Sep 02
The World of the Castrati by Patrick Barbier Souvenir Press, 1998 [Challenge # 32 : A book taking place in Europe or is about Europe.] I got this book from one of my favorite places to get free reading material, my neighbor’s Little Free Library which has rarely failed me. I’d enjoyed both the …
Aug 17
In this post I’ll talk about how Lewis wrote his fauns and satyrs, which are not the most child-friendly of mythological beasts. Are you ready? Because everything you think you know about them is wrong. First of all, the original satyrs of Greek myth did not have goat legs, horns, and tails. Those were attributes …
Aug 10
This is another of those posts that is informational rather than a set of randomly generated names. Say “mythological creatures” and “Narnia” and most people even with a passing knowledge of the series are likely to think of dryads, naiads, satyrs and fauns. (And centaurs, but for this post I’m going to stick with fauns …
Jul 28
Aslan, the God figure in the Chronicles of Narnia series, is but one of a long line of powerful sacred, mythological, or supernatural lion creatures. And no wonder. Lions are apex predators, golden as the sun in color, and the males have a kingly mane. Tigers may be larger and more eye-catching, but they lack …
Jul 20
Previous parts of this series can be read here (Part I) , here (Part II) and here (Part III) Now that I’ve established The Lady of the Green Kirtle has Green Fairy lineage, I thought it would be fun to look at some of her cousins, the Green Fairies interpreted by contemporary artists. These images …
Jul 16
Previous parts of the series can be read here (Part I) and here (Part II) Ever wonder why The Lady of the Green Kirtle — also known as The Green Witch — seems to have little sprigs of greenery decorating her gown and hair in Pauline Baynes’ illustrations of her? Well, it’s because of this. …
Apr 14
It was a single being that had the force of three beasts, the front part of a lion, the tail of a drakon, and the third–middle–head was that of a goat, through which it breathed out fire. — Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 31 – 32 (Greek mythographer c. 2nd A.D.) Chimerae depicted in ancient …
Feb 23
Pretty much anyone with a passing knowledge of Greek mythology or fantasy gaming knows what a chimera is, right? Part lion, part goat, and part snake, embodied in this Etruscan bronze statuette. It’s a goofy-looking beast in its original form. It has a lion body (note, however, the body looks more canine than leonine), …
Feb 09
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s a slew of new countries came into being that ended with -stan: Uzbekistan, Kazahkstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. This Central Asian quintet joins two existing -stans, Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing the total to seven. They are known collectively as “The Stans.” And what does -stan, …
Jan 05
The women of King Arthur’s Court did not go on grand quests like the men did, but for their comparatively fewer numbers, they were big big drivers of the plots. In the most familiar version of the Camelot story, Guinevere cheats on Arthur with Sir Lancelot, creating a major conflict; likewise, Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s …