Up and down and all points in between, Hunter loves to write books about monsters. From his take on classic monsters to his vison of cryptids and on through unexpected monsters. Hunter knows monsters. So it's with that in mind that Hunter has been tasked to come up with 3 Picks of his favorite books featuring monsters.
When you have a passion for monsters, its difficult to whittle it down to just 3 choices but Hunter persevered. Here are his 3 Picks:
Pick 1:
Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith - Covid-19 might have taken Guy N. Smith from us, but he left behind a hefty library of pulp horror (and softcore porn!) books to enjoy for generations to come. His giant killer crabs series is flat out fun. The man is a legend and his crab novels and short stories are the kind of glue that holds the genre together, along with a dash of bay seasoning. I can't recommend them enough...dipped in clarified butter.
Picks 2:
The Ruins by Scott Smith - I grew up an enormous fan of Day of the Triffids, and I honestly thought I was never going to read or see another killer plant concept that could top it. Until The Ruins came to town. Many people smarter than me say The Ruins is one of the best horror novels of the past 20 years, if not all time. The movie kicks some serious chlorophyll, too. The human mimicking, carnivorous vines are some of the most terrifying monsters I've ever come across. Fuck lizard brain. Plant insanity knows no bounds!
Picks 3:
The Bog by Michael Talbot - I just discovered this little gem from the 80s last year. Talbot only wrote a few horror novels before his passing, which is a huge loss for us fans. I've always been fascinated by archaeology (I plant to do it full time when I retire), and bog people rank up there with the top things I'd like to explore firsthand. In The Bog, an archaeologist moves his family to a strange old estate to spend a year pulling up and studying preserved bodies from a nearby bog. That would be enough for me, but there's also a creature out skulking around the bogs that has been terrifying - and eating - people for centuries. I don't know, something about this book got to me, and my heart beat just a little bit faster whenever the prey - I mean people - entered the bogs.
There you have it! 3 monstrous picks of monster books more classic than a Universal Monster. Is that even possible? You've gotta trust Hunter Shea on this one. He ain't the Monster Man for nothing.
You can find out everything there is to know about Hunter Shea and his work at
HunterShea.com
