Mastodon

"An old-school creature thriller told with crisp pacing and kick-ass set pieces, Steve Stred's Mastodon is a monster-in-the-woods tale with some choice surprises and plenty of rampaging fun."
- Andrew Pyper, author of The Residence, The Damned and The Demonologist\n17 years ago, Tyler Barton was born in the Rocky Mountains, while his parents were on a hike.\nOn that day, his mother disappeared, never to be seen again.
Now, history repeats itself.
On the 17th anniversary of her disappearance, Tyler’s father is flying home when the plane he’s on disappears – in the same area where his mother was last seen.
Undeterred by officials, Tyler decides to hike into the area in search of his father, hoping to find him alive and bring him back to safety.
But there’s a reason that area is prohibited to enter and even though Tyler doesn’t care, he’ll soon find out that the wilderness can hide some of the deepest, darkest fears known to man.\nFrom the author of ‘Incarnate,’ ‘The Window In the Ground’ and ‘Ritual’ comes a new novel that’ll make you rethink your Summer hiking trip.\n“Steve Stred's Mastodon reads like a cross between Gary Paulson's Hatchet and Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy: a big-hearted adventure yarn with a dark and compelling mystery at its core.”
- Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters\n“Mysterious. Gripping. High-octane. Mastodon is not the typical creature feature.”
- Eddie Generous, author of Rawr and Behemoth Risen\n“Mastodon is a jaw-dropping trek into a heart of darkness. Full of emotion, yet rife with grotesque imagery that only Stred can deliver.”
- David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave\n“Mastodon is another tour de force from Canada’s master of dread. The journey into a forbidden wilderness cordoned off by the military is reminiscent of Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, but as bleak, daring, and darkly comic as Harlan Ellison. The pace of the story never relents, its emotional highs are spectacular, and its lows will rip your guts out: a voyage and return epic with the balls-to-the-wall horror shows of S. C. Mendes’s The City thrown in. Stred should be held in the same regard as Straub and King.”
- Joseph Sale, author of Save Game and Gods of the Black Gate\n“Mastodon is a compelling read that will leave you blistered and broken as you join a young man’s rescue mission into the Canadian wilderness inhabited by unspeakable horrors. Steve Stred masterfully delivers a story exploring the physical and emotional limits we push through in order to save the people we hold most dear.”
- J. A. Sullivan, horror writer and contributor to Kendall Reviews.