Coming July 2025!
Revealing both how terrifying and how heroic individuals can be when untethered from relationships, Monsters and Other Tales of Humanity portrays the ways people cope with loneliness. A woman is haunted by Death, who progressively resembles her drowned fiancé. A child seeks beauty in a handsome stranger’s greenhouse and holds out hope for a savior. A woman’s husband is murdered by police, and her monstrous children enact a bloody revenge. A negligent mail carrier believes stars are disappearing from the sky, heralding the annihilation of the universe. A video game character’s dissonance with the actions he must perform precipitates a choice that could destroy his world. Speculative and lyrical, these stories explore the human need for connection and how the lack of ties warps lives.
“Dash’s fast and furious debut collection of weird fiction focuses on the ways alienation can make someone become truly alien. … thoughtful psychological exploration and evocative prose impress. There are no easy answers on offer here, but there is plenty of heart.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A small collection that has impact … about the shifting faces of humanity and death. … Poignant cautionary tales that will appeal to the literary-minded reader who is curious about unusual offerings in storytelling, and open to an audacious writer who is not afraid to take you where you would rather not go.”
—Eugen Bacon, Locus Magazine
“From tender hauntings to monstrous children and strange video games, this collection of short stories pulls together some of my absolutely favorite things, and Carla E. Dash really knows how to nail an ending. At times brutal and at times soft and lyrical, Monsters and Other Tales of Humanity is weird fiction with a darkest, most intelligent heart.”
—Natalia Theodoridou, World Fantasy Award-winning
author of Sour Cherry
“Carla is a new to me author and I love her writing style—crisp but evocative prose with just the right amount of detail and a lot of emotion. I originally planned to read one story a day but it was very hard to put the book down. Most of the stories have a speculative element in them that gives the collection a unified feel, yet they’re used in such a way that the stories don’t feel too outrageous while still tackling relatable, real-world themes and issues.”
—Marie Sinadjan, author of Just A Byte
