I don’t think LDS readers will be able to find Monsters and Mormons at Deseret Book or Seagull Book. I’d love to be wrong about that, but it’s my experience that fantasy at those stores never matures beyond puberty. Those interested can buy this pleasingly thick anthology of Mormon horror and fantasy online. The book is pricy but various download versions are much cheaper. Its website is here.
It’s a great book with fantastic reads. Bishops battling demons, live wives meeting dead wives, aliens rescuing missionaries, vampires, and of course George A. Romero-type zombies … and a lot more, find their way into Mormon-themed plots. Mormon scholar Terryl Givens offers a preface, where he reminds readers that Mormonism was the grist for 19th century pulp conspiracies. An enjoyable introduction by co-editor Theric Jepson recounts his grandfather’s “Deseret Book,” a metal box with holes and leather straps mysteriously discovered in the southern Utah desert long ago.
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