From the serpentine "Champie" of Lake Champlain to the venerable "Nessie" of Loch Ness, extraordinary-and un-explained-creatures of the deep have been reported in sightings throughout the twentieth century. Now, two of the world's leading cryptozoological investigators provide a globetrotting field guide to when, where, and what kind of mysterious aquatic beasts have gripped the public-and sometimes the scientific-imagination. Filled with comprehensive drawings, classifications, and maps, their book offers an invaluable and unusual resource for the intrepidly curious to investigate these sightings firsthand or to simply enjoy the fascinating accounts that others have given.

What should have been an ordinary morning is about to spiral into a day of unrelenting terror.

As a reporter for his high school newspaper, Tom is always on the lookout for an offbeat story. But from the moment he woke up this morning, his own life has been more bizarre than any headline could ever tell.

The streets of his town are suddenly empty and silent. A strange fog has drifted in from the sea and hangs over everything. And something is moving in that fog. Something evil. Something hungry. Closing in on Tom.

Tom's terrified girlfriend Marie says the answers lie at the Santa Maria Monastery, a haunted ruin standing amidst a forest blackened by wildfire. But can he trust her? A voice that seems to be coming from beyond the grave is warning him that nothing is what it seems.

Only one thing is certain: with his world collapsing around him, Tom has only a few hours to recover the life he knew--before he, too, is lost forever in this nightmare city.

Did you know there were vampires on the darkly atmospheric Salisbury Plain, not far from the famous Stonehenge? Was there really black magic and witchcraft going on in the small village of West Lavington in modern times? Who was the tall, dark, horned figure stalking the stones at Avebury stone circle? Be amazed by the saucy naked phantom highwaymen of Cherhill. Read the chilling tale of a young man who fell in love with a mysterious woman in a residential house in Swindon. Find out how the Black Death came to the beautiful little village of Urchfont, and why you should be careful who you sit next to at Chippenham railway station. If you really are prepared to be scared then read the disturbing tales of hauntings, vampires, poltergeists, witches and phantoms that roam the wonderful Wiltshire countryside.

Vampires: The 100% Bona Fide Totally Real And Not Made Up At All Truth

In this day and age, the belief in vampires has been dwindling at an exponential rate. Those who still believe in them are often wildly misinformed. So what do you think will happen when Johnny McNormalpants finds himself face to face with a bloodthirsty vampire? Probably crap his pants, but then what? An informed citizen would know exactly what to do in this situation. If only there was some way to enlighten the public about this often forgotten subject, preferably in the form of a mock informative guide or something.

From Matt Melvin, one of the creators of Explosm.net and the hit online comic Cyanide & Happiness, comes"Dracula Is A Racist, " the definitive guide to vampires, answering those gravely important questions that keep you up at night. . .

• Was Dracula really a racist?
• How do vampires do their hair if they don't have any reflection?
• Is it gross for immortals to be attracted to high school girls if they're stuck in a 17-year-old body?
• Was Sesame Street ever truly safe from The Count?
• Is dressing in all black and acting snobby toward everyone enough to fake being a vampire?
• Just how much more badass are vampires than zombies?

" Dracula Is A Racist" is the essential vampire handbook that digs up all the dirt and backs it up with hard vampirical evidence. That's totally true. Really.

Matt Melvin is a 25-year-old T-shirt aficionado and sideburn enthusiast. Along with three other dudes, he runs Explosm.net, a pretty awesome website full of awesome things. When not adding even more filth to the Internet, he enjoys criticizing and complaining about movies, listening to music and inventing obscure types of niche sexual acts. He currently lives in San Diego. He is very tall.

Now that millions have read and seen "Twilight," where do they turn for vampire advice? This wry, witty, fully illustrated, and bloody essential guide.
Vampires are all around-books, movies, TV, comics- infiltrating our culture like never before. But what happens if one should run into a real vamp on the street? "Vampire Taxonomy" is the best defense against a fatal encounter in the dark. For the reader's protection, Meredith Woerner reveals the truth about:
?Sunlight sensitivity-Do vamps venture out in the day or stick solely to the evening hours?
?Physiology-When ready to feed, do they change appearance or simply lure with the seductive flash of a fang?
?Dress-Are they decked out in leather with aspirations of becoming the first vampire rock stars or do they cling to Gothic robes and ruffled collars?
?Diet-Are they waging a never-ending struggle against the temptation of human blood or do they view the world as their personal blood buffet?

Dom Joly sets off round the world, but this time he's not looking to holiday in a danger zone - he's monster hunting. Ever since he was given a copy of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World for his ninth birthday Dom has been obsessed with the world of cryptozoology - monster hunting - and in Scary Monsters and Super Creeps he heads to six completely different destinations to investigate local monster sightings. He explores the Redwood Curtain in northern California in search of Sasquatch; in Canada he visits Lake Okanagan hoping to catch a glimpse of a thirty-foot snake-like creature called Ogopogo; and near Lake Tele in Congo he risks his life tracking the vegetarian sauropod Mokele-mbembe. Naturally he heads to Loch Ness - but for this hunt he has his family in tow; he treks across the Khumbu Valley in Nepal looking for Yeti; and in the hills above Hiroshima in Japan he enlists the help of a local man to find the Hibagon, a terribly smelly 'caveman ape'. Are the monsters all the product of fevered minds, or is there a sliver of truth somewhere in the madness? Either way, the search gives Dom an excuse to dive into six fascinating destinations on a gloriously nutty adventure. In typically hilarious and irreverent fashion, Dom explores the cultures that gave rise to these monster myths and ends up in some pretty hairy situations with people even stranger than the monsters they are hunting.

Penguin presents the CD edition of Heroes written and read by Stephen Fry. Mortals and Monsters. Quests and Adventures . . . __________ There are Heroes - and then there are Greek Heroes. Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes. In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta - who was raised by bears - outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera. Filled with white-knuckle chases and battles, impossible puzzles and riddles, acts of base cowardice and real bravery, not to mention murders and selfless sacrifices, Heroes is the story of what we mortals are truly capable of - at our worst and our very best. ___________ 'Ebullient and funny' The Times 'Entertaining and edifying' Daily Telegraph 'A rollicking good read' Independent 'Fry exhibits enormous erudition and enthusiasm' Mail on Sunday 'The Greek gods of the past become relatable as pop culture, modern literature and music are woven throughout. Joyfully informal yet full of the literary legacy' Guardian

The mere mention of vampires used to be enough to make people think of a nocturnal predator. But over the centuries the vampire has changed from monstrous villain to sexual object, for both men and women alike. Allure of the Vampire examines our intimate attraction to these beings in a detailed manner. Now, join occult author Corvis Nocturnum as he reveals the fascinating evolution of this icon as it has lured and enticed us in folklore, film and books from the days of ancient civilization to the living breathing inhabitants of our modern subculture, the vampire community.

" While vampire stories have been part of popular culture since the beginning of the nineteenth century, it has been in recent decades that they have become a central part of American culture. Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture looks at how vampire stories -- from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Blacula, from Bela Lugosi's films to Love at First Bite -- have become part of our ongoing debate about what it means to be human. William Patrick Day looks at how writers and filmmakers as diverse as Anne Rice and Andy Warhol present the vampire as an archetype of human identity, as well as how many post-modern vampire stories reflect our fear and attraction to stories of addiction and violence. He argues that contemporary stories use the character of Dracula to explore modern values, and that stories of vampire slayers, such as the popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, integrate current feminist ideas and the image of the Vietnam veteran into a new heroic version of the vampire story.

Zooform Phenomena are the most elusive, and least understood, mystery animals. Indeed, they are not animals at all, and are not even animate in the accepted terms of the word, but entities or apparitions which adopt, or seem to have (quasi) animal form. These arcane and contentious entities have plagued cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals - since its inception, and tend to be dismissed by mainstream science as thoroughly unworthy of consideration. But they continue to be seen, and Jonathan Downes - the Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology - who first coined the term in 1990, maintains that many zooforms result from a synergy of complex psychosocial and sociological issues, and suggests that to classify all such phenomena as "paranormal" in origin is counterproductive, and for researchers to dismiss them out of hand is thoroughly unscientific. Author and researcher Neil Arnold is to be commended for a groundbreaking piece of work, and has provided the world's first alphabetical listing of zooforms from around the world.

In her 1883 book, Shropshire Folklore, Charlotte S. Burne wrote: 'A very weird story of an encounter with an animal ghost arose of late years within my knowledge. On the 21st of January 1879, a labouring man was employed to take a cart of luggage from Ranton in Staffordshire to Woodcock, beyond Newport in Shropshire, for the ease of a party of visitors who were going from one house to another. He was late in coming back; his horse was tired, and could only crawl along at a foot's pace, so that it was ten o'clock at night when he arrived at the place where the highroad crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool canal. 'Just before he reached the canal bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the roadside and alighted on his horse's back. He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went through the thing, and he dropped it on the ground in fright.' The creature duly became known to superstitious and frightened locals as the Man-Monkey. Between 1986 and early 2001, Nick Redfern delved deeply into the mystery of the strange creature of that dark stretch of canal. Now,published for the very first time, are Nick's original interview notes, his files and discoveries; as well as his theories pertaining to what lies at the heart of this diabolical legend. Is Britain really home to a Bigfoot-style entity? Does the creature have supernatural origins? Or is it something else entirely? Nick Redfern addresses all of these questions in Man-Monkey and reveals a story that is as bizarre as it is macabre.

A LEGEND ON LEATHER WINGS The Indians called it the Thunderbird, a winged monster so vast that the beating of its mighty pinions sounded like thunder. But this ancient beast is not to be held in the cage of mythology. Today, from all over the dusty U.S. / Mexican border come hair-raising stories of modern day encounters with winged monsters of immense size and terrifying appearance. Further field sightings of similar creatures are recorded from all around the globe. The Kongamato of Africa, the Ropen of New Guinea and many others. What lies behind these weird tales? Ken Gerhard is in pole position to find out. A native Texan, he lives in the homeland of the monster some call 'Big Bird'. Cryptozoologist, author, adventurer, and gothic musician Ken is a larger than life character as amazing as the Big Bird itself. Ken's scholarly work is the first of its kind. The research and fieldwork involved are indeed impressive. On the track of the monster, Ken uncovers cases of animal mutilations, attacks on humans and mounting evidence of a stunning zoological discovery ignored by mainstream science. Something incredible awaits us on the broad desert horizon. Keep watching the skies

Beloved and bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson is back with a hilarious and heartfelt shifter romance featuring:A delightful cast of shifters and supernatural creaturesSide-splitting hijinks that'll make you snort-laughA slow-burn romance that's still sexy as hellVerity Lane might be a Shifter who can't shift (known as a "squib")—but woe betide anyone who tries to tell her who she is or what she's capable of. She's a proud member of a club for squibs out to prove themselves by participating in dangerous stunts. Which is probably how she ended up on this strange island… Bear shifter Magnus Berne wants two things: to connect with his motherless goddaughter, and to find out who keeps dumping dead bodies on his property. When he discovers Verity on his island, he's determined to get some answers—but it's clear that whoever has been killing squibs is just as resolved to keep it quiet. And now that Verity is in the crosshairs, they'll have to move quickly to stay ahead, stay alive, and stay together. You won't want to miss the rollicking series readers are raving about! Praise for A Wolf After My Own Heart: "Hilarious, quirky, unique, and fun."—CHRISTINE FEEHAN, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Super cute…sure to keep you flipping pages."—TERRY SPEAR, USA Today bestselling author "A droolworthy hero and high-stakes…a winner!"—PAIGE TYLER, New York Times bestselling author

For centuries, eyewitnesses around the world -- from America to Africa, Argentina to Scotland -- have reported sightings of dark, mysterious creatures in area lakes that surface briefly, only to quickly disappear. While the most famous lake monsters of Loch Ness and Lake Champlain have gained international notoriety, hundreds of lakes around the world are said to shelter these shadowy creatures. Lake Monster Mysteries is the first book to examine these widespread mysteries from a scientific perspective. By using exhaustive research and results from firsthand investigations to help separate truth from myth, the authors foster our understanding of what really lurks in the cold, murky depths. Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell are considered to be among the top lake monster authorities in the world. Here they share unique insights into many of the world's best-known lake monsters. They interview witnesses and local experts and discuss the different types of lake monster sightings, delve into possible explanations for those sightings, and examine hoaxes, evidence claims, and legends surrounding the monsters. The authors have also conducted groundbreaking fieldwork and experiments at the lakes and have examined recent photographic and sonar evidence. Incorporating newly-revealed information and up-to-date developments in the cases they present, professional monster hunters Radford and Nickell plunge into both the cultural histories of these creatures and the scientific inquiries that may hold the key to these mysteries.

Donald F. Glut's classic is back in print after decades, bringing to life again tales of historical vampires taken from numerous contemporary chronicles dating from the days of the Roman Empire up through the recorded exploits of vampire hunters of the Twentieth Century. From the cobblestone streets of European cities, through the vastness of Asia and the jungles of Africa, to the secret haunts of the New World, the author brings his researches to life in over fifty narratives of vampire case histories. Have you ever wondered whether or not vampires actually exist? Folklore or fact? Donald F. Glut's classic survey of the historical record provides food for thought fascinating insights into sanguinary world of True Vampires of History.

This is Donald F. Glut's brand new companion to his classic volume, True Vampires of History. As in his first book, True Werewolves of History, uses contemporary chronicles and new research to bring to life the stories of over 100 werewolves from the pages of history. This new 21st Century tour-de-force brings together real tales of werewolves (not to mention "were" bears and "were" jaguars) from throughout the world and across the centuries. You'll find them all in this volume for your historical delectation and gruesome enlightenment. Even if you are pure of heart you may find that these tales awaken the ancient fears when the moon is full and the wolfbane blooms.

In this fascinating book, Brian J. Frost presents the first full-scale survey of werewolf literature covering both fiction and nonfiction works. He identifies principal elements in the werewolf myth, considers various theories of the phenomenon of shapeshifting, surveys nonfiction books, and traces the myth from its origins in ancient superstitions to its modern representations in fantasy and horror fiction.
Frost's analysis encompasses fanciful medieval beliefs, popular works by Victorian authors, scholarly treatises and medical papers, and short stories from pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s. Revealing the complex nature of the werewolf phenomenon and its tremendous and continuing influence, The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature is destined to become a standard reference on the subject.

Offering readers of all ages a balance of myth and fact, Monster! Monster! gives the complete story of creatures alleged to exist in North America. From pre-historic times to the present, from sea serpents to Sasquatch, the author takes readers on a journey examining the arguments for and against the existence of a whole spectrum of beasts. A must read for those who want to know more about monsters real, half-real or imagined.

The vampire originally took on its characteristics in the public imagination from a series of plays written and performed by some of the most important figures in nineteenth-century theater. This work is the first major study devoted to the vampire on stage; the author discusses the figure that preceded Dracula--Lord Ruthven--the subject of more than forty English, French, and American plays. The principal works are melodramas, but the vampire theme was also treated in tragedy, opera, ballet, burlesque, farce, burletta, and satire.

Elves, changelings, leprechauns, pixies, brownies and sprites; England's Queen Mab, France's Melusine, Scandinavian nixies and Scottish selkies: these magical creatures are sometimes mischievous, sometimes dangerous, always enchanting. This collection brings together a diverse array of literary fairies: here are Spenser's Faerie Queene, Shakespeare's Titania, Keats's Belle Dame Sans Merci, of course, but also Rimbaud's 'Fairy', Goethe's 'Erl-King', Denise Levertov's 'Elves', Sylvia Plath's 'Lorelei', Christopher Okigbo's 'Watermaid', Neil Gaiman's 'The Fairy Reel' and Patience Agbabi's changeling boy ('The Double').

'A magical tale of power and sacrifice, manipulation and betrayal' Melissa Caruso Two siblings. Two nations. One war for it all. Sonya is training to be a Ranger of Marzanna, an ancient sect of warriors who have protected the land for generations. But the old ways are dying, and the rangers have all been forced into hiding or killed off by the invading Empire. When her father is murdered by imperial soldiers, she decides to finally take action. Using her skills as a ranger she will travel across the bitter cold tundra and gain the allegiance of the only other force strong enough to take down the invaders. But nothing about her quest will be easy. Her brother, Sebastian, is the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever seen. And he's fighting for the empire. The Ranger of Marzanna begins an epic tale of warring siblings, powerful magic and daring adventures. 'This is epic fantasy done right' Publishers Weekly 'An undeniable page-turner that will have readers salivating for the next volume' Kirkus

This book explains the mystery of the Yeti or Abominable Snowman, the creature that has left mysterious footprints in Himalayan snows. The book also explores why people are so fascinated with the possibility that a wild hominoid might still reclusively live (the idea of a wild humanity alive in people's hopes). Here also is the extraordinary story of one man's conservation impact-a quest for mysterious animal caused him to lead in creating two massive national parks around Mount Everest, one in China/Tibet and one in Nepal. This book narrates how the author explores much of the 2,000-mile breadth of the Himalaya, from his childhood in India to his work years in Nepal, China/Tibet, and Bhutan. From 1956 until 2015 he visited almost all valley systems. The book recounts his ascents of Himalayan summits and even a first descent of a major river, Nepal's Sun Kosi. This book not only explains scientifically the Yeti and describes a range of Himalayan animals and plants, it also brings forward a wide scope of ecological understanding. Significant among these is the author's postulate about bioresilience as a parallel dynamic to biodiversity. Additionally, the author explores what it means (and how important it is) for people to be part of 'the wild' in today's increasingly domesticated world. Taylor's breadth of Himalayan knowledge is massive, the story captivating and full of surprises-and what he has accomplished includes 'discovering' the Yeti as well as creating two huge national parks.