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Here There Be Monsters: Out of the Shadows Book 1
800 years ago, Witches from another dimension tried to take over the world.
300 years ago, the paranormal beings they left in their wake came out of the shadows to join human society.
Now, a knight cursed with immortality, a mummy with eldritch powers, and a werewolf police captain are on the trail of a serial killer hunting paranormals. The reasons why will lead them deep into a world of corruption where religion mingles with politics, humanity's xenophobia is on full display, and the monsters aren't necessarily the ones with claws and fangs.
300 years ago, the paranormal beings they left in their wake came out of the shadows to join human society.
Now, a knight cursed with immortality, a mummy with eldritch powers, and a werewolf police captain are on the trail of a serial killer hunting paranormals. The reasons why will lead them deep into a world of corruption where religion mingles with politics, humanity's xenophobia is on full display, and the monsters aren't necessarily the ones with claws and fangs.
345 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 22, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 24, 2024
My SPFBOX Semi-Finalist review of Here There Be Monsters is published at Before We Go Blog.
Here There Be Monsters is the debut novel by Josh Wright, an action-packed urban fantasy that also delivers plenty of incisive social commentary. The story takes place in the city of Prodigium, an alternate version of New York City where humans and various paranormal races live (uneasily) alongside each other.
There are three lead protagonists in Here There Be Monsters. Lupe Herrera is a werewolf police captain facing down political corruption and other sordid crimes. Bennu Anippe is an ancient Egyptian mummy seeking to avenge past wrongdoing. Finally, Mallory LeBlanc is a Knight Templar cursed with immortality:
“His wounds always knit themselves back together, and once he’d even managed to regrow a toe, but there was always a scar. They were reminders of the countless wars he’d fought in and how often he’d chosen the wrong side.”
The plot of Here There Be Monsters revolves around the increasingly dire threats to paranormal existence. All of this is overlayered with biting social commentary, as the paranormals in the book experience the same type of bigotry faced by many minority groups in our own society. For example, Josh Wright expertly skewers the hypocrisy of certain rightwing Christian nationalists who use religion to justify hatred and xenophobia:
“Creatures like that, all these paranormals. Nothing but monstrous abominations. A mockery of The Lord’s creation, born into our world from the pits of Hell itself.”
At the same time, the paranormals introduce their own religious sects, representing Christ in their own image:
“A vampire Christ held high the cup of the new covenant, which was his blood, bidding his disciples to drink. A zombie Christ shuffled forth from the empty tomb. A spectral Christ ascended into heaven, floating towards the clouds. A mad scientist Christ knit together the pieces of a frankenstein Lazarus. A witchy Christ called forth endless loaves and fish from a bubbling cauldron.”
Here There Be Monsters is remarkably polished, especially for a debut novel. However, I do have a couple of minor quibbles. There is so much happening in the story that sometimes it’s difficult to keep everything straight. Also, I feel like the author circumvents the language problem too easily using a plot contrivance known as a Babel Particle:
“The Babel Particle is single-handedly the most useful remnant of The Cataclysm. It hangs around in the atmosphere and acts as a universal translator. No matter what language you speak, everyone hears you in the language they speak.”
But these are minor complaints in a remarkably well-written book that presents a highly engaging story with heartfelt thought-provoking social commentary. I am therefore happy to recommend Here There Be Monsters as a semi-finalist in SPFBOX. The story will continue in Walk Like an Egyptian, book two of the Out of the Shadows series.
Here There Be Monsters is the debut novel by Josh Wright, an action-packed urban fantasy that also delivers plenty of incisive social commentary. The story takes place in the city of Prodigium, an alternate version of New York City where humans and various paranormal races live (uneasily) alongside each other.
There are three lead protagonists in Here There Be Monsters. Lupe Herrera is a werewolf police captain facing down political corruption and other sordid crimes. Bennu Anippe is an ancient Egyptian mummy seeking to avenge past wrongdoing. Finally, Mallory LeBlanc is a Knight Templar cursed with immortality:
“His wounds always knit themselves back together, and once he’d even managed to regrow a toe, but there was always a scar. They were reminders of the countless wars he’d fought in and how often he’d chosen the wrong side.”
The plot of Here There Be Monsters revolves around the increasingly dire threats to paranormal existence. All of this is overlayered with biting social commentary, as the paranormals in the book experience the same type of bigotry faced by many minority groups in our own society. For example, Josh Wright expertly skewers the hypocrisy of certain rightwing Christian nationalists who use religion to justify hatred and xenophobia:
“Creatures like that, all these paranormals. Nothing but monstrous abominations. A mockery of The Lord’s creation, born into our world from the pits of Hell itself.”
At the same time, the paranormals introduce their own religious sects, representing Christ in their own image:
“A vampire Christ held high the cup of the new covenant, which was his blood, bidding his disciples to drink. A zombie Christ shuffled forth from the empty tomb. A spectral Christ ascended into heaven, floating towards the clouds. A mad scientist Christ knit together the pieces of a frankenstein Lazarus. A witchy Christ called forth endless loaves and fish from a bubbling cauldron.”
Here There Be Monsters is remarkably polished, especially for a debut novel. However, I do have a couple of minor quibbles. There is so much happening in the story that sometimes it’s difficult to keep everything straight. Also, I feel like the author circumvents the language problem too easily using a plot contrivance known as a Babel Particle:
“The Babel Particle is single-handedly the most useful remnant of The Cataclysm. It hangs around in the atmosphere and acts as a universal translator. No matter what language you speak, everyone hears you in the language they speak.”
But these are minor complaints in a remarkably well-written book that presents a highly engaging story with heartfelt thought-provoking social commentary. I am therefore happy to recommend Here There Be Monsters as a semi-finalist in SPFBOX. The story will continue in Walk Like an Egyptian, book two of the Out of the Shadows series.
July 13, 2024
9/10.
Here There Be Monsters by Josh Wright is an Urban Fantasy with a plethora of paranormal creatures. The back story is that around 800 years ago a portal opened and just about every paranormal creature you could imagine came through. As you may imagine centuries of warfare ensued. One of the few havens was the city that was founded on what is New York City in our own world and is called Prodigium in the book. For centuries humans and paranormals lived together in relative peace and harmony. In the 1960’s an evangelical church called Refiner’s Fire was formed that began preaching that all of humanity's ills were a result of accepting the “evil” paranormals. That church grew over the next few decades until they, and their right wing paramilitary group called the Torch Bearers, have mostly taken over the government and police forces of Prodigium.
The book is a multi PoV character book that is comprised of an 800 year old former Knight Templar, a several thousand year old Egyptian Mummy who has just awoken, and a Warewolf police captain who has to worry about her own officers as much as anyone else as she tries to track down who has been responsible for the multiple ritualistic murders of paranormals within the city. As the story unfolds a vast conspiracy comes to light and every paranormal in the world may be at risk.
I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Urban Fantasy novels but when I am I want two things; A ton or paranormals and big stakes. Here There Be Monsters delivers on both counts! This is a book where the paranormals are out in the open and have been for a very long time. There are a huge variety as well, everything from your usual vampires and werewolves to beast men and even zombies. The zombies are mostly under control and are actually pretty depressing, but totally something I’d see happening in our society. If you die with debt then your body can be brought back as a zombie to work off that debt…
The plot involved a ton of action and the stakes were nothing less than the lives of all paranormals in the world. I enjoyed all of our PoV characters and without giving out spoilers I can say that just being a PoV character does not mean that the character is safe from death. I was sorely tempted to finish the entire book off when I was only reading the first 20% of all 30 books and I read the last 80% in one sitting. This book was my favorite of the first 20% and has been my personal favorite of the six books I decided to finish from our batch.
Here There Be Monsters by Josh Wright is an Urban Fantasy with a plethora of paranormal creatures. The back story is that around 800 years ago a portal opened and just about every paranormal creature you could imagine came through. As you may imagine centuries of warfare ensued. One of the few havens was the city that was founded on what is New York City in our own world and is called Prodigium in the book. For centuries humans and paranormals lived together in relative peace and harmony. In the 1960’s an evangelical church called Refiner’s Fire was formed that began preaching that all of humanity's ills were a result of accepting the “evil” paranormals. That church grew over the next few decades until they, and their right wing paramilitary group called the Torch Bearers, have mostly taken over the government and police forces of Prodigium.
The book is a multi PoV character book that is comprised of an 800 year old former Knight Templar, a several thousand year old Egyptian Mummy who has just awoken, and a Warewolf police captain who has to worry about her own officers as much as anyone else as she tries to track down who has been responsible for the multiple ritualistic murders of paranormals within the city. As the story unfolds a vast conspiracy comes to light and every paranormal in the world may be at risk.
I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Urban Fantasy novels but when I am I want two things; A ton or paranormals and big stakes. Here There Be Monsters delivers on both counts! This is a book where the paranormals are out in the open and have been for a very long time. There are a huge variety as well, everything from your usual vampires and werewolves to beast men and even zombies. The zombies are mostly under control and are actually pretty depressing, but totally something I’d see happening in our society. If you die with debt then your body can be brought back as a zombie to work off that debt…
The plot involved a ton of action and the stakes were nothing less than the lives of all paranormals in the world. I enjoyed all of our PoV characters and without giving out spoilers I can say that just being a PoV character does not mean that the character is safe from death. I was sorely tempted to finish the entire book off when I was only reading the first 20% of all 30 books and I read the last 80% in one sitting. This book was my favorite of the first 20% and has been my personal favorite of the six books I decided to finish from our batch.
January 15, 2024
A fun book that is full of intrigue and subtle social commentary. Humorous, poignant, and heartfelt.
June 27, 2024
“Here There Be Monsters” is the first book in the “Out of the Shadows” series. In his debut novel, Josh Wright crafts an unforgettable world that makes us come back for more. Though it is a fantasy novel, it has echoes of the real world. In Wright's novel, magic has permeated the world and given rise to paranormals of all kinds. Though living alongside humans for centuries, they still have to fight for acceptance and representation. When a series of paranormal killings hit Prodigium, werewolf Lupe Herrera, mummy Bennu Anippe, and the cursed Templar Knight, Mallory LeBlanc join forces to solve the murders and save the world. I highly recommend this engrossing novel to fans of character-driven fantasy and action novels.
February 9, 2024
Can’t wait for book two!
Josh has created an intriguing world that explores all of the prejudices humanity is subjected to. His writing will draw you in, and before you know it, you will have lost hours wrapped up in this tale of impending Armageddon and all of the religious fanaticism you might expect, with some twists along the way. I will be anxiously awaiting book two!
Josh has created an intriguing world that explores all of the prejudices humanity is subjected to. His writing will draw you in, and before you know it, you will have lost hours wrapped up in this tale of impending Armageddon and all of the religious fanaticism you might expect, with some twists along the way. I will be anxiously awaiting book two!
July 2, 2024
Here There Be Monsters by Josh Wright takes us on a thrilling journey through a world filled with vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, beastkins, frankensteins, and mummies, among other paranormal beings.
December 29, 2023
I wrote this. I love it!
January 9, 2024
A fun time and a gritty, gripping story. Can't wait to read the next book set in Prodigium!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews