Love and Other Monsters in the Dark: Short Stories

Strange Stories That Linger in the ShadowsReaders will encounter serial killers, alien creatures, and dark angels, as well as more “normal” narratives about the horrors of everyday love. Love and Other Monsters in the Dark features a genre-hopping blend of contemporary fiction, noir humor, speculative fiction, and horror, with an undercurrent of love and the relationships that bind us together in the darkness. Among others, the cast of characters includes a catfish and her victim, creepy dolls in prayer, an arsonist housewife, an elderly bank robber, and a “teacup” pig. Some just can’t take it anymore.From an award-winning story of a woman who turns into her grandmother overnight, to a narrative about facing relationship complications during a zombie apocalypse, this collection offers laughter and tears, playfully packaged in and out of flash fiction.

Edward Kelsey Moore, New York Times best-selling author of The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, and The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues

"Love and Other Monsters in the Dark is a beautifully written collection. Every page is alive with wit and insight. K. B. Jensen's scary, funny, and fresh stories draw the reader into a diverse universe filled with fascinating and unforgettable characters."

Kathy Fish, award-winning author of Wild Life: Collected Works

"K.B. Jensen's newest book, Love and Other Monsters in the Dark, is a delicious, delightful, chilling thrill ride of a story collection. On full display in these pages are Jensen's sense of the weird and the uncanny and her unsentimental, though wholly accurate view of the human condition. Here, you'll find zombies and bank robbers; a woman who dreams of Alex Trebec; poison where you least expect it; murder, mystery and mayhem. These stories, some only a few paragraphs in length, are deft, sprinkled with dark humor and brilliantly crafted dialogue. I came away from this collection in awe of Jensen's storytelling chops and sheer imaginative prowess. Highly recommended."

Foreword Clarion Review

"The entries of K. B. Jensen's entertaining flash fiction collection Love and Other Monsters in the Dark brim with aching surprises; they feature eccentric secrets and solitary monsters. Whether they are plausible, hyperbolic, or fantastical, these stories relish in circumstances that lead people toward new awareness . . . Jensen's characters are roundly intriguing. They are often both odd and vulnerable, and they are humanized even in weird situations . . . The book's monsters are also diverse and complex, too, from those whose hideousness is physical to those who look like people, but whose souls are corrupt, raising intriguing questions about the forms that darkness takes."

BlueInk Reviews

"Twists and surprises abound in this wry collection of flash fiction from novelist K.B. Jensen. Themes of destruction and deliverance work in tandem in these very short pieces... Many of the metaphors and strange situations feel fresh . . . Some twists land with a shiver of delight . . . Jensen is an adroit writer, carving out images with a few deft words."

About the Author

K.B. Jensen is an award-winning author, with two novels, Painting With Fire, an artistic murder mystery, and A Storm of Stories, which veers literary and handles love, craziness and impossibility. K.B. lives in Littleton with her family and rescue mutt. She enjoys skiing and writing poetry. A former crime reporter and journalist, K.B. shifted to the publishing world in 2014, and is a senior publishing consultant and youth writing camp director for My Word Publishing. Her new collection of short stories, Love and Other Monsters in the Dark, is out. For more, visit kbjensenauthor.com.

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