M is for Malacorana

        My theme for this year’s April A-Z Blog Challenge is fantastical creatures, celebrating my upcoming book, On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination, which will be released by the end of the year.  Please visit my Kickstarter Campaign for the project to learn all sorts of additional details!

        M is another letter for which I’ve already discussed both my bestiary’s creatures in this blog.  To learn all about them, first go back and read my previous posts

     on the mušḫuššu

     on the malacomorph

But I do have a new block print to share with you, which is one of the malacomorphs that will appear in my bestiary.  True to their origins as doodles in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, I have made a number of these funny little critters which will appear throughout my book.  I had particular fun with this one, combining not only the requisite snail shell, but also snail antlers and then wings, just because that made it even quirkier.  What creature do you think would be best combined with a snail shell?

      Are you a doodler?  What sorts of doodles do you tend to produce?  Pictures of things, or abstract shapes?  Straight lines or curves?  Filling in all the o’s or putting mustaches on all the people?

But wait; there’s more!  The alphabet of mythical creatures doesn’t stop there.  You have to click the link to read

the entire post about Mythical Creatures of the Letter M.

[Picture: Malacorana, rubber block print by AEGN, 2019 (sold out).]