered all the continents and met Earth'sextraordinary megafauna - enormous lizards,horse-sized bears, terrible cats, colossalbirds and lumbering plant-eaters.In the first review of its kind, and drawing onthe latest research from science, archaeologyand anthropology, this book sets out toanswer some vital questions. Did we battlewith megafauna for control of Earth, or didthey disappear for other reasons? Why doesone animal, Homo sapiens dominate ourworld today, and at what cost? And whatis the message from prehistory for us now?

This book is a unique teaching tool that takes math lovers on a journey designed to motivate kids (and kids at heart) to learn the fun of factoring and prime numbers. This volume visually explores the concepts of factoring and the role of prime and composite numbers. The playful and colorful monsters are designed to give children (and even older audiences) an intuitive understanding of the building blocks of numbers and the basics of multiplication. The introduction and appendices can also help adult readers answer questions about factoring from their young audience. The artwork is crisp and creative and the colors are bright and engaging, making this volume a welcome deviation from standard math texts. Any person, regardless of age, can profit from reading this book. Readers will find themselves returning to its pages for a very long time, continually learning from and getting to know the monsters as their knowledge expands. You Can Count on Monsters is a magnificent addition for any math education program and is enthusiastically recommended to every teacher, parent and grandparent, student, child, or other individual interested in exploring the visually fascinating world of the numbers 1 through 100.

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for Dungeon Masters. In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.