Hi folks, I'm looking for books.

Not just any books.

My main theme I'm interested in is "monsters as metaphors." Not like there's a mystery, there's a killer, this person is being monstrous - like a literal monster that I can try and dissect as I read it. I want to be saying things like "the ghost is a representation of her family's generational trauma" or "the unknowable sea creature is clearly late-stage capitalism" etc.

(BUT I am also down for: horror, thriller, suspense, anything with a twisty plot, betrayal and drama, etc).

In addition to that I have a few preferences (as many of these boxes as can be checked the better but it doesn't have to check all of them~)
- new/newer fiction
- female (or tbh just not cis male) authors
------ exceptions can be made for cis male authors who write female characters as fully fleshed out human beings but like my hopes are NOT high based on a wealth of prior experience lol
- authors writing from a different culture perspective than me, and that shows up in the book to some degree (eg I've read a few dystopian/fantasy novels with first generation Asian-American characters and I really love the extra layer of ~escapism the unfamiliar customs and folklore and such gives me while I'm reading)

on the subject of ESCAPISM :
- historical fiction is fine but not focused on the depressing parts of history (eg: I read "Lessons in Chemistry" which was set in the 1960s and it was very good but also made me feel really bummed out about current feminism issues so - would rather avoid things like that :/ or anything that goes into a lot of detail on violence/racism faced by black Americans up to the civil rights movement can be really emotionally tiring for me)
- my FAV genre is magical realism, it could be happening now but it's *~*different*~*
- failing that I'm also into fantasy, scifi, utopian/dystopian
- actual realism is not exactly my jam (but if you're giving me monsters that's probably not the biggest concern lol)

annnnnnnnd...
A mostly unrelated concept but if anyone knows of books that are "weird"/"experimental" - in the vein of House of Leaves, where the words on the page literally curve and twist with the narrator's mental state, or Infinite Jest where there are pages-long footnotes that only make sense within the world of the book - please tell me about those <3

  

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Set by Lady!

Warning that I'm lacking in overtly "monster" books but some of these might hit your other points, here's a jumbled list of ideas:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Maybe you've already read? But by the author of JS&MN. Very different to that (and honestly I preferred Strange & Norrell) but kind of has an ~experimental vibe where you don't know wtf is going on.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

Maybe a monster book?! I haven't read but it's been on my TBR forever and a book!friend I would trust with my life gave it 5 stars. Modern/queer/horror/a submarine expedition???

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Again, haven't read yet but someone who met me all of five minutes prior recommended it to me without blinking? Trans author, trans characters, sounds like monsters. Maybe YA?

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Just in case you haven't read before xD The "monster" is not the monster but very much a metaphor, gothic horror, a classic but feels way more modern than it is.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

This is almost one of her lighter?? books I've read so far and set in "our world". A man can dream things into reality. I can't recommend Le Guin more highly, her prose is everything to me.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Have you read this? Beanie and I were very into this whole series back in the day xD Modern, YA, magic and sentient forests and ghosts and quests and seers. A man can ALSO dream things into reality?

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Has some dark and mildly depressing themes in it (TW for some graphic violence/sexual assault etc) BUT if/when you are in the mood for something ~gritty, it's magic societies/murder mysteries at modern Yale and so much fun. Plus a ghost I would die for.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Again, I haven't read yet but has been on my list forever. London urban fantasy. Written by a man so idk yet but I think he wrote a few Doctor Who novelisations.

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Another one I haven't read but it has been recommended to me. The short logline is "necromancers in space" but it sounds quite experimental. I think one of the books in the series is in second person? IDK.

This so you got into TMA list of book recs might be useful too xD

A wild TV show rec:
The Terror (AMC): has horror. And monsters. And naval expeditions. And is my favourite. (Steer clear of the book at any cost, it's not good. xD)

Honourable mention to All The White Spaces by Ally Wilkes and Dark Matter by Michelle Paver for being polar ghost stories... I preferred the former to the latter but I personally find both have pacing issues/didn't quite make enough of the horror. Still solid tho!

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   Daffodil Grimstone, Fortitude Greengrass

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

Seconding Piranesi and All the White Spaces!

Walking Practice by Dolki Min

I haven't read this yet but it's on my bookshelf -- a shapeshifting alien is stranded on earth and starts off hunting humans until it has an existential crisis.

Just Like Home - Sarah Gailey

House as monster - the narrator returns to her childhood home haunted by her father having been a serial killer and also by something else?? If you want a Gothic monster I recommend this one.

Bunny - Mona Awad

I HEAR YOU LIKE MAGICAL REALISM, can I give you unreliable narrator, college girls turning rabbits into men, this one is bananas

The following 1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post:1 user Likes Cassius Lestrange's post
   Fortitude Greengrass

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MJ made this!

Will bring more later but cannot recommend this book enough...

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

An AU where magic is commonplace in the world. When the protagonist's cousin dies in a car crash, his ghost tells her that he was murdered. Written by an Indigenous Author (enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas) and centered around an Indigenous (Apache) character.

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   Fortitude Greengrass

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Magic by Elaine!

Come Play Out a Disney Persona

This is a web serial, and I can't get the link to work on my PC, but it's working fine on mobile?? Idk. The author's site with links is here if all else fails. XD

Curse Words: SPELLCASTING FOR FUN AND PROPHET by Derin Edala

I haven't actually read this one, but I'm currently obsessed with the author's other works, so it's on my TBR list. Takes place at a magical school. Author is non-binary and Australian

  

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Set by Bee <3

I've just started this - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/102188677 - its an authorised canonical sequel to The Haunting of Hill House. Raced through a quarter of it already! Can't put it down!

If hill house isn't a monstrous metaphor I dunno what is!

  

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Over the last week I read:
— The Raven Boys (Elias Grimstone Cassius Lestrange), enjoyed it and will be picking up the next one when the library reopens!

— NOS4A2 which was consistently ranked very high on 'new horror' book lists - IT WAS NOT GOOD. Ugh. I only finished it because 1) I decided to start skimming whole chunks when I was too annoyed by the author to keep actually reading and 2) I had no alternative books with me during the wedding trip and it was better than literally staring at the ceiling, I suppose.

I have previously read Piranesi, Frankenstein, Ninth House but I enjoyed all of those so I will be gobbling up the rest of these reccs soon <3 thank you everyone! Feel free to keep dropping by if anything comes to mind~

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Set by Lady!

Boyfriend LOVES monster books and would like to suggest you read Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama.

  

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MJ made this!

How to Sell A Haunted House:

My Review: This really was two books in one: a poignant depiction of the struggles of strained family bonds during times of grief, and the thing puppet-fueled nightmares are made of. It did both quite well.

A Haunting in the Arctic:

CJ Cooke in general is wonderful IMO, but this one connects most clearly to the vibe you're going for, I think!

Seconding Bean's suggestion of Just Like Home.

Yeah I favour haunting over like space lizards so hopefully you're into that xD

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   Fortitude Greengrass

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— Aldous walks with a cane and pronounced limp as the result of a splinching accident. —

— graphics by lady ❤ —

Just finished Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison and enjoyed it greatly! It's a werewolf novel I've previously read Cackle by the same author which is about modern witches and it was also excellent and she has another book called The Return which I really hope features ghosts.

Bought tonight and will be reading next:
A Haunting on the Hill
Just Like Home
Hell Bent (sequel to Ninth House)

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Set by Lady!