Now this is a book that's definitely worth getting! It came out in 2009 courtesy of Permuted Press and features almost exclusively (then) new stories by authors I've never heard of, except for one entry by Guy N. Smith. Which is actually how I stumbled across it.
It's edited by Ryan C. Thomas as noted on the cover, but what isn't advertised is that it also features an introducing by Meg author Steve Alten, though he has little worthwhile to say beyond the fact that giant creatures, actual huge monsters, are more fun than things like vampires and zombies. It's a pretty phoned-in intro (he also contributes one story).
But anyway, what about the stories themselves? Well, here they are!
Present Tense, Future Imperfect by D.L. Snell - Time travelers find themselves facing off against giant bugs. This one was kinda confusing.
Crabs by Guy N. Smith - The oldest story in the book (having been written in 1992), it focuses on a group of people hiding in a cave from (what else?) giant crabs. It's one of the shortest stories in the book.
A Plague from the Mud by Aaron A. Polson - Loggers discover giant beetles, which proceed to attack a small town.
Lost in Time by Steve Alten - I don't really remember this one, but it apparently involves a giant viper fish.
Scales by John Towler - Giant lizards vs. humanity.
The Enemy of My Enemy by Patrick Rutigliano - During World War I, some Allied troops find an abandoned Imperial German trench infested with giant lice. This isn't the last time squicky parasites feature in this book.
Savage by Erin Anderson - A giant kitty cat.
Attack of the 500 Foot Porn Star by Steven Shrewsbury - One of the odder stories in the book, and exactly what it sounds like.
Keep Watching by Nate Kenyon - Another one I don't quite remember. A giant snapping turtle features as the monster.
Nirvana by J. Thomas Jeans - Humanity, after barely recovering from a zombie apocalypse, hides out in the titular underground base, where they attempt to develop genetically engineered giant maggots to eat the zombies. Turns out the maggots would rather eat them instead.
Deep, Dark Submission by Paul Stuart - A killer angler fish.
Whatever Became of Randy by James A. Moore - The title character suffers from a particularly malignant brain cancer. When he's being flown to the hospital in a helicopter, it crashes and he burns alive... whereupon his cancer-riddled brain bursts out of his skull, grows into a giant brain monster and begins terrorizing the countryside.
Cooties by Randy Chandler - The protagonist discovers he's got a bad case of crabs (i.e. pubic lice), and, worse, they're growing quite large and beginning to attack people. Another killer parasite story, and just as icky as the previous one.
Extinction by Evan Dicken - In an ambiguous time period that has elements of both the futuristic and the medieval, dragons, giant bears, robots and other ferocious combatants fight one another in a gladiatorial arena.
The Cove by Greg Norris - A prostitute and her used car salesman boyfriend are on the run after stealing a ton of money from Japanese mobsters. While attempting to hide out, they stumble across an abandoned town near a cove, where the military is up to no good as usual. They - and the pursuing gangsters - quickly find out why the place is abandoned, courtesy of what emerges from the titular cove nearby.
The Locusts Have a King by R. Thomas Riley - Some soldiers fighting in the desert stumble across a statue of an ancient locust demon, which of course leads to them actually freeing said demon, dooming the world to a plague of killer locusts.
The Big Bite by Jeff Strand - Only skimmed through this one. Apparently it's a "giant vampire." I wanna say it's actually a giant flea, but don't quote me on that.
Gone Fishin' by John Platt - Fisherman vs. a giant reptile.
Six Legged Shadows by David Conyers and Brian Sammons - To quote Indiana Jones, big damn ants.
The Island of Dr. Otaku by Cody Goodfellow - A rich Australian blackmails the Prime Minister of Japan (who has a scat fetish) into sending someone to eliminate the self-styled mad scientist "Dr. Otaku," who creates made-to-order giant monsters on his remote island. This is easily the most bonkers story in the book.
