Synopsis
Combat Monsters brings together twenty award-winning and bestselling speculative fiction authors who each bring their own spin on an alternate history of World War II.
New research has uncovered deeply buried military secrets—both the Allied and Axis special operations during World War II included monsters. Did the Soviets use a dragon to win the Battle of Kursk? Did a vampire fight for the Canadians in Holland? Did the US drop the second atomic bomb on a kaiju?
This collection takes real events from World War II and injects them with fantastical creatures that mirror the “unreality” of war itself. Each story—and two poems—feature mythical, mystical, and otherwise unexplainable beings that change the course of history. Dragons rise and fall, witches cast deadly spells, mermaids reroute torpedoes, and all manner of “monsters” intervene for better or worse in the global turmoil of World War II.
Together, Combat Monsters challenge the very definition of monstrous, with the brutality of war as a sobering backdrop.
Review
I have a soft spot for short story anthologies. Don’t get me wrong — I love an epic fantasy or a sprawling sci-fi space opera as well — but there is something special about a book with a few handfuls of small little narratives. Each tale has its own writing style, its own perspective, its own flavor. And if you don’t like one of the stories — Good News! There’s plenty more to dive into. And these anthologies are easy to read in chunks…putting it down after a few stories without needing to worry about where you were in the book.
I was thrilled to get an early copy of Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II in exchange for an honest review. I had a blast with the anthology and I know I’ll be thinking about some of the stories for a while to come.
Combat Monsters takes a wide and ranging look at World War II from the early years to the final nail in the coffin with the bombing of Nagasaki. As a history teacher in my daytime job, I really connected with this book. There was so much to appreciate about this well-edited book. The stories were put in chronological order; the stories can just about exist on their own even without the monster and supernatural elements; there is a great variety with stories featured from each theater of the last great war.
Whenever I review an anthology, I like to point out a few of my individual favorite stories, so here are the ones that really resonated with me:
The Fourth Man by Jeff Edwards
For me, this was the best of the bunch. Wow. This is a story that really leaned into all the prompts. World War II – check. Supernatural beast – check. Something that shows that perhaps the horrors of war are not the only horrors in this life or beyond – check. I loved the framing device with the main character looking for absolution in the present day for the “sin” he committed during the war, crossing a line that helped the Allies win. There was a great combination of action, and ideas that are going to keep me thinking for quite some time, I think.
Grigoriy’s Army by Catherine Stine
One of the fun things I like to teach about is Hannibal trying to invade Rome with war elephants. Catherine Stine takes the ideas of animals in war and takes it a step further. Through a tragic childhood that left Grigoriy abnormally bright but also stunted socially, he used his and his father’s research to genetically engineer an army of bears to defeat the Nazis. I would have loved for this story to keep going and to see what else poor Grigoriy has up his sleeve after the war ended.
Bockscar by David Mack
The closing story in this collection is about the crew of the plane heading to Nagasaki and the ethical dilemma they find themselves in. I really don’t want to spoil this story, but there is a lot more to see in this story beyond the “should we?” or “shouldn’t we?” questions the crew asks in the moments before they reach Japan. Even without the twist in this story, I was enjoying this one for the simple ethical questions that we are still asking today, but the hidden reasons for the bombing make it all the more juicy.
I would love to write something about each story — in fact if I wrote this review tomorrow, I’d probably pick two or three different stories to highlight. I found a few new authors to be aware of in the future and enjoyed new works by some writers I already loved. I really did have a great time with this book and will definitely be checking out other works edited by Henry Herz in the future.
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