Yesterday, we had a couple fairly heavy topics on our Facebook discussion page – one on branching out into characters beyond the traditional male male couple and into mainstream sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal, and the other, posted by a Queer Sci Fi member, about the ongoing argument about who should write gay male-male romance.
I was very proud of the group for keeping the conversation civil on both topics. But now I’d like to do something a little lighter.
Since we haven’t done a paranormal topic for a while, I thought it would be fun to compile a Bestiary together on the Facebook discussion page – and maybe it will spark some plot bunnies for those of us who write paranormal fiction.
So here’s how it works. Please post the name and short description, along with a picture if you can find one, of some of your favorite paranormal/mythological beasties. The weirder and lesser-known, the better.
I’ll start it off with one of my favorites, the chupacabra. From Wikipedia:
The chupacabra or chupacabras (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃupaˈkaβɾas], from chupar “to suck” and cabra “goat”, literally “goat sucker”) is a legendary cryptid rumored to inhabit parts of the Americas, with the first sightings reported in Puerto Rico.[1] The name comes from the animal’s reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary. It is purportedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.
Your turn!