Every novel—whether it’s genre fiction or literary fiction—has to have a beginning. Some books start slow and some books start with a bang, but either way, the author needs to figure out a way to open a door into the story. 

Gore vs. the Cryptid Kaiju by authors Zachary Cole and Cody Bratsch ends with a big monster battle royale. That’s no surprise. But how does it start, you might wonder?

Cole and Bratsch make a commonsense decision. They begin their novel with an origin story of Gore, their titular monster. Not only does the prologue establish the course of the narrative going forward, but it also builds the framework for an upcoming war of gods.

The prologue accomplishes its mission, but does so in the most artless way possible. I’ve been stumped for days trying to come up with a way to summarize the opening sequence of events without sounding like a complete dunce. Here’s the best I can do: A man throws his ex-girlfriend and her date down a mountain cliff. Surviving the fall, the teenage girl eats her dead companion to stay alive. Eventually, she turns into a 100-foot-tall wendigo.  

After the cringy prologue, the writing settles down into a comfortable groove. And that groove includes various iterations of kaiju and cryptid battles featuring (among others) a skinless centaur, a giant bat beast and the aforementioned wendigo. 

The first clash occurs 100 miles outside of Las Vegas at Area 51. The facility, notoriously known for sheltering space aliens, was actually filled to the brim with terrestrial horrors. People called it a monster prison but Doctor Mark Hudson liked to think of it as a monster zoo. 

A professional cryptozoologist, Hudson is a member of the world’s top monster-fighting force. With the help of a handful of military colleagues, he travels around the globe chasing and studying beasts of folklore and legend. “I’m a monster geek,” he admits with a shrug. 

The monster jailbreak at Area 51 is terrific. This is where the centaur demon from Scotland is first introduced. The 95-foot-tall nuckelavee ravages the military base and later chases its wendigo rival to the West Coast. Dr. Hudson and his crew are in hot pursuit as well. 

Since the transformation from human to wendigo, Gore was torn by conflicting emotions. “Her mind was split in two,” say the coauthors. “Half of her was human, revolting against the violence and hunger that the other half, the wendigo half, called out for.”

After the Area 51 smashup, Gore drops to all fours and gallops to Los Angeles for some long-simmering retribution. She’s on a personal journey to kill the man who threw her off the mountain cliff. She can smell him in LA despite all the aromatic distractions from Randy’s Donuts, In-N-Out Burger, California Pizza Kitchen and Trejo’s Tacos.

The ensuing battle between the nuckelavee and the wendigo (plus a little interference from another cagey cryptid) turns Los Angeles into a hell pit. But that’s okay—the wendigo finally gets what she wants. To quote Dr. Hudson: “Never underestimate the fury of a vengeful monster.”

[ Gore vs. the Cryptid Kaiju / By Zachary Cole & Cody Bratsch / First Printing: March 2025 / ISBN: 9798311615747 ]