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Monsters & Mormons
PREFACE by Terryl Givens
INTRODUCTION by Theric Jepson
OTHER DUTIES by Nathan Shumate
Sometimes LDS bishops get special callings; sometimes that means being the agent bishop for battling demons.
THE LIVING WIFE by Emily Milner
Newly married for time and all eternity, a young wife must deal with the meddling ghosts of her two dead predecessors.
BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD by C. Douglas Birkhead
Two Mormon missionaries continue to pound the pavement after a zombie apocalypse.
PIRATE GOLD FOR BROTHER BRIGHAM by Lee Allred
Pirate ghosts have been spotted on the Great Salt Lake—and they want something.
FIRST ESTATE by Katherine Woodbury
The story of Ruth is reenacted in space—with an alien Boaz.
FANGS OF THE DRAGON by David J. West
Porter Rockwell finds intrigue and strange creatures while on assignment in Logan, Utah.
BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE AND THE LATE BRAM STOKER
I LIE IN BED READING FROM MOSIAH CHAPTER THREE AND THINK OF YOU, LON CHANEY, JR. by Will Bishop
Two poems mesh the Mormon with the monsterish.
CHARITY NEVER FAILETH by Jaleta Clegg
A gelatin salad runs amok at Relief Society enrichment night.
RECOMPENSE OF SORROW by W. H. Pugmire
The H.P. Lovecraft mythos ensnares a Mormon brother and sister.
MORMON GOLEM by Steve Morrison
Joseph Smith fashions a golem—a Porter Rockwell golem.
BICHOS by Erik Peterson
A Mormon couple honeymooning on the Amazon encounter the beasts in the jungle.
THE BLUES DEVILS by Terrance V. McArthur
A Mormon musician goes the time-honoured route of making a deal with the devil.
BROTHER IN ARMS by Graham Bradley
In a post-apocalyptic near future, a pair of Marines must turn to their Mormonism in order to have a chance of fighting the enemy.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HILL AND THE CYBERNETIC BEAR by George Washington Hill and EC Buck
A pioneer journal entry takes a cybernetic turn.
THE BABY IN THE BUSHES by S.P. Bailey
Things turn noir for a Mormon PI investigating a murder in Salt Lake City.
BOKEV MOMEN by D. Michael Martindale
An abducted young Earthling provides a key to understanding the universal god.
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson
The World invades the kitchen of a spunky old lady.
WATER SPOTS by Terresa Wellborn
A poem mixes the domestic with the horror.
A LETTER FROM THE FIELD by James Paul Crockett
Every missionary feels homesick now and then. Is it worse if you never even see the sun?
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck
After centuries of no contact the Mormon colony on Mars hears from the Earth it thought it had left behind.
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF by Moriah Jovan
A Mormon nun battles demons and insecurity in the Louisiana bayou.
TRAITORS AND TYRANTS by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara
Erasmus Snow and his four wives battle ninja monkeys…and something strange.
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield
A young woman, now back in the fold and struggling to reacclimate to life as a young single adult, faces her fears on Utah Lake.
I HAD KILLED A ZOMBIE by Adam Greenwood
A young man prays to know which Zombie Battling Organization is true.
OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I HOWLED UNTO THEE by Scott M. Roberts
Battling the spirit of a wolf, a man wanders out into the Utah desert only to find a young woman bleeding to death.
THE MISSION STORY by Bryton Sampson
A missionary’s new companion appears to have a bit of the mad scientist in him.
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone
A solar behemoth must choose between its new Mormon faith and the jealous god it has always known.
THE EYE OPENER by Brian Gibson
This is why we close our eyes when we pray, children.
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD by Dan Wells
Not all testimonies are solid as a rock.
ILLUSTRATORS
B.C. Sterrett
Davin Abegg
Jake Parker
Matt Page
Graham Bradley
Steve Morrison
INTRODUCTION by Theric Jepson
OTHER DUTIES by Nathan Shumate
Sometimes LDS bishops get special callings; sometimes that means being the agent bishop for battling demons.
THE LIVING WIFE by Emily Milner
Newly married for time and all eternity, a young wife must deal with the meddling ghosts of her two dead predecessors.
BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD by C. Douglas Birkhead
Two Mormon missionaries continue to pound the pavement after a zombie apocalypse.
PIRATE GOLD FOR BROTHER BRIGHAM by Lee Allred
Pirate ghosts have been spotted on the Great Salt Lake—and they want something.
FIRST ESTATE by Katherine Woodbury
The story of Ruth is reenacted in space—with an alien Boaz.
FANGS OF THE DRAGON by David J. West
Porter Rockwell finds intrigue and strange creatures while on assignment in Logan, Utah.
BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE AND THE LATE BRAM STOKER
I LIE IN BED READING FROM MOSIAH CHAPTER THREE AND THINK OF YOU, LON CHANEY, JR. by Will Bishop
Two poems mesh the Mormon with the monsterish.
CHARITY NEVER FAILETH by Jaleta Clegg
A gelatin salad runs amok at Relief Society enrichment night.
RECOMPENSE OF SORROW by W. H. Pugmire
The H.P. Lovecraft mythos ensnares a Mormon brother and sister.
MORMON GOLEM by Steve Morrison
Joseph Smith fashions a golem—a Porter Rockwell golem.
BICHOS by Erik Peterson
A Mormon couple honeymooning on the Amazon encounter the beasts in the jungle.
THE BLUES DEVILS by Terrance V. McArthur
A Mormon musician goes the time-honoured route of making a deal with the devil.
BROTHER IN ARMS by Graham Bradley
In a post-apocalyptic near future, a pair of Marines must turn to their Mormonism in order to have a chance of fighting the enemy.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HILL AND THE CYBERNETIC BEAR by George Washington Hill and EC Buck
A pioneer journal entry takes a cybernetic turn.
THE BABY IN THE BUSHES by S.P. Bailey
Things turn noir for a Mormon PI investigating a murder in Salt Lake City.
BOKEV MOMEN by D. Michael Martindale
An abducted young Earthling provides a key to understanding the universal god.
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson
The World invades the kitchen of a spunky old lady.
WATER SPOTS by Terresa Wellborn
A poem mixes the domestic with the horror.
A LETTER FROM THE FIELD by James Paul Crockett
Every missionary feels homesick now and then. Is it worse if you never even see the sun?
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck
After centuries of no contact the Mormon colony on Mars hears from the Earth it thought it had left behind.
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF by Moriah Jovan
A Mormon nun battles demons and insecurity in the Louisiana bayou.
TRAITORS AND TYRANTS by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara
Erasmus Snow and his four wives battle ninja monkeys…and something strange.
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield
A young woman, now back in the fold and struggling to reacclimate to life as a young single adult, faces her fears on Utah Lake.
I HAD KILLED A ZOMBIE by Adam Greenwood
A young man prays to know which Zombie Battling Organization is true.
OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I HOWLED UNTO THEE by Scott M. Roberts
Battling the spirit of a wolf, a man wanders out into the Utah desert only to find a young woman bleeding to death.
THE MISSION STORY by Bryton Sampson
A missionary’s new companion appears to have a bit of the mad scientist in him.
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone
A solar behemoth must choose between its new Mormon faith and the jealous god it has always known.
THE EYE OPENER by Brian Gibson
This is why we close our eyes when we pray, children.
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD by Dan Wells
Not all testimonies are solid as a rock.
ILLUSTRATORS
B.C. Sterrett
Davin Abegg
Jake Parker
Matt Page
Graham Bradley
Steve Morrison
528 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 30, 2011
12 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Wm Henry Morris
4 books62 followersWm is working on gently painting genre into a corner.
What's worse, he is a fiction writer, literary critic/reviewer and editor, which means he's usually wearing the wrong hat for the task at hand.
What's worse, he is a fiction writer, literary critic/reviewer and editor, which means he's usually wearing the wrong hat for the task at hand.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 7, 2012
I loved this anthology of LDS short fiction. It's a great, well-rounded collection of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and paranormal wrapped around Mormon theology, history, and culture. And the title is very appropriate for this book--there are a lot of monsters, demons, zombies, and alien cultures, but there's also green jell-o, Mormon myths and legends, and some funny stuff about Utahns and fry sauce. I liked most of the stories in here, but some of my favorites were "Fangs of the Dragon" (with a heroic Porter Rockwell), "Bichos" (a honeymooning LDS couple who encounter beasts in the Amazon), "Brothers in Arms" (two Mormon marines who stave off a zombie apocalypse), "Bokev Momen" (an encounter between an abducted LDS missionary and some believing aliens), and "That Leviathan" (solar sentient beings who join the church in space). There were plenty of spooky tales and stories that made me laugh, but I appreciated most the ones that made me stop and think. This is definitely a keeper and one I'm sure I'll be reading again.
October 28, 2013
Finally got around to reading this one. A lot of fun in here. Some seriously solid stories regardless of the religious affiliation of the authors/compilers.
Special mentions to:
MORMON GOLEM by Steve Morrison
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone
Special mentions to:
MORMON GOLEM by Steve Morrison
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone
February 6, 2013
There is a lot of bravery in this book. That earns it five stars.
As with any anthology there are some gems and some losers. Always the gems outshine the losers.
My favorites were:
Using the theme of bravery as a jumping point: The Living Wife by Emily Milner tackles polygamy from an interesting direction, with ghosts. This story explores the dynamics of a multiple wife situation with all the jealousies and supportivenesses and comedy. Four characters means twelve relationships and I feel that each of those got the attention they deserved.
Baptisms for the Dead by C. Douglas Birkhead was hilarious, and a nice diversion from my recent overload of zombie fiction.
Bokev Momen by D. Michael Martindale falls in the funny category as well. There is a fine bit of worldbuilding where it comes to the mode of space travel.
Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha has Fallen by Steven L. Peck is kind of a sticky wicket. The central question of the story is questioning authority and not liking the answer you’re given. (Meaning the authority of your church leaders, particularly the prophet.) Now we are told to seek confirmation for ourselves about general authorities, so that’s not at issue here. What if the answer you receive is no. This fits finely into the brave motif I seem to have built. All this of course takes place on a terraformed, colonized Mars that has been separated from the Earth for a long time.
That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone won the Nebula award for best novelette in 2011, so if you won’t take SFWA’s advice on it I’m not sure what more I can say about it. Stone tends to write golden age style stories full of big ideas. I find their own blurb about it to be less than satisfactory (as well as spoilery) so I’ll counter with one of my own. The new leader of an LDS branch on the sun has to try to explain the law of chastity to massive, tri-sexed, plasma beings who witnessed the beginnings of our solar system.
The Mountain of the Lord by Dan Wells really hit the spot for me and was a fantastic choice as anchor for this anthology. It is worth further study. A worthy hero story.
As with any anthology there are some gems and some losers. Always the gems outshine the losers.
My favorites were:
Using the theme of bravery as a jumping point: The Living Wife by Emily Milner tackles polygamy from an interesting direction, with ghosts. This story explores the dynamics of a multiple wife situation with all the jealousies and supportivenesses and comedy. Four characters means twelve relationships and I feel that each of those got the attention they deserved.
Baptisms for the Dead by C. Douglas Birkhead was hilarious, and a nice diversion from my recent overload of zombie fiction.
Bokev Momen by D. Michael Martindale falls in the funny category as well. There is a fine bit of worldbuilding where it comes to the mode of space travel.
Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha has Fallen by Steven L. Peck is kind of a sticky wicket. The central question of the story is questioning authority and not liking the answer you’re given. (Meaning the authority of your church leaders, particularly the prophet.) Now we are told to seek confirmation for ourselves about general authorities, so that’s not at issue here. What if the answer you receive is no. This fits finely into the brave motif I seem to have built. All this of course takes place on a terraformed, colonized Mars that has been separated from the Earth for a long time.
That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made by Eric James Stone won the Nebula award for best novelette in 2011, so if you won’t take SFWA’s advice on it I’m not sure what more I can say about it. Stone tends to write golden age style stories full of big ideas. I find their own blurb about it to be less than satisfactory (as well as spoilery) so I’ll counter with one of my own. The new leader of an LDS branch on the sun has to try to explain the law of chastity to massive, tri-sexed, plasma beings who witnessed the beginnings of our solar system.
The Mountain of the Lord by Dan Wells really hit the spot for me and was a fantastic choice as anchor for this anthology. It is worth further study. A worthy hero story.
December 19, 2018
For starters I did finish reading the book and it took some time due to the length and that I read multiple books at once.
It would be hard for me to say that the book doesn't have it's share of stories that aren't the best or that are way to silly not to enjoy. The creator of the idea does have a balance of the Mormon faith mixed in with stories that you have to know to realize where it's going. On a couple of occasions I had to look some things up to get what was going on, but that makes it worth reading since it's also gets you to learn more about the faith,even if you don't plan on becoming a member.
I think the best way to understand the book is to read it.
It would be hard for me to say that the book doesn't have it's share of stories that aren't the best or that are way to silly not to enjoy. The creator of the idea does have a balance of the Mormon faith mixed in with stories that you have to know to realize where it's going. On a couple of occasions I had to look some things up to get what was going on, but that makes it worth reading since it's also gets you to learn more about the faith,even if you don't plan on becoming a member.
I think the best way to understand the book is to read it.
February 6, 2012
I'm really, really glad I purchased this book. A lot of Orrin Porter Rockwell, early Utah settlers, and a whole lot of zombies, but thankfully, not a single vampire in the entire book, which is pretty impressive (and awesome), if you ask me.
"Other Duties" by Nathan Shumate: A great opening story about the "agent" bishop for paranormal activity. With a midnight call, a demon, and spray bottles of consecrated oil, this story can't be anything but awesome.
"The Living Wife" by Emily Milner: A change of pace from the prior story, with a much more somber tone (although still containing several humorous moments). Just a few years after polygamy is ended, a homely woman who can see dead people marries a man whose two prior wives died, setting up a fun little story.
"Baptisms for the Dead" by C. Douglas Birkhead: A good scenario (a missionary companionship are the lone survivors of the zombie apocalypse and continue "baptizing") but ultimately a failed attempt at a good story.
"Pirate Gold for Brother Brigham" by Lee Allred: Set in Utah in the early 90's (when I lived there), this story is a fun commentary on Utah Mormons during that time period, and the first of what appear to be several stories about Brigham Young and the supernatural.
"First Estate" by Katherine Woodbury: Not sure of the "Mormon" connection in this sci-fi version of the Ruth story from the Old Testament, but it was still an interesting read.
"Fangs of the Dragon" by David J. West: My favorite story so far. This story alone is worth the $5 I paid for the book. On assignment by Brigham Young, Porter Rockwell fights a Loche Ness-type monster, a demon, indians, and various cowboy ruffians in and around Bear Lake. There was a lot going on in this story, all of it entertaining.
"Between Husband and Wife and the Late Bram Stoker" by Will Bishop: I'm not a big fan of poetry.
"I Lie in Bed Reading From Mosiah Chapter Three and Think of You, Lon Chaney, Jr." by Will Bishop:
Again, not a fan of poetry, but both of the poems were clever, I suppose.
"Charity Never Faileth" by Jaleta Clegg: A silly story about a green jello coming to life just before a Relief Society dinner.
"Recompense of Sorrow" by W.H. Pugmire: a moody, dark story in the Lovecraftian vein, with a character who happens to be Mormon, and dying, and living with her brother in an isolated house in a valley that is populated with, what I think, was supposed to be worshipers of Cthulu (with the Cryptonomican even). I'm not a big fan of Lovecraft, so this story didn't do much for me, although it did introduce me to the myth that Joseph Smith died with a "Jupiter Talisman" on his body, which I promptly researched on the internet and realized was very likely false.
"Mormon Gollem" by Steve Morrison: A comic book about Porter Rockwell as a Gollem created by Joseph Smith. This one was very hard to see on my Kindle, and even harder to see on my Blackberry.
"Bichos" by Erik Peterson: A newly married man with pretty low self esteem comes to grips with his relationship with his bride while they travel by boat down a river through the Brazilian rain forest . . . while fighting a monster from Brazilian folklore. Some of the dialogue was awkward, even when it wasn't intended to be as a result of translation from Portuguese to English, and I wasn't convinced that the bride would like a the main character, but otherwise the story was very good, with our protagonist having a very interesting, complicated character.
"The Blues Devils" by Terrance V. McArthur: the usual story of a musician selling his soul to the devil for fortune and fame, but this one, the devil is not the good guy, and our musician hero decides to fight back.
BROTHER IN ARMS by Graham Bradley: A near future robot-zombie war story with some interesting and believable characters and probably the fourth or fifth Gadianton Robber bad guy so far in this book.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HILL AND THE CYBERNETIC BEAR by George Washington Hill and EC Buck: a pioneer diary account of a run in with cyborg bears and possibly with their creator. The story really needed a little more background to be entertaining and memorable.
THE BABY IN THE BUSHES by S.P. Bailey: The first curse words in the book! A PI investigates a murder mystery after his former YM president's uncle is found dead in the YM President's storage unit. A pretty good noir story with a pretty good attempt at the cynical, wise-cracking detective tone and with a great "Mormon" explanation for the resolution of the mystery.
BOKEV MOMEN by D. Michael Martindale: The title says it all. And this one had a great Georgia connection.
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson: A porn mag transforms into an evil (?) creature. The supernatural events in this one needed a little more explanation. Why did the telephone ring? Why did the creature want to get the phone? etc.
WATER SPOTS by Terresa Wellborn: Not a big fan of poetry. I just don't get it. I guess I'm not literary enough to understand.
A LETTER FROM THE FIELD by James Paul Crockett: A letter from a newly-arrived missionary assigned to serve the cave-dwelling ogres. Pure Awesome.
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck: The church on Mars prepares for the arrival, and possible war, with people from earth. This one reminded me a lot of Julian Comstock, with the 1800's technology in a future setting and a naive character contemplating revolution.
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF by Moriah Jovan: A "super" Christian Soldier? An immortal cyborg LDS warrior? A very fun concept, and a pretty good story, but I'm not sure I understood the end. Was the supposed to be the main character's daughter? A little too much showing and not enough telling for my limited brain capacity.
TRAITORS AND TYRANTS by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara: Another comic. Needed to be a little longer to really develop the characters and make the story more powerful.
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield: a "rebellious" Mormon young woman (I knew several of these faux-rebellious types while at BYU) struggles with her past and her desire to be a better person while fighting the mermaids straight out of Harry Potter 4 (only in Utah Lake and not Hogwarts Castle)
I HAD KILLED A ZOMBIE by Adam Greenwood: This one seemed sacrilegious, even blasphemous, at first, as it evoked Joseph Smith's struggles to find the right church, but the story quickly toned it done and got pretty good, dealing with the misperceptions and mischaracterizations that we Mormons face even today, pre-zombie apocalypse.
OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I HOWLED UNTO THEE by Scott M. Roberts: and we have our first werewolf story of the book (and a very odd one at that)
THE MISSION STORY by Bryton Sampson: Initially a fun story, told as a post-game "mission" story battle at a college hang-out, but the ending seemed totally out of left-field, turning a light-hearted silly story into a bizarre, dark tale.
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone: I've read and reviewed this one before. I really like it quite a bit. It was my very first LDS sci-fi story.
THE EYE OPENER by Brian Gibson: Hands down, no question, the most disturbing story in this anthology, and probably the most disturbing thing I've read since my last Steven King novel many, many years ago. DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES DURING PRAYER! (and, seriously, skip this story if you are easily spooked -- this will give you nightmares).
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD by Dan Wells: A coming of age monster story, with a shocking amount of violence. A good entertaining finish to a great book.
"Other Duties" by Nathan Shumate: A great opening story about the "agent" bishop for paranormal activity. With a midnight call, a demon, and spray bottles of consecrated oil, this story can't be anything but awesome.
"The Living Wife" by Emily Milner: A change of pace from the prior story, with a much more somber tone (although still containing several humorous moments). Just a few years after polygamy is ended, a homely woman who can see dead people marries a man whose two prior wives died, setting up a fun little story.
"Baptisms for the Dead" by C. Douglas Birkhead: A good scenario (a missionary companionship are the lone survivors of the zombie apocalypse and continue "baptizing") but ultimately a failed attempt at a good story.
"Pirate Gold for Brother Brigham" by Lee Allred: Set in Utah in the early 90's (when I lived there), this story is a fun commentary on Utah Mormons during that time period, and the first of what appear to be several stories about Brigham Young and the supernatural.
"First Estate" by Katherine Woodbury: Not sure of the "Mormon" connection in this sci-fi version of the Ruth story from the Old Testament, but it was still an interesting read.
"Fangs of the Dragon" by David J. West: My favorite story so far. This story alone is worth the $5 I paid for the book. On assignment by Brigham Young, Porter Rockwell fights a Loche Ness-type monster, a demon, indians, and various cowboy ruffians in and around Bear Lake. There was a lot going on in this story, all of it entertaining.
"Between Husband and Wife and the Late Bram Stoker" by Will Bishop: I'm not a big fan of poetry.
"I Lie in Bed Reading From Mosiah Chapter Three and Think of You, Lon Chaney, Jr." by Will Bishop:
Again, not a fan of poetry, but both of the poems were clever, I suppose.
"Charity Never Faileth" by Jaleta Clegg: A silly story about a green jello coming to life just before a Relief Society dinner.
"Recompense of Sorrow" by W.H. Pugmire: a moody, dark story in the Lovecraftian vein, with a character who happens to be Mormon, and dying, and living with her brother in an isolated house in a valley that is populated with, what I think, was supposed to be worshipers of Cthulu (with the Cryptonomican even). I'm not a big fan of Lovecraft, so this story didn't do much for me, although it did introduce me to the myth that Joseph Smith died with a "Jupiter Talisman" on his body, which I promptly researched on the internet and realized was very likely false.
"Mormon Gollem" by Steve Morrison: A comic book about Porter Rockwell as a Gollem created by Joseph Smith. This one was very hard to see on my Kindle, and even harder to see on my Blackberry.
"Bichos" by Erik Peterson: A newly married man with pretty low self esteem comes to grips with his relationship with his bride while they travel by boat down a river through the Brazilian rain forest . . . while fighting a monster from Brazilian folklore. Some of the dialogue was awkward, even when it wasn't intended to be as a result of translation from Portuguese to English, and I wasn't convinced that the bride would like a the main character, but otherwise the story was very good, with our protagonist having a very interesting, complicated character.
"The Blues Devils" by Terrance V. McArthur: the usual story of a musician selling his soul to the devil for fortune and fame, but this one, the devil is not the good guy, and our musician hero decides to fight back.
BROTHER IN ARMS by Graham Bradley: A near future robot-zombie war story with some interesting and believable characters and probably the fourth or fifth Gadianton Robber bad guy so far in this book.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HILL AND THE CYBERNETIC BEAR by George Washington Hill and EC Buck: a pioneer diary account of a run in with cyborg bears and possibly with their creator. The story really needed a little more background to be entertaining and memorable.
THE BABY IN THE BUSHES by S.P. Bailey: The first curse words in the book! A PI investigates a murder mystery after his former YM president's uncle is found dead in the YM President's storage unit. A pretty good noir story with a pretty good attempt at the cynical, wise-cracking detective tone and with a great "Mormon" explanation for the resolution of the mystery.
BOKEV MOMEN by D. Michael Martindale: The title says it all. And this one had a great Georgia connection.
THE WORLD by Danny Nelson: A porn mag transforms into an evil (?) creature. The supernatural events in this one needed a little more explanation. Why did the telephone ring? Why did the creature want to get the phone? etc.
WATER SPOTS by Terresa Wellborn: Not a big fan of poetry. I just don't get it. I guess I'm not literary enough to understand.
A LETTER FROM THE FIELD by James Paul Crockett: A letter from a newly-arrived missionary assigned to serve the cave-dwelling ogres. Pure Awesome.
LET THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE FOR ADONIHA HAS FALLEN by Steven L. Peck: The church on Mars prepares for the arrival, and possible war, with people from earth. This one reminded me a lot of Julian Comstock, with the 1800's technology in a future setting and a naive character contemplating revolution.
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF by Moriah Jovan: A "super" Christian Soldier? An immortal cyborg LDS warrior? A very fun concept, and a pretty good story, but I'm not sure I understood the end. Was the supposed to be the main character's daughter? A little too much showing and not enough telling for my limited brain capacity.
TRAITORS AND TYRANTS by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara: Another comic. Needed to be a little longer to really develop the characters and make the story more powerful.
EXPERIMENTING WITH LIFE AT EXTRAORDINARY DEPTHS by Bridgette Day Tuckfield: a "rebellious" Mormon young woman (I knew several of these faux-rebellious types while at BYU) struggles with her past and her desire to be a better person while fighting the mermaids straight out of Harry Potter 4 (only in Utah Lake and not Hogwarts Castle)
I HAD KILLED A ZOMBIE by Adam Greenwood: This one seemed sacrilegious, even blasphemous, at first, as it evoked Joseph Smith's struggles to find the right church, but the story quickly toned it done and got pretty good, dealing with the misperceptions and mischaracterizations that we Mormons face even today, pre-zombie apocalypse.
OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I HOWLED UNTO THEE by Scott M. Roberts: and we have our first werewolf story of the book (and a very odd one at that)
THE MISSION STORY by Bryton Sampson: Initially a fun story, told as a post-game "mission" story battle at a college hang-out, but the ending seemed totally out of left-field, turning a light-hearted silly story into a bizarre, dark tale.
THAT LEVIATHAN, WHOM THOU HAST MADE by Eric James Stone: I've read and reviewed this one before. I really like it quite a bit. It was my very first LDS sci-fi story.
THE EYE OPENER by Brian Gibson: Hands down, no question, the most disturbing story in this anthology, and probably the most disturbing thing I've read since my last Steven King novel many, many years ago. DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES DURING PRAYER! (and, seriously, skip this story if you are easily spooked -- this will give you nightmares).
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD by Dan Wells: A coming of age monster story, with a shocking amount of violence. A good entertaining finish to a great book.
January 8, 2012
I bought this partly because I know so many people involved in it, at least at an acquaintance level. I started by reading the stories/poems by people I at least somewhat know (Scott Roberts, Dan Wells, Emily Milner, Eric James Stone, Danny Nelson, Will Bishop, and the two interesting editorials at the beginning by Wm Morris and Theric Jepson, not to mention the cover artist). Then I started reading anything else that caught my eye. Thing is, apparently my friends are really talented writers because I liked all of their stories quite a bit better than any of the others I've read. So, you know, way to go, y'all. Also, did I miss the dews from heaven that were apparently distilling at BYU among all of you that turned you into great writers? I think it's time to make my New Year's resolution to write a short story.
Anyway, this isn't much of a review, but I do have to say I really enjoyed some of the stories in the anthology. Eric James Stone's "Leviathan Wakes" is outstanding; Dan Wells's "Mountain of the Lord" is fun and makes a great point; Emily Milner's "The Living Wife" was disconcerting but ultimately sweet; Danny Nelson's "The World" was strange but charming and hilarious; and because I have to list one NOT by a friend of mine, "Fangs of the Dragon" by David J. West was my second favorite in the anthology, just for the pure glee I got reading about a Porter Rockwell with superpowers solving mysteries surrounding the Bear Lake Monster. This wasn't my favorite Scott Roberts story, but "Out of the Deep I Have Called unto Thee" was solid and engaging as well.
I haven't finished the anthology yet, and honestly, there are some stories in it that don't interest me at all. I'm sure this isn't for everyone, but if LDS speculative fiction sounds interesting to you, you'll probably like this.
One thing I'm realizing, though, is that a lot of latter-day saints are offended or at least weirded out by the idea of aliens joining the church or by magic incorporated into stories told in church history settings. There are a couple of synopses that even cross the comfort line for me (Joseph Smith creating a Porter Rockwell golem, for one). I'm interested to figure out what exactly is going on there and why.
Anyway, this isn't much of a review, but I do have to say I really enjoyed some of the stories in the anthology. Eric James Stone's "Leviathan Wakes" is outstanding; Dan Wells's "Mountain of the Lord" is fun and makes a great point; Emily Milner's "The Living Wife" was disconcerting but ultimately sweet; Danny Nelson's "The World" was strange but charming and hilarious; and because I have to list one NOT by a friend of mine, "Fangs of the Dragon" by David J. West was my second favorite in the anthology, just for the pure glee I got reading about a Porter Rockwell with superpowers solving mysteries surrounding the Bear Lake Monster. This wasn't my favorite Scott Roberts story, but "Out of the Deep I Have Called unto Thee" was solid and engaging as well.
I haven't finished the anthology yet, and honestly, there are some stories in it that don't interest me at all. I'm sure this isn't for everyone, but if LDS speculative fiction sounds interesting to you, you'll probably like this.
One thing I'm realizing, though, is that a lot of latter-day saints are offended or at least weirded out by the idea of aliens joining the church or by magic incorporated into stories told in church history settings. There are a couple of synopses that even cross the comfort line for me (Joseph Smith creating a Porter Rockwell golem, for one). I'm interested to figure out what exactly is going on there and why.
February 7, 2012
This was an incredibly interesting read. It's an anthology of various sci-fi, fantasty, and other genres with Mormon twists: Green jello runs amok at a Relief Society activity. A bishop is called in to fight a physical demon. A boy turns into a man of stone when aggravated and has to decide if it's from God or if he's damned. That sort of thing. Some of the stories used the Mormon culture extensively while in other stories, the tie was simply the fact that the characters were Mormon. It was definitely fun to see how ghosts and aliens and zombies could be pulled into Mormonism quite easily.
Some of the stories were excellent, such as "Brothers in Arms" and "Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha Has Fallen." My very favorite story, as I expected it to be, was "The Mountain of the Lord" by Dan Wells, who wrote the John Cleaver series that I love so much. His story was one of the few that completely drew me in. I loved it. Unfortunately, there were also many stories that were boring, completely predictable, or just plain weird. I guess that's to be expected with an anthology like this, though.
The main thing that consistently bugged me was the editing. I know this wasn't published by a big press, but there were so many grammar errors. Wrong words, odd punctuation, you're when it was supposed to be your. . . . It definitely bugged. Those are simple errors that definitely should be caught by any competent editor. But that's beside the point.
All in all, this was a fun read. I enjoyed seeing all the ways Mormonism could be embedded in the kinds of stories that we read all the time.
Some of the stories were excellent, such as "Brothers in Arms" and "Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha Has Fallen." My very favorite story, as I expected it to be, was "The Mountain of the Lord" by Dan Wells, who wrote the John Cleaver series that I love so much. His story was one of the few that completely drew me in. I loved it. Unfortunately, there were also many stories that were boring, completely predictable, or just plain weird. I guess that's to be expected with an anthology like this, though.
The main thing that consistently bugged me was the editing. I know this wasn't published by a big press, but there were so many grammar errors. Wrong words, odd punctuation, you're when it was supposed to be your. . . . It definitely bugged. Those are simple errors that definitely should be caught by any competent editor. But that's beside the point.
All in all, this was a fun read. I enjoyed seeing all the ways Mormonism could be embedded in the kinds of stories that we read all the time.
January 15, 2012
Is there much of a market for LDS sci-fi/horror stories? I don't know, but I sure enjoyed them. While a few were too silly/predictable for my tastes, most of them were thoughtful, compelling, and full of fascinating mixtures of LDS lore combined with the supernatural.
My favorites were:
Milner's The Living Wife, about a newlywed who can see ghosts of her husband's former wives
Pugmire's Recompense of Sorrow, a disturbing Lovecraftian tale
Martindale's Bokev Momen, about aliens coming into contact with a Mormon
Jovan's Allow Me to Introduce Myself, about a "calling" to battle actual demons
Bishop's poetry
Stone's That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast made, another Mormons-and-aliens story with great aliens.
Wells' The Mountain of the Lord, about a frontier boy with special powers.
You can download/buy this book here, if you are interested.
My favorites were:
Milner's The Living Wife, about a newlywed who can see ghosts of her husband's former wives
Pugmire's Recompense of Sorrow, a disturbing Lovecraftian tale
Martindale's Bokev Momen, about aliens coming into contact with a Mormon
Jovan's Allow Me to Introduce Myself, about a "calling" to battle actual demons
Bishop's poetry
Stone's That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast made, another Mormons-and-aliens story with great aliens.
Wells' The Mountain of the Lord, about a frontier boy with special powers.
You can download/buy this book here, if you are interested.
June 7, 2012
Very entertaining. The stories range from inspiring to thought-provoking to amusing to just plain fun. Only one story ended so abruptly that I was looking to make sure it was really over (a pet peeve of mine with short stories - yes they are short but they should feel complete). My favorites were "The Living Wife," "Other Duties," "Bichos," "Bokev Momen," and "That Leviathan".
December 17, 2012
This book fits a very narrow niche of readers. Some stories may cross the comfort line for believing LDS members, dealing not so sacredly with topics thought to be sacred. Those who have never been members won't have the context to understand most of the stories.
As a former Mormon this book was perfect for me. I don't have any faith to test, and I got all the in-jokes and culture and theology. I loved the mix of Mormon culture with folklore more ancient -- or in the far future. Ghosts and zombies and aliens meet pioneers and BYU students and missionaries.
My favorite stories tended to be sci-fi. What would happen if Mormons met aliens? What if God's other children are interplanetary beings who know more about God than we do? I would love to see an entire anthology of Mormons in spaceships and Mormons dealing with future (or past?) technologies. And indeed, I was tempted to write a few of my own.
A couple of the stories I did not like, notably "Brothers in Arms", which ran a bit long, and military-based settings tend to turn me off, as do zombies.
But most of the stories were enjoyable and even great. I took my time and read this anthology over a period of months, so I will try to list my favorite stories, but I'm afraid I may forget the best parts of some of the earlier ones.
"Charity Never Faileth" by Jaleta Clegg tells of a green jello salad incident in Relief Society. I laughed my face off.
"The Living Wife" by Emily Milner is an interesting scenario and I loved the tension.
I loved the fry sauce bit in "Pirate Gold for Brother Brigham" by Lee Allred.
"Bokev Momen" by D. Michael Martindale is one of the sci-fi stories, including awesome aliens with biological-based ships who encounter their first human.
"Let the Mountains Tremble..." by Steven L. Peck is another sci-fi story about a race of people living on Mars who still think they're at war with the people on Earth.
"Traitors and Tyrants" by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara is a graphical story about four sister-wife martial artists each with a special talent. I'd like to see a whole series on this, even perhaps a graphic novel.
"That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone is set in the sun, in a future where a handful of solar-plasma beings have been converted to the Gospel.
"The Eye Opener" by Brian Gibson explores a possible mythology of what might happen when you open your eyes during prayer.
"The Mountain of the Lord" by Dan Wells is a pioneer story involving the undead. It was very entertaining and has a cool doctrinal payoff in the middle.
All in all, I'd like to see more of this kind of thing -- I'd like to see enough LDS members open to ideas that may challenge their sacred cows to make a large market for books like Monsters & Mormons. And I highly recommend this for ex-Mormons and other non-members familiar with the culture and doctrine.
As a former Mormon this book was perfect for me. I don't have any faith to test, and I got all the in-jokes and culture and theology. I loved the mix of Mormon culture with folklore more ancient -- or in the far future. Ghosts and zombies and aliens meet pioneers and BYU students and missionaries.
My favorite stories tended to be sci-fi. What would happen if Mormons met aliens? What if God's other children are interplanetary beings who know more about God than we do? I would love to see an entire anthology of Mormons in spaceships and Mormons dealing with future (or past?) technologies. And indeed, I was tempted to write a few of my own.
A couple of the stories I did not like, notably "Brothers in Arms", which ran a bit long, and military-based settings tend to turn me off, as do zombies.
But most of the stories were enjoyable and even great. I took my time and read this anthology over a period of months, so I will try to list my favorite stories, but I'm afraid I may forget the best parts of some of the earlier ones.
"Charity Never Faileth" by Jaleta Clegg tells of a green jello salad incident in Relief Society. I laughed my face off.
"The Living Wife" by Emily Milner is an interesting scenario and I loved the tension.
I loved the fry sauce bit in "Pirate Gold for Brother Brigham" by Lee Allred.
"Bokev Momen" by D. Michael Martindale is one of the sci-fi stories, including awesome aliens with biological-based ships who encounter their first human.
"Let the Mountains Tremble..." by Steven L. Peck is another sci-fi story about a race of people living on Mars who still think they're at war with the people on Earth.
"Traitors and Tyrants" by John Nakamura Remy and Galen Dara is a graphical story about four sister-wife martial artists each with a special talent. I'd like to see a whole series on this, even perhaps a graphic novel.
"That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone is set in the sun, in a future where a handful of solar-plasma beings have been converted to the Gospel.
"The Eye Opener" by Brian Gibson explores a possible mythology of what might happen when you open your eyes during prayer.
"The Mountain of the Lord" by Dan Wells is a pioneer story involving the undead. It was very entertaining and has a cool doctrinal payoff in the middle.
All in all, I'd like to see more of this kind of thing -- I'd like to see enough LDS members open to ideas that may challenge their sacred cows to make a large market for books like Monsters & Mormons. And I highly recommend this for ex-Mormons and other non-members familiar with the culture and doctrine.
October 19, 2014
Ok, so first I need to admit that I haven't read every single story in this collection of between twenty and forty ghost stories with an LDS twist. I also don't have the book in front of me right now (actually, I bought the pdf, so it's on my computer somewhere), so I can't recall specifics about most of the stories.
They range is settings from alternate-church history to contemporary to futuristic scifi to authentic feeling pioneer times. Some of them definitely go for the weirdness/gore factor. Treat the Gospel as an essential part of the characters' morality and the world that they live in. Some of them treat it as just a part of the setting.
At least two of them are done in the style of comic books.
Overall, there's an interesting challenge to the definition of ghost story (if your audience believes that the ghost story could be true, is it still the same kind of ghost story?) and the horror genre in general.
A couple of the stories might be offensive to readers for the way they deal with sensitive Gospel topics. Most of them aren't.
Really though, the pdf was only $5, and if you want to see a short-story comic-book treatment of how Porter Rockwell was really a golem created by Joseph Smith Jr. to protect the early Saints in Missouri and Illinois, then this the only book I've seen that fills that niche.
They range is settings from alternate-church history to contemporary to futuristic scifi to authentic feeling pioneer times. Some of them definitely go for the weirdness/gore factor. Treat the Gospel as an essential part of the characters' morality and the world that they live in. Some of them treat it as just a part of the setting.
At least two of them are done in the style of comic books.
Overall, there's an interesting challenge to the definition of ghost story (if your audience believes that the ghost story could be true, is it still the same kind of ghost story?) and the horror genre in general.
A couple of the stories might be offensive to readers for the way they deal with sensitive Gospel topics. Most of them aren't.
Really though, the pdf was only $5, and if you want to see a short-story comic-book treatment of how Porter Rockwell was really a golem created by Joseph Smith Jr. to protect the early Saints in Missouri and Illinois, then this the only book I've seen that fills that niche.
February 14, 2015
I'm giving this rating to the stories I liked, and there were several. There were a couple that made me pretty uncomfortable too, so fair warning. But I did read them all. Glad I got to the last one (Dan Wells) which was one of my favorites. The two sci-fi stories were terrific too. Loved them. And several were lots of fun.
October 17, 2020
The authors are all quite talented and the bios at the back are funny. The stories are set in past, present, and future. Zombies and cool stuff. I especially liked "The Living Wife," a ghost story by Emily Milner. Some of the "interacting with the natives" premises I did not...quite...know what to make of. As a whole, to enjoy the stories, you definitely do not have to be of-LDS-background (I do not believe the church approves of the word "Mormon" very much anymore?), though quite possibly you will enjoy the stories more if you are. I am not connected to the LDS so I don't know what subtleties I may be missing.
December 20, 2020
A wonderful, wild, fun, pulpy collection of stories.
Love to see the wide range of 'monsters' and horrors that these stories explore, particularly the ways that ideas of worthiness or righteousness and connections to gender and imagination and thinking of what Mormonism is through some exploration of what it could be.
Some of my favorites:
“Monsters and Mormons and the Deseret Book”, Theric Jepson
“Other Duties”, Nathan Shumate
“Charity Never Faileth”, Jaleta Clegg
“Bokev Momen”, D. Michael Martindale
“Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha has Fallen”, Steven L. Peck
“Allow me to introduce myself”, Moriah Jovan
“That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made”, Eric James Stone
“The Eye Opener”, Brian Gibson
Love to see the wide range of 'monsters' and horrors that these stories explore, particularly the ways that ideas of worthiness or righteousness and connections to gender and imagination and thinking of what Mormonism is through some exploration of what it could be.
Some of my favorites:
“Monsters and Mormons and the Deseret Book”, Theric Jepson
“Other Duties”, Nathan Shumate
“Charity Never Faileth”, Jaleta Clegg
“Bokev Momen”, D. Michael Martindale
“Let the Mountains Tremble for Adoniha has Fallen”, Steven L. Peck
“Allow me to introduce myself”, Moriah Jovan
“That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made”, Eric James Stone
“The Eye Opener”, Brian Gibson
October 24, 2017
I really enjoyed this anthology, it was a great seasonal read for October. Obviously, some stories are stronger than others, but my favorites included: Fangs of the Dragon, Brothers in Arms, Bokev Momen, Experimenting With Life at Extraordinary Depths, Allow Me to Introduce Myself, and The Mountain of the Lord. Each short story took it's personal approach to Mormon characters within fantasy or science fiction novels. In some the doctrine of the Church was a strong theme, others relied on the culture surrounding the Church, and yet others had only mentions of the Church that made it "Mormon" literature. Overall great insight to my search for the "Mormon literary voice"
April 13, 2025
Yep. Actually, about half of these stories were pretty decent. They took the premise and explored it in interesting, sometimes even thoughtful, ways. Some of them were just silly (but not always in a bad way - attack of the green jello monster at the Relief Society dinner!), and a few were just too weird. There was definitely a Porter Rockwell sub-theme, as several used him or referenced him. This is definitely a collection that assumes a Mormon audience, though—both in terms of doctrine and culture.
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May 11, 2022I really enjoyed this collection of Mormon short stories. It's the first Mormon speculative fiction that I think I've read and it was a bunch of fun seeing how aspects of the religion/culture influence things and play out. (Lots of multiple wives and Gadianton Robbers.) If I had to make a personal list of my favorite stories within, I have a clear sci-fi bias and prejudice against the poetry. Both the opening and closing stories are extremely strong. Anyways, loved this, would recommend.
April 30, 2021
This is a fascinating collection of SFF (and some horror) stories written by and about Mormons. A lot of it was pulpy and campy, but I really loved a lot of these stories and I highly recommend this to anyone interested in looking at SFF through a Mormon lens.
May 25, 2021
A truly excellent collection, with almost every offering rock solid even if not every one spoke to me. It included two stories (The Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made and Let the Mountains Tremble For Adoniha Has Fallen) that I read years ago and were even better than I remembered.
Fun personal milestone: this is my 1,000th book marked read on Goodreads!
Fun personal milestone: this is my 1,000th book marked read on Goodreads!
October 6, 2017
As with all short story collections, some were great, others not so much.
December 15, 2011
Disclaimer: I'm one of the contributors to this anthology.
December 7, 2011
Of COURSE my opinion is suspect; after all, mine is the first story in this anthology. But all my opinions are suspect anyway.
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