Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Chimera

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blue-blood, chimera, dr. jekyl and mr. hyde, ethology lesson, fracture personality, hybrids, must read, new release, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series

We’re closing in on the last few ethology lessons, so I’ve saved my favorites for last. The chimera. These guys are those unpredictable anomalies, much like the creatures described in my hybrids and chaos post a little bit back.

Unfortunately, Lily’s ethology book doesn’t explain their natures and behaviors well, listing examples and explaining that guessing their natures is just as accurate, so she’s had to rely on her surly mentor for information:

“They come in two forms, the genetic chimera that exhibit the physical characteristics of their combined lineage, and the blue-blood chimera that possess a single line’s traits but hold both internally—much like two creatures inhabiting one vessel.”

Like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

“The book only mentions the first kind, so I thought we’d explore the blue-bloods, thusly named for their abilities to blend in with their dominant species. The most common combines one of us with a human, like our shifters. In fact, they are so common that we don’t call them such anymore.”

“Blue-bloods are hard to decipher unless they reveal their genetic makeup or undergo a series of tests, none of which are fun or kind. But they are often inhabited by more than one creature, creating what can be called a fractured personality. They’re both conscious and present. They interact with each other, and often share control over their limbs. This is not always to their advantage.”

Adam descended into examples, like the book. And what I pulled from it was that they tended to be more aware of their surroundings, seemed to have conversations with themselves, and have high reactionary skills. But apparently, they weren’t good with other people.

Essentially, as her bestie, Starr, explains, they’re rather mythological, even for the paranormal community.

Originally, the chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing Greek hybrid composed of the parts of more than one animal, usually depicted as a lion with the head of a goat growing from its back and a tail made of a snake’s head. They were the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, sibling of monsters such as Cerberus and the Hydra. Often, the sight of such a monster foreshadowed disaster.

Other cultural chimeras are: the Mesopotamian monster, Anzu; the western dragons; the Ancient Egyptian, Griffin; the Assyrian deity, Lamassu; the Japanese, Nue; the Greek, Pegasus; the Chinese mythical creature, Pixiu; the Iranian flying creature, Simurgh; the Jewish griffin-like bird, Ziz; and etc.

In reality, a genetic chimera is a single organism composed of cells with distinct genotypes: an individual derived from two or more zygotes, with differing sexes and sex organs, and are created by merging multiple fertilized eggs. This can also occur from organ or bone marrow transplants.

Can’t wait to explore more of the chimera in book two, especially since one of my favorite characters, Evan, is the rarest of them all. And as he is the representation of my husband as a teenager, I based the chimera on his psychology and behaviors. Believe me, the oddities and paradoxes run deep.

 

Stay tuned for a new excerpt this Friday from one of my favorite chapters.

And guys, I cannot wait until this is released for y’all. The responses I’ve been getting from my ARC readers prove the promise of this being a good read. Oh, the happiness this brings me.

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Shifters

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alisha costanzo, ethology, humanity, Mythologies, new release, Paranormal high school, shapeshifters, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series, YA Fantasy

Like vampires, I have shared a few different versions of them on here, and I’ll list them below, but the shifters in Lily’s world aren’t quite the same as what I’ve written before.

According to Lily’s Ethology textbook:

Shifters build packs as they bond, traditionally with the alpha, whose goal it is to create a cohesive unit that cares for and protects each other. Litters are encouraged to express themselves openly both verbally and nonverbally, making their bonds stronger than most.

I’ve been fascinated with how other authors create alphas and packs; how some alphas create such dominance that others plot their overthrow or flee the oppression on their free will; how some rile up their followers for war and keep secrets; how so many of the strongest seem to also be the meanest; how many are bullies and animals.

Granted, they are animals, but hey, we all are. And that seems to be a running theme in Lily world as she noted:

My ethology book weighed down with post-its, connecting what I read with what I saw and what Adam taught me. 

Vampires and shapeshifters were strangely like their mythologies, but like not. 

Demons and angels were less opposite than they’re depicted in religions, but like not. 

All of them weren’t exactly as people had noted, how they had noted each other. But we were all strangely…human. Whatever that meant. 

Instead of focusing on the negatives, the ethology strips that away and allows Lily to see them in a neutral light, which is important. As Lily is meant to be a part of the police force—a REPper, more on that soon—neutrality is a necessity, and something far lost in the tiny town of Saint Siena.

In that light, shifters of all varieties aim to create community and peace, because more often than not, they want peaceful lives instead of violent ones, they want families instead of enemies, they want love instead of rivalries.

Essentially, shifters are who have the most common with humanity in general.

 

Lily’s book, THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR, has its full cover and a publication date: October 1st, my birthday!

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.

 

Want to learn more about different types of shifters, check out some of my previous Did You Know… posts.

Did You Know…About the Jackal People?

Did You Know…About the Berserker?

Did You Know…About the Navajo Shapeshifter?

Did You Know…About the Portuguese Werewolf?

Did You Know…About the Japanese Werewolf?

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Witches

Tags

blouodhound, Disney, ethology lesson, magic, pop culture, Pride and Prejudice, starr black, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series, witches

Okay, we’re delving into a seriously deep well here. Witches span history and cultures, and heaven forbid, we sink into the black hole of witchcraft in fiction.

They embody scar-faced saviors, spiteful young women, idealized youth, and green-skinned villains.

As Lily’s Ethology book explains: Witches derive their power from their passion. Although encouraged to indulge themselves magically, pride can hinder their performance, so witches often remind their young to humble themselves.

With that in mind, let me introduce Starr Black, head witch from a formidable founding family. She’s strong, she’s sassy, and she’s smart. Essentially, Starr is a force to be reckoned with. And she becomes Lily’s bestie as traditions break down. Starr couldn’t be more ready for it.

Quickly, we find that tradition exhausts Starr as she has her own way of doing things—drawing instead of spell-casting, chants, or chemistry—and she rants about her wish for freedom, mostly from the expectations of her society, but I’m sure being the eldest of five isn’t doing her any favors, either.

However, her family is an interesting one, as this Snow White look-a-like has a younger sister with rare abilities. Mary is a bloodhound, meaning she can track magical origins with the depths and ease historians would envy, but she’s also strong-willed and strong-minded—more immune to magic and spells and trickery than the rest, which comes in handy for Lily’s investigation and helps save some lives. I don’t know much about Mary yet, but she creates a hell of a lot of implications about the magical world these teens occupy. The largest is hierarchy, exactly what Starr feels buried under.

In fact, she can say it better than I can, so here are a few excerpts from this sassy spitfire—and one of my new favorite characters:

If you could use a spell to transform into another person for the day, who would you be and what would you do?

Her smile made me giddy, reminiscent of adolescent sleepover secrets. “Don’t laugh at me, but I’d be Henrietta Yukon. She’s this magic guru down in Oklahoma with her highly-watched YouTube channel. She mentors youth around the world on magic and creativity. The first time I met her at a convention, she blessed my fountain pen for clear lines and intentions. It’s the only one I use. She inspired me to keep working on my craft the way it felt right for me. No one else had ever done that. So, what I’d do is make a video about my own style of spell-weaving and let it domino through her viewers. I’ve got a guy who does computer hacking on my payroll. I can get it up there, believe me. I want to show people that the traditional way isn’t always the right way or the only way.”

She sighed the same way my friends sighed over hot guys when she talked about her magic.

She pulled her rose gold phone from her bag and tapped through to a picture of boy with a naturally dark tan. And man, he was pretty. Chiseled jaw, cheekbones, chin, and arms. And that’s because it was all I could see of him. Pretty sure everything else was chiseled, too. “Yeah. I know. He’s perfect. Beautiful, strong, princely even.”

“But…” I supplied the not so implicit segue to her problem.

“But, he’s boring. Goddess, he’s charming and agreeable and thoughtful.”

“And boring.” That all sounded nice to me.

“Where’s the intellectual foreplay, since when did that go out of style? Pride and Prejudice suffers on its shelf while women ask for Disney. It’s revolting. What is an educated young woman to do without debate and lively conversation?”

“What do you talk about?”

“Ugh.” The eye roll she gave me could have sent me back to kindergarten. “Whether we should go to the vineyard for the summer or Aspen for the holiday. Whether the function served the right food and who deserved the best cigars, or if the matte chrome or shiny chrome made the best flask. Highbrow, stuffy, boring stuff. Sports and tradition and society. Do you know what society does? Huh? Do you? It tells you not to be original or different or to encourage change.”

Her perfectly manicured nails matched the red of her lips as she signed her overwhelmed frustration. “I don’t want to be some clone automaton repeating the same existence to ensure that existence continues. I want fire.”

“Well, you know magic. Why don’t you make some fire?”

“I shouldn’t have to make my own fire.”

Prior to breaking into the school:

Starr appeared in one of the spotlights on the sidewalk, sauntering in heels, skinny jeans, and a long, billowing shirt. Somehow, her heels didn’t echo or clink like I expected. She stopped between us with a flourish.

“Oh, don’t give me that look. They’re enchanted to be silent. Please.”

 

 

Oh yeah, she’s a fun outlier, and I hope y’all like her as much as I do when she gets here this October!

And stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

Did You Know…About the Cave Goblin?

Tags

cave goblin, giants, goblin, hiisi, kobold, Legend, medieval creatures, miner's legends, muki, mythology

Goblins are monstrous Medieval creatures with a wide variety of abilities, dispositions, and forms, but they primarily cause trouble for mankind with their mischievous, unpleasant, vengeful, and greedy ways.

(Photo Credit: Goblin’s Bloody Cloth by Tero Porthan)

The muki live in subterranean caves and are known as miners. From the Central Andes in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, the muki remains consistent in its dwarf-like height (no taller than two feet), its brawny and disproportionate body, lack of neck, deep and husky voice, long/bright blonde hair, reddish face with a long white beard, and deep and aggressively hypnotic metallic eyes. Sometimes, he has two horns to break rocks and search out mineral veins. Sometimes, he carries a mining lantern. Sometimes, he has pointy ears.

 

The muki live in secluded places, and their attacks arouse fear in the local communities, especially as they are known to steal defenseless children. Often, Elders advise using a belt to battle one and not to succumb to fear.

Yet, muki hold great power to help humans they like, making metal veins appear or disappear in a mine, sensing moods and emotions of the surrounding miners, helping their work by softening or hardening veins, and whistling loudly to warn miners of danger. They also make pacts with discreet and honest humans. And several stories tell of capturing these creatures, who often offer to do the miner’s work for some cocoa, alcohol, or a woman’s touch. If the miner reneges their promise, the muki will kill them.

The kobold is a famous German goblin with the versatility of living on ships, in mines, and human homes. They can change their appearance to fit their locale; however, most choose to be ambivalent household spirits—doing chores around the house—or they perform malicious tricks at being slighted. They can materialize as animals, fire, or human, typically taking shape as a small child in homes. Those who live in mines are often hunched and ugly, and those who take up residences on ships smoke pipes and dress as sailors.

Those who live underground were often blamed for cave-ins and rockslides. They favored pranking fool miners into taking worthless ore, mistaking them for rich veins of copper or silver, and when the ore was smelted, it became a noxious pollutant. Miners tried to placate kobolds with gold and silver offerings and respect, but still, sometimes, the kobold returned the favor with cobalt, a poisonous ore thusly named after the creature.

Yet, when treated well, the kobolds could benefit miners, knocking to warn miners not to travel in certain directs and indicating where rich veins of metal could be found—the more knocks, the better mining.

In Finnish mythologies, the hiisi are similar to giants or trolls and are found near striking cliffs, ominous crevasses, large boulders, potholes, woods, hills, and other prominent geographical features or rough terrain. They travel in a noisy procession and attack people who do not get out of their way. They come inside and steal your things when a door is left open. Cultivated areas are the only safe place to hide from a hiisi as they’re seen as sanctified.  Many pre-historic structures and larger stone boulders were thought erected by the hiisi and other giants.

Goblins come in plenty of shapes and flavors, but they all share one thing in common: they prefer being left alone.

 

Sources: thisisFINLAND, Hiisi, Mystic Files, Goblin, Kobold

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Reapers

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Archangel Ezekiel, Chronos, Death, greek mythology, Harvest God, reapers, tailsman, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, the grim reaper, Time Keeper

The famous Grim Reaper figures were inspired by the black shrouds and mourning robes at death; the scythe, like one harvesting corn, reaps thousands of souls with its swing; and in Greek mythology, Chronos, or Father Time, was the harvest god, who ate his children to symbolize that nothing lasts forever.

No wonder the mythology morphed into this cloaked skeleton, holding a scythe, and ethereally hovering over a shaking victim succumbing to mortality.

My reapers do deal in death, although they are too numerous to solely being responsible for transporting the dead to their afterlives. Reapers are time keepers, so they’re interested in details—controlling the universe, climates, populations, and lower-level businesses or agencies.

They’re good planners, diligent, and always meet a deadline.

And it’s not smart to get in a reaper’s way as they cannot be bribed or tricked, and few fight a reaper and survive. But none have beat death.

Created by archangel Ezekiel, they were meant to remain neutral between heaven and hell. Reapers can, however, be controlled by a demon or angel. They all also have a talisman, which, if found, can be used by a sorcerer to govern them.

The scariest and strongest of the reapers can become essence to sneak around and immobilize their targets. Many can transform into the person or role they are “taking.” And many become ravens.

I’m looking forward to learning more about them in book two; they have a lot of potential.

 

Stay tuned for the cover reveal coming August 8th and more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world.

Sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Elementals

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divine objects, elementals, lady gaia, must read, paranormal, pigmy, salamanders, sylphs, the earth mother, undines

I am fascinated with elementals. I have one in my Broken World series, Nami, but in Lily Grave’s world, they’re a bit more than humans who can control the elements.

They often appear as clairvoyants and tricksters who love jewelry and are feared by humans, but they’re often the workers of Lady Gaia, the Earth Mother. With spirits made of raw, volatile energy, they are ageless and cycle with the earth, absorbing negativity, changing, and being reborn to do it again.

Many use divine objects created by god and work with alchemy to channel their powers.

Some are human or human hybrids. The only way for an elemental to gain a genuine soul is to marry with a human and produce offspring.

Allow me to break this down with some examples.

The Pigmy or Gnome, who tend the earth through the season’s cycles. They manage energy wells, cleaning the negative imprints left by humans. Most dwell in caves and mountains.

The Undines, who guard the seas, protecting the water, control tides, and have a hand in climate. They cleanse the waters poisoned by industrial waste and pesticides, recharge electromagnetic fields and currents, and clear mankind’s emotions, like selfishness, anger, abuse, anxiety, and indulgence. They can appear as mermaids and live in the waves.

The Sylphs, who aerate life, directing air currents and the atmosphere. They nourish all living things, purify the air before it can taint the water and earth, and cleanse the mental plane, too, of hatred, racial prejudice, rebellious bigotry, resentment, pride, ambition, greed, and jealousy, etc. They are thin and ethereal, transforming gracefully in mid air as they travel great distances in a short time and often appear as butterflies.

The Salamanders, who infuse organic and inorganic life with creation fire, sustain life, and provide electricity’s flame for daily use. Without it, life would decay, corrode, and disintegrate. They hold the burden of absorbing huge conglomerates of negativity over large cities, including crime and darkness. Although they sustain life, they are often taken for granted. Most often, they appear as lizard-like creatures.

I can’t wait to explore these guys in Lily’s world as the series grows, and they may become some main players. Ooo, the ideas are swirling.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

Did You Know…About the Paranormal War?

Tags

Assetato, atlantean pantheon, atlantis, Boot Camp, Celampresians, must read, mythology, paranormal, Romulus, shifters, vampires

I have two distinct groups in my Broken World series, the Celampresians and the Assetato, who fight for rule over the paranormal world.

First, the Celampresians are named after the queen of the vampires, the first one in existence: Phea Celampresian. She’s vain, so she named her army after herself.

I chose that name after some research about Altantis and what type of surnames may have come from their culture. “Celam-” means the noble, and Phea was part of Atlantean nobility as her stepfather held a high-ranking government position. This also plays into her heritage: she was born of an Atlantean human woman impregnated by the primordial god, Chronos; therefore, making Phea the granddaughter of the Earth Goddess, Gaia. I infuse this mythology in her story, “Maiden of the Underworld.” In any case, I’m going off on a tangent, as I do. The second part of the name, “presian,” came from my tweaking two other names: Ampheresian, which means unsophisticated, hardy, and enduring, and Diaprepesian, which means ambitious, untrustworthy, and sly, all of which describe Phea’s personality not long after she becomes a vampire.

Essentially, the Celampresians are the bad guys, an evil coalition that aims to kill off most of the shifter races because Phea wants a dictatorship with all paranormal creatures under her control. This stems from her birth as the first paranormal creature, the mother of all vampires and the grandmother of all shifters.

Second, the Assetato have a bit simpler of a back-story. I knew that Rosalie, the head of the Assetato, was Italian royalty before she was stolen and changed by one of the Celampresians. Once she freed herself from their reign, she banded with important allies and founded the organization in order to undermine Phea’s hold on the paranormal world so that vampires, shifters, and humans can live together. Simply put, I named them the Italian translation for “The Thirsty,” as they work not to kill humans in order to survive.

The Assetato are supposed to be the good guys, but their means of fighting don’t always seem so pure. They combat Phea’s control over them and want to live more peacefully, although they also battle their natural impulses to consume human blood and flesh. They are mostly good-doers in the U.S. but are more aggressive in Europe, as I will explore in an upcoming spin-off novel THE SISTER WITH THE STOLEN POCKET WATCH about a mermaid-unicorn, but that’s a whole new tangent.

This is why they create safe houses, like seen in LOVING RED and “The Mark of the Phoenix.” To house their brethren away from the Celampresians, to protect humans, to let their soldiers heal, and to safeguard humans against their base natures.

The last note I want to make about the Assetato as an organization and all of the links between the two groups is this—Anthemos Romulus Celampresian. You may or may not recognize that name from book one and the short story “The Mark of the Phoenix,” where I give hints of his role in this world. Anthemos, or Mumu as his mother likes to call him, is the Atlantean god of beasts, the only god remaining from that pantheon, and the father of shifters.

To put it bluntly, he’s both Phea’s son and the real driving force behind the organization that combats her. Besides all of the Atlantean threads at play in Ria’s tale—my current perspective, Anthemos’s function is far more strictly tied than I’ve let on. He is, after all, his mother’s son, and their relationship affects a lot more than a few camps of creatures.

Looking forward to revealing more about this magickal place!

 

Want to know more about Altantis? About Phea? Check out Did You Know…About Phea and James, my interviewwith Phea, the vampire queen, and my free download of her creation story, “Maiden of the Underworld.”

 

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Ghosts

Tags

afterlife, aswang, corporeal ghosts, ghost stories, mononoke, must read, the hungry ghost, the white lady, urban legends, vanishing hitchhiker

As Lily investigates the missing kids at her school, she encounters corporeal ghosts, a group that pretty much hates everyone but their own. They’re lively and have a flair for drama. They’re my punk kids, my conspiracy theorists, my gang for making mischief. They skirt the line of playful and illegal.

But most ghostly legends and mythologies are tackled individually—a particular being has reason to stick around after death—be it a grudge, a wrong-doing, a broken heart.

That’s what makes them the most fun to play with. They can be anything: the cold that bleeds fear into a room, the knocking in the attack, the flash of eyes in the dark.

Most often, they’re just stuck.

I thought it might be interesting to explore some of the particular cultural mythologies they embody.

(Photo Credit (c) Vanishing Hitchhiker by Nevardaed)

Like the vanishing hitchhiker legend in the US, where people traveling encountered a normal passenger who’s left something behind or asks to borrow protection from the cold. Often, the loaned garment is found draped over a local gravestone.

Close to home in Rochester, NY, comes the White Lady, who haunts Durand-Eastman Park. She’s also been noted as the Lady in the Lake, wandering the park and obsessively looking for her daughter’s body, who’d been slain by a boyfriend. The mother, the White Lady, died of heartbreak.

Another version of the White Lady comes as a murder or suicide victim that died before she could share the location of a hidden treasure in the UK. In Germany, the wife of a prince was caught cheating. The lover drowned in a moat, and the prince locked the princess up behind a wall with some food and water. He died in battle, and she died in the manor.

In Brazil, they are the victims of honor killings. Yet, for the Netherlands, she embodies the banshee, abducting babies and women, punishing people who treated them badly.

The White Lady burned in a castle farm on her wedding day in the Schinveldse Bossen forest. And in Malta, a young bride jumped to her death, wearing her gown, the day before the wedding.

The White Lady is such a popular ghost tale that she’s found a home in a slew of pop-culture shows, like Supernatural, and movies such as, The Grudge, and Scary Movie 2, etc.

The Mononoke, from Japan, are vengeful, dead, and live spirits in their classical literature, who possessed individuals and made them suffer, caused disease, and sometimes death. They are often referred to as changed beings.

One of my favorites is the Filipino Aswang, a shapeshifting monster who combines the vampire, the ghoul, and the witch. The creature was meant to frighten the people and discourage mobility in the sixteenth century. The story of dwelling in the outskirts of forests spread quickly between towns.

Another interesting ghost comes from Chinese Buddhism and traditional religion: the hungry ghost. As most become a regular ghost when die then slowly weaken and die a second time, a hungry ghost occurred in unfortunate circumstances or evil deeds. They exist in perpetual emptiness, aching for fulfillment or relief.

All of them suffer for something that happened in life, by their own doing or not, something that cannot be denied any version Lily may come across.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

Got a ghost story to share? Tell me about it in the comments below!

 

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Vampires.

Tags

Alchemy, Crique Du Freak, designer drink, Dogma, Dracula, House of Night, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, The Morganville Vampires, The Silver Kiss, vampires, War in Heaven

Vampires. I love talking about vampires. I have a ton of Did You Know…postsabout them, but if I’m honest, I’m not quite sure how the vampires in Lily’s world behave because she’s only had passing interactions with them.

Here’s what she knows so far:

Vampires and shapeshifters were strangely like their mythologies, but like not.

And they’re goth. Yup, that’s all they’ve given me so far.

In the spirit of the process—yes, I really just said that, hold back your cringing—I thought I’d work it out here.

My vampires so far have been fast, strong, and more animal than human. They’re derived from primordial gods with a lot of Roman and Greek influence. The gods in the Lily Graves series aren’t quite the same, shifting and satirizing the religion I grew up with—Catholicism.

Instead, I was thinking of a more traditional Dracula vampire—pale, romantic, dangerous type—mixed with typical teenager emo/goth. The inspiration comes from a few YA series, like The Morganville Vampires, The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Cirque Du Freak, House of Night, and standalone, The Silver Kiss.

They all remind me of the distinct style that I’m flirting with, a shift that was both fun and terrifying for me as a writer. I like to dabble in the darkness, in the battle between sin and instincts, and of course, conformity. But I also like to kill off characters and smother them in sex…I couldn’t do that all willy-nilly as I’m typically inclined to because, yeah, young adult.

In any case, these guys are all way cooler than I was at that age. Smarter, too.

Wrap all of that up in dyed-black hair, white powder, thick eyeliner (for me it was sparkles), and dark lipstick. Let them have ridiculously weird inside jokes that feature llamas and bunnies and have banal taste in music.

Aim I painting the right picture here? Because this may hit a little too close to home. I once got accused of sacrificing babies and worshipping Marilyn Manson, but I loved the Backstreet Boys—and every single other boy band if I’m being really honest. Goth teeny bopper. Yup.

 

Okay, quirky picture drawn. Let’s move on.

I do know that I want them to have an aversion to sunlight. Does this mean tunnels or magic to get around town, and especially to school? I mean, they attend regular hours, so it must not make them that sleepy, right?

They obviously drink blood, but is it just human? Can they drink demon or angel or dragon, etc? Where do they get it? Blood-mobiles? Snatching up citizens? A designer drink? Volunteers? Man, the options are limitless. Maybe they’ve used Alchemy, which will be a growing element of the series as we dig deeper into Lily and Evan’s friendship.

It’s a start.

And religious symbols. Again, the possibilities… I love the Anita Blake series for the faith behind the object making it work, or the idea of the object needing blessed to work, like in Dogma. The one vampire I’ve had contact with painted a picture of Lucifer, so in a sense, he shouldn’t have an aversion to all religion.

This also relies on the heavy leans and leeways I’ve taken with the Biblical stories and mythologies—rather than the organized religion itself. I say this because I grew up with a lot of stories that other denominations went without, and some certainly were not anywhere in the books. I was raised as a Roman Catholic, in case anyone’s curious.

Let’s just say, I have a lot to play with: reasons for the differences between the god in the Old Testament and the one in the New Testament; why Jesus needed to come to Earth and die for our sins; and the real story behind the war in Heaven and what became of Lucifer.

I have a lot of nuances yet to figure out to say the least, but what I’ve discovered so far has me amped for book two. I can’t wait to plot it out at the end of the year.

 

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

If you’re interested in knowing more about different kinds of vampires, check out my top five Did You Know…posts:

1. Did You Know…About the Scandinavian Vampire?
2. Did You Know…About the Chinese/Korean Vampire?
3. Did You Know…About the Mexican Vampire?
4. Did You Know…About the Aboriginal Vampire?
5. Did You Know…About the Ancient Roman Vampire?

 

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Muses.

Tags

Ancient Greek, girl with the glowing hair, influence, inspiration, Lily Graves, Mnemosyne, Muse, mythology, Zeus

Much like Lily, muses are high up on my favorites list—just behind the chimera. This may be because I possess a living muse, my husband, whom influences so much of my writing without being acutely aware of it. And man, did he inspire the hell out of my Lily Graves series, more specifically, Evan Walker, my leading chimera.

In Lily’s world, they’re not so much gods or goddesses like in Greek mythology. Rather, they’re like the fey or elementals—immortal so long as nothing kills them—but their powers are limited to shaping others’ minds.

According to Lily:

Muses were by far my favorite to observe and read about. How they could gather a group of artists, share time with them, and inspire such variations of themselves and their stories. They were creatures that could be found within most characters in assorted story types. Others talked to everyone about anything, spreading seeds on the wind to hope for germination. 

I see my husband do this ALL THE TIME. It’s fascinating.

Lily even gets to experience this:

Starr’s far-off look made me wonder if she whispered to the squirrels outside. Her hand fell to the piece on her easel before her attention followed, like a muse directed her.

I searched the room as casually as I could muster, which I had to admit, wasn’t much. A boy with a blue and purple fade and a flop of curls in front of his left eye moved his lips silently, but the cadence had energy, the kind I felt more than heard. He smiled around his words and a wave hit me.

My pencil hit the paper, scribbling before my mind caught up.

A flower.

With tear-drop petals.

A waterlily.

Floating.

I nabbed a pack of pastel sticks.

Water emerged around the pad.

Green, one dimensional under the lily.

I highlighted it with the blues and greens. Lightly. As the energy swirled and died around me.

I sucked in a breath as I set down the pastels.

Starr laughed at me. “You are funny.”

The elegant coloring of the flower struck me. I wasn’t being humble when I said I didn’t have any talent. But this…was one of those moments you get blessed with every now and again—that one when you’re in the right place at the right time and stuff works out perfectly.

“How am I funny?”

I got a shake of the head for an answer.

It’s how I’ve often experienced getting hit with inspiration, so it only made sense to reflect that in my version of the muse.

In fact, they seem to combine the current culture’s depiction of muses with the Ancient Greek variety. The mythological muses are often seen as nine goddesses, the daughters or Zeus and Mnemosyne, who presided over the arts and sciences, becoming both their symbols and their protectors.  Essentially, they were inspirational goddesses and embodied poetry, history, music, tragedy, hymns, dance, comedy, and astronomy.

In any case, these are some interesting folks, and I can’t wait to discover more about them.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.