A to Z Blogging Challenge: W is for Wraith

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...

W is for Wraith

Historically, Wraith was the Scottish word for a ghost or apparition, and usually seen as an omen. In more modern times, literature and movies have cast the Wraith as a more sinister and evil creature, often portrayed as a spectral figure in a cloak of darkness with glowing eyes. Probably the most well known example are the Nazgul, the ring-wraiths from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Wraiths feature in my upcoming dark fantasy book Necromancer, publishing Summer 2014. Here's my description:

"The bones strewn about the floor collected themselves together with a hollow, rattling sound, pulling the ragged, rotten cloth with them. A cloud of dust and the stink of dry rot washed over me. The cowl of its robe fell across its skull, partly obscuring the baleful, blue orbs that pulsed in its eye sockets. A shadowy, transparent body coalesced around the bones. Non-corporeal talons slid silently from its finger bones, and two points of yellow light whirled around its head in a tight orbit, leaving a faint trail in the air. It throbbed with power."

That's what happens when you go digging around in ancient burial mounds... sleep well. :)

A to Z Blogging Challenge - G is for Ghoul

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."

Forgotten Realms wikia

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?