SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Come share with us your favorite mythical/folkloric creature, encounters you've had with unknown beasts, and fun facts you've learned about these beasties!

Sorry to the critters I lob in with monsters, I mean it as a classification, not a condemnation. ;-)

Okay, let’s go:
Unicorn, including Indrik, Kirin and Qi-Lin varieties (Russian, Japanese and Chinese respectively);
Pegasus and other pterippas (pterippa is a name for any winged horse who isn’t Pegasus, such as tolpars for example);
Kitsune
Chimera ( as in a broad understanding of mix and match creatures, but classics also good);
Yal aka Yeyl aka Centikor (kinda deer/antelope with big fangs and tentacle horns)
Lut-zver’ - rare beast from Russian mythology described as creature with a head of a horse and body of a spotted big cat.
Phoenix & Fire-bird

Okay I think I need to stop )))

Wow, how are you so well-versed in this lore? Very impressive!

So, basically: list your Pokemon? 😎

No favorites, but I fear no-one else will mention Finnish folklore's Iku-Turso or our pre-Santa version of goat/man, Nuuttipukki.

Let's not forget the famous 'Moby Dick', or the Greek mythology's Centaurs, the half-human and half- goat 'Satyres', the Minotaur and the one-eyed Cyclops.

Jemppu wrote: "So, basically: list your Pokemon? 😎"

Banshee, I choose you! lol

One very specific mythological creature from my home region is the Wolpertinger. It doesn't really have special powers, but there's lots of stories about how to catch one.

Mareike wrote: "One very specific mythological creature from my home region is the Wolpertinger. It doesn't really have special powers, but there's lots of stories about how to catch one."

I love wolpertinger! He's very similar to the US jackalope. In fact, I bet the jackalope was "imported" by our German-Americans!

Anthony wrote: "Wow, how are you so well-versed in this lore? Very impressive!"

I read. A LOT. )))
And also I don't like dragons, so if I need to look for some fun creatures I'd go into the forgotten depths of the lore.

Coyote is much like Loki in that he's a trickster
Chupacabra is in the American southwest
Wendigo is from the NE and NCentral part of the US and is a Native American creature

Since my intro to fantasy was through Hindu mythology, I'll throw in a word for the Narasimhika, an incarnation of the goddess Shakti, with a lion head, created basically to stop the male gods from destroying everything with their one-upmanship, telling them to sit their asses down, because she was more powerful than all of them and her head shake "throws the stars into disarray".

Pujashree wrote: "Since my intro to fantasy was through Hindu mythology, I'll throw in a word for the Narasimhika, an incarnation of the goddess Shakti, with a lion head, created basically to stop the male gods from..."

This really adds a whole new level to "smdh" haha!

Allison wrote: "Mareike wrote: "One very specific mythological creature from my home region is the Wolpertinger. It doesn't really have special powers, but there's lots of stories about how to catch one."

I love ..."

Oh, that connection between the Wolpertinger and the Jackalope is very possible!

In my original hometown, which is quite touristy, you can still see Wolpertinger in shop windows and such as decoration and I'm kinda fond of them, even though I usually find taxidermied animals quite off-putting.

I don't know if he's really a 'monster' but in the fairy tales I enjoyed some were from Suriname. The ones I loves most were about Anansi the spider.

He was a bit like Loki and the Fox in fairy tales. But from what I can remember he was always a bit of a dick. While Loki sometimes helped humans. (I could be wrong about this, it's been a while)

Anansi, like Loki and Coyote, is a Trickster figure, and they're typically all over the place as regards whether you want them on your side or not! :D

John wrote: Loogaroo, learned about this one from a Creole friend of mine, the story goes that it is an old woman in league with the devil and she must collect blood so the devil doesn't take her blood and kill her.

I find this interesting, since the word "loogaroo" would presumably be pronounced pretty much the same as loup-garou, which is basically the French word for "werewolf." And Creole derives from French, so...

Oh I want to read a story about Narasimhika!

What about Baba Yaga from Russian folklore?
She's usually described as old, ugly hag living in a shaggy wooden hut on chicken legs and with bone fence, in deep woods or swamp (if not both), flying on a broom and eating people after baking them alive (unlike the hag in Hansel and Gretel, she will eat adults indiscriminately but can be fooled by the same 'I don't know how to sit on a shovel' trick).

In the 1964 movie Morozko (a euphemism for Grandfather Frost as the main good 'supernatural' in the story), she's also seen animating some ent-like creatures and having a pig and a black cat in the hut. And flying something that looks like a garage stove upside down (sitting in it, using her broom as a paddle to direct her flight).

John wrote: "Tomas wrote: "What about Baba Yaga from Russian folklore?
She's usually described as old, ugly hag living in a shaggy wooden hut on chicken legs and with bone fence, in deep woods or swamp (if not ..."

I always loved Baba Yaga in the Quest for Glory video games in the 90s. Nobody ever knew who I was talking about until Ant-Man 2 came out. At least now they've heard of her.

Baba Yaga! https://youtu.be/16S8b2tko40

No. Baba Yaga:

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-...

I just discovered a children's books series that looks like fun for the right reader: https://www.goodreads.com/series/2223...

Baba Yaga aka Baba Roga in some places.

Manticores.