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    Strange Animals

    A Novel

    Author Jarod K. Anderson
    Look inside
    Hardcover
    $29.00 US
    Ballantine Group | Ballantine Books
    6.5"W x 9.52"H x 1.08"D   | 17 oz | 12 per carton
    On sale Feb 10, 2026 | 320 Pages | 9798217092468
    FOC Jan 12, 2026 | Catalog December 2025
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    An ordinary man discovers a hidden world of supernatural creatures—and an unexpected home—in this enchanting contemporary fantasy debut.

    “Unique, haunting, riveting, and beautifully magical.”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

    “Anderson has conceived of such a rich world, and such a textured mythology. I can’t remember a time when cryptids felt more . . . real.”—Justin McElroy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Adventure Zone series

    Green trips on the curb, falls flat into the street, and sees the city bus speeding toward him. And then . . . blink. He’s back on the curb, miraculously still alive. A five-foot-tall crow watches him from atop a nearby sign, somehow unseen by the rushing crowd of morning commuters.

    Desperate for answers and beset by more visions of impossible creatures, Green finds his way to a remote campsite in the Appalachian Mountains, where he meets a centuries-old teacher and begins an apprenticeship unlike anything he could imagine.

    Under his new mentor’s grouchy tutelage, Green studies the time-bending rag moth, the glass fawn, and the menacing horned wolf. He begins to see past hidden nature’s terrors and glimpse its beauty, all while befriending fellow misfits—and finding connection and community.

    Along the way come clues about the forces that set him on this path—and, most incredibly, a sense of purpose and fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.

    But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.

    Creepy, cozy, and beautiful, Strange Animals is a fantasy about home, belonging, and the fearfully wonderous nature all around us.
    © Rikki Austin
    Jarod K. Anderson is a strange mix of fantasy nerd, nature writer, podcaster, poet, and erstwhile academic. He once accidentally picked up a rattlesnake and has slept in the branches of a maple tree more than most writers. He created and voices The CryptoNaturalist, a podcast about real love for imaginary nature, and has published three books of poetry as well as a memoir about his lifelong struggle with depression and the healing power of the natural world. He has an MA in early modern English literature and insists he’s more fun than that makes him sound. He lives with his wife and son in a little white house tucked between a park and a cemetery. View titles by Jarod K. Anderson
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    “Unique, haunting, riveting, and beautifully magical—this is the kind of strange and wonderful book that you carry around in your heart. You’re in for a special and wondrous ride!”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

    “Anderson has conceived of such a rich world, and such a textured mythology. I can’t remember a time when cryptids felt more . . . real.”—Justin McElroy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Adventure Zone

    “I cannot express how much this book scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. The deep wonder and curiosity about nature coupled with the terror of our own insignificance strummed a familiar chord within me, and reading about these singular creatures and Green’s journey confronting them inspired a childlike glee of discovery. I envy everyone who gets to read Strange Animals for the first time. I’ll be reading it again and again to revisit that happiness and winkle out every morsel of wisdom breathed by the sage characters within.”—Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of Candle & Crow and the Iron Druid Chronicles

    “I absolutely adore this book. Reading it is like curling up under a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa beside a campfire in the middle of a dark forest and listening to a master storyteller weave tales of cryptids and extradimensional gods. A delight from start to finish.”—Lucy A. Snyder, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Sister, Maiden, Monster

    “A wildly inventive, fantastically fun story about a man who goes to find himself and finds so, so much more. I absolutely loved it from the first page.”—Peter Clines, New York Times bestselling author of Paradox Bound and God’s Junk Drawer

    About

    An ordinary man discovers a hidden world of supernatural creatures—and an unexpected home—in this enchanting contemporary fantasy debut.

    “Unique, haunting, riveting, and beautifully magical.”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

    “Anderson has conceived of such a rich world, and such a textured mythology. I can’t remember a time when cryptids felt more . . . real.”—Justin McElroy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Adventure Zone series

    Green trips on the curb, falls flat into the street, and sees the city bus speeding toward him. And then . . . blink. He’s back on the curb, miraculously still alive. A five-foot-tall crow watches him from atop a nearby sign, somehow unseen by the rushing crowd of morning commuters.

    Desperate for answers and beset by more visions of impossible creatures, Green finds his way to a remote campsite in the Appalachian Mountains, where he meets a centuries-old teacher and begins an apprenticeship unlike anything he could imagine.

    Under his new mentor’s grouchy tutelage, Green studies the time-bending rag moth, the glass fawn, and the menacing horned wolf. He begins to see past hidden nature’s terrors and glimpse its beauty, all while befriending fellow misfits—and finding connection and community.

    Along the way come clues about the forces that set him on this path—and, most incredibly, a sense of purpose and fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.

    But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.

    Creepy, cozy, and beautiful, Strange Animals is a fantasy about home, belonging, and the fearfully wonderous nature all around us.

    Creators

    © Rikki Austin
    Jarod K. Anderson is a strange mix of fantasy nerd, nature writer, podcaster, poet, and erstwhile academic. He once accidentally picked up a rattlesnake and has slept in the branches of a maple tree more than most writers. He created and voices The CryptoNaturalist, a podcast about real love for imaginary nature, and has published three books of poetry as well as a memoir about his lifelong struggle with depression and the healing power of the natural world. He has an MA in early modern English literature and insists he’s more fun than that makes him sound. He lives with his wife and son in a little white house tucked between a park and a cemetery. View titles by Jarod K. Anderson

    Praise

    “Unique, haunting, riveting, and beautifully magical—this is the kind of strange and wonderful book that you carry around in your heart. You’re in for a special and wondrous ride!”—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

    “Anderson has conceived of such a rich world, and such a textured mythology. I can’t remember a time when cryptids felt more . . . real.”—Justin McElroy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Adventure Zone

    “I cannot express how much this book scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. The deep wonder and curiosity about nature coupled with the terror of our own insignificance strummed a familiar chord within me, and reading about these singular creatures and Green’s journey confronting them inspired a childlike glee of discovery. I envy everyone who gets to read Strange Animals for the first time. I’ll be reading it again and again to revisit that happiness and winkle out every morsel of wisdom breathed by the sage characters within.”—Kevin Hearne, New York Times bestselling author of Candle & Crow and the Iron Druid Chronicles

    “I absolutely adore this book. Reading it is like curling up under a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa beside a campfire in the middle of a dark forest and listening to a master storyteller weave tales of cryptids and extradimensional gods. A delight from start to finish.”—Lucy A. Snyder, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Sister, Maiden, Monster

    “A wildly inventive, fantastically fun story about a man who goes to find himself and finds so, so much more. I absolutely loved it from the first page.”—Peter Clines, New York Times bestselling author of Paradox Bound and God’s Junk Drawer

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