McKayla Coyle (they/them) is a lesbian writer from Alaska currently living in Washington. They're the author of the cozy lifestyle guide Goblin Mode and the cryptid romance collection Mothman Is My Boyfriend. McKayla is the publishing coordinator for Lit Hub and they hold an MFA in fiction from The New School. In their free time, they read a lot of fantasy novels and make a lot of jam.
At Lit Hub Coyle tagged seven of her "favorite contemporary works of monster literature." One title on the list:
Sayaka Murata, tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori, EarthlingsRead about another book on the list.
Is Natsuki really an otherworldly creature, or is she a regular woman with a difficult past? Most, if not all, monsters deal in some level of ambiguity: not human but not wolf, not alive but not dead, not wholly real, but not completely imagined. That’s why Earthlings is actually an excellent example of monster literature. The book refuses any simple answers and instead allows us a chance to see the world through the eyes of someone who feels completely outside of the world. And that’s really the ultimate goal of all monster lit.
Earthlings is among Monika Kim's five top body horror novels and Katie Yee's eight fictional housewives who snapped (in a fun way).
--Marshal Zeringue
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