Curmudgeonly ex-monster hunter Agnes Stegall doesn't care much for the people of Verbena Fields, Alabama, where she lives but doesn't call home. So, when the townsfolk request her assistance in ridding the place of a hulking, skyscraper-sized garbage monster, she adamantly and profanely declines.
But her refusal has some unintended consequences: Driven by fear, the townsfolk summon King Vislor - a powerful, albeit neurotic monster hound with an obsessive reverence for humankind - to watch over them. Although Agnes knows good and well that calling upon one giant monster to get rid of another is a bit like saving a drowning cat by throwing another cat into the water, what she doesn't realize are the dangerous lengths King Vislor is willing to undertake to keep the people of Verbena Fields safe. Soon, Agnes is caught up in a fight against a growing list of threats plaguing the small town - military occupation, unfettered rumors, a misanthropic rifle-wielding hermit with a grudge - while simultaneously trying to battle some terrifying monsters looming in the dark, unfrequented corners of her own mind.
A unique tribute to Japanese daikaiju movies ("Godzilla," "Gamera") Strange Beasts in a Small Town has heaps of humor, just a bit of sorrow, a thing or two worth pondering, a touch of cursing, a scheming villain, an overbearing mother, fisticuffs between a redneck and a golem, a couple of shootouts, several collapsing buildings and whole lot of giant monsters beating the stew out of each other. Just like any tale worth telling.