If you haven't heard of it, check out the A to Z blog and join in the fun.
Here at Untethered Realms, we're taking on the Challenge as a group. Each day, one of us will be sharing with you a fantastical creature that may be from one of our books, a favorite movie, or something we just came up with as entertainment.
Today we have...
G is for Ghoul
In mythic lore, the Ghoul was an undead creature that lurked in cemeteries, feeding upon the flesh of corpses - a carrion eater! Nasty, ugly creatures. They feature in my upcoming dark fantasy book Necromancer, publishing Summer 2014. Here's my description of the Ghoul:
"Something lunged at me, grunting and growling in one hideous sound. I rolled against the tombstone and the misshapen creature pounced where I had lain, its hands raking the ground, flinging dirt everywhere [...]
Desiccated flesh hung from the body of the ghoul, revealing glimpses of yellowed bone beneath its torn, paper-thin skin. Another lunged at Kolta, who had bolted upright while I had been lying in the dirt. Behind them, more ghouls clawed free of the ground.
Filthy creatures."
The Ghoul also featured in classic Arabian mythology. Known as the ghul, it was a demonic, shape-shifting type of djinn that preyed on its victims by pretending to be an animal, then luring them away into the desert, never to return.
How do you fancy meeting one of these things on a dark, moonless night?
