(Editor’s note: Since 2024, Cryptid Quarterly is a feature where I highlight cryptid horror fiction from each quarter of the year, using Amazon Kindle release dates.)
My first cryptid horror fiction list in 2025 feels like a continuation of last year as half of the 2024 Cryptid Quarterly Authors of the Year fill seven of the 10 slots on the chart. D.A. Roberts, Luka T. Jacobs, William Meikle, Michael Cole, and Jeffrey B Miley — all on the Authors of the Year list — dominate the first chart of 2025.
Highlights include Miley extending the longest-running streak in the rankings to five in a row as he now remains the only author to hit all five Top 10 lists. For the first time, my list includes multiple titles by the same authors. In this case, Jacobs and Miley charted two each. Finally, Roberts is the first author to notch a second #1 book on the list.
Among the new faces to the Top 10 are Steven Armstrong and Tom Lyons with their fifth book in The Hidden Ones series. The first three books in the series were Honorable Mentions in 2024. Also, Rebecca Fernfield makes her Top 10 debut with the fourth book in The Kielder Experiment series. Her third book in the series was an Honorable Mention in 2024.
So, without further ado, here’s my Top 10 cryptid horror fiction releases from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2025, along with their Amazon descriptions. There’s also a list of honorable mentions worth checking out. Clicking on the book titles takes you to their Amazon pages where they can be purchased.
#1. The Demon of Palo Duro Canyon by D.A. Roberts
In Book 4 of the Dark Frontiers series, strange Bigfoot-type creatures attack a ranch, massacring cattle and murdering ranch hands in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. With nowhere else to turn, the family calls Declan Caine and his Nightmare Hunters to save their home. With several of the team unavailable, Declan seeks help from two young warriors who have faced these creatures before. The team members soon learn that they’re facing something far worse than mere creatures. An ancient enemy, stalking them since 1865, has returned to finish what it started … an enemy that is far more powerful than anything they’ve ever imagined.
#2. The Beasts of Blood & Spirit by Luka T. Jacobs
In Book 2 of the Nicole Beretti Thriller series, 12-year-old Ethan moves to his grandmother’s house in a small town after the death of his mother. He barely knows her, the house feels unsettling, and strange things begin to happen almost immediately. As Ethan struggles to adjust, terror strikes the town. An unknown, wolf-like predator claims the lives of two women, leaving the community in fear. Special FBI agents Nicole Beretti and Noah Jacobi are called in to investigate. What they uncover is far more chilling than they imagined. Secrets buried in Ethan’s family may hold the key to the predator’s deadly attacks, and the danger might not just be outside. Trapped by a relentless snowstorm, Beretti and Jacobi must protect Ethan, unravel long-held mysteries, and confront a ruthless creature stalking the townsfolk before it’s too late.
#3. Operation Below by William Meikle
In Book 18 of the S-Squad series, Sergeant Wiggins is given a chance to prove himself with what seems like a cushy job: acting as a consultant for a police operation on the Austria-Germany border. But fate takes a hand. Cattle are being mutilated, and the police are baffled. To find the reason why, Wiggo must lead the squad and take them Below, where beasts of legend, red in tooth and claw, are waiting, hungry for fresh meat.
#4. Nautilus by Michael Cole
In Book 3 of the G.O.R.E. Sector series, Thomas Rodney leads the members of Raptor Pack to Mauto, a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, following the disappearance of numerous vessels. Utilizing the inventions of Dr. Howard Tate, they set out to determine the cause. Before long, the ugly truth reveals itself. A menacing threat has awakened, and it is unlike anything they have yet faced. Multi-limbed, armored, and capable of great bursts of speed, the latest of mutations seeks to rule the sea and eradicate anything that dares challenge it. It has the strength to crush the hulls of warships and a temper to kill regardless of whether it feels hungry.
#5. Forest of the Sasquatch 2 by Luka T. Jacobs
Subtitled Defy the Covenant, Face the Wrath, the sequel to Forest of the Sasquatch picks up after Levi, the only survivor of a bachelor trip in Superior National Forest, faces skepticism about his story that the Sasquatch slaughtered his friends. Few believe him, some think he lost his mind, and others whisper that he killed his friends. A special forces team is sent deep into the forest to uncover the truth. Their mission is to locate Rob, one of the missing, and bring him home if he’s still alive. However, the Sasquatch are no longer united. Three broke the ancient covenant, harming humans and defying the Elder’s warning. Now the clan is torn. One side believes the old ways must die for the clan to survive. The other knows turning from tradition will bring the wrath of the humans and the end of them all.
#6. Purgatory Beach by Edward J. McFadden III
The Funnel is the gnarliest break in North America. It’s where fame whispers on the salty breeze, and surfers gamble with death to claim their glory. Only hardcore riders are welcome — posers need not apply. But this season, an unnatural fog creeps over the Pacific, thick with the reek of decay, and the ocean churns with something far worse than the usual risks hiding beneath the surface. Fallen surf legend Gerard Noll is grappling with life beyond his pro career, while The Funnel Big Wave Competition teeters on the brink of cancellation as a series of unusual events disrupt the calm of Purgatory Beach. The blue void stirs, concealing creatures of the deep hungry for flesh, and Gerard is caught between saving lives and facing the relentless tide threatening to wash away everything he holds dear.
#7. Snow Monster 3: The Glacier Fields by Jeffrey B Miley
In Book 51 of the Sasquatch Adventures series, the glaciers of Mount Rainier sit upon a landscape of caves, rock valleys, and peaks … most uncharted and undiscovered. The beautiful mountain is also an active volcano that could erupt at any time. As the glaciers slowly recede, the landscape reveals large cave systems made of rock and ice domes. And something lives within them. A fearsome creature, freed by the changes to the snow fields, clashes with the humans that work and play upon the mountain. Senior Ranger Patrick Rappaport steps in to stop its reign of terror, but time is running out, and people are dying.
#8. The Kielder Spawn by Rebecca Fernfield
When Ella discovers that a young child is being kept at a secure research facility, she is consumed by horror and breaks in to rescue him. On the run with the child, she heads for her late grandmother’s cottage in the quiet seaside town of Whitby. But the child hides a deadly secret within and, as strange incidents begin to occur in the town, Ella suspects that something is very, very wrong with her new son.
#9. The Pine Barrens’ Jersey Devil by Jeffrey B Miley
Book 3 in the Cryptid Classics series opens with the horrific birth of the Jersey Devil in Leeds Point, New Jersey, in 1735. The unwanted and cursed child is an abomination who grows up to seek revenge on those it sees as blessed. In the present day, a podcaster named Bob, along with his friends, decides to boost his YouTube channel numbers by reporting on location about the legend. Soon, the group will regret not leaving the legend alone.
#10. The Wild Revenant by Steven Armstrong and Tom Lyons
In Book 5 of The Hidden Ones series, a nightmare stirs in the shadowy forests of McCall, Idaho. When a privately funded laboratory captures a legendary Sasquatch for research, it unleashes a terror that cannot be contained. After the creature escapes, its wrath turns toward the small mountain town, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. As Sheriff Calvin Yates and his team rally to defend McCall, they discover an even more chilling truth. Amid the snow-covered wilderness, Anna Lowe, a scientist burdened with guilt, and Deputy Wallace, a man driven by duty, must join forces to unravel the deadly mystery. With each passing day, the creatures grow bolder, their intelligence and fury proving far more dangerous than anyone imagined. As the town descends into chaos, Anna realizes that survival will demand an unthinkable sacrifice.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Apex by Tanweer Dar
Crover Island by J.M. Kelly
Cryptid Classics #4: Michigan’s Dogmen by Jeffrey B Miley
Cryptid Collector by Sam M. Phillips
Death by Legend by Matt Bille
Frogs and Margaritas 3 by Angel Ramon
Hidden World by William Schoell
Hive by Rod McLaughlin
Howler: Terror in the Ozarks by Edward J. McFadden III
Junior by Jason Rubis
Sasquatch 50: Ghost Town by Jeffrey B Miley
Sasquatch 52: Ranger by Jeffrey B Miley
Shadow Walkers: Silver Star by Robby “Jed” Raines
The Hidden Ones: The Silent Migration by Steven Armstrong and Tom Lyons
The Hidden Ones: The Woods of Cedar Creek by Steven Armstrong and Tom Lyons
The Mothmen of Gehenna, Wisconsin by Cody Ray George
The Sasquatch Murders by Eric S. Brown
Veil Walker by M.L. Bullock
Venom by John Lee Schneider
Webbed by Christian Wallis
LIONEL RAY GREEN 
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