The best books with a twist on supernatural monsters

Why am I passionate about this?

Stephen Jarrett has been a Creative Director and creator of worlds for Disney, Nickelodeon, and Namco Bandai. The Limbo Prophecy is Stephen’s first book series and takes the reader into a fresh supernatural world, merging gods, fairytales, and folklore from different cultures and adding a few twists and surprises along the way.


I wrote...

The Hive

By Stephen Jarrett,

Book cover of The Hive

What is my book about?

Angels are not the creatures you have been led to believe, but creatures that feed on pain and despair. Never pray for an Angel, it makes your soul a beacon for monsters to feed on and angels are the biggest monsters of them all. Carina Keel. FBI agent, self-taught witch and dabbler in the paranormal is on the hunt for an ancient angel that has returned to Bonners Ferry, Idaho. The same angel that killed Keel's father, 20 years ago. Together with her partner Jon Canopus, Keel will find the angel, discover its weaknesses, and send it back to wherever it came from. But others hunt the creature too; the Supreme with her Coven of witches and the mysterious demonic, 'Red Girl'. In a race against time, who will find The Hive first? 

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Frankenstein

Stephen Jarrett Why did I love this book?

The first book I read as an adult and one that fascinated me about the conflict between science and fantasy. It’s an amazing mix of Gothic horror and science fiction. It’s a truly surprising book and some say the first zombie book, but it’s really the first golem book. The book tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss student of natural science who creates an artificial man from pieces of corpses and brings his creature, the monster, to life.

By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

Why should I read it?

39 authors picked Frankenstein as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'

'That rare story to pass from literature into myth' The New York Times

Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley on Lake Geneva. The story of Victor Frankenstein who, obsessed with creating life itself, plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, but whose botched creature sets out to destroy his maker, would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Based on the third…


Book cover of Prodigal Son

Stephen Jarrett Why did I love this book?

Wow! What a book series. Dean Koontz took the classic tale of Frankenstein and added myth, terror, and magic. This series was a huge influence for my Canopus and Keel series, showing me how you can take classic lore and twist it into something new and exciting. The story follows the mysterious tattooed Deucalion as he arrives in New Orleans, tracking the serial killer dubbed “The Surgeon”. Could the surgeon be Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the creator of Deucalion, himself? 

By Dean Koontz, Kevin J. Anderson,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Prodigal Son as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time. If you think you know the legend, you know only half the truth. Here is the mystery, the myth, the terror, and the magic of . . .

Every city has its secrets. But none as terrible as this. He is Deucalion, a tattooed man of mysterious origin, a sleight-of-reality artist who has traveled the centuries with a secret worse than death. He arrives in New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his…


Book cover of The Shining

Stephen Jarrett Why did I love this book?

I had to include a Stephen King novel and to me, The Shining is still the ultimate blend of madness, horror, and magic. Jack Torrance yearns for solitude and a position as an off-season caretaker for the Overlook Hotel is the perfect place for him to write his great novel, not think about alcohol, and have a fresh start with his family after ‘the incident’. As the snow falls, the isolation threatens the sanity of Jack, and as the hotel ‘shines’ it reveals to Jack’s son, Danny the horrors of its past.

By Stephen King,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Shining as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King.

Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around…


Book cover of Storm Front

Stephen Jarrett Why did I love this book?

The book that launched the Dresden Files series and Harry Dresden. Set in a world where dangerous supernatural and magical creatures live beside humans, Harry is a professional wizard consulting for the Chicago P.D on a series of bizarre murders committed with black magic. Can Harry solve the murders and make some dollars along the way?

By Jim Butcher,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked Storm Front as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series, Harry Dresden’s investigation of a grisly double murder pulls him into the darkest depths of magical Chicago…

As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most of them don’t play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he’s the best at what he does. Technically, he’s the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business—to put…


Book cover of American Gods

Stephen Jarrett Why did I love this book?

No one takes classic supernatural characters that we all know and spins them into enigmatic, mysterious characters like Neil Gaiman.  American Gods is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious Shadow Moon. The Old Gods have been forgotten, losing power to technology and media, new gods to a new generation of followers, but the oldest god of them all, Odin, has a plan to become relevant again and it all centers on Shadow Moon.

By Neil Gaiman,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked American Gods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a STARZ® Original Series – Season 3 premiere in January 2021

“Pointed, occasionally comic, often scary, consistently moving and provocative….American Gods is strewn with secrets and magical visions.”—USA Today

Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text. A modern masterpiece from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman.

First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Washington Post) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is the story of Shadow—released from prison just days after…


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Shadow of the Hidden

By Kev Harrison,

Book cover of Shadow of the Hidden

Kev Harrison Author Of Below

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Storyteller Traveller Horror addict Reader

Kev's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over, and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?

Journey with Seb, Oz, and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.

Shadow of the Hidden

By Kev Harrison,

What is this book about?

It’s Seb’s last day working in Turkey, but his friend Oz has been cursed. Superstition turns to terror as the effects of the ancient malediction spill over and the lives of Oz and his family hang in the balance. Can Seb find the answers to remove the hex before it’s too late?

From Kev Harrison, author of The Balance and Below, journey with Seb, Oz and Deniz across ancient North African cities as they seek to banish the Shadow of the Hidden.


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