Kudos to editors Robert Hood and Robin Pen for assembling this great anthology ...

Click here to read the whole review.

The entries in this remarkable anthology are, by and large, of excellent quality from authors all over the world. Style and content vary widely, from introspective ‘survivors’ tales to interaction with the giant beasts, from existing universes of giant ‘monsterisms’ to startlingly new and varied fresh responses to the theme.

....

In summation, if you like big monsters, you’ll like this book. Even if you don’t, there is enough material to make a picky reader curious, perhaps enough to appreciate the diversity of imagination and what ‘larger-than-life’ means to each of us.

Click here to read the whole review.

...My favorite piece without doubt was "The Tragical History of Guidolon, the Giant Space Chicken". Frank Wu, in his first piece of published fiction, has written a deliciously funny and satirical script featuring the craziest collection of daikaiju creatures imaginable.

... From poems to stories, I enjoyed every single composition in the collection, and found Daikaiju: Giant Monster Tales wonderfully entertaining. Once you have finished this compelling read, you will almost certainly be ready for more....

Click here to read the whole review [registration required]

Rod Lott on the Bookgasm.com website.

18 February 2006

It’s such a good idea, you wonder why it hadn’t been done before. Fifty years after Japan was first decimated onscreen, we finally have an anthology of original fiction paying tribute to fire-breathing, foot-stomping, gigantic beasts of the silver screen...

...the book constantly surprises. Unlike the all-formula movies from which these stories draw their inspiration, you never know what you’re going to get.

...DAIKAIJU! is another example of why small-press anthologies are as exciting as anything out there.

Click here to read the whole review.

Tansy Rayner Roberts on the AS if website.

30 November 2005

I suspect that when 2005 grinds to a close, Daikaiju is one of the books that will most stand out amongst the other tomes released within the Australian specfic community. I really hope it gets a far wider audience than small press junkies and congoers in Australia, though, because it’s good. Really good.

...

Daikaiju is a far more substantial and significant anthology than its flippant (if beautiful) cover suggests. The fiction is a blend of post-modern comedy, urban fantasy, military action, genuine horror and out-and-out weirdness. This is certainly one of the most effective theme anthologies I’ve read in a very long time.

Click here to read the whole review, which is very thorough indeed!

Sydney writer Robert Hood's long love of all creatures gigantic has produced an anthology of stories devoted to the genre, co-edited by fellow creature-feature lover Robin Pen. Daikaiju! ... is comfortably crammed with more than 300 pages of fiction from writers around the world dedicated to the idea of the genre best embodied by Godzilla.

The stories range widely: surreal humour in "Newborn", as a woman births a giant bird; beautiful if esoteric prose from Brisbane's Trent Jamieson in "Five Bells"; an Australian Aboriginal perspective from Rosaleen Love.

Whether the tale concerns an incontinent Kong whose retirement is interrupted or the wistful remembrance of a daikaiju survivor in a world where rampages are commonplace, one thing is sure: the writers lapped up this chance to pay homage, and the result is a big book of terrific tales.

Stories which missed the cut are to be published as an online collection.

Eavesdropper
posted to The G-Spot: Monster Messageboard

26 September 2005

Note: The Eavesdropper is George Thomas,
former G Project and MZ fiction editor, Daikaiju! contributing author, and God of Hyperbole

Ha-ta! Your old pal the ephemeral Eavesdropper here, droppin' the dillio on one fantastic anthology of literary largesse called "Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales", now available from Agog! Press.

This is the book kaiju eiga fans have been waiting for; a compilation of twenty-nine incredible stories with ranges of subject and style as diverse as they are satisfying. Written by an international cast of notables, edited and published by a crew of distinctly Australian luminaries, Daikaiju! takes the reader on an epic journey of monstrously imaginative extremes. From the subtle intensity of Doug Wood's "Lullabye" to the laugh out loud kick in the pants of Michelle Marquardt's "Crunch Time", to the pure sci-fi thrills of Paul Finch's "CALIBOS", Daikaiju! delivers!

Check out all the news, reviews, ordering info, and watch for the companion E-Anthology coming online soon at http://www.roberthood.net/daikaiju-antho

Keep it unreal.

Van Ikin
from the Spectrum section of the weekend Sydney Morning Herald
9 July 2005

... This book is the first attempt at assembling a literary "take" on the cinematic tradition amd it's a winner. It's funny, informative, droll, offensive and it features two of the strongest short stories I've read in years....

Click here to see the whole review

Terry Dowling
from the Weekend Australian Review section
18 June 2005

Note: the review was edited slightly for inclusion in the review column

Some ideas just seem to catch the imagination. When editors Robert Hood and Robin Pen set out to do Daikaiju: Giant Monster Tales (Agog Press, 352pp, $32.95), an anthology of giant monster stories as an homage to Godzilla (with 28 movies to her [sic] credit the undisputed grandmother [sic] of them all), they were not only inundated with local and international submissions, but were offered a cover by eight-times Hugo-winning US artist Bob Eggleton. Eggleton, it turns out, is a giant monster fan too.

Given that, for copyright reasons, Godzilla herself cannot be mentioned or her distinctive signature image sampled, and that the premise requires every one of the thirty-entry line-up feature a “daikaiju” event of one sort or another, a lot of the pleasure here comes from just how the riff is managed from one offering to the next. Adam Ford’s hilarious “Seven Dates That Were Ruined by Giant Monsters” and Garth Nix’s “Read It in the Headlines” deliver exactly what their titles promise, while Anthony Fordham, Rosaleen Love and J.M. Shiloh bring a certain gravitas and irony to the mix. Daikaiju is fun, infectious and surprisingly effective.

Zara Baxter
posted to the Vision-Writers Yahoo list
17 May 2005

Kyla Ward
on the review site Aussiereviews.com

16 May 2005

First off, you need to know that 'daikaiju' is Japanese for 'giant monster'. That is, Godzilla, King Kong, Rodan and all their kind. Now you are qualified to enjoy the most unusual and entertaining anthology I've read in a long while.

Each of the 29 fiction entries features giant monsters but the variety is incredible.... Read the rest

Chuck McKenzie
Daikaiju! author and all-round man of taste

by email:
12 April 2005

I was chuffed to be selected in the first place, of course, but even more so now I've read the antho and realise how good it is!

Anna Tambour
Author of Monterra's Deliciosa and Other Tales and Spotted Lily

from the Night Shade Books Discussion Area 27 April 2005

The tone of the anthology isn't one of those I'm-so-cool-I-sneer-at-everything-but-myself, but a laughing-with, unashamed-to-be-enthusiastic, unabashed collection meant to be read for pleasure. As it says: "Mammoth mega-fauna! Apocalyptic adventure! Surreal suspense! Catastrophic comedy! Monstrous metaphysics!"

And I don't have anything to do with this book other than being there for the launch, buying a copy and enjoying it immensely.