The Mammoth Book of Kaiju

by Sean Wallace

Giant monsters whose every roar and footstep shakes the earth, whose simple stroll through a city wreaks KAIJU!

And even though humankind has never really seen such monsters - we tremble at the thought of them and love to shiver as their screen versions make the beast from twenty-thousand fathoms, Godzilla demolishing Tokyo, the massive creature in Cloverfield destroying New York, all of Earth warring with the colossal monsters in Pacific Rim.

Now, for the first time, a definitive anthology that gathers a wide range of larger-than-life short fiction with creatures that run a gargantuan the stealthy gabbleduck of Neal Asher’s Polity universe; Gary McMahon’s huge sea-born terror; An Owomoyela’s incredibly tall alien invaders; Frank Wu’s city-razing, eighty-foot-high, fire-breathing lizard; Lavie Tidhar’s titanic ship-devouring monstrosity; a really big Midwest US smackdown related by Jeremiah Tolbert . . . and many more mega-monster stories to feed your need for killer kaiju!

With an introduction by Robert Hood, co-editor of the groundbreaking, Ditmar Award-winning Giant Monster Tales and host of Undead Backbrain, the premier website for matters relating to giant monsters.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Anthologies, Fiction, Horror, Short Stories, Monsters

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 14, 2016

About the author

Sean A. Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for his work on Prime Books and for co-editing two magazines, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won two Hugo Awards and one World Fantasy Award, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge.

Reviews

[Shyames · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really was a mammoth book, couldn't get this in one sitting.
The stories were very much different from each other - some were typical kaiju stories, some more about space aliens, some about humans but weird ones and some I still don't know what they were about.
It's a nice start though to go through the authors, their style and decide which one to check out for more.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This truly was a mammoth book of kaiju short stories. The editing team did an admirable job of collecting a very wide variety of works involving giant monsters. But with a few exceptions, I thought the overall themes explored were a bit limited or, even worse, formulaic at times. I understand there are a number of conventions in the sub genre. But not enough of the collection jumped out at me. In fact, there were a few which were fantastic until the very end of the work.

Some of my favorites were:

“Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck” by Neal Asher
“With Bright Shining Faces” by Gini Koch
“Show Night” by Steve Tem
“The Kansas Jayhawk vs. The Midwest Monster Squad” by Jeremiah Tolbert (my alma mater)

[Book Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected this to be kind of a fun, weird read and it was.
I wasn't expecting the stories to be full of symbolism. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Godzilla has always been symbolic of the atomic bomb but in this book kaiju are used as symbols of everything from cancer to communism and capitalism.
[i]The Island of Dr. Otaku[/i] was my favorite of the bunch. I have to check out more from that author.

[Pearse Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted a bunch of giant monsters and I got it! Over 600 pages of it! Echidnas, ducks, brains, body horror tentacles, all big and bad. Some of these pieces reminded me how limited stories can be (in terms of takeaway and breadth of plot), but I enjoyed a good portion of them (7/10, I'll say). Only a few skips. Two of the best pieces were the last two. Now time to go make some inspired kaijus.

[Themightyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot of fun, but also very, very weird. Cory Goodfellow's two stories in particular were baffling and bonkers. I confess I did buy this book because as a Neal Asher fan, I NEEDED to know more about the Gabbleduck. As I read it, I developed an appreciation for the genre and the liberties people take to make it their own. The Kaiju genre is largely cheesy, in the style of the giant monster movies I grew up loving, but a lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed "The Lighthouse Keeper of Kurohaka Island," "Postcards From Monster Island," "The Eyes of Erebus (this one was grim in the style of total annihilation apocalyptic writing)," "Running," "The Black Orophant," and "The Unlawful Priest of Todesfall." It was so interesting to see how the authors turned the genre on its head. Of course, my favorite was "Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck," by Neal Asher.

If you don't mind cheesiness, weirdness, and the occasional bleak outlook, I recommend this as an amusing distraction. If you dislike the strangeness of the Kaiju genre or any of the giant monster films, don't bother. A lot of the stories were amateurish and I didn't particularly like some of them, but I found the instances of dislike were pretty limited. Still, if you're a serious sci-fi fan and don't like the wackier stuff, I'd leave this one be.

[Oli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was recommended this for its Kaiju content. First of all, the book has impressive-looking and striking cover art, which motivated me to read the stories inside. As with any anthology of stories, some of the stories grabbed me while others not so much. The entries that approached Kaiju more comically were most enjoyable/memorable for me.

“Mamu, or Reptillon vs Echidonah” by Nick Stathopoulos, “Postcards from Monster Island” by Emily Devenport, “With Bright Shining Faces” by JC Koch, and “The Kansas Jayhawk vs. The Midwest Monster Squad” by Jeremiah Tolbert were highlights, imo. “The Lighthouse Keeper of Kurohaka Island”, Cody Goodfellow’s two entries, and Jonathan Wood’s “The Behemoth” are also worth mentioning. My favourite would have to be either “Postcards from Monster Island” for the quirkiness of its characters, or “With Bright Shining Faces” for its unnerving school setting.

Some stories I was unsure about. Particularly towards the end, although still enjoyable, the stories seemed to have less of a kaiju focus in the Japanese sense. More, there’s a monster and it’s a threat. Which is not necessary a bad thing, but I read this expecting monsters of a Japanese nature. I also thought generally the stories with a greater focus on fantasy were a harder read in the context of kaiju.

Overall still worth a read, especially if interested in kaiju.

My rating: 2.5 / 5.00

[Sally]

No, going to have to give up on this one. Loved the cover, received it as a gift and started reading it a few years ago, didn’t like it much, put it down and have just picked it back up again to be reminded that I don’t like it much. The stories feel very amateur.

These ‘Mammoth’ collections are never very good, not sure why I thought this one would be different.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it in little chunks over a period of several months. Most of the stories were quite good. A lot of creative takes on the kaiju genre, a couple misses. Worth a read if you're into giant monstes.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like every anthology, this is a mixed bag with some stories being far better than others.

Unfortunately I found most of these stories to be rather dull and very skippable. There are a few gems but these are few and far between and not what I expected from this collection.

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure about this one. Some of the stories are enjoyable, but most are garbage. It is too bad, I thought the genre had more to offer than what can be read in this collection.

[Lars · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am just not a fan of Kaiju I think. Read several of the short stories but they were all not catchy enough to continue. I can't find anything wrong with the stories itself so I guess it's just me.

[xyZeereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

RAWR! (Translation: Some big hits, and some even more big misses…)

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

. The first sixty percent was good to very good, though nothing earthshaking (LOL), but the rest was...
Painful. It was like there weren't enough professional submissions so the eds filled the rest out with their kid's creative writing homework.
That is except for the very last story, ...Gabbleduck, by Neal Asher. THAT was a real gem!