RETURN OF THE UNDEAD, by Otis Adelbert Kline & Frank Belknap Long ...... 185

THE MONSTER ...... 211

THE MUMMY AND MISS NITOCRIS, by George Griffith ...... 226 .

THE SPECTRE SPIDERS, by William J . Wintle ...... 432. .

A BIT OF THE DARK WORLD, by Fritz Leiber ...... 442

THE TODDLER PIT, by A . R . Morlan ...... 479. .

THE MIDWIFE, by Cynthia Ward ...... 517 . .

SHORT AND NASTY, by Darrell Schweitzer ...... 530 . .

DER FLEISCHBRUNNEN, by Mark McLaughlin ...... 541 .

RENT, by Brian Stableford ...... 558 . . .

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Contents | 2 COPYRIGHT INFO

The Monster MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2015 by Wildside Press, LLC . All rights reserved . * * * * The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wild- side Press, LLC . All rights reserved . * * * * “After I Stopped Screaming,” by Pamela Sargent, originally ap- peared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Oct ./Nov . 1986 . Copyright © 1986 by Pamela Sargent . Reprinted by permission of the author . “The Lady and the Vampire,” by William P . McGivern,” origi- nally appeared in Fantastic Adventures, February 1942 . “Moving Day (Night?),” by Kathryn Ptacek, originally appeared in 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories . Copyright © 1995 by Kathryn Ptacek . Reprinted by permission of the author . “Cross of Fire,” by LesterSample del Rey, file originally appeared in , May 1939 . “The Man Who Cried ‘Werewolf’,” by William P . McGivern, was originally appeared in Fantastic Adventures, March 1943 . “Pouring the Foundations of a Nightmare, by Nina Kiriki Hoff- man, originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, April, 1990 . Copyright © 1990 by Nina Kiriki Hoffman . Reprinted by permission of the author . “The Worm,” by David H . Keller, originally appeared in Amaz- ing Stories, March 1929 . “When Brasset Forgot,” by Harcourt Farmer, originally appeared in The Thrill Book, 1919 .

COPYRIGHT INFO | 3 “Juggernaut,” by C .J . Henderson, originally appeared in Imelod #17, Autumn/October 2000 . Copyright © 2000 by C .J . Henderson . Reprinted by permission of the author . “The Fangs of Tsan-Lo,” by Jim Kjelgaard, originally appeared in Weird Tales, November 1945 . “Fire of Spring, by George Zebrowski, originally appeared in Chillers . Copyright © 1981 Charlton Publications, Inc . First ap- peared in (1981) . “Hell’s Belles, by Robert Reginald, originally appeared in abridged form in The San Bernardino County Sun, October 31, 1998; and in complete form in Katydid & Other Critters: Tales of and Mystery (2001) . This version has been edited . Copy- right © 2001, 2013 by Robert Reginald . “Return of the Undead,” by Otis Adelbert Kline & Frank Belknap Long, originally published in Weird Tales, July 1943 . “The Monster,” by Lester del Rey, originally appeared in Argosy, June 1951 . “The Spectre Spiders,” by William J . Wintle, originally appeared in Ghost Gleams (1921) . “A Bit of the Dark World,” by Fritz Leiber, originally appeared in Fantastic Science Fiction, Feb . 1962 . Copyright 1962 by Ziff Davis Publishing Company . Sample file “The Toddler Pit,” by A . R . Morlan, originally appeared in The Ultimate Zombie . “The Midwife,” by Cynthia Ward, originally appeared in Desire Burn: Women’s Stories From the Dark Side of Passion . Copyright © 1995 by Cynthia Ward . Reprinted by permission of the author . “Short and Nasty,” by Darrell Schweitzer, originally appeared in Obsessions 1991 . Copyright © 1991 by Darrell Schweitzer . Re- printed by permission of the author . “Der Fleischbrunnen,” by Mark McLaughlin, is copyright © 2013 by Mark McLaughlin . Reprinted by permission of the author . “Rent, by Brian Stableford, originally appeared in Weird Tales, Fall 1998 . Copyright © 1998 by Brian Stableford . Reprinted by per- mission of the author . COPYRIGHT INFO | 4 A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Monsters have become one of the great guilty pleasures of our age . From the zombies of The Walking Dead to the werewolves of Teen Wolf, from the vampires of The Strain to the wide assortment of creatures in Penny Dreadful, they are everywhere in mass media . Here, for your guilty reading pleasure, are 22 more tales of mon- sters, by some of the greatest writers ever to set typewriter to paper . Enjoy! —John Betancourt Publisher, Wildside Press LLC www .wildsidepress .com

ABOUT THE SERIES Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor . (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One ques- tion we keep getting askedSample is, “Who’s filethe editor?” The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort . Everyone at Wildside works on them . This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah- Kribbs, A .E . Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY? Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a fa- vorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 5 our message board at http://movies .ning .com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments) . Note: we only consider stories that have already been profession- ally published . This is not a market for new works .

TYPOS Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through . We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months .) It may have already been updated . If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for every- one . You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo .com or use the message boards above .

Sample file

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER | 6 The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series

MYSTERY The First Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Second Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Anna Katharine Green Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™ The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK™* The Carolyn Wells Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Charlie Chan MEGAPACK™* The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective MEGAPACK™ The Detective MEGAPACK™ The Dickson McCunn MEGAPACK™,* by John Buchan The E. Hoffmann Price Spicy Story MEGAPACK™ The Father Brown MEGAPACK™ The Johnston McCulley Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Lady Sleuth MEGAPACK™ The Mary Fortune MysterySample & Suspense file MEGAPACK™ The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™ The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™* The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™* The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™ The George Allan England MEGAPACK™ The Girl Detective MEGAPACK™ The Second Girl Detective MEGAPACK™ The Gothic Terror MEGAPACK™ The Noir Mystery MEGAPACK™ The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™ The Philo Vance MEGAPACK™* The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™

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The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series | 8 THE GOLDEN AGE OF PULP FICTION 1. George Allan England

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