Joanna Mars and the Tentacle Monster

By Sophia Smutt

Joanna inherits a diary that allows her to summon monsters from other dimensions.

When she calls on a tentacle monster to give her a hug, she meets a gorgeous Norse god who wants more.

The trouble is, he has eight tentacles and six… special surprises.

It’s going to be a long hard night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Feb 6, 2023

Book preview

Chapter One

After four years and seven months of studying literature, I’m back to face the life I’ve left behind. Paris still runs in my veins, even though the thought of returning tears at my heart.

I glance around the house I inherited from Grandma, the place I once considered a home. She’s long gone, but her lavender scent lingers on the floral wallpaper.

Her hairbrush lies on the bedroom table, where I now sit, and I swallow down a lump in my throat at the silver strands still clinging to its bristles. It’s almost as if she might walk in through the door at any minute, clad in her little housecoat.

Everything’s exactly how it used to be —except, perhaps, me.

My gaze falls on a leather book. Its pages are blank and yellow, but there's something holding me back from just throwing it away. Maybe I can use it to write notes to grandma.

When I open the book to a random page, they tremble like they're infused with power. It’s probably my imagination, since I haven’t slept since the day I decided to leave Paris. I smooth my fingers down its center and exhale a sigh.

My breath seems to trigger something because words in a flowing script appear onto the page.

Dear Joanna,

I am so glad you have found my diary. I hope you have as much enjoyment from its pages as I did.

Love,

Grandma

What’s this? I say out loud.

The diary doesn’t answer.

Of course, it doesn’t. I rub a hand over my brow, trying to clear the fog. Diaries don’t just write their own words. That little note from Grandma was probably there all along. I was just too distracted to notice.

That doesn’t sound right. I distinctly remember the words writing themselves.

Just to make sure, I reach into a drawer, extract a pen, and write:

Who are you?

The diary doesn’t reply for several seconds. I’m about to toss it aside when words appear beneath my writing.

I was the servant of your grandmother. I now belong to you.

A cold fist of alarm hits me straight in the chest. I fall back on the chair, staring at the writing. What the hell? Possibilities race through my mind, making my gut twist into painful knots. Grandma would have said something if she was the wielder of a talking diary. She died last year, and I inherited her house, but it’s taken me this long to pluck up the courage to go inside.

Her house was my refuge when I was younger. Whenever things got too heavy with one of Mum’s boyfriends, Grandma would always let me stay for the few days or weeks it would take for Mum to realize I had left.

We lost touch when I got a scholarship for the University of Paris, and by the time I graduated, she was already gone.

I spent over a third of my life in this cottage and never once saw Grandma write in a diary. She didn’t even mention it in her will. It was a one-paragraph statement, saying that she bequeathed all her worldly possessions to her only granddaughter, Joanna Mars.

Maybe I’ve fallen asleep during a Harry Potter marathon, and this is just a dream. I put the pen on the paper and write:

What do you do?

The diary replies immediately:

I am a summoner.

I wait for it to explain, but it remains silent. Rolling my eyes, I write:

What does that mean? What do you summon? And what does it cost? Please answer these questions IN DETAIL.

The diary hesitates for a few seconds before replying as if it’s trying to decide something. It’s the longest delay since I started writing in it. The words appear across the page, slowly this time.

A summoner is a sentient object that acts as an intermediary between its handler and other realms. I can bring forth creatures from any location.