Books like 'McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales'
Readers who enjoyed McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales by Michael Chabon, Jim Shepard, Glen David Gold, Dan Chaon, Kelly Link, Elmore Leonard, Carol Emshwiller, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Laurie R. King, Chris Offutt, Dave Eggers, Michael Moorcock, Aimee Bender, Sherman Alexie, Harlan Ellison, Karen Joy Fowler, Rick Moody & McSweeney's Publishing also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy action / adventure horror mystery supernatural alternate history pulp time-travel humor
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Ever After by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe ever after, the demonic realm that parallels the human world, is shrinking. If it disappears completely, so does all magic. It's up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to avert catastrophe and keep life from changing... for the worse.While saving the world is important, it isn't Rachel's only motivation... -
![The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison]()
The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 51 ratingsNote: This book is the same as The Outlaw Demon Wails. It was printed under both titles. To save the lives of her friends, Rachel did the unthinkable: she willingly trafficked in forbidden demon magic. And now her sins are coming home to haunt her... -
![The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison]()
The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAt long last... The final book in the New York Times bestselling Hollows series by Kim Harrison!Rachel Morgan's come a long way from the clutzy runner of Dead Witch Walking. She's faced vampires and werewolves, banshees, witches, and soul-eating demons. She's crossed worlds, channeled gods, and accepted her place as a day-walking demon... -
![A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison]()
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to the Hollows with the electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed Pale Demon!A Perfect BloodRitually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S... -
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![The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud]()
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsIn the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations... -
![The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud]()
The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsAs a massive outbreak of supernatural Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines... -
![White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison]()
White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to the sinister and seductive Hollows for the newest blockcuster adventure featuring Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter.White Witch, Black CurseSome wounds take time to heal...and some scars never fade.Rachel Morgan, kick-ass witch and bounty hunter, has taken her fair share of hits, and has broken lines she swore she would never cross... -
![Written in Red by Anne Bishop]()
Written in Red by Anne Bishop
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsAs a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others... -
![The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross]()
The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSomeone is dead set to air the spy agency’s dirty laundry in The Delirium Brief, the next installment to Charles Stross’ Hugo Award-winning comedic dark fantasy Laundry Files series!Bob Howard’s career in the Laundry, the secret British government agency dedicated to protecting the world from unspeakable horrors from beyond spacetime, has entailed high combat, brilliant hacking, ancient magic,... -
![A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison]()
A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 52 ratingsThe evil night things that prowl Cincinnati despise witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan. Her new reputation for the dark arts is turning human and undead heads alike with the intent to possess, bed, and kill her -- not necessarily in that order.Now a mortal lover who abandoned Rachel has returned, haunted by his secret past... -
![Judgment by Delta James]()
Judgment by Delta James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLars Jakobsson, the leader of the Berserker Syndicate controls everything. He is also my only hope.LarsRhys Donovan is mine. The moment I laid eyes on her she became my obsession. We had one fabulous night together before she disappeared from my bed. In the end, she’ll come to me because I marked her and started her transition. And when she does, I’ll demand judgment... -
![The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross]()
The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast track for promotion to management within the Laundry, the supersecret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats... -
![The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross]()
The Rhesus Chart by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsLONDON CAN DRAIN THE LIFE OUT OF YOU . . .Bob Howard is an intelligence agent working his way through the ranks of the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess - and deal with the witnesses.There's one kind of threat that the Laundry has never come across in its many decades, and that's vampires... -
![The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross]()
The Fuller Memorandum by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsComputational demonologist Bob Howard catches up on filing in the Laundry archives when the top secret Fuller Memorandum vanishes - and his boss, suspected of stealing the file. Bob faces Russian agents, ancient demons, a maniacal death cult, and finding the missing memorandum before the world disappears next... -
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![The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross]()
The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe arrival of vast, alien, inhuman intelligences reshaped the landscape for human affairs across the world, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Things have changed in Britain since the dread elder god Nyarlathotep ascended to the rank of Prime Minister...Categorized as:
humor pulp satire action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe apocalyptic -
![False Value by Ben Aaronovitch]()
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNow in hardcover, the eighth book of the bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm... -
![Touch of Darkness A Paranormal Romance by Delta James]()
Touch of Darkness A Paranormal Romance by Delta James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe last thing Skylar wants is exactly what she needs.A serial killer is killing women in Crescent City. Skylar Gautier, New Orleans cop, is determined to track and catch the killer herself. As she closes in on the killer, Travis Nichols, her fated mate shows up, ready for happily ever after. He is a distraction she does not need or want... -
![Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley]()
Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn this spirited sequel, The Rook returns to clinch an alliance between deadly rivals and avert epic—and slimy—supernatural war.When secret organizations are forced to merge after years of enmity and bloodshed, only one person has the fearsome powers—and the bureaucratic finesse—to get the job done... -
![Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch]()
Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsReturn to the world of Rivers of London in this first short story collection from #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand new tales in the same place for the first time... -
![Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green]()
Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsJohn Taylor just discovered his long-gone mother created the Nightside—the dark heart of London—and intends to destroy it. To save his birthplace, he will have to travel back through a very distant—and probably deadly—past...Categorized as:
humor male-mc time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe angels -
![Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger]()
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsImagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not...Categorized as:
ghosts action-adventure alternate-history animals audiobook book children-books contemporary -
![The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth]()
The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns. For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of... -
![Magic on the Storm by Devon Monk]()
Magic on the Storm by Devon Monk
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAllison Beckstrom is committed to her work tracing illegal spells. Now, there's an apocalyptic storm bearing down on Portland, and when it hits, all the magic in the area will turn unstable and destructive...Categorized as:
ghosts action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook book -
![Last Call by Tim Powers]()
Last Call by Tim Powers
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsTwenty years ago Scott Crane abandoned his career as a professional poker player and went into hiding, after a weird high-stakes game played with Tarot cards. But now the cards - and the supernatural powers behind them - have found him again.Crane's father killed gangster Bugsy Siegel in 1948 to become the Fisher King, and to keep that power he is determined to kill his son...Categorized as:
crime ghosts 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history arthurian audiobook -
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![From Hell with Love by Simon R. Green]()
From Hell with Love by Simon R. Green
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt's no walk in the park for a Drood, a member of the family that has protected humanity from the things that go bump in the night for centuries. They aren't much liked by the creatures they kill, by ungrateful humans, or even by one another. Now their Matriarch is dead, and it's up to Eddie Drood, acting head of the family, to figure out whodunit... -
![Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia]()
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsFive days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry... -
![The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch]()
The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsTrier is famous for wine, Romans and for being Germany’s oldest city. So when a man is found dead with his body impossibly covered in a fungal rot, the local authorities know they are out of their depth.Fortunately this is Germany, where there are procedures for everything... -
![Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey]()
Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsYou might think that helping a friend's widow to stop a lawyer from stealing her husband's corpse would be the strangest thing on your To Do list. But life is rarely that simple for Felix Castor. A brutal murder in King's Cross bears all the hallmarks of a long-dead American serial killer, and it takes more good sense than Castor possesses not to get involved... -
![Down on the Farm by Charles Stross]()
Down on the Farm by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Charles Stross’s novel The Atrocity Archive and its sequels, the “Laundry” is a secret British agency responsible for keeping dark interdimensional entitities from destroying the cosmos and, not incidentally, the human race. The battles with creatures from beyond time are dangerous; however, it’s the subsequent bureaucratic paperwork that actually breaks men’s souls... -
![The Spy Who Haunted Me by Simon R. Green]()
The Spy Who Haunted Me by Simon R. Green
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen it comes to supernatural intrigue, nobody does it better than New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green.Eddie Drood, at your service. For generations my family has been keeping humanity safe from the wicked, the nasty, and the generally not-nice inhuman predators who feed on people's fear and misery. No one kicks evil arse better than us Droods--especially yours truly... -
![The Chosen Seed by Sarah Pinborough]()
The Chosen Seed by Sarah Pinborough
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe tables have turned, and now Detective Inspector Cass Jones is a wanted man on the streets of London. Framed for murder and hunted by his former colleagues, Cass needs every ally he can get—including a very unexpected figure from his past. While detectives Hask and Ramsey search for the killer behind the lethal Strain II virus, Mr... -
![The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross]()
The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn this this science fiction spy thriller by Hugo Award winning writer Charles Stross, the Laundry - the British secret agency that fights supernatural threats - must team up with the police force, with one unfortunate secret agent caught in the middle.PLAYING WITH DANGERDr. Mo O'Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'... -
![Feed by Mira Grant]()
Feed by Mira Grant
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED...Categorized as:
crime male-mc action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book contemporary -
![Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth]()
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsZach Barrows is an ambitious young White House staffer whose career takes an unexpected turn when he's partnered with Nathaniel Cade, a secret agent sworn to protect the President. But Cade is no ordinary civil servant. Bound by a special blood oath, he is a vampire... -
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![The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross]()
The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBob gets called out on account of a monster program called SATAN STARE, that ties back into some past work for the Laundry and others.He has to recruit, quickly, a pretty with it cop, and she helps him combat the beast, and the odd zombie... -
![Ink by Hal Duncan]()
Ink by Hal Duncan
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt's twenty years since the Evenfall swept across the Vellum and the bitmites took reality apart, twenty years since Phreedom Messenger disappeared into the wilderness and Seamus Finnan was imprisoned in his own past. Twenty years of chaos but the Dukes, the remnants of the Covenant, still cling to power in their enclaves of order in the bitmite-devastated wilderness . .Categorized as:
literary-fiction action-adventure adult alternate-history angels book contemporary dark -
![Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory]()
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm. Wrapped in the woman’s arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse. But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda — and he begins to move...Categorized as:
humor action-adventure alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
![Early Riser by Jasper Fforde]()
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsEvery Winter, the human population hibernates.During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness, and devoid of human activity.Well, not quite...Categorized as:
crime humor literary-fiction satire 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
![Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard]()
Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe start of a thrilling supernatural series that brings the H.P. Lovecraft mythos into the twenty-first century, optioned by Warner Bros TV.Daniel Carter used to be a homicide detective, but his last case-the hunt for a serial killer-went wrong in strange ways and soured the job for him. Now he's a private investigator trying to live a quiet life. Strangeness, however, has not finished with him...Categorized as:
crime humor 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook -
![Double Dead by Chuck Wendig]()
Double Dead by Chuck Wendig
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCoburn’s been dead now for close to a century, but seeing as how he’s a vampire and all, it doesn't much bother him. Or at least it didn't, not until he awoke from a forced five-year slumber to discover that most of human civilization was now dead-but not dead like him, oh no.See, Coburn likes blood. The rest of the walking dead, they like brains. He’s smart. Them, not so much... -
![The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green]()
The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsFor ages, Eddie Drood and his family have kept humanity safe from the things that go bump in the night. But now one of his own has convinced the rest of the family that Eddie's become a menace, and that humanity needs to be protected from him. So he's on the run, using every trick in the book, magical and otherwise, hoping he lives long enough to prove his innocence..Categorized as:
ghosts humor action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book conspiracies contemporary -
![Alternate Routes by Tim Powers]()
Alternate Routes by Tim Powers
Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSomething weird is happening to the Los Angeles freeways—phantom cars, lanes from nowhere, and sometimes unmarked offramps that give glimpses of a desolate desert highway—and Sebastian Vickery, disgraced ex-Secret Service agent, is a driver for a covert supernatural-evasion car service...Categorized as:
ghosts action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book california contemporary -
![The Demon and the City by Liz Williams]()
The Demon and the City by Liz Williams
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsWhen Chen goes on holiday, his demonic partner Zhu Irzh finds himself alone in Singapore Three. The missing body of a brutally murdered socialite and the strange experiments of a well-connected, beautiful, young heiress leads Zhu into a maze of death and corruption. Chen returns to the city just as Zhu's baser instincts seem to be getting the better of him... -
![The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks]()
The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe Traveler explores a parallel world that exists alongside our own. A world that exists in the shadows of our own. A conflict we will never see. One woman stands between those determined to control history and those who will risk their lives for freedom.A world that exists in the shadows of our own.A conflict we will never see...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook book conspiracies -
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![The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe]()
The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsNo one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, yet when the first Europeans arrived, they were already there. Dark-haired, enigmatic, and suspicious of outsiders, the Tufa live quiet lives in the hills and valleys of Cloud County... -
![White Cat by Holly Black]()
White Cat by Holly Black
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsCassel comes from a family of curse worker people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, all by the slightest touch of their hands. Since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. But not Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider- the straight kid in a crooked family- as long as you ignore one small detail: He killed his best friend, Lila...Categorized as:
crime male-mc action-adventure alternate-history animals audiobook boarding-school book -
![California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout]()
California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout
Rated: 3.73 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsWhen Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian.When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones...Categorized as:
crime literary-fiction male-mc action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book contemporary -
![Snake Agent by Liz Williams]()
Snake Agent by Liz Williams
Rated: 3.71 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsDetective Inspector Chen is the Singapore Three police department's snake agent - the detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations... -
![Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren]()
Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe unexpected can move in next doorFreddy wants desperately to not be noticed. She doesn't want to be seen as different or unusual, but her step-brother Roland gets attention because he's deaf, and her little sister Mel thinks she's a private detective. All Freddy wants to do is navigate high school with as little trouble as possible.Then someone moves into the house on Grosvenor Street...Categorized as:
time-travel action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children children-books coming-of-age -
![Dying Bites by D.D. Barant]()
Dying Bites by D.D. Barant
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsHer job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s brave new world—one in which only one percent of the population is human—is that a woman’s work is never done. And real is getting stranger every day…Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA...Categorized as:
crime humor action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history alternate-universe audiobook
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