Monster Makers, Inc.

Godzilla makes an unruly pet, as teenage Piper Kincaid learns when his geneticist father hatches a monster a foot high to prove it's possible. (On the command, ""Tokyo,'' the little beast breathes fire.) Even so, Dr. Kincaid's fledgling business on the planet Carefree is foundering through bad luck and the tendency of his little creatures to get loose and wreak havoc at nearby resort hotels. One such ecapade introduces Piper to spoiled but personable Shandi Tyr, whose tycoon father may be the financial angel the Kincaids need. First, though, they learn that their bad luck was contrived by alien Xylk beings, who were worried that the scientist would see through their own genetic engineering, a key element of their plan of invasion. This is a lively young adult novel, but its marketing as an adult book creates expectations it was not meant to fulfill. (November 17)