
1. Discount Armageddon (2012)
InCryptid series is written by Seanan McGuire.
NEWS:
Latest Release: Spelunking Through Hell (InCryptid series #11)[1]
Genre and Subgenres[]
Urban Fantasy
Series Description or Overview[]
Stories about a family of cryptozoologists. — The Covenant of St. George was founded to uphold one simple ideal: anything that was not present on the Ark—anything they deemed "unnatural"—needed to be destroyed. Monsters. Creatures of myth and legend. All of them would be wiped from the Earth in the name of Man's dominion. Unfortunately for them, not all the monsters agreed with this plan...and neither did all the human beings. From: Seanan McGuire: InCryptid
Primary Supe[]
Cryptids
What Sets it Apart[]
Unique and imaginative supernaturals.
Narrative Type and Narrators[]
Main Series (First Person)
Short Stories (Third Person Limited)
Short Stories (First Person)
Books in Series[]
InCryptid series:
- Discount Armageddon (2012)
- Midnight Blue-Light Special (2013)
- Half-Off Ragnarok (2014)
- Pocket Apocalypse (2015)
- Chaos Choreography (2016)
- Magic for Nothing (2017)
- Tricks for Free (2018)
- That Ain't Witchcraft (2019)
- Imaginary Numbers (2020)
- Calculated Risks (2021)
- Spelunking Through Hell (2022)
- Backpacking Through Bedlam (2023)
- Aftermarket Afterlife (2024)
InCryptid Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]
Available on Seanan McGuire: InCryptid Short Stories unless otherwise noted.
- 0.1. "The Flower of Arizona" (Westward Weird, 2012)
- 0.2. "One Hell of a Ride" (2012)
- 0.3. "No Place Like Home" (2012)
- 0.4 "Stingers and Strangers" (Dead Man's Hand, 2014)
- 0.5. "Married in Green" (Mar 4, 2013)
- 0.6. "Sweet Poison Wine" (April 9, 2013)
- 0.7. "The First Fall" (June 11, 2013)
- 0.8. "Loch and Key" (Aug 12, 2013)
- 0.9. "We Both Go Down Together"
- 0.10. "Oh Pretty Bird"
- 0.11. "Bury Me in Satin"
- 0.12. "Snakes and Ladders"
- 0.13. "Broken Paper Hearts"
- 0.14. "The Star of Mexico"
- 0.15. "The Way Home"
- 0.16. "The Lay of the Land"
- 0.17. "Target Practice"
- 0.18. "Take the Shot" (Patreon, Oct 1, 2019)
- 0.19. "Winter sunshine" (Patreon, Nov 1, 2019)
- 0.20. "Off-Balance" (Patreon, Jan 1, 2020)
- 0.21. "All that Glitters" (Patreon, Feb 1, 2020)
- 0.22. "What You Pay For" (Patreon, Nov 1, 2020)
- 0.23. "What You Build" (Patreon, Jan 1, 2021)
- 0.24. "The Hand of the Forest" (Patreon, Mar 1, 2021)
- 0.25. "By Any Other Name" (Patreon, May 1, 2021)
- 1.1. "What Was I Meant to Do?" (Patreon, Aug 1, 2020)
- 2.1. "Blocked"
- 2.2. "Bad Dream Girl" (Glitter and Mayhem, Aug 2013
- 2.3. "Jammed" (Games Creatures Play, Apr 1, 2014)
- 2.4. "Red as Snow" (Hex in the City, Dec 2013)
- 2.5. "Black as Snow" (2014)
- 2.5. "White as a Raven's Wing" (2014)
- 3.1 "The Ghosts of Bourbon Street" (2014)
- 3.2 "Snake in the Glass"
- 3.3 "Swamp Bromelied"
- 3.4 "Waking Up in Vegas"
- 3.5 "My Last Name"
- 3.6 "IM" (2014)
- 5.1 "Balance" (Urban Enemies, Aug 2017)
Companion Series or Spinoffs[]
Other Series by Author Onsite[]
World Building[]
Setting[]
United States
Places:[]
- Manhattan, New York
- Columbus, Ohio
- Orlando, Florida
- Portland, Oregon
Supernatural Elements[]
Telepathics, Cryptids,
- Cryptid Examples: Werewolves, Demons, Dragons, Ghouls, Ghosts, Dragon Princesses, Cactus Cats, Swamp Fairies, Questing Beasts, Swamp Hags, Sasquatch, Aeslin mice, Ahools, Bogeyman, gorgon, Madhura, Tanuki (Japanese shapeshifter), monsters,
~ List of Cryptids: Seanan McGuire: The Price Family Field Guide
Groups & Organizations:
- Covenant of St. George: an organization that hunts down and kills all cryptids
World[]
series follows a human heroine—Verity ("Very") Price—through her busy life as she works as a cocktail waitress; competes in ballroom dancing contests; and protects, defends, and polices the supernatural world of Manhattan. Supernaturals in this world are called cryptids, defined in the introduction as "any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proved scientifically." The cryptids range in size and shape from tiny mice to a gigantic dragon, with all sorts of wild and weird creatures in between. The mortal world is, for the most part, unaware of the cryptid community, but many cryptids hide in plain sight amongst humans by maintaining humanoid forms. Click HERE to go to a Field Guide to Cryptids on McGuire's website for drawings and interesting facts about the various species.
Protagonist[]
Verity ("Very") Price, aka Valerie Pryor:
Verity has been trained in defensive arts since she was a child, and she is also a talented cryptozoologist—specializing in the anatomy, physiology, and sociology of cryptids. Many years ago, Verity's grandparents, Alexander and Enid Healy, belonged to the Covenant of St. George, an organization that hunts down and kills all cryptids. The Covenant believes that any creature that wasn't present on Noah's Ark is an unnatural monster that must be destroyed. When Alexander and Enid questioned the morality of killing innocent cryptids who had done no harm, they were punished. Eventually, they fled to America, where they settled in Oregon to raise their family. To this day, the Covenant is still trying to track down Verity's family and punish them for their "sins against humanity."
When Verity is dancing, she hides her identity behind a pseudonym and a wig so that there is no chance that the Covenant will find her. Under her "Valerie Pryor" identity, Verity is somewhat famous. She took second place on the Dance or Die TV reality show and has won a number of local dance contests. Dancing means everything to Verity, but she knows in her heart that she must eventually give it up to concentrate solely on her cryptozoology career. She can't get too famous, or she'll risk exposure to the Covenant's wrath. — McGuire has written a number of short stories that feature the previous generations of the Healy and Price families... ~ Fang-tastic: INCRYPTID SERIES
Sidekick[]
Name: — What: — Sidekick-to: — About: — Book First Seen In:
Recurring Characters[]
Characters | What | About |
---|---|---|
Verity ("Very") Price; AKA Valerie Pryor | cryptozoologist; cocktail waitress, Latin ballroom dancer; | and protects, defends, and polices the supernatural world of Manhattan. |
Sarah Zellaby | telepathic cuckoo | Verity's cousin; Math enthusiast |
Dominic De Luca | Covenant member | |
Dave Smith | bogeyman | Verity's boss, and the owner of Dave's Fish and Strips |
Candice | dragon princess | Waitress at Dave's |
Carol | gorgon | Waitress at Dave's |
Ryan | Tanuki | (Japanese shapeshifter). A bouncer at Dave's. |
Antimony Price | Verity's little sister | |
Alexander Preston: | Verity's brother | |
Grandma Alice | ||
Great-Grandpa Healy | ||
Aunt Priscilla | ||
Author[]
- Other writing name, website: Mira Grant
Cover Artist[]
Artist: Aly Fell
- Source 1: Midnight Blue-Light Special | Stuff and/or Junk
- Source 2: Seanan McGuire | Lee Moyer
- Source 3: Cover Art Coverage | All Things Urban Fantasy
~ Author's comments: seanan_mcguire: Micro-aggression, sexism, and cover art: some thoughts.
Publishing Information[]
- Publisher: DAW
- Author Page:
- Bk-1: Paperback, 1st Edition, 352 pages, Pub: March 6th 2012—ISBN: [[1]]
- Bk-2: Paperback, 338 pages, Pub: March 5th 2013—ISBN: [[2]]
- Bk-3: Paperback, 356 pages, Pub: March 4th 2014—ISBN: [[3]]
- Bk-4: Paperback, 368 pages, Pub: Expected Pub: March 3rd 2015—ISBN: [[4]]
Book Cover Blurbs[]
✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Discount Armageddon (2012): Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night. The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity - and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city ~ Goodreads | Discount Armageddon (InCryptid, #1)
✤ BOOK TWO BLURB—Midnight Blue-Light Special (2013): Cryptid, noun:
- Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
- That thing that's getting ready to eat your head.
- See also: "monster."
The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity--and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn't quite work out that way. But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city's readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there's no way Verity can take that lying down. Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity's apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ--assuming there's anyone left standing when all is said and done. It's a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit...and carnage. ~ Goodreads | Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid, #2) by Seanan McGuire
✤ BOOK THREE BLURB—Half-Off Ragnarok (2014): When Alex Price agreed to go to Ohio to oversee a basilisk breeding program and assist in the recovery of his psychic cousin, he didn't expect people to start dropping dead. But bodies are cropping up at the zoo where he works, and his girlfriend—Shelby Tanner, an Australian zoologist with a fondness for big cats—is starting to get suspicious. Worse yet, the bodies have all been turned partially to stone... The third book in the InCryptid series takes us to a new location and a new member of the family, as Alex tries to balance life, work, and the strong desire not to become a piece of garden statuary. Old friends and new are on the scene, and danger lurks around every corner. Of course, so do the talking mice. ~ Goodreads | Half-Off Ragnarok (InCryptid, #3)
✤ BOOK FOUR BLURB—Pocket Apocalypse (Mar 3, 2015): Endangered, adjective: Threatened with extinction or immediate harm. Australia, noun: A good place to become endangered. Alexander Price has survived gorgons, basilisks, and his own family—no small feat, considering that his family includes two telepaths, a reanimated corpse, and a colony of talking, pantheistic mice. Still, he’s starting to feel like he’s got the hang of things…at least until his girlfriend, Shelby Tanner, shows up asking pointed questions about werewolves and the state of his passport. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Australia, a continent filled with new challenges, new dangers, and yes, rival cryptozoologists who don’t like their “visiting expert” very much. Australia is a cryptozoologist’s dream, filled with unique species and unique challenges. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with Shelby’s family, who aren’t delighted by the length of her stay in America. And then there are the werewolves to consider: infected killing machines who would like nothing more than to claim the continent as their own. The continent which currently includes Alex. Survival is hard enough when you’re on familiar ground. Alex Price is very far from home, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: he’s not going down without a fight. ~ Goodreads | Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid, #4)
✤ BOOK FIVE BLURB—Chaos Choreography (2016): ~ Goodreads | Chaos Choreography (InCryptid, #5)
First Sentence[]
- Discount Armageddon: Verity danced circles around the living room, her amateurish pirouettes and unsteady leaps accompanied by cheers and exultations from the horde of Aeslin mice perched on the back of the couch.
- Midnight Blue-Light Special: Verity stood with her hands folded in front of her and her feer turned out in first position, watching her father read her report hard.
- Half-Off Ragnarok: Alex knelt in front of his new terrarium, peering through the glass as he searched for a sigh of his latest pet.
Quotes[]
Awards[]
Trivia & Notes[]
~ ranked #31 on Goodreads | Best Urban Fantasy Series (181 series)
LISTS:
- Lists That Contain Discount Armageddon (InCryptid, #1)
- Lists That Contain Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid, #2)
- Lists That Contain Half-Off Ragnarok (InCryptid, #3)
See Also[]
- October Daye series
- Ghost Stories series
- Seanan McGuire
- Home Improvement: Undead Edition (2011) — October Daye series #4.5
- Games Creatures Play — InCryptid series #2.3
- Carniepunk (2013) — no series
- 2014 UF Release Schedule
- List of Vampires of Urban Fantasy
- List of UF Anthologies — UF Anthologies
- List of Cover Artists
- Urban Fantasy Links
- Category links at bottom of page
External References[]
Books:
- InCryptid - books ~ Author's site
- InCryptid Short Stories - shorts ~ Author's site
- InCryptid series - Goodreads
- InCryptid / Verity Price - Series Bibliography ~ ISFdb
- InCryptid Series ~ Shelfari
- Seanan McGuire - Summary Bibliography
- Seanan McGuire - fantastic fiction
- Dark Urban Fantasy: InCryptid - Seanan McGuire
InCryptid-verse: Characters, etc:
- The Price Family Field Guide ~ Author's site
- Fang-tastic Fiction: Seanan McGuire: INCRYPTID SERIES
- InCryptid Series ~ Shelfari
- Literature/In Cryptid - Television Tropes & Idioms
Reviews:
Interviews:
Author:
- Seanan McGuire- official
- Seanan McGuire - Wikipedia
- Mira Grant - other writing name
Community and Fan Sites:
- (3) Seanan McGuire - FB
- incryptid on Tumblr
- Incryptid Fandom site
- Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls
- seanan_mcguire: The periodic welcome post.
- Seanan McGuire (seananmcguire) on Twitter