Midwest Cryptids Anthology Goes on Sale Oct. 7, 2025!

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In an exciting 175-page anthology, more than 50 emerging and established voices of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, horror, and other genres join to deliver fresh visions and explorations regarding the “forgotten” terrain and deep recesses of the American Midwest!

“As people who live and visit here already know, the American Midwest is more than just ‘Children of the Corn,’” writes anthology editor Randy Brown. “Giants still walk our flat and rolling lands, and swim in our deep lakes and rivers. Ask around any truck stop or diner, and you’ll likely meet or hear-tell of frog people. Dog men. Wendigo spirits. Even our endless, flyover-skies contain ancient and thunderous birds. Remember that, as you run to your next connections.”

The book Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters collects more than 70 short poems and 300-word narratives of mythic beasts that illuminate, celebrate, or challenge stereotypes of Midwestern identity.

Sections of the anthology are anticipated to include:
  • Little Houses, Dark Harvests: Answers to the age-old question: “How’re Ya Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm?”
  • Not From Around Here, are They?: Some cryptids, like you, may be just passing through.
  • Squonks, Squawks & Sirens: Something is calling. Maybe it’s an alarm. Either way, it’s bad.
  • Neighbors, Stones & Curses: “Good walls make good neighbors.”
To motivate other writers, veterans, and readers, the anthology includes a special section of 7 discussion-starters and prompts, for use in writing workshops, book clubs, and other gatherings.

Randy “Sherpa” Brown is the past editor of MIDWEST FUTURES: Poems and Micro-Stories from Tomorrow’s Heartland (2025) and Giant Robot Poems: On Mecha-Human Science, Culture & War (2024). His other editorial credits include the anthologies Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear (2023), and Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War (2019). He is a member of the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA), and lives and works in Central Iowa.

Starting SEPTEMBER 2024, and available now for pre-sale:

Cryptids, Kaiju & Corn: Poems and Micro-Stories about Modern Midwest Monsters (175 pages, Middle West Press LLC), available in a $19.99 trade paperback edition through Amazon and other booksellers, as well as a $9.99 Kindle e-book edition exclusively via Amazon.

“Middle West Press LLC (www.middlewestpress.com) is a Johnston, Iowa-based editor and publisher of non-fiction, journalism, and poetry. As an independent micro-press, we publish one to four titles annually. Our projects are often inspired by the people, places, and history of the American Midwest.”

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