Phew!
I’m not sure if I’ve comprehensively detailed this here yet or not but last year, I was contracted by Aurealis (Australia’s top sff magazine and home of the globally recognised Aurealis Awards) to write a 7-part series on the symbolic origin of paranormal creatures.
Well, last night I handed in the last article. PHEW. ‘Goblins: Greed, Anti-Semitism and Neurodivergence Throughout History’ is coming to an Aurealis magazine near you in, I think, December.
Relatedly, issue #145 just came out, and it contains my penultimate contribution: ‘Dragons: World Origins, Evil and Knowledge Throughout History.’
Not only has this series been a blast to research and write (even if I did miss literally every deadline by a few days >.< ), I also have plans to use the research as the basis for a series of paranormal holiday romances in the future, AND I’m planning to bundle the seven articles together into a little non-fiction book that will come out in early 2023: On The Origin Of (Paranormal) Species, coming to a bookstore near you in only about 18 months’ time 😀 haha.
So yes. It’s been fun and worthwhile and valuable – and at the same time it was a real relief to get the last article done and sorted. One article every two months does not SOUND like very often, but let me assure you, it comes around faster than you’d think >.<
I’ll leave you with a question. This is the list of creatures I’ve written about – which one intrigues you the most?!
Goblins: Greed, Anti-Semitism and Neurodivergence
Dragons: World Origins, Evil and Knowledge
Werewolves: Liminality, Power and Transformation
Unicorns: Strength, Freedom and Awe
Fairies: Malevolence, Beneficence and Nature
Vampires: Death, Attraction and Belonging
Mermaids: Desire, Longing And Death