Invertebrata Enigmatica: Giant Spiders, Dangerous Insects, and Other Strange Invertebrates in Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy

by Chad Arment (Editor)

Invertebrata Enigmatica collects thirty classic sci-fi/fantasy short stories involving strange invertebrates. From giant arachnids to intelligent insects, the stories explore imaginative worlds where human meets bug (and bug might just win...). Some stories are well-known, others are rarely reprinted. They include: The Sphinx, The Blue Beetle: A Confession, The Strong Spider, The Queen of the Bees, The Crab Spider, A Moth-Genus Novo, The Purple Emperor, The Messenger, The Captivity of the Professor, The Valley of the Spiders, The Ash-Tree, The Great White Moth, The Green Spider, The Empire of the Ants, The Lace Designers, The Feather Pillow, Caterpillars, The Golden Fly, The Red Spider, An Egyptian Hornet, The Spider, The Eggs of the Silver Moon, The Blue Cockroach, The Gold-Seekers, The Spectre Spiders, The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika, Mive, The Worm, Vampires of the Desert, and The Bees from Borneo.

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Two of the first "real" authors I read when I was young were Alistair MacLean and Rex Stout, and those remain favorites. Today, for personal reading, there are several mystery authors I enjoy; for non-fiction, I jump around a bit depending on what I'm interested in. (At the moment, suiseki and dragonflies, go figure.)
In 2004, I self-published my first print-on-demand book, on cryptozoology. Since then, I've added several other of my own titles, a fair number by other authors, and a whole lot of reprints (both public domain and licensed). Titles can be seen at www.coachwhipbooks.com.
I currently live in Ohio.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read this book, just one story in it: "The Great White Moth" by Fred M. White from 1904. It seems like the other White stories I've read in The Doom of London and "The Purple Terror" (reviewed in Monsters Galore) - perfunctorily written, perfectly serviceable but without a trace of style, voice or atmosphere. Here, two explorers go into Central Africa in pursuit of the source of a mysterious, extremely light and beautiful feather. "It comes from no bird but I don't know what manner of beast..." etc. etc.... jeez, look at the title of your own story, dude! One of the explorers bribes a native to let him infiltrate their secret religious ceremony in a cavern (he's after their closely guarded remedy for cobra venom), stays after dark, and encounters.... you guessed it. Not even a monster story, really, as the great white moth is only vaguely dangerous (it almost smothers him... kinda). Weak tea.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few classics (Erckmann-Chatrian and M.R. James' stories are too well known, as well as that by Ewers), but the rest are trash. Too bad, because the book has very good production values.