Hey there! Didja miss me? I’ve had a heck of a month, but then, so has anyone living in the Northeast this winter. This is the perfect season for some Norse mythology, isn’t it?

I’m a big fan of Norse mythology. There’s Loki, Thor, Tyr, Odin…what’s not to love? Okay, the names can get confusing, and pronunciation can be an issue, but we struggle through.

As I sit here on my best girlfriend’s couch—snowed in for the third time in two months, I might add—I am reminded of Ragnarok.

Ragnarok is also called Gotterdammerung, (see what I mean about pronunciation?), and translated to “Doom, or destruction, of the Gods”. The reason it springs so readily to mind for me just now has more to do with the preceding events that toll its arrival.

The first signal that Ragnarok is eminent is the advent of Fimbulvetr, the winter of winters. According to experts, snow will come from all directions, not stopping for three full seasons.

Hmmm… well, we’ve had a day or two of sunshine in between, haven’t we? I guess it’s not the end of the world just yet. I’m okay with that. On the other hand, I’ve just had to resurrect my laptop by re-installing my operating system. Isn’t that considered a natural disaster by today’s standards?

Hey All! How were your holidays? Personally, mine were just fine. But the holidays aren’t over yet, are they?

Nope, not quite. We have New Years next. It probably won’t surprise you to hear (read) that there are a plethora of myths and beliefs surrounding New Years. We all certainly have our own traditions, don’t we?

I really like the Bayberry candle tradition. There’s a little poem:
"This bayberry candle is a gift from a friend, on Christmas Eve (or New Years Eve) burn it down to the end.
A bayberry candle burned down to the socket brings luck to the home and wealth to the pocket."

I’ve read it both ways—Christmas Eve or New Years Eve, but I just hedge my bets by doing both. It can’t hurt and I really like Bayberry candles.

There’s the New Year’s resolution, various foods to be eaten especially on New Years’ Day, the Midnight Kiss, on and on the list goes. Don’t worry, I’ll try to go through all of these and more.

I’ve come across two different myths—or beliefs if you prefer—about money. One says that you must have all your bills paid before the stroke of midnight so you don’t find the New Year dragging you further in debt. In other words, if you start with a clean slate, you’ll keep it clean.

Happy Halloween, or Samhain, or All Hallows Eve, to you. –Or whatever it is that you celebrate.

It’s been a long month—October usually is, isn’t it?

This month, I figured I’d take a look at a widely speculated Halloween rumor. In fact, it’s a tool many horror and romance writers use.

I’m talking about the thinning of the membrane between the living and the dead on the night of October the thirty-first.

The suggestion of the living communicating with the dead has been around for more than millennia, starting with the very first settlements. Each and every culture has some sort of tradition or legend that allows for the possibility of one last minute, word, or promise to a departed loved one.

I don’t mean ghosts, either. Nor am I including séances or dreams. We’ll talk about those another day. Many people turn to date and time specific traditions because they ARE so specific, therefore, they must be based on some sort of facts, right?

There are as many rituals as there are writers to write them down, each one with specific steps—words, phrases, candles and pentagrams—at the site of the death blow, possibly, or more likely, the grave or final resting place.

Okay, that was a little cliche, wasn't it? Sorry about that.

What is a ghoul?

Personally, I’ve never really thought about the ghoul as opposed to a ghost. I thought they were the same thing...

Many times, I’ve been accused of having a ghoulish sense of humor or imagination. Of course, I’m mild compared to some, but still, there is a difference between ghoulish behavior and the ghoul itself.

I guess I vaguely thought that ghouls and ghosts were pretty much the same thing. Turns out they aren’t. Go figure, huh? One definition that I read describes a ghoul as and evil grave robber who feed on corpses. During my research, one source reported that ghouls were all female and resided in desert areas. Either of those definitions pretty much contradicts my own notion that ghouls were not alive, so of course, they aren’t ghosts, right?

The Encyclopedia Britannica says that ghouls are a diabolic class of djinn—which to me means a bad, evil genie. In fact, that definition came up a couple of times, as did the suggestion that ghouls dwell in burial places. All in all, nothing I’ve read about ghouls makes me want to hang out with one.

This is a very pretty monster…sort of. Sometimes.

I supposed it really depends on what you find attractive and what your definition of a monster is. According to some definitions, mostly found at
Wordsmyth.com, a monster is any creature with an ugly or frightening appearance, any being that is abnormally formed or exceptionally large, or possibly someone or something that is cruel or malicious. Wordsmyth also offers another definition of a monster that I like better: an imaginary or mythical creature, often with features of two different animals or of animals and humans. It sounds nicer. The Kelpie was not listed as one of the many examples of a monster they offered, however.

Unfortunately, that definition also sort of under-play’s the fact that monsters, real or not, can be mean, and usually are.

The Kelpie, as I said, is a very pretty monster. At first. This is a picture of a Kelpie found at elphwood.com that was sent to me by Charlene C (I’m not sure if she’d like her last name in here or not)

I know I’m late this month, but some months are like that. Better late than never, I hope, because here I am. Here’s your monster, either way.

This month’s monster is the chupacabra. I’m never sure if that should be capitalized…I’ve found it both ways. It’s actually a very popular monster—as long as it doesn’t live nearby, of course. The name literally means goat sucker. That’s actually pretty gross, isn’t it?

As far as looks go, the chupacabra sounds pretty ugly. It’s got leathery, greenish or grayish skin, spikes or quills along its spine, a forked tongue, and fangs. There are conflicting reports about its snout and legs. The back legs are said to be really muscular and longer than the front, sort of like a kangaroo’s legs. The front legs are shorter and said to have three fingers or claws. As for the snout, some reports have it short and blunt, others long like a coyote’s. I’m not sure how anyone would actually know if they found one, to be honest. I’ve come across reports that say it’s got smooth, reptilian skin, and others say there are short, course hairs all over the animal’s body.

Yesterday, in the middle of answering email, I realized that it was the 18th of May. Wow, what happened there?

Well, in my surprise, I blurted out to my daughter, “Oh man, it’s the 18th and I don’t have my monthly monster done yet!”

She and I have been exchanging research links and notes—whenever we find something too fascinating to stop reading while we’re researching, we save it and trade. She immediately said, “The Piasa Bird!”

I, of course, said, “Wha?” or some reasonable facsimile therein.

So, she explained it in smaller words:

It’s pronounced Pie-a-Saw. It means man eating bird. It’s a painting drawn by Native Americans on a bluff in Mississippi. But apparently a mining company tore it down, so they painted it on another bluff. A priest/explorer found it in the 1600s but some other guy found it in the 1800s and wrote all about it. And then they knocked it down. I’ve got three pages of notes on it, but I’m not sure where I put ‘em. Just Google it.

Well.

That sounded pretty interesting. An American monster. Hmm…not that America has any shortage of monsters, of course. Still, this one was apparently uniquely American. Maybe.

I love the internet, most of the time. Hey, I’m a monster fan and you can’t deny that the internet is one big, out-of-control monster. It devours everything in sight and spits out or gives birth to any manner of little monsters, good and bad.

But we’re not here today to dissect the internet, are we? Um, no, as a matter of fact. Maybe later. This month’s monster is the Cerberus. I asked my friend Mae Powers, author, as well as owner and publisher at Midnight Showcase Fiction, which monster she was most interested in and that was her first suggestion. She’s always wanted to know more about the Cerberus. Maybe she’s a dog person? Or she likes things with lots of heads? Well, we’ll look into her psyche some other time, too.

Needless to say, the first thing I did in pursuit of the Cerberus was to start an internet search. (Yeah, I wish I could pull off the intellectual image that would have you picturing me surrounded by dusty tomes and rattling off the lost knowledge of the ancients, but let’s be real) So, I Googled it. This of course produced a confusion of sites dedicated to some large banking concern, an FTP server called Cerberus…a veritable plethora of things I was not interested in. So, what else? I went back to the drawing board—or the Google-ing board…whatever. This time I entered: Cerberus, monster or myth.

Hi!
By now, you’ve figured out that I have a new column here on Novelspot. I had such a great time with my blog week that I thought I’d stick around. Lucky for me, Allie was in favor of it, too.

My column is going to be monthly, so I’m calling it The Monthly Monster (or Myth). I’d just go with The Monthly Monster, but there are some myths I want to check out, too.

I intend to take a look at each monster or myth and explore the possibilities of real versus ridiculous. I’ll tell you what I find out and if other authors have written about whatever it is. Feel free to make comments (you have to join Novelspot for that or you can just email me)

I’ll probably use some of the things we look into in my books and such. It pays to be efficient, right? Either way, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what I think about the whole thing by the time you read the column.

Thanks for stopping in, and with no further ado, here’s my first offering.

Kraken

Ever heard the phrase, “Release the Kraken!”?

I have. I say it occasionally, too.

According to myth, legend, or just Clash of the Titans, Zeus was the first being to ever say that. Apparently, he ordered Poseidon to release the kraken in order to destroy Argos and flood his kingdom. Who Argos was and why Zeus wanted to ruin his life and kingdom is something else entirely. Maybe we'll check that out sometime...