Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Author Guest Post: Isabel Kunkle



Isabel Kunkle is the author of Hickey of the Beast. She is here today to talk about her favorite supernatural creatures. Welcome Isabel!



Dragons are in my top three, and really aren't creatures you see a lot in fiction these days, especially YA fiction. I get that. Dragons are big, and it's hard to make them unobtrusive in a modern setting: I haven't messed around with them myself at all yet. They're also tough because they're very blatantly inhuman. Those factors both go into their appeal, though: the size confers a certain majesty, and the inhuman-ness means you can get pretty weird. Plus, many concepts of dragons are color-coded for some reason, and I like color-coded wackiness.

My other two favorites are much more in the humanoid vein. One is angels. I'm nowhere on the Abrahamic-religion spectrum, but the concept of divine servitors is one I find pretty neat, and I like all the symbolism and names associated with the various angels in myth and magical tradition. Also, I was probably unduly influenced by having read Many Waters at a young age—I was also seriously disappointed that the nephilim were evil there, because their wings came in way prettier colors. I'm good at missing the message like that.

Finally, elves. They're magic and they live forever and they're pretty and sort of weird and impulsive. What's not to like? I've been partial to the Fair Folk amoral alien sort as well as the basically-good-and-totally-awesome Tolkien variety. I'm not crazy about elves as snottier or more prudish or more granola-y humans, though, which can be one of my pet peeves in the more high-fantasy variety of books. The basic concept, though, is one of my favorites.

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Thanks so much for sharing your picks with us! Dragons are one of my favorites too! 


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