Twelve tales of monstrous beings, twelve different approaches. Write Like Hell: Kaiju is an anthology of stories focused on terrifying creatures, and the humans who must face them. From Viking sagas, to sci-fi thrillers, you’ll find a host of imaginative and compelling fiction within these pages.
Featuring stories from C. L. Werner, Justin Fillmore, Mitchell Lüthi, Scott Miller, Adam Gray, André Uys, Leon Fourie, Matthew Fairweather, Erik Morten & Samantha Bateson, Andrea Speed, and Tyron Dawson, as well as illustrations from Stephen Spinas, this anthology offers up a wide range of tales from authors around the globe, each with their own perspectives and ideas, and all eager to contribute to the genre of kaiju.
STORY BLURBS
BIG BLOODY BEN
There's been a murder. Of course there has, but this time it's different. Something strange is happening on the streets of London. People are disappearing, and nobody knows why. Working with little more than a hunch, Captain Stopforth of the London Police must investigate every clue and follow every lead, no matter how horrifying their conclusion. Adam Gray's Big Bloody Ben is a rip-roaring adventure set in Victorian London, pitting the indomitable Captain Stopforth against, well... You'll just have to read to find out!
THE BONE FIELDS - Honorable Mention in the 2020 L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Competition
When the crew of the longship Varúlfr take refuge from a storm on a mysterious island, they are confronted by the relics of an ancient belief, and the remnants of a long forgotten civilisation. As the true horror of the island reveals itself, they're forced to wonder if they really have stumbled upon Hel's kingdom... or something worse. In The Bone Fields, Mitchell Lüthi paints a bloody picture of Vikings, the old faith, and the perils of the high seas.
A BOY AND HIS MONSTER
As a boy, Toshi bonded with a 300-foot kaiju, and saved the world. Now, as an adult, he's finding that protecting the world from a rampaging monster may have been the easy part. How do you have a social life when your best friend could wipe out a city in hours? Toshi hopes to find out. A Boy and His Monster, by Andrea Speed, is a heart-warming tale of the trials of early adulthood, and how even saving the world won't stop you from being nervous on a first date.
JANUARY THROUGH THE YEARS
Brittany, a devoted wife, is left a widow when her husband doesn't return from the war. Left damaged and alone, she realises that life must carry on, and so it does... Until the discovery of a strange creature in the marshes changes everything.
André Uys' January Through the Years is a beautifully written story about love and loss, and the voids we fill along the way.
CIPACTLI
Across unchartered seas, hidden by lush forests and unscalable mountains, the New World flourishes. Untouched by the ravages of the Old World, Tepin and his people explore the vast wilderness that surrounds them, and share great stories of the creatures that lurk within the woods. But beneath the shadow of the pyramid something stirs, and it is hungry. Scott Miller's Cipactli is a spellbinding glimpse at a world before the West, with captivating characters and a thunderous climax that'll see you looking to the next page for more.
HONENGYO
Another village has been found in ruin, with only the massive prints of a monstrous creature left to identify the culprit. The Honengyo has turned upon the people of the Hoshin clan, and only death and destruction will sate its appetite. Left with little choice, Lord Torogawa calls upon the infamous wandering samurai, Shintaro Oba, to deal with the beast. But can he and his demon-killing sword, Koumakiri, prevail against something as old as the very mountains themselves? And what of his own personal quest for vengeance?
C. L. Werner's Honengyo transports us to Feudal Japan, where quarrelling clans and treacherous assassins leave chaos in their wake, while cunning sorcerers and demons align with one another to bring about a new order.
THE WHALER
The South Sea Company plies its trade all across the Atlantic, harvesting from the seas with reckless abandon, and little thought of anything but profits. Where their whalers go, blood is sure to follow, and who is to stop them? But things change when the mysterious Xa joins the whaler Agnor Rose at the port of Namibe.
In Justin Fillmore's The Whaler, we join the crew of the Agnor Rose as they hunt the open seas for whales, before learning the truth about the mysterious Xa and his glowing eyes.
ONE MONSTROUS PANDEMIC
Petrus Kruger is an expert in the occult, and an investigator of all things paranormal. Convinced that he's responsible for unleashing an accursed pandemic upon the world, his investigations take him to the very heart of the catastrophe as he searches for the cause of One Monstrous Pandemic.
Leon Fourie's dark tale is both timely and imaginative, weaving a link between many of the world's great myths and folk tales, and creating a vision of a new and hidden history co-existing alongside our own.
STARCHILD
Great kaiju swim between the stars, and upon their backs, nestled between moon-sized craters and great limbs, are the cities of humanity. Though the future has given us boundless technology and the ability to do wonders, it is not without its own threats...
Erik Morten & Samantha Bateson offer up a truly unique take on mankind's future among the stars. Featuring a host of characters and high stakes, Starchild is a thoroughly enjoyable tale of cosmic proportions!
DOMINION
The 20th century gave birth to modern marvels, industrial empires, and technological phenomenons, but beneath the sooty chimneys of Dublin, it gave birth to something else, too.
Tyon Dawson's Dominion focuses on the plight of the downtrodden, and the struggles of a family on the brink. Set in Ireland at the turn of the century, Dawson's tale blazes its own path as it spins a yarn that falls somewhere between Lovecraftian horror and a story of real-world threats.
KAIJU NOIR
Down on his luck, detective Donald 'Mick' Murphy is content to drink himself to death until a client walks in with a case that will change his life forever. In a world where going beyond city limits means a tango with giant monsters, Mick leaves no stone unturned in his search for Dr Jochovic, a kaiju scientist. Ruffling the feathers of mob bosses and hitmen alike, Mick discovers the dark secret at the heart of his city.
In Kaiju Noir, Matthew Fairweather takes well-worn noir tropes and flings them in the face of a kaiju tale, creating something both enjoyable and fascinating. Featuring tough, cynical characters, and a bleak and inhospitable world, Kaiju Noir is both absurd and fantastic, and well worth reading.
CTHULHU VS. KAIJU
It's been years since the first Emergence, since the first specimen of the kaiju scourge awoke from millennia of dormancy beneath the sea and wrought untold devastation upon the cities of man. Much has since been lost, but a great deal gained, too. In the crucible of extinction-level events, a new breed of super-soldier, capable of interfacing with the beasts, was born. We follow Captain Reynolds and his crewmates, Kiyo and Maks, seasoned kaiju pilots with many an averted disaster beneath their belts. To them, saving the Earth is just another day at the office, and they thought they'd seen it all... Until the balance begins to tip in favour of a new threat, of a being far more ancient and powerful than they have yet encountered. Everything is in place. The stars have finally aligned.
In Cthulhu vs. Kaiju, epic fantasy author Mitchell Lüthi has penned a love letter to both cosmic horror and kaiju with a single stroke of his pen, and harnesses the chilling ambience of At the Mountains of Madness and the action-packed ostentation of Pacific Rim. This one will leave you breathless, and clawing at your ears for the voices to stop.
