Escape Artists
The Arcade => Flash Contest IV => Completed Contests => Flash Fiction Contest IV - PodCastle => Topic started by: Ocicat on July 04, 2017, 07:58:41 AM
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In the last Podcastle contest, I graced every group with an entry from a medieval bestiary. I happen to love bestiaries, both for their fantastic / mythological creatures, and for the misconceptions about real creatures (remember the barnacle goose (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=7478.0)?) And I really enjoyed throwing the spotlight on some more obscure monsters (*cough*bonnacon (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=7434.0)*cough*). The downside of using the classic bestiaries is that they were very European centric. Sure, some of their entries draw from middle eastern or north African legends, but at Podcastle, we like to celebrate stories and mythologies from all over the world.
So this time, that's just what I'm going to do. Feature monsters and fantastic beasts from all around the world. I'll even tell you where to find them. And expect some obscure critters alongside the legends you may have heard of. I would be quite surprised if anyone with familiar with the critters in all 22 entries of my Global Bestiary.
But since the monks of medieval Europe knew nothing about the monsters that kept the Aztecs or the people of Japan awake at night... I'll be doing a little bit more creative writing myself. I'll be drawing from my own obscure knowledge of legends and folklore, as well as internet research. Apologies in advance if I misrepresent your favorite fantastic beast. Especially if it's from your cultural background. I'm just a kitty trying to do his best.
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That made me think of a story... hang on... there it is: Ogres of East Africa (http://podcastle.org/2015/12/15/podcastle-394-ogres-of-east-africa/) by Sofia Samatar (http://escape-artists.wikia.com/wiki/Sofia_Samatar)!
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And I really I'm just a kitty trying to do his best.
Ha! Good Kitty.
I am really looking forward to learning about these creatures and critters. Especially after the amazing bestiary in the last PC contest. Yay!!
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As a kid, I read the AD&D Monster Manual for fun, before I even knew the game. So I feel ya.
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Thats really cool. I look forward to reading them :)
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Are the stories previous winners, or entries from this round? As well as your own stories, of course.
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Are the stories previous winners, or entries from this round? As well as your own stories, of course.
All the bestiary entries are my own. I'm cobbling together bits from different sources to make coherent descriptions of the creatures. Of course, the sources often contradict each other - so it's been interesting deciding what to include and what to ignore. I imagine it's rather similar to what medieval monks did when creating their bestiaries, actually. Just with less Google Translate.
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Are the stories previous winners, or entries from this round? As well as your own stories, of course.
All the bestiary entries are my own. I'm cobbling together bits from different sources to make coherent descriptions of the creatures. Of course, the sources often contradict each other - so it's been interesting deciding what to include and what to ignore. I imagine it's rather similar to what medieval monks did when creating their bestiaries, actually. Just with less Google Translate.
So, I recently heard your episode discussing some of the entries in the Global Bestiary used for this contest. I was wondering if you had a print version to share with us curious souls out there.
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No print version, though some of my friends think I should make one!
In any case, you can read all the entries in the old poll posts for the Podcastle contests.
The Global Bestiary entries are on polls for Contest IV (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=271.0).
My older, more eurocentric Bestiary entries are on polls for Contest III (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?board=153.0).