A worldbuilding resource and general nerd zone focused on the topic of invented creatures as viewed through a scientific lens. Whether you’re a writer looking to turbo-charge your own fantastical fauna or you just want to explore the history of mythical creatures and a bit of basic speculative biology, read on!
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Shapeshifting and Transformations in the Natural World
When it comes to your classic fairytale curses, a few really seem to stand out. You have your protagonists cursed to die, or perhaps to fall into a deep and deathlike sleep, like Snow White. You have your lovers parted, typically after one of them failed to maintain some strange promise to the other. And…
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Top 10 Real Life Dragons
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term dragon means “A mythical animal usually represented as a monstrous winged and scaly serpent or saurian with a crested head and enormous claws.” These magnificent monsters have captured the human imagination for millennia. Cultures throughout the world have their own spin on grand, powerful, and mysterious reptiles. Dragons,…
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Fantasy Races and Peoples: Beyond “Pretty and Pointy-Eared”
I’m the kind of person who looks at fantasy games where you choose your character’s species/race and thinks, “Yessss.” Being human in real life is all well and good. But speculative fiction is all about breaking from the norm and trying something new. And for me, that means going really new. Skip the usual elves…
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Medieval Bestiaries and Mythical Creatures: Unnatural History
Of all the literary forms in human history, the illuminated manuscripts of medieval Western Europe are among the most memorable. With their thick parchment, elaborate opening letters, and colorful and often strange illustrations, what’s not to love? Perhaps the most famous illuminated manuscripts were the great medieval bestiaries, curious tomes describing both natural history and…
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Some Blog Updates
Hey readers! This is just a quick update to let you guys know about some improvements I’ve been making to the blog. You may have noticed some recent additions to the front page – namely a few social media links (plus one to my author’s page on Amazon), a handy search bar, and a list…
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Griffon Gryphon: Fantasy Creature Naming Conventions
Before starting this blog, I spent several years working as either an educator or animal keeper at a few different zoos and aquariums. Shocker, I know. In that career, I learned all kinds of animal names: from the eighteen different species of penguin, to the impressive variety of names for a single skink species, to…
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- Bygone Literature (1)
- Human Connections (5)
- Let's Make a Monster (1)
- Natural Behavior (4)
- Science Basics (4)
- Special Abilities (3)
- Square-Cube Law (3)
- Taxonomy (2)