Japanese demons, or yokai, invade the personal space of this very aghast male bather.
Tag: Creatures
Oct 12
Untold Horror
I really have to wonder what stories these Japanese illustrations are telling. First, someone in a caped costume meant to depict a skeletal ape menaces miniature children standing in teacups. Then, a cyclops lady with a flying, detachable head spews freezing breath at a stage magician and a teenage boy. Anyone have a clue?
Jul 08
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/8/20: Narnia VI
As I mentioned in last week’s Worldbuilding Wednesday, almost none of Lewis’s female Narnian creatures received a name, whether they were Talking Beasts or mythological beings. I’ve attempted to rectify that here. Naiads and maenads have Greek-type names, and dryads and hamadryads those relating to trees. As Hamadryads are bonded only to a particular kind …
Jul 01
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/1/20: Narnia V
In addition to Talking Beasts, Narnia was home to many other beings from Western mythology, as well as a few Lewis created himself. Some were referenced often, like centaurs and dwarves. Others received just one mention, like the laundry list of baddies under the White Witch’s command who bind Aslan to the Stone Table. I’ve …
Jun 24
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/24/20: Narnia IV
As written by Lewis, the Talking Beasts of Narnia cover a wide range of species. The Magician’s Nephew, which was the third book Lewis wrote (but the 6th published) gives a good depiction of their genesis: they bubble up from the earth itself like bubbles of gas through hot lava. There’s an elephant, big cats, …
Jun 17
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/17/20: Narnia III
Speaking of Prince Caspian, the book contains one of the most memorable of all the series’s peripheral characters: Reepicheep the Mouse, short in stature but long on bravery. To me he was the Narnia equivalent of Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo’s more eloquent little nephew: annoying. He does introduce, however, the Narnian way of naming mice: three-syllable names …
Apr 01
Worldbuilding Wednesday 4/1/20: Unlikely Animals
xxxx(April Fools!)
Talktotransformer is proving to be a potent tool for me. I usually have to run things through a few times, and fine-tune and collate the results, but am mostly assured of a fecund list. By which I mean a list that makes the mind wander, cooking up possibilities (and story ideas) for people, places, and …
Mar 25
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/25/20: Big Cat Hybrids
As I demonstrated last Wednesday, it’s pretty easy to come up with a name for a novel species of carnivorous mammal. Now let’s turn to the feline world, and the naming conventions of big cat hybrids. The “big four” Panthera species (lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars) are all capable of interbreeding with each other, as …
Mar 24
Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World [Reading
xxxxChallenge 2020]
Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World by Todd McLeish University of Washington Press, 2013 [Challenge # 22 : A book taking place mostly or all on water.] My first choice for this category, Blackfish City, didn’t work out, so I subbed Narwhals one after noticing I had saved it to my Seattle Public Library …