Extraordinary Beasts

This is a family-friendly selection of tales from my book Hellhounds and Hero Horses: Beasts of Myth and Legend (ebook and print). The 205 stories, anecdotes and incidents demonstrate that animals are not, as is often assumed, less than human: they're just other, a property that is magnified and exaggerated in the accounts of legendary and mythical beasts. Some stories probably report actual occurrences that were interpreted and pre-judged according to the witnesses' cultural background and beliefs. Topics include death-presaging urcos of Galicia, benevolent Black Dogs of England, the Moddey Dhoo of the Isle of Man, kelpies of Scotland, p cas of Ireland, heroic horses of legend, monstrous cats, helpful birds, mostly friendly wolves, shape-shifters and shape-changers, saints and animals, and a miscellaneous menagerie of creatures of myth, legend and folklore, and supposedly factual accounts.