Jonathan Maberry - Cold War: A NecroTek Novel

A thrilling and cataclysmic collection of city-smashing titans and the desperate coalitions of humanity clinging to survival in the wreckage, from the New York Times-bestselling and multiple award-winning editors.

Featuring bestselling and award-winning authors such as Tananarive Due, Christopher Golden, Seanan McGuire, Scott Sigler and Steve Alten, author of The Meg.

An explosive collection of monster terror, featuring 25 original tales of creatures the size of skyscrapers. See cities shattered and worlds ended, as great beasts rise from the deep.

Featuring work from:
Linda D. Addison
Kevin J. Anderson
Kelley Armstrong
Maurice Broaddus
Tananarive Due
Luke Dumas
Taiyo Fuji
Kane Gilmour
Maxwell I. Gold
Christopher Golden & Daniel Golden
Henry Herz
Jamal Hodge
Ai Jiang
Alma Katsu
Tim Lebbon
Jonathan Maberry
Seanan McGuire
Lee Murray
Tobi Ogundiran
Cynthia Pelayo
Jeremy Robinson
Scott Sigler
Benjamin Spada
Anne Walsh

RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 22nd!

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Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author and Kaiju co-editor JONATHAN MABERRY

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Jonathan’s bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

JONATHAN MABERRY: I’ve been a fan of giant monsters since I first saw King Kong (1933) when I was a kid. All of the wild Godzilla films started showing up on Saturday afternoon TV in the 60s and early 70s, and I never missed a single one. Then a couple of years ago I was hired to write GODZILLA VS. CTHULHU: DEATH MAY DIE, a one-short comic tied to a very cool board game (CMON Games). That started me down the path to wanting to do more with Kaiju, and I talked my buddy @HenryHerz into co-editing with me and here we are!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

JONATHAN: The massive size –with all the destructive potential implied—and the scope of the storytelling makes them so much fun. Literally awesome fun. And there’s a humility implied in the actions and natures of the humans in those movies that allows for some surprising deep-dives into motivation and emotion.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

JONATHAN: Since not all Kaiju are bad, yes, Clifford is a Kaiju. Or, at very least, a gateway monster for kids to start learning about the bigger and badder Kaiju.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

JONATHAN: I’d love to see Godzilla and Kong make a guest appearance in a new Pacific Rim movie. First opposing the jaegers and then joining with them. The collision of tech, monsters known and unknown, and raw action would be dazzling.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

JONATHAN: GORGO…a British kaiju take on Godzilla, but with a twist. The giant monster encountered and captured in the first act and out on cruel display in the second, turns out to be an infant and a very angry Mama comes to save it. She stomps London flat, takes her baby, and leaves. Humans lose, as –in this instance—is only just.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

JONATHAN: Yes. I’m planning a series of short stories to expand on the story. I’m also likely to pitch it as a comic.

BIO: JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, 6-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, editor, writing teacher, poet, playwright, comic book writer, and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association. He is the author of nearly 60 novels, 212 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, 1200 feature articles, and has edited dozens of anthologies. He writes in multiple genres including thriller, horror, sci-fi, mystery, and fantasy. V-WARS (Netflix) was based on his books/comics; Alcon is developing his Rot & Ruin novels for film; and Chad Stahelski, director of JOHN WICK, is developing his Joe Ledger thrillers for TV. Marvel’s BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER was partly based on his work. He’s the founder of the Writers Coffeehouse, president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. www.jonathanmaberry.com

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan TBooks, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author TANANARIVE DUE!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Her bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

TANANARIVE DUE: Since I had never written or read a Kaiju story, I wanted to be careful about possible duplication and choose a form of Kaiju I had never seen before. As I often do when I have a new short story to write, I returned to my childhood imagination for inspiration. In fifth grade, I wrote a series of stories about Cris Manning and his Talking Cat. Since the cat could talk, I thought "What if the cat was also HUGE?" And unlike my childhood version of the story, I also wanted to engage with questions of poverty, health care and corporatism.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

TANANARIVE: Who doesn't like giant monsters??! We can start with that. But what I appreciate about the original Godzilla movie is that it was also a metaphor for the mass death and destruction Japan suffered during World War II. Anytime a giant monster can help bring attention to real-world issues in an engaging way, I'm all for it.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

TANANARIVE: If Cris Manning's talking cat is Kaiju, I have to argue that Clifford the Big Red Dog might be Kaiju adjacent. But honestly, he's just not big enough. He's "big" -- not "giant."

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

TANANARIVE: I would love to see Godzilla defeat Hedorah, since a smog monster represents climate decline in some ways that would make that battle especially satisfying.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

TANANARIVE: Godzilla now, Godzilla forever.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

TANANARIVE: For now, I think Cris Manning and his Talking Cat may be retired. But who knows what the future holds...?

BIO: Tananarive Due is bestselling author of THE REFORMATORY, THE BLACK ROSE, THE WISHING POOL and others. Her awards include an American Book Award; a Carl Brandon Award; an NAACP Image Award; a British Fantasy Award; an Ignyte Award; and a Locus Award. The Reformatory received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; a Chautauqua Prize; the Shirley Jackson Award; the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel; and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Find her at https://www.tananarivedue.com

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author Henry Herz

Henry is a double-threat in that he has a killer story in the anthology as well as being it’s co-editor (with Jonathan Maberry). His bio follows this interview.

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

HENRY: My kaiju was inspired by Gamera. Even as a kid, I was amused by a giant turtle that walked on its hind legs and could retract its legs and shoot jets out of the limb holes to spin and fly. I decided to create a more serious non-rotating, er, spinoff. My kaiju is oceanic and doesn't fly. Mine lacks a breath weapon but does have a powerful sonic blast weapon.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

HENRY: Well, I think that depends on the story. In my story, the fun for me is that the kaiju communicates with humans and they become unlikely allies. Also, I tuckerized Jonathan Maberry and four other author friends within the story.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

HENRY: I vote yes, since my definition is a simple one: very large fictional creature. Plus, the idea of Clifford frolicking with Godzilla tickles my funny bone.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

HENRY: I'd like to see an aerial battle between two flyers: Gamera v. Battra (evil version of Mothra).

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

HENRY: Gamera, of course. Who doesn't love a giant tusked turtle who can communicate telepathically and have jet blasts coming out of its limb openings? No one, that's who.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

HENRY: Probably not. However, I can easily see writing more short stories in the world of my story.

MEET HENRY HERZ: Henry has authored 14 traditional published picture books and dozens of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror short stories and essays for children and adults for Daily Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Metastellar, Highlights for Children, Ladybug Magazine, and anthologies from Penguin Random House, Titan Books, Albert Whitman & Co., Blackstone Publishing, Baen Books, and elsewhere. He has curated and edited (so far) ten anthologies.

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author ANNE WALSH MILLER!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

ANNE WALSH MILLER: I chose a giant wombat Kaiju because I live in Australia and wanted to use an Australian animal. Wombats are known as the Bulldozers of the countryside. They’ve got giant, sharp front claws for digging, incredible strength, razor sharp front teeth that never stop growing and their backsides are basically battering rams. Wombats also shape and protect their environments - their digging aerates soil! Perfect for a giant wombat Kaiju to rise up from the land and to protect it from those fossil fuel CEO’s! Watch out in your high-rises, fossil fuel tycoons! Here comes Dozer, Defender of Dreamtime. (Dozer, I believe, has always loved Mothra, too.)

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

ANNE: Kaiju stories are so much fun because they’re about monsters! The best stories always are! Their hyper-worldly giant-ness, but ethereal other-worldliness always makes for a great story. I was in love with Godzilla when I was a kid. I remember always cheering for him. He seemed so lonely, misunderstood. And the visible zipper only made me love him more!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

ANNE: Clifford the Big Red dog is probably closest to a Kaiju in the 2021 live-action movie only because he seems more monster-ish - albeit still loveable – and freaky in live-action. Almost everything does. But, overall, Clifford doesn’t have the other-worldly feel of Kaiju in my opinion. He’s just a big dog. Now, you could argue that my giant wombat Kaiju Dozer is just a big wombat. But then you would be missing his intent to crush those who do harm to the land. You’d be missing his subterranean soul. And his claws, and armored butt!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

ANNE: Any best Kaiju fight has to include Godzilla for me. Just has too. How about Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera and Dozer vs The Broligarchy.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

ANNE: My favorite Kaiju is Godzilla because when I was little and watched the original on re-runs on Sunday afternoons, I remember feeling so sorry for him. Mis-understood, and his cries always got me! I loved him!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

BIO: Anne Walsh Miller is a poet and story writer living in Australia. Her work has appeared in Best of Australian Poems 2022 and 2024, Glimmer Train, Weird Tales, Weird Tales 100 Years of Weird Anthology, The Big Bad Book of Kaiju (Titan Books, 2026) , Cordite, Mascara, Canberra Times, Heroines: An Anthology of Short Fiction and Poetry - Volume 2 (The Neo Perennial Press, 2019) and Volume 6, Witchcraft (her poem in Witchcraft co-won the Heroines Women’s Writing Prize), Borderless: a Transnational Anthology of Feminist Poetry (Recent Work Press, Australia, 2021), Other Terrain, Backstory, Verity La, Poem and Dish, FemAsia Magazine, and selected to be performed as part of the Monologue Adventure (Sydney, 2019). She’s been shortlisted twice for both the Newcastle Poetry Prize and for the ACU Prize for Poetry. Her two collections of poetry are: I Love Like a Drunk Does (Ginninderra Press, Australia, 2009) and Intact (Flying Island Books, Australia, 2017). In 2020, at the invitation of American actor Tituss Burgess, she read her work as part of Carnegie Hall’s inaugural live online concert. Instagram: anne_walshmiller

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author LUKE DUMAS!

https://titanbooks.com/73033-the-big-bad-book-of-kaiju/

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

LUKE DUMAS: I’ve always loved whales, but I’ve been looking for an excuse to write about them since taking a whale-watching tour for my birthday a couple of years ago. I knew I wanted my story to have an environmental angle, and when I saw a National Geographic article about climate change and noise pollution causing blue whales to stop singing, I knew right away what I wanted to do.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

LUKE: Writing about kaiju gives you permission to go bigger, badder, and weirder. My fiction includes a lot of terrifying wildlife, but until now, they’ve typically been pretty grounded (despite The Paleontologist being populated by dinosaur ghosts). My supersized whale-creature draws heavily on the biology of real whales, but with this story I was able to amplify reality with some cool sci-fi abilities and push the boundaries of what a Luke Dumas story can be.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

LUKE: For me, a kaiju needs three things: it needs to be big, it needs to be monstrous, and it needs to be mad as hell. Clifford is far too cute and sweet to be a kaiju (thank god—stop trying to ruin my childhood!).

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

LUKE: I’m a dinosaur nerd and I’m always down for a good, old-fashioned T. rex vs. Triceratops face-off. I guess in the kaiju version, they’d be the size of skyscrapers, the rex would shoot lasers out of its eyes, and the trike’s horns would detach and fly around like heat-seeking missiles. I actually think this might be a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

LUKE: I was very obsessed with the Titans in the animated Hercules movie, especially the ice one. I hear Disney is making a live-action version, and I swear to god they better do justice to my sweet snowman or I’ll riot.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

LUKE: I don’t—but I am working on a novel that includes a very kaiju-like sea creature. If you like “These Oceans Once Composed Symphonies,” keep an eye out for Fury on the Waves in the next few years!

BONUS QUESTION: What’s next for you?

LUKE: My upcoming book, We Don’t Call Them Cages, is a high-octane thriller set in a major zoo, about a group of jaded zookeepers who seek revenge on their employer by unleashing the animals on unsuspecting patrons. Think Jurassic Park set at the San Diego Zoo. It’s out March 16, 2027—pre-order now!

BIO: Luke Dumas is the USA Today bestselling author of four thriller and horror novels including Nothing Tastes as Good and A History of Fear. His second novel, The Paleontologist, won an ITW Thriller Award, and his work has been optioned for film and TV. A nonprofit professional, he worked for five years in the zoological field for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and Brevard Zoo. He lives in San Diego, California. Follow him on Instagram at @thenewdumas.

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author MAURICE BROADDUS!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

MAURICE BROADDUS: I was inspired by the adventures of Momo the monkey who got loose from his owner one day and was running across the eastside of Indianapolis. Following his adventures became a social media check-in game.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

MAURICE: Um…big monster stomping stuff. (I really wish I could sound deeper about this, but my inner eight year old does not care about symbols, metaphors, or social commentary.)

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

MAURICE: Yes. Especially if my definition is just big monster stomping stuff. THIS QUESTION SEEMS TO DIVIDE THE COMMUNITY AS MUCH AS WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD PUT SUGAR ON GRITS!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

MAURICE: I want to say King Ghidorah vs Clifford so bad …

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

MAURICE: King Ghidorah

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

MAURICE: Actually, it went the other way around: I was joking with John Scalzi that since he wrote The Kaiju Preservation Society, it ruined me writing my “Kaiju in the Hood” novel. He said the world needs both. This became the perfect opportunity to see what the story could look like. I must say, I like how it turned out, so maybe …

BIO: An award-winning Afrofuturist, editor, and librarian, Maurice Broaddus has had over a hundred short stories published in such places as Lightspeed Magazine, Black Panther: Tales from Wakanda, Out There Screaming (edited by Jordan Peele), The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand, Asimov’s, Weird Tales, and the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. With over a dozen novels in print, his latest include Black Panther: T’Challa Declassified, Unfadeable, Sweep of Stars, Breath of Oblivion, and A City Dreaming. An editor at Apex Magazine, he’s also the co-editor of Black Horror: Canonical Voices From Then to Now. Learn more at MauriceBroaddus.com; @mauricebroaddus (Threads), mauricebroaddus.bsky.social (BlueSky), mauricebroaddus (Facebook), and mauricebroaddus (Instagram)

Today’s mini-interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU

(Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!)

is author KELLEY ARMSTRONG!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Kelley’s bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

KELLEY ARMSTRONG: My story is about a young genius scientist who wants to create a Kaiju…in theory only. She grew up on Godzilla movies, so the giant lizard would be her natural choice.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

KELLEY: To me, kaiju represent so many things, and the fun was taking one aspect of that and playing with it. I’ll admit that I really did try to figure out a way to work in a Kaiju battle. Sadly, it didn’t work out 

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

KELLEY: I say yes. My personal definition is just a giant creature—mammal or reptile. While the books mostly showed the fun and goofy aspects of a giant dog, I could definitely see Clifford as a more destructive force. I adore dogs, but they can be little terrors even at regular size.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

KELLEY: King Kong vs Rodan.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

KELLEY: I’ve always been partial to Mothra. A sentient giant moth goddess with fairy attendants. What’s not to like?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

KELLEY: It’d be fun to take my story beyond where I ended it, to explore what would happen next, but I’ll leave that creative exercise to readers.

BIO: Kelley Armstrong is the author of the "Rip Through Time" and "Haven’s Rock" mystery series. Past works include the Otherworld urban fantasy series, the Cainsville gothic mystery series, the Nadia Stafford thriller trilogy, the Darkest Powers & Darkness Rising teen paranormal series, the Age of Legends teen fantasy series and the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying middle-grade fantasy series.

https://www.instagram.com/KelleyArmstrongAuthor

https://www.facebook.com/KelleyArmstrongAuthor

https://www.threads.net/@kelleyarmstrongauthor

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) are authors CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN and DANIEL GOLDEN!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Christopher and Daniel's bios follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN: Daniel may have a clearer recollection, but I know we started brainstorming with just what attributes we wanted our kaiju to have. We wanted something different, something really terrifying. Some of the ingredients, at least for me, probably include Cloverfield, the Cthulhu Mythos, and The Day of the Triffids. Throw those in a blender and you’ve got something in the same neighborhood as what we’ve done.

DANIEL GOLDEN: We definitely wanted to aim for something different from your classic giant reptile! While we were brainstorming, I kept thinking about what makes a kaiju-like creature frightening on the scale of individual humans. Godzilla is no different from a hurricane or an earthquake, really, and that isn't all that viscerally horrific when you look at it from six feet off the ground. In my head, I just kept coming back to how scary Deep Rising was when I watched it at the age of 11 or 12. Getting stepped on by a giant is really impersonal, but getting digested by some faceless, unknown thing? That's a different story.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

CHRISTOPHER: The kid version of me says “who doesn’t love giant monsters?” I grew up on them, and have always loved them. But then the grownup version of me adds that it’s a great opportunity to introduce a cataclysmic reminder into the lives of ordinary people that the daily bullshit doesn’t really matter that much, and it’s taking care of one another that really matters.

DANIEL: I've always felt like the draw of a kaiju story is in the scale of things. It's the same as it is with movies about natural disasters. It's hard not to be interested when you see something that's just physically massive, and it's taking buildings down left and right! That aside, kaiju stories are fun because you get a lot of creative freedom when it comes to what your monster looks like, how it moves, and what it does. That's true of any kind of monster, I guess, but, in a kaiju story, those kinds of things take center stage a little more.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

CHRISTOPHER: Give him rabies, and the answer’s yes. Rabid Clifford would be terrifying. For me, the main ingredients for a kaiju are size and either malice or chaos. Clifford brought some chaos to the lives of his family, but when he realizes he’s caused problems, he feels badly about it. A kaiju wouldn’t, at least from my perspective.

DANIEL: I'd say no! For one thing, I don't think Clifford is quite big enough to quality, and, for another, I don't think he counts as a monster. Clifford's basically just a labrador who happens to be red and about the size of a house. That just makes him an unusually large example of a normal species of animal. He's about the size of a large dinosaur, but I wouldn't call a dinosaur a kaiju either. I don't know if I have a strict kaiju definition, but I know one when I see one.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

CHRISTOPHER: Well, now that you’ve brought it up, I’m gonna say Rabid Clifford vs. Ebirah, because who wouldn’t like to see him fight a giant crab monster?

DANIEL: That's a deeply personal question, and I can't speak for everyone out there. What I'll say is this: I've always, always wanted to see a matchup between Godzilla and Gamera. Maybe one day...

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

CHRISTOPHER: It’s sort of unfair, because there’s been so much Godzilla that it’s very difficult not to just say Godzilla. So let’s just take that as a given and talk about second favorites. Is it Anne Hathaway in COLOSSAL? I do love RODAN, but probably more the movie than Rodan himself. I’m going to go with Gaira, the green Gargantua from WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, because when he eats a woman and spits out her bloody clothes, that blew my little-kid mind.

DANIEL: I've got soft spots in my heart for a *lot* of them. I grew up watching a lot of the '90s era Mothra and Gamera movies, and it's hard not to root for Baragon in GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. It's hard not to say Godzilla, too, for obvious reasons, so instead I'll pick the kaiju who I think gets the least love in comparison with how much they should be getting, and that's Biollante. Plant monsters in general get underutilized in fiction, in my opinion. Where's my high-budget Day of the Triffids adaptation? We're past due.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

CHRISTOPHER: No, but now that you mention it, our story certainly COULD be the opening of a novel.

DANIEL: We could do this, I'm sure. There are some aesthetic similarities to the Tom Cruise version of The War of the Worlds, so that could lend some inspiration!

BIOS: CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Carry Me to My Grave, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, Road of Bones, and the Stoker Award–winning Ararat, among many others. He has also written and cowritten comic books, video games, screenplays, and audio drama. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. He has been nominated twelve times in eight different categories for the Bram Stoker Award, and has won twice, and has won both the Shirley Jackson Award and the Audie Award.

DANIEL GOLDEN is a bioinformatician with a passion for searching the recesses of the world’s streaming services for low-budget horror gems. Godzilla is his co-pilot. “Hanging Gardens” is his first publication.

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author TIM LEBBON! Tim’s bio follows this interview.

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

TIM LEBBON: The invite for this anthology came soon after I saw a wasp and a spider fighting in the spider's web in my back garden. I won't say who won... but what a contest!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

TIM: GIANT CREATURES! Need I say more? It's reversing the comparison between humans and ants, and a good story will make the reader think about just how they treat that ants' nest in their back garden. Nurture it ... or flood it with boiling water? Personally I don't like killing anything, and it's honestly not because I believe in insect karma. Honestly.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju?

TIM: Clifford! That's a blast from the past. Give him rabies then ask the same question.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

TIM: A giant wasp versus a giant spider. Oh ... read my story.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

TIM: The one the only Godzilla. Memories of the great cartoon when when I was a kid.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

TIM: Hey now... that's an idea.

BIO: TIM LEBBON is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s had over fifty novels published to date, and hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is Secret Lives of The Dead. He has won a World Fantasy Award and four British Fantasy Awards, as well as Bram Stoker, Scribe and Dragon Awards. He's recently worked on the new computer game Resurgence, acted as lead writer on a major Audible audio drama, and he's co-writing his first comic for Dark Horse. The movie of his novel The Silence debuted on Netflix in April 2019, and Pay the Ghost was released Hallowe'en 2015. Tim is currently developing more novels, short stories, audio dramas, and projects for TV and the big screen.

Find out more: www.timlebbon.net https://www.facebook.com/tim.lebbon/https://bsky.app/profile/timlebbon.bsky.social

KAIJU INTERVIEW

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author Ai Jiang!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Ai's bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

AI JIANG: I've always wanted to explore a kaiju that was nation-sized in scale and the idea of living on one as well and what it would mean to do so, having to adjust to the natural cycles of a kaiju's seemingly mortal yet immortal lifespan and what would happen if humanities living habits start to intrude on it as well.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

AI: I think the sheer size of a kaiju and the cosmicness of it all. There's something both fun and interesting about the inexplicability and uncontrollability of a kaiju, much like with superheroes.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

AI: I'd say my definition of a Kaiju is a strange large monster. I feel like originally I would've said Clifford wasn't, because Kaijus feel like beings that are cosmic and cannot be controlled, but there are recent depictions and expansions of kaijus in different genres that have broadened this definition—for a example for the anime, Kaiju No. 8, and also shows like Attack on Titan.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

AI: I'm not sure about best, but one I'd like to see would be Attack Titan versus Godzilla.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

AI: I would say perhaps Xiangliu, which is a nine-headed snake monster from Chinese mythology.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

AI: I'm considering it! Perhaps not a novel, but maybe a fun sci-fi/dystopian novella!

BIO: Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist born in Changle, Fujian, currently residing in Markham, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Clarkesworld, The Masters Review, among others. She is the author of An Empire in the Clouds, the Natural Engines duology, Linghun and I AM AI. Find her at www.aijiang.ca

KAIJU INTERVIEW with LEE MURRAY

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author LEE MURRAY!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Lee’s bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

LEE MURRAY: When Jonathan and Henry kindly reached out to me to write a story for The Big Bad Book of Kaiju, young people in Aotearoa-New Zealand were mobilising to join the hui (marches) protesting policy changes by our coalition government. That social action inspired “Hum” a cautionary tale in which two bristled worm-like kaiju converge on The Beehive, our iconic seat of parliament. Basically, it’s an allegory for social change disguised as good monstery fun.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

LEE: Full disclosure.: For those who haven’t met me, at barely 5ft tall, I struggle to reach the top shelf at the supermarket, so it is hugely (excuse pun) empowering to write big and unstoppable (without having to stand on a chair). It’s a chance to say something important and not be too subtle about it. And perhaps it’s because kaiju are unapologetic in the way they allow us (readers and writers) to examine the big issues without flinching.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju?

LEE: Absolutely. Not all kaiju have sharp teeth. Clifford is a big red metaphor for the awkwardness of growing up, of fitting boundless energy and curiosity into a small space, and how with a bit of love and acceptance anything is possible.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What is your definition of a Kaiju?

LEE: As for a definition, the long version: With any kaiju story, we know something big is coming. Something inexorable and seismic that is stomping over cities or surging out of the sea, causing havoc—and they’re stomping good fun to read. But on a deeper level, kaiju are metaphors for our collective social anxieties. The represent those existential issues that are not going away, that are too big to ignore and impossible to stop without immediate social, political, or technological change.

Short version: It’s big and it’s coming.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

LEE: Cthulhu versus Scylla and Charybdis. Whoops. I want to go and write that now.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: What's your favorite Kaiju?

LEE: Not fair, because it’s a genre I love. The classics: King Kong. Jaws. Stories where the kaiju is essentially minding its own business and humans have moved in and messed things up. Godzilla. Chompy dinosaur stories. I devoured Jeremy Robinson’s The Nemesis Saga thriller series—he has an awesome story in The Big Bad Book of Kaiju, too. Australia’s Greig Beck writes some heart-stopping leviathans: Beneath the Dark Ice is one of my all-time favourites. I include a couple of home-grown kaiju—a mythical taniwha-dinosaur and a giant squid—in my own Taine McKenna thriller series. What was the question again?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #7: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

LEE: I have no plans to expand the story, although I’d love for it to be somewhat prophetic, with the change the story calls for coming to pass. Perhaps I should have added a pentagram. Or some magic beans…

BIO: Lee Murray ONZM is a writer, editor, poet and screenwriter, a Shirley Jackson Award and five-time Bram Stoker Award® winner. A USA Today bestselling author with more than forty titles to her credit, Lee holds a New Zealand Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction and is an Honorary Literary Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Authors. Among her works are feature film Grafted (Propaganda-Fluroblack) directed by Sasha Rainbow, horror anthology This Way Lies Madness (Flame Tree Press) co-edited with Dave Jeffery, and Oversight: Erasure Poetry (RIZE) a collaboration with Carina Bissett. www.leemurray.info

Links

https://www.leemurray.info/

https://www.facebook.com/lee.murray.393/

https://www.instagram.com/leemurraykiwi/

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lee-murray

https://www.threads.com/@leemurraykiwi

https://bsky.app/profile/leemurraywriter.bsky.social

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author TOBI OGUNDIRAN!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

TOBI’S bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

TOBI OGUNDIRAN: I chose Fenrir, the great wolf from Norse mythology destined to kill Odin during Ragnarok. Norse mythology fascinates me, and the idea of a great wolf whose jaws span the breath of the world was too great an idea to pass up. Of course I’ve remixed the story, and given it a West African spin, as is my wont.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

TOBI: They’re big and destructive! But they are not simple-minded beasts. They’ve got their own emotions and wants. Much like humans who might appear as kaiju to ants and other small creatures as we trample through their habitats. Although now that I think of it I know some simple-minded folks

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

TOBI: Why not? A kaiju is a big monster with its own thoughts and agency, just like Clifford.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

TOBI: You know, I’d love to see a fight between Fenrir and Jörmungandr. Great wolf vs great serpent, let’s go!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

TOBI: I’m going to be really basic and go with Godzilla.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

TOBI: No plans at the moment, but you never know …

BIO: Tobi Ogundiran is the author of the Guardian of the Gods duology and the critically acclaimed, British Fantasy Award-winning short fiction collection, Jackal, Jackal. He has received/been a finalist for: the Locus, Ignyte, World Fantasy, British Science Fiction Association, Shirley Jackson, and Nommo awards. His work has been featured in original anthologies such as Africa Risen, The Book of Witches, The Big Bad Book of Kaiju among others; in several educational and Year’s Best anthologies; and twice on the hit podcast LeVar Burton Reads. Ogundiran has also written for the Overwatch and Magic: the Gathering universes. Born and raised in Nigeria, he now lives and works in the US as an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, where he teaches speculative fiction writing. Find him at tobiogundiran.com (website), @tobiogundiran.com on BlueSky and @tobithedreamer on IG.

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author TAIYO FUJII!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

TAIYO FUJII: I wanted to bring a kaiju to Amami Oshima, my hometown. It’s an island of myth, where the supernatural feels woven into the natural landscape, so I wanted a kaiju that belonged there. That’s how I came up with a gigantic creature whose dorsal spines resemble the island’s towering pinnacle rocks.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

TAIYO: What I absolutely love about kaiju stories is how they make us think about what we would do when faced with an overwhelming force of violence—something we simply cannot resist. You can run from it. You can burn it. Or you can climb into a giant robot and punch it in the face.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

TAIYO: I don’t think Clifford is a kaiju. After all, he looks at us. I want a kaiju to exist beyond human intentions and expectations—something fundamentally indifferent to us.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

TAIYO: Godzilla vs. Gipsy Danger (from Pacific Rim). Gipsy isn’t a kaiju, of course—but I’d love to see that fight!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

TAIYO: My favorite kaiju is Gomora from Ultraman. When I was a kid, the first kaiju encyclopedia I ever got had Gomora on the cover, smashing a castle. I fell in love with him right then and there.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

TAIYO: Tachigami probably wouldn’t lend itself very well to a novel. But I am writing a novel with Nari as the protagonist. There aren’t any kaiju in it, though!

Meet Taiyo Fujii: Taiyo was born in Amami Oshima Island—that is, between Kyushu and Okinawa. He worked for stage design, desktop publishing, exhibition graphic design, and software development. In 2012, Fujii self-published Gene Mapper serially in a digital format of his own design, and became Amazon.co.jp’s number one Kindle bestseller of that year. The novel was revised and republished by Hayakawa Publishing in 2013 and was nominated for the Nihon SF Taisho Award and the Seiun Award. In Gene Mapper he explored in detail the AR/VR communication, GMO plants and terror for infrastructure.

Second novel Orbital Cloud won the 2014 Nihon SF Taisho Award and Japanese Nebula Awards. In 2019, novelette collection Hello, World! won a mainstream literature award; Yoshikawa Eiji Literature Awards for Young Writers.

KAIJU INTERVIEW

Today’s mini interview for THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) is author SCOTT SIGLER!

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

Scott’s’s bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

SCOTT SIGLER: I created my own kaiju, because if you can’t laugh at constipated giant floating death machines, what can you laugh at?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

SIGLER: It the simultaneous the belittling of humanity, in that we are mere scrambling ants in their wake, reversing the order of the world, and that we find a way to overcome even the biggest, deadliest, most beatable obstacles.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju?

SIGLER: This question seems tongue-in-cheek, but call me when Clifford contracts rabies and develops an unquenchable thirst for human blood. We will see who is laughing then.

What is your definition of a Kaiju? Something big. Big enough that without technology, numbers, and unstoppable resolve, we simply can not win. The concept of kaiju is that divided humanity fall, united we stand. In the face of a giant, rabid canine hellbent on turning your cousins into chew toys, a person who stands alone is kibble. Survival lies in unity and cooperation.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

SIGLER: Now that you have me thinking of a fifty-foot-tall rabid red-furred dog, I’ll have to go with Clifford vs. a cybernetically augmented sixty-foot-tall half-reptile, half-squirrel. Except Clifford is an adhered of the Old Ones, and must walk the fine line between savior of humanity and harbinger of He Who Shall End Everything

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: What's your favorite Kaiju?

SIGLER: King Ghidorah. What the hell do you feed that thing? Do the heads ever attack each other? If Head One eats Head Three, but Head Two gets nutrition because they share one stomach, does Head Two get involved or just step back, have a Scotch, and mumble “let’s see where this goes”? I don’t have these answers. Perhaps, someday, wise person will figure this out

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #7: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

SIGLER: I don’t think so. The Skygrazer’s plot is set. And besides, a plethora of poop jokes might make a short story fun, but in a novel, that shit gets old fast

BIO: #1 New York Times best-selling author Scott Sigler is the creator of twenty-one novels, seven novellas, and dozens of short stories. He gives away his stories as weekly, serialized, audiobooks, with over sixty million episodes downloaded. He lives in San Diego, CA with his wife and their tiny Døgs of Døøm.

Find him here: Instagram: @scottsigler / Facebook: Facebook.com/scottsigler /

Threads: @scottsigler / Bluesky: scottsigler.bsky.social / Mastodon: @scottsigler

Today’s interview is bestseller Seanan McGuire. (Seanan’s bio follows this interview.)

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

SEANAN: It fit well with the region I wanted to use, and I like kaiju who make environmental sense.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

SEANAN: Who doesn't love big stompy monsters?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

SEANAN: No, because Clifford the Big Red Dog is an ordinary, well-understood creature that just happens to be very large. Kaiju are unusual or unique in some way. They're strange beasts.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

SEANAN: SEANAN: Biollante vs. Mothra. A giant plant vs. the final form of a giant plant-eater.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

SEANAN: Biollante.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

SEANAN: Not at this time.

MEET SEANAN McGUIRE: Seanan writes things. It's kinda hard to make her stop. Please, stop her. She can be found at the nearest regional theater, the local haunted house, or in the corn. All corn. It is as one to her. Follow her on BlueSky at @seananmcguire...or into the corn, if you'd prefer.

More on the KAIJU anthology here

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

BENJAMIN SPADA: I tried to think of animals with unusual natural defenses or adaptations that would be interesting when supersized. Things like the duck-billed platypus' electrolocation and venomous spurs, or the exploding Malaysian ants. I almost went with a sea cucumber which can eject its own internal organs, before I settled on the horned lizard.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

BEN: WHow adaptable they are. For one, the animal kingdom is so full of interesting species that you could never run out of ideas. I think another piece of the fun is how a Kaiju can be the embodiment of these other frightening concepts like nuclear war, environmentalism, and technological prowess going bad.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

BEN: I don't think so. For me, I think size isn't the most important thing for a Kaiju-- because the original King Kong was only like fifty feet tall compared to modern MonsterVerse averaging 7x that-- but in my opinion a bigger qualifier is the destruction they cause. That's why Godzilla stomping across Tokyo is iconic regardless of what era and size he is.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

BEN: I don't know why, but the first thing that popped in my head when I read this was Paul Bunyan vs. MechaGodzilla. Something about the simplicity of a lumberjack with an axe facing off against the technical marvel of innovation that is the cybernetic Kaiju would be a blast to write.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

BEN: I always thought Gigan had such an interesting look, even more so with his chainsaw re-design in Godzilla: Final Wars. Fingers crossed he finally makes a modern appearance in the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: Supernova movie coming out next year!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

BEN: My story, Horned, was a fun flash to write, and I'd be lying if I said I had no trouble telling my brain to calm down and not waste space on the page explaining how this lizard became huge. Is it mutated from irresponsibly discarded toxic waste? Was it experimented on by extraterrestrials and let loose? Is it some long-lost ancient lizard deity? I'll keep the door open, and maybe some eagle-eyed readers will find a reference to the horned lizard in a Black Spear novel in the future.

MEET KAIJU AUTHOR BENJAMIN SPADA: Ben is the author of the award-winning Black Spear series of military thrillers (FNG, The Warmaker, and Project Darkheart), and many short stories blending horror and thrillers. Outside of writing, he is a dedicated taco aficionado, self-described “Professor of Batmanology”, and a career officer in the United States Marine Corps. He has been a martial arts instructor, a section leader in the Wounded Warrior Battalion for our America’s wounded, ill, and injured, and has served overseas to help train our foreign military allies in defense against chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Despite these grim assignments, he has carried on with equal amounts of sarcasm and stoicism. Benjamin can be found posting on most social apps when he should be writing.

Facebook: https://facebook.com/BenjaminJSpada/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/benspada

X: @spadaben

More on the KAIJU anthology here!

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

KANE GILMOUR: I wanted to play around with the concept of humans becoming Kaiju rather than them being from an unknown source, a result of genetic engineering, or from other unknown worlds. Ultimately writing the story was a lot of fun, and I hope people find it to be a different sort of take on the subject. There’s so much you can do with a Kaiju tale and so much you can make it about, besides the actual combat. I thought I’d start with something seemingly innocuous and go from there.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

KANE: I think people enjoy Kaiju on a deep, subconscious level. It’s because we can all relate to that childhood impulse to build a city out of blocks and then rampage through it at our toddler size. Compared to the wooden block and LEGO cities of our childhoods, we were the Kaiju, the giant mutated monsters nearly oblivious to the world underfoot, as we crashed ahead on our way. That idea triggers something in our deep lizard brains, so a Kaiju story is something where we can project ourselves both into the creature—and back into our childhoods.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

KANE: For me, yes, sure. Clifford qualifies. I always liked him, and yes by the actual wording of ‘strange beast’ his size would make him a shoe-in. Although I don’t typically think of him as a ‘Kaiju,’ per se. Just as a really big dog. I think in my mind’s eye a Kaiju hews a little more closely to ‘monster’ and Clifford’s cuddly and helpful disposition doesn’t fit that description. I don’t think most people would call him a monster. Giant size helps for me. Is a crocodile with human teeth a Kaiju? It would certainly be a ‘strange beast’—no one would argue that. But if it’s 170 feet long? Now we’re talking.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

KANE: The default narcissistic answer to this one would be one of my Kaiju versus…another of my Kajiu. But if I’m honest, my first answer is always Jeremy Robinson’s Nemesis versus…something else. In this case I’ll say Godzilla, since that would be an epic battle.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

KANE: Again here, even though I’ve created several creatures in Kaiju short stories of my own, I’d say Robinson’s Nemesis again. I prompted him to write the first novel when he told me he really wanted to write a Kaiju novel, and through editing and suggestions helped him with the rest of the Nemesis Saga series. She’s close to my heart.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

KANE: Not really. I always saw the story as a standalone piece, and I always knew the ending before I started. I like the creatures—and the cobbled together mythology that spawned them. There’s certainly room to go back. But at the moment, I’m focusing on other tales that touch into the horror and thriller genres. That said, if I get another invite to write a Kaiju tale for an anthology, I might just revisit the concept—and the creatures that resulted from it.

MEET KANE GILMOUR: Kane is an international bestselling novelist, kaiju short story writer, comic book writer, editor, and unapologetic book hoarder.

Website: https://kanegilmour.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kane.gilmour.author

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kg.argo

Newsletter Signup: http://eepurl.com/c8RBEP

As part of the countdown to the release of THE BIG BAD BOOK OF KAIJU (Titan Books, September 22 -available now for pre-order!!) we’re doing quickie interviews with the authors and poets who have original stories in the book).

Today’s Kaiju scribe is ALMA KATSU (Alma’s bio follows this interview.)

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

ALMA KATSU: “Don’t Tell Me How to Love Kaiju” is about how we humans tend to inherently choose conflict. From boys vs. girls in the school playground, all the way up to how war is often the default. Kaiju are valued for what war-fighting capabilities they offer—flying kaiju the most prized, like air assets in traditional warfare. In this story, a girl is brave enough to ask, what if we don’t choose conflict?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

ALMA: The mystery. You have the sudden appearance of something never before seen and your brain immediately begins firing off questions. Where did it come from? How was it created—was it born, hatched, fall to earth from space? Does it have parents, a tribe, a herd, a community or is it all alone in the world? The universe?

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

ALMA: Sure. Why not? I don’t know that I have a definition. You’ve got me questioning everything.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

ALMA: Godzilla would be there for sure. An icon, like Frankenstein, upon which we can project all our fears—and hopes.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

ALMA: See above.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

ALMA: Not a novel, but we’ve been talking to Hollywood about a possible movie or TV series.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: What’s next for Alma Katsu and where can readers fin you?

ALMA: I have a novel out on the same day: INCARNATE, an AI horror story, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for the internet age. The best way to follow me is through my Substack: almakatsu.substack.com, or my website: almakatsubooks.com

KAIJU INTERVIEW with JAMAL HODGE

More on the KAIJU anthology here:

Jamal’s bio follows this interview.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #1: Why did you choose the kaiju you did?

JAMAL HODGE: I’m a fan of The Thing, a shape-shifting mass of flesh, clay, and skin as putty, but mixed with Godzilla—can you imagine? I also like the cycles of Samara; the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning. And also just big ass mouths wanting to eat the world

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #2: What makes a Kaiju story so much fun?

JAMAL: You can go primordial within the modernity of the present day. You can remind our reptilian brains what it was like to be back in the food chain, prey to unstoppable predators. It’s cathartic lol

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #3: Is Clifford the Big Red Dog a Kaiju? What is your definition of a Kaiju?

JAMAL: Clifford is the Kaiju of mess-ups, but the people just keep forgiving him more than even Kong or Godzilla. To me, a Kaiju is a giant monster that’s cool AF.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #4: What would make the best Kaiju battle? Who vs Who?

JAMAL: Harbinger from Mass Effect Vs. The Brethren Moon from Dead Space. Those who know, KNOW.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #5: What's your favorite Kaiju?

JAMAL: Godzilla, of course. Sorry. I know it’s vanilla AF.

BIG BAD KAIJU QUESTION #6: Do you have any plans on taking the monster from your story (or poem) and expanding it into a novel?

JAMAL: It was the first suggestion Jonathan Maberry gave after he read it. And a lightbulb went off in my deep, dark attic head. The picture is less murky; I see horrors on the horizon, dear reader.

Meet JAMAL HODGE: Jamal is a Bram Stoker Award-winning writer, a Nebula Award finalist, and an award-winning director. His producing credits include the Academy Award–nominated documentary Armed Only With a Camera: The Life & Death of Brent Renaud (co-producer) and the animated feature film Pierre The Pigeon Hawk. In literature, he is an Elgin Award winner (3rd), a Dwarf Stars Award winner (2nd), and a Rhysling Award finalist, with work that appears consistently in major genre anthologies and magazines. His anthology Bestiary of Blood: Modern Fables & Dark Tales debuted as Amazon’s #1 new horror anthology release. His poetry collection I’m Not a Good Person, I’m a New Yorker, and his upcoming anthology Shards of Gotham: New York City Through the Looking Glass (Ruadán Books, 2027) continue his exploration of pain, identity, and redemption.

Website: https//www.writerhodge.com