Sturgeon’s Revelation states that 90% of everything is awful, but I believe monster stories to be a special case I think the percentage for this specific genre might be closer to 98%.įor some reason, authors seem to feel that they can get away with more poorly-written books than in other genres. I’m not recommending them because, in all this time of monster books and films, a common element has come clear: most of these works are absolutely terrible. I mention these works to establish that I know what I’m talking about here, rather than as recommendations. I’ve even had the privilege of enjoying a whole bunch of works which just jammed two words together to create the title, like Sharknado, Sharktopus, and Piranhaconda.

The first word of the title allows more variation, including “ snow“, “ swamp“, “ Jurassic“, and “ raging“. I have watched, due to the prominence of sharks as the antagonist, countless films with a two word title in which the second word is “shark” (or, to be fair, “sharks”). I have thrilled to tales of liopleurodons, Humboldt squid, sabre-tooth tigers and titanoboas. In so far as “monster attacks group of people” is a genre, it’s one of my preferred genres. Of Alten's singletons, Undisclosed ( 2017) hints that scientific discoveries, deposited at Roswell by UFOs, may in the Near Future threaten Homo sapiens, or not.I’ve read a lot of books, and watched a lot of films, about monsters.

The Domain series beginning with Domain ( 2001) applies this tactic to prehistoric Religion, the secrets of one of which threaten the End of the World if they are revealed. Alten has apparently claimed that his novels are 'factions', a phrase which evokes not so much scientific credibility as conspiracy theories about hidden knowledge, here revealed. The tale, and its sequel, full of Scientific Errors and Pseudoscience shortcuts, clearly attempts to demonstrate the chthonic power of Horror in SF. (1959- ) US author who is perhaps best known for the Meg sequence, beginning with Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror ( 1997), which is premised on the survival of a megalodon, an extinct species of giant shark reputed to be the most powerful vertebrate predator (see Evolution) ever to exist.

Steve alten books in order