From the Emmy-winning writer for “The Colbert Report,” Frank Lesser, comes a new breed of book (a Frankenstein of the book world if you will), that stitches together accounts of imaginary monsters with very real human problems.

“Sad Monsters: Growling on the Outside, Crying on the Inside” is not only a humor book about monsters, but an illustrated one at that. Illustrator Willie Real brings each monster’s character to life, beginning with the front cover depicting a hairy—but—cute monster frowning. By turning the book over, you discover the monster’s backside where it is clutching a wilting flower in his paws. Overlaid on his very hairy mane of a book are the words, “after all, you are what you eat.” This message is at the core of Lesser’s book: monsters are not so different than the screaming humans that they consume and destroy.

The collection of almost 40 essays is quick and easy to read because of the short vignettes told in a variety of formats. Found manuscripts, letters, court case transcriptions, Craigslist postings, suicide notes, and diary entries provide for different voices and narration styles that are funny and fun. It is a good book to pick up and read from any point, but also provides a hilarious reading experience when reading from cover to cover.

Lesser’s droll sense of humor and penchant for morbid details comes across through his modern spins on age-old monsters such as chupacabras, monsters in the closet, zombies, yetis, and mummies as well as some new monsters such as gremlins, a “spider” man, and evil dolls that come to life.

In “The Yeti Wears Prada,” Tulpa Snargrowl, better known as “The Abominable Snowman,” has the crypto zoologist he has captured write him a letter of recommendation for “Vogue” magazine. “Tulpa has proven himself to be exceptionally detail-oriented, especially when the details involve stripping every last morsel of flesh from a carcass. I’m sure he would be equally proficient at picking apart the latest fall fashions,” the crypto zoologist writes. See, the yeti has to get a job like everyone else.

In another, maybe more far-fetched essay called “The Joy of Unicorns,” virginal girls are given unicorns as friends if they keep chaste. “If you give up your virginity before you get married, you’ll miss out on something far better than sex: befriending a unicorn. The little-known fact is, every abstinent teen gets her own unicorn as her BFF. Why do you think good girls don’t mind 9 p.m. curfews? I’ll give you one hint: unicorn slumber parties!” The reason given why most people do not know about this is society’s moral depravity, not that unicorns may not exist, which they do in Lesser’s monster world.

But aside from fun and games (and unicorns!), some stories point to the reverse discrimination some monsters feel they suffer at the hands of humans. “The Groom of Frankenstein” is a perfect example of this. The medical student who creates his own Frankenstein wishes to marry it, but lashes out when he senses that the couple is meeting resistance. “If you can’t accept that a man could be deeply in love with a man made of the body parts of other men, then maybe you’re the one with the twisted brain of a criminal” he declares.

While it may seem ludicrous, this book fits in perfectly within this sphere of imagination. You know from the on-set that Lesser does not want you to take this book too seriously, yet there are some serious things at work here. Discussed are real human—and monster—issues that are everywhere in our society. There is fun and silliness, but also a dose of satire and commentary.

The writing displays the workings of Lesser’s creative and clever mind clearly: the situations and attention to detail in his varying accounts while silly are also filled with empathy. These monsters—or hybrid creatures, or claw-foot tubs for that matter—share some of the same hopes, dreams, and problems that everyone shares. And as Lesser puts it, “these monsters hunger for more than man-flesh; they hunger for love.” Who can now say that these monsters are really all bad?

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