Get ready for spooky season with this multi-generational novel that features a different monster in each chapter. Mark your calendars, the paperback comes out September 17, 2024.

Each chapter is not only a new story but features a different character. I was intrigued by how the characters are connected through the stories and through extended family. The stories also move in chronological order, following one family through generations and centuries, progressing all the way to the future.

There are monsters that are familiar to many readers regardless of culture like vampires, werewolves and ghosts; but there are also monsters specific to Cherokee and native culture like Deer Woman.

Multigenerational Sagas
The following of the generations reminded me of Yama Gyasi’s Homegoing, where each chapter is a new family member from the next generation. In both Homegoing and Man Made Monsters you are left yearning for more and simultaneously getting caught up in the next chapter’s plot. Rogers builds an intricate literary web that I was happy to be caught in.

This is one of those books that I became immersed in. I kept flipping back to the family tree to see who is related to who. There were monsters who were scary and monsters that were scary and helpful. It was a different way of looking at society, monsters and our actions.

Illustrations & Family Tree
For non-speakers of the Cherokee language, the audiobook will help you with the pronunciation of Cherokee words and names in the book. I loved reading the physical book because it has illustrations at the beginning of the chapter connected to the story. There is also a family tree that you will want to have handy as you read.

Great Debut
Man Made Monsters was a fantastic debut for Andrea Rogers and I look forward to her future works. This is a book that you will want to go back and do a second read, paying attention to the family details and connections. I definitely will be doing that! I’m someone who can often easily guess the twist, and this book caught me a few times. A great read for high school English classes too!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher, Levine Querido, for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Men Made Monsters is a collection of stories that weaves classic monsters like werewolves and vampires with the true horrors of colonialism, domestic violence, and displacement.

Although it is a collection of stories, in this book we follow the story of a Cherokee family across the years and generations. The book provides a family tree at the beginning of the book which made it so much easier to follow the link between family members. There are also beautiful illustrations from Cherokee artist Jeff Edwards that accompany each story.

This is one of my favorite books I have read this year! It is beautifully written by Andrea L. Rogers and it is consistent across all stories in this collection. The POV from a Cherokee family was refreshing and new to me. I found it extremely interesting to read the hardship this community went through.

I loved the supernatural elements added to the stories. I could not stop reading to find out what other monsters our protagonists would face in the next one.

I would highly recommend this book.

Man Made Monsters by Andrea Rogers

Thank you @hearourvoicestour for including me and for the digital ARC!

This starts off strong with an intense vampire scene! I was so creeped out I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish the book. But I did finish it, and ended up really loving it. It's a series of short stories, but they are definitely interconnected and go forward chronologically. I recognized names of ancestors from previous stories but I didn't take the time to meticulously track who was related to who; I just went with the flow. By the final story, I'll just say that the book comes full circle.

I would say that the first story is the most intense, for horror babies like me anyway. The rest are still really good, disturbing in delicious ways, and have you rooting for many of the "monsters". The connection between horror and colonization is strongly explored. Some of the standout stories in my mind were the final one (zombie apocalypse!) - I would absolutely watch a movie about that story, and the one about the show filming team, as well as the deer woman story. They were all excellent however.

Book recs to go with this collection:

📚 Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris. This Indigenous horror novella has a similar creepy dreamlike vibe with a strong sense of place with a dash of eco-horror.

📚 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. This was my first SGJ and it left a huge impression on me! And it was my introduction to Indigenous horror - usually I am too much of a baby to read horror but this changed my perspective. This is so good and really brings out the horror of colonization like Rogers does in Man Made Monsters.

📚 Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. I know, I know... two recs by the same author but they're just that good! This one is about werewolves, poverty, self-reliance... so good!

It's always a pleasure to read books by Indigenous Authors and to see how their tribes beliefs/culture impacts the story told. I enjoyed reading the different point of views and how it progressed from beginning to end. I will say that I did not expect that ending whatsoever but it was a nice touch. Man Made Monsters had the typical monsters of scary movies and books, but it also had the monsters that people try to hide from...themselves. It made me angry, it mad me want to cry, I understood how certain characters felt, and thats what a good book is. A story that makes you feel, a story that you connect. The author did a great job of blending Indigenous storytelling with modern storytelling.

I received this ARC from NetGalley, although I see it has already been available for some time. I am not sure how this occurred, but I am very glad that it did. Reading this collection of Native American short stories by Andrea L. Rogers has been an incredible experience. Her unique take on classical horror has been a refreshing experience for me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves horror, a Native American perspective, and/or short story collections.

I’m not sure if it’s my brain/my mood, but I just couldn’t get into this one — out of the handful of stories I read, the only one that stuck out was the story “Man Made Monsters” & that’s primarily because it was giving Frankenstein which is a story I love to see with retellings.

The writing is still good! & this will definitely work for other horror readers, especially those in the mood for a short story collection! There’s also a bit of art in between stories that I enjoyed!

I feel like short story collections can be hit or miss, and this was definitely a success. I really appreciated the variety within the collection and felt like each story maintained my attention. This was a creative approach to short storytelling, and I imagine this collection will do well.

Man Made Monsters is a collection of horror short stories organized chronologically surrounding a family and exploring intergenerational trauma. High recommend for those interested in horror short stories.

I loved this, this is so well-written and the art adds amazing contextualization for each story. Special shout out to American Predators, Lens, Deer Women, I Come From the Water, and Zombies Attack the Drive In! as some of my favorites.

The explanation and descriptions of the Cherokee language are also excellent and provide some great positioning to better understand and contextualize each of the stories.

YA can go either way for me and this was just the right bit of creepy for me to love. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to read this ARC. Also short stories sometimes do not keep my attention, but this was perfect.
4/5 stars
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

Thank you to Levine Querido, Hear Our Voices tours, and Netgalley for my e-copy.

This short story collection is stunning. Many of the stories are inspired by classic monster stories but they are paired with real life horrors such as colonization and domestic violence. Andrea L. Rogers is Cherokee and also includes mythology, language, and the experience of Cherokee people over time. As with all short story collections, there were some stories I liked more than others. But overall, I'm very impressed - there's a lot of powerful imagery in here that I'm not going to forget. Excited to see what this author does next!

Man Made Monsters follows a Cherokee family over the course of hundreds of years. This horror collection has a great range—covering vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, and much inbetween. It also delves into some real life issues, such as domestic violence.

Andrea L. Rogers has a lovely writing style and I really enjoyed some of the stories, with my personal favourites being Man Made Monsters, Zombies Attack the Drive-In, Snow Day, and Shame on the Moon. Having said that, I did think a lot of the stories could have done with a bit more of a punch in terms of horror. I felt myself being reeled in, but then I was left wanting just a little bit more.

The beautiful illustrations by Jeff Edwards before each story were a great touch. Overall, this would be a great read for anyone who only wants a little bit of horror in their reading.

The cover pulled me in but the creepy, imaginative stories along with the stunning illustrations kept me hooked.

This is a serious of short stories following a Cherokee family from the 1830’s to 2039. Each has its own characters and ‘monsters’ but they are all connected by the family. Usually I don’t pay too much attention to them, but this has a family tree in the beginning that you will most likely want to use to see the relationships. There are usually a few stories I don’t like in anthologies, but I actually enjoyed them all to some degree.

While it’s rich in mythology and lore, it also has some pretty heavy themes of generational trauma, domestic violence, and racism. Some of the monsters are people, vampires, zombies, and maybe even an alien or two.

This is perfect if you like lightly spooky vibes without keeping yourself up at night.

Unlike many family trees in literature, this one is both useful and haunting, adding depth to the narrative by highlighting the tragic ends of certain lineages. The anthology format adeptly explores themes of intergenerational trauma within an Indigenous family, tackling issues like racism, violence, and apocalyptic scenarios. With each story offering a different genre, from ghost stories to modern tragedies and zombie apocalypses, this is a compelling and thought-provoking read, best enjoyed in sequence for its full impact.

When I started reading this I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. But I really do! I kind of skimmed the one about the aliens, but other than that, this is a well written take on symbolic horror. I enjoyed the threads that link the stories. Having a Native American take on the horrors of US History and how it echoes down through personal relationships is a great (and painfully accurate) concept. I’m not sure this could be used in a high school classroom, maybe in part. Bottom line, it is horror and very smart horror, but probably not for general classroom use. However, some students will love this one and I’ll put it in their hands.

This is an enjoyable collection of horror and horror ish short stories. The biggest interesting thing that sets this book apart from others like it is that it follows one Cherokee family through close to 200 years. That's an interesting angle to take. It starts with the Cherokee being expelled from their land and it ends twenty years in our future. There were some really good stories. A vampire looking for her new place in her world, the dark science of resurrection, an alien living in your pool. Some of them didn't really feel like horror stories, just weird little chunks, like dating the goat man or getting a ghost cat. A lot of the stories also dealt with bigger horrors, human horrors, like losing family members, racism, and scary men. My only big problem is that some of them were more like vignettes than fully filled out short stories, and I think they had more potential than was filled out,

Here you will find many short stories woven together by a common thread. You will need to refer back to the family tree often as you read. Andrea L. Rogers has done a fantastic job at drawing the reader into a family’s legacy as the world revolves and changes, decade by decade. I was also thrilled to learn more about the Cherokee language and culture.

I’ll be reading this one again. Also, to a certain character who has a “d” in his/her name—that was cold, stone cold. If I learned anything from these stories, it was to be really, really careful about what you say and do around certain people. Otherwise, you could find yourself facing a manmade monster. I’d advise against putting yourself in that situation.

Thank you to Levine Querido and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my unbiased feedback.

[I received a copy of this book via Netgalley from the publisher.]


<I>Manmade Monsters</I> is a collection of chronological short stories following members of an extended Cherokee family, beginning in the 1830s and extending into the future. Every story deals with some sort of entity or supernatural occurrence accompanied by, very often, the monstrous nature of man. A vampire dwells in the same lands where displaced people are forced to flee from their homes, at risk of being killed

This is the first short story collection I've read in a while that didn't leave me feeling frustrated that I'd made the decision to read a short story collection. My frustrations with short story collections typically come down to the fact that only one or two stories end up being great, with a few that are okay, and the rest are either forgettable or bad.

And I'm not going to say every story was fantastic and unforgettable. Many of them were simply fine, one or two didn't feel like they fit within the framework of the collection, and a number were memorable and beautifully done. ("Homecoming" stands out, just to name one story.)

I think the difference between most short story collections that I find wanting and <I>Manmade Monsters</I> lies in the execution and theming used. Even when the stories weren't particularly stand-out, they felt fulfilling because they were part of this overarching storytelling about a particular family. Even if a certain story perhaps didn't stick the landing, it added something to this tapestry being gradually woven over the generations.

If you're looking for a unique short story collection that's filled with monsters, manmade and otherwise, I definitely recommend giving this one a shot.

Man Made Monsters was such a fantastic read for me. I recommend everyone to read this book as fast as you possibly can because It's really worthy it.

Thank you Netgalley and Levine Querido for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Man Made Monsters” by Andrea L. Rogers is a remarkable and innovative collection that stands out in many ways. The book's format itself is striking, with a blend of black font on white pages and white font on black pages, creating a visually stimulating experience. Each story is introduced with title-card style illustrations, enhancing the eerie ambiance and setting the stage for the next tale. I absolutely loved the illustrations, and they definitely added to the story. As a horror anthology, I highly recommend looking at content warnings before reading this book; there is a good amount of body horror and gore as well as other potentially triggering content.

One of the most effective elements of the book is the family tree at the beginning, which serves as a crucial tool in connecting the different generations of the Cherokee family. Unlike many books where family trees can be confusing or unnecessary, here it adds a chilling layer, as readers can't help but notice the branches that abruptly end, hinting at untold tragedies. I found myself continuously flipping back to the family tree in order to fully understand the progression between chapters and stories. The anthology format works exceptionally well in this context, as it allows Rogers to explore intergenerational trauma and the impacts of racism, violence, and plagues on a single family line. Ama, a recurring character, serves as a somber thread that ties the stories together. I really enjoyed the format of this book. I don’t think I’ve read an anthology that had interconnected stories like this, specifically in demonstrating the advancement of both a family line and a time line. These connections between stories helped with the flow of the story and helped me connect better with both the characters and the various plots.

Rogers' writing is versatile and captivating, with each story offering a fresh perspective and style. From creature features to ghost stories, from sad teen tragedies to modern-day horrors like school shootings, the collection covers a broad spectrum of themes. The stories are varied but consistently engaging, each contributing to the overall narrative of cultural and personal horror. However, like any anthology, there were some stories that were a bit weaker than others, particularly the longer ones that were a little less engaging. There were also some elements throughout the stories that were a bit confusing due to a lack of knowledge on my part, especially with language and customs. For example, in the first story there is a lot of Spanish language being used that wasn’t directly translated and was difficult to understand even with some context clues.

Overall, “Man Made Monsters” excels in its exploration of horror from a Native perspective. It is a powerful and original addition to the horror genre, particularly within the context of Indigenous storytelling. It offers a fresh take on familiar horror elements while delving deep into the cultural and historical experiences of a Cherokee family. I highly recommend reading this book for any fans of horror and horror anthologies!