Chantal Boudreau's Blog - Posts Tagged "zombies"
Chantelly’s field guide to zombies
Taking my blog on a little detour for Halloween and to put me in the right mindset for starting my zombie novel, Sleep Escapes Us, for NaNoWriMo, I’ve decided to post my own personal field guide to zombies. I intend to cover a full range of shamblers and runners, from your basic magical Voodoo zombie to the more popular viral infection zombie. At the moment I have them classified into four groups: biological, environmental, magical, and technological, with sub-groups for each category. If you think I’m missing any, and should add a separate type, leave a comment with feedback regarding any others you think should be covered.
I’m going to start by discussing one of the more current and obscure types, the technological zombies, and go from there.
Zombies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are not always necessarily of human origin. I just saw Black Sheep this week and the zombies in my novelette, Shear Terror, are of the ovine kind as well. Zombie dogs are not that uncommon in films and stories either.
Some zombies are the result of a worldwide zombie apocalypse, a la Dawn of the Dead, or sometimes the zombification is a more isolated incidence, contained to an island, a prison or even an office building. While they are usually categorized as undead, certain zombies have never actually died but are merely victims of mind control from one of varying sources, mindless thralls who no longer behave in any way that we would define as human. As long as they travel in mobs, show no emotion, demonstrate basal responses such as aggression and hunger and ignore damage that would floor a normal human, we can usually qualify them as zombies.
The Oxford dictionary definition of zombie: A soulless body. In the Voodoo cult of Haiti, a zombi is the slave of a magician. The soul may have been removed by magic from a living person, or the body of someone recently deceased may have been brought up out of the grave after the soul had been separated from it by regular rites of death. As the lord of the dead, Ghede has the power to animate corpses as zombis.
Note that it says a soulless body, but not necessarily dead/undead.
From what popular culture has done with the entire concept of zombie, that definition has been expanded upon in a variety of directions, thanks to the creative genius of Romero and his peers. We now have a wide range of these particular creatures of horror. In truth, the fearsome aspect of zombies is not so much where they come from, but how they behave and the likelihood that we might become one too. The monsters are generally associated with fears of things that could impact our lives in a significant way. It’s a combination loss of control, loss of humanity.
Techno-zombies
Computer-based zombies:
Look up “technology” and “zombies” and you’ll find a slew of sites talking about how technology is turning our youths into zombies through use of computers and associated tech devices. But what if it really did? One of the most recent developments in the zombie genre are computer-based zombies. The source of zombie-ism, the root cause of whatever incident or apocalypse, is technology.
One example of this type of zombie can be found in my recent digital short story release from Trestle Press, Technopathy. The techno-zombies, in this case, are the results of malfunctioning nanobots that are tied to a particular form of technology that people are voluntarily having installed directly into their head. There’ s an element of irony in that the victims are mostly those who blindly follow trends, so they didn’t have much of a mind of their own to begin with. Those who escape the effects of Technopathy are the very poor, such as vagrants, social outcasts and technophobes.
This is a recent form of zombie, and I predict it will become more common. The zombie genre tends to reflect popular fears.
Space zombies:
Zombies in space not a new concept. The idea was being contemplated as far back as 1968, when the space race was a big new idea, with The Astro-Zombies starring John Carradine. They were proposing a zombie-based space program, and if that’s not weird enough, the zombies were fuelled by solar panels installed in their heads (???!)
Atomic zombies:
Another tech-zombie concept that arose from a paranoia surrounding nuclear plants and weapons, I consider radiation-spawned zombies a hybrid of environment and technology, so I’ll be covering them in more detail in my environmental section next week.
If you’d like a closer look at techno-zombie fiction, you can find my digital short from Trestle Press, Technopathy, on Amazon at:
my link text
I’m going to start by discussing one of the more current and obscure types, the technological zombies, and go from there.
Zombies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are not always necessarily of human origin. I just saw Black Sheep this week and the zombies in my novelette, Shear Terror, are of the ovine kind as well. Zombie dogs are not that uncommon in films and stories either.
Some zombies are the result of a worldwide zombie apocalypse, a la Dawn of the Dead, or sometimes the zombification is a more isolated incidence, contained to an island, a prison or even an office building. While they are usually categorized as undead, certain zombies have never actually died but are merely victims of mind control from one of varying sources, mindless thralls who no longer behave in any way that we would define as human. As long as they travel in mobs, show no emotion, demonstrate basal responses such as aggression and hunger and ignore damage that would floor a normal human, we can usually qualify them as zombies.
The Oxford dictionary definition of zombie: A soulless body. In the Voodoo cult of Haiti, a zombi is the slave of a magician. The soul may have been removed by magic from a living person, or the body of someone recently deceased may have been brought up out of the grave after the soul had been separated from it by regular rites of death. As the lord of the dead, Ghede has the power to animate corpses as zombis.
Note that it says a soulless body, but not necessarily dead/undead.
From what popular culture has done with the entire concept of zombie, that definition has been expanded upon in a variety of directions, thanks to the creative genius of Romero and his peers. We now have a wide range of these particular creatures of horror. In truth, the fearsome aspect of zombies is not so much where they come from, but how they behave and the likelihood that we might become one too. The monsters are generally associated with fears of things that could impact our lives in a significant way. It’s a combination loss of control, loss of humanity.
Techno-zombies
Computer-based zombies:
Look up “technology” and “zombies” and you’ll find a slew of sites talking about how technology is turning our youths into zombies through use of computers and associated tech devices. But what if it really did? One of the most recent developments in the zombie genre are computer-based zombies. The source of zombie-ism, the root cause of whatever incident or apocalypse, is technology.
One example of this type of zombie can be found in my recent digital short story release from Trestle Press, Technopathy. The techno-zombies, in this case, are the results of malfunctioning nanobots that are tied to a particular form of technology that people are voluntarily having installed directly into their head. There’ s an element of irony in that the victims are mostly those who blindly follow trends, so they didn’t have much of a mind of their own to begin with. Those who escape the effects of Technopathy are the very poor, such as vagrants, social outcasts and technophobes.
This is a recent form of zombie, and I predict it will become more common. The zombie genre tends to reflect popular fears.
Space zombies:
Zombies in space not a new concept. The idea was being contemplated as far back as 1968, when the space race was a big new idea, with The Astro-Zombies starring John Carradine. They were proposing a zombie-based space program, and if that’s not weird enough, the zombies were fuelled by solar panels installed in their heads (???!)
Atomic zombies:
Another tech-zombie concept that arose from a paranoia surrounding nuclear plants and weapons, I consider radiation-spawned zombies a hybrid of environment and technology, so I’ll be covering them in more detail in my environmental section next week.
If you’d like a closer look at techno-zombie fiction, you can find my digital short from Trestle Press, Technopathy, on Amazon at:
my link text
Chantelly's Zombie Field Guide - Environmentals
I decided to cover these “species” of zombie next because they fall somewhere between tech zombies and biologicals, and in some cases are a little of both. I count these as any type of zombie that originates from an environmental source, one that would not be directly attributed to another biological organism like a virus or parasite. Some lean towards tech, like radiation-spawned atomic zombies, chemical-toxin generated zombies, or the victims of “space dust”. Others are more closely tied to natural causes, like those that can be blamed on natural toxins or some type of genetic mutations triggered by some outside effect – I’m going to reserve my discussion of mutations, however, to biological, because this is often associated with a viral-based apocalypse. One of the interesting traits these zombies possess is they typically don’t tend to spread other than by the source spawning new zombies – not zombie to human effects creating a new zombie (although those slain by zombies in the radiation/dust/toxin-stricken area do rise and join their undead brethren. )
Atomic Zombies:
These radioactive shamblers can be found as early as the 1950s and in 1968, they can be found in the George Romero classic, Night of the Living Dead. It is radiation from some source that causes the undead to rise in those instances. As I mentioned in the last post, zombie origins are often associated with existing societal fears, which is why these zombies were popular in the day where fear of the atomic bomb ran rampant. As tensions regarding nuclear warfare and mishaps eased, this type of zombie became less popular. With the recent occurrences in Japan, however, these zombies are threatening to resurface.
Cosmic Dust Zombies:
The earth passes through a cloud of space dust, and suddenly the dead begin rising. A thinning ozone layer, comet tails, solar flares and other extra-terrestrial phenomena are both alien and fear inducing – hence they exist as a source of zombies. Examples of this type of zombie can be found in “Fido” a delightful dark comedy where the undead are harnessed as a means of slave labour and where people pay outrageous amounts of money for a “proper” burial to ensure they are not enslaved after they die (a Canadian gem.) This is commonly found in stories where the focus is less on where the zombies came from and more on the social impact of those zombies, in part because the apocalypse comes without any attempt at a technical explanation.
Toxic Zombies:
This type of zombie usually originates from a manmade chemical toxin, as in many B grade zombie movies in the 80’s and 90’s, such as the 1980 flick Bloodeaters, where the zombies are caused by crop-dusting chemicals. Green was an “in” thing in those times, and environmental poisons, a result of human carelessness, a real threat. The fears of industrial poisons are still there, but they’ve extended to natural poisons and the potential dangers of genetically modified food. You’ll find this kind of zombie in my coffee-house zombie tale, “Waking the Dead” appearing in the May December Publications anthology “Hell Hath no Fury”, where the problem is imbibed. It touches on the idea of biologicals as well, which I’ll be addressing in my next post.
You can find the above mentioned anthology at:
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Hath-Fury-...
Atomic Zombies:
These radioactive shamblers can be found as early as the 1950s and in 1968, they can be found in the George Romero classic, Night of the Living Dead. It is radiation from some source that causes the undead to rise in those instances. As I mentioned in the last post, zombie origins are often associated with existing societal fears, which is why these zombies were popular in the day where fear of the atomic bomb ran rampant. As tensions regarding nuclear warfare and mishaps eased, this type of zombie became less popular. With the recent occurrences in Japan, however, these zombies are threatening to resurface.
Cosmic Dust Zombies:
The earth passes through a cloud of space dust, and suddenly the dead begin rising. A thinning ozone layer, comet tails, solar flares and other extra-terrestrial phenomena are both alien and fear inducing – hence they exist as a source of zombies. Examples of this type of zombie can be found in “Fido” a delightful dark comedy where the undead are harnessed as a means of slave labour and where people pay outrageous amounts of money for a “proper” burial to ensure they are not enslaved after they die (a Canadian gem.) This is commonly found in stories where the focus is less on where the zombies came from and more on the social impact of those zombies, in part because the apocalypse comes without any attempt at a technical explanation.
Toxic Zombies:
This type of zombie usually originates from a manmade chemical toxin, as in many B grade zombie movies in the 80’s and 90’s, such as the 1980 flick Bloodeaters, where the zombies are caused by crop-dusting chemicals. Green was an “in” thing in those times, and environmental poisons, a result of human carelessness, a real threat. The fears of industrial poisons are still there, but they’ve extended to natural poisons and the potential dangers of genetically modified food. You’ll find this kind of zombie in my coffee-house zombie tale, “Waking the Dead” appearing in the May December Publications anthology “Hell Hath no Fury”, where the problem is imbibed. It touches on the idea of biologicals as well, which I’ll be addressing in my next post.
You can find the above mentioned anthology at:
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Hath-Fury-...
Chantelly’s Field Guide to Zombies - Biologicals
I’m going to turn to what is currently the most predominant zombie – the one of biological origins. Be it viral or some form of parasite, the “infected” zombies come in varying types. Some have perished and risen from their graves and others have never actually died, but are merely diseased, mindlessly driven to feed on human flesh. Some are fast and raged filled, like the zombies of 28 Days Later, others are slow shamblers, moving in contagious mobs, like in Dawn of the Dead.
Most zombies now days have assumed this form, the result of prevalent fears caused by outbreaks of illnesses like SARS, avian flu, H1N1, AIDs and the less common but more deadly diseases like ebola. It is a very widespread human fear, one than expands as our populations grow and urban centres become more congested. Add in anxiety over genetic manipulation of viruses in an attempt to create cures to things like cancer, at the root of one of my favourites, I Am Legend, and it is no surprise that biological are the most popular source of the undead in current media.
Parasitic Zombies:
Although less common than their viral counterparts, some zombies are spawned and spread by parasites. Perhaps their gruesome factor is a little too much for the average zombie story, so they don’t have as much in the way of mass appeal. There are examples of alien parasites, like the tongue-like creatures in Slither, but not all are extra-terrestrial. Some such parasites actually exist in nature, infesting and controlling ants, grasshoppers, cockroaches, spiders, wasps, worms and snails. Toxoplasmosa gondii, Hymenoepimecis Argyraphaga, Glyptapanteles, and more are real and present in our world. I even referenced one of these parasites, the Leucochloridium variae or brown-banded broodsac, in my zombie novelette, Escarg-0, that appears in the anthology, Zero from May December publications. You can find it at: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Chantal-Bo...
Viral Zombies:
Viruses are something even our scientists don’t entirely understand, and it is well known that we fear what we do not understand. Not quite meeting the definition of what is alive, viruses need other life-forms to replicate. Viruses can be airborne, transmitted by touch or by bodily fluids. With a viral outbreak as a source, zombiism can spread rapidly with the only means of prevention being avoidance unless some form of vaccination can be developed. In my opinion, it is the simplest and most obvious means of transference, and with the way viruses are known to mutate without warning, there is no need to go into great detail as to how such a thing could happen. It seems to be the preferred origin of most modern zombie literature, evident in works from World War Z to the book I’m currently reading, The First Days, by Rhiannon Frater. I used this source in several of my own stories including my cowboy zombie tale, What A Man’s Gotta Do, appearing in Rymfire ebooks anthology, Undead Tales. You can find it at: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Tales-Ar...
Next week, I cover the mother of all zombies, magic, the last in this blog series.
Most zombies now days have assumed this form, the result of prevalent fears caused by outbreaks of illnesses like SARS, avian flu, H1N1, AIDs and the less common but more deadly diseases like ebola. It is a very widespread human fear, one than expands as our populations grow and urban centres become more congested. Add in anxiety over genetic manipulation of viruses in an attempt to create cures to things like cancer, at the root of one of my favourites, I Am Legend, and it is no surprise that biological are the most popular source of the undead in current media.
Parasitic Zombies:
Although less common than their viral counterparts, some zombies are spawned and spread by parasites. Perhaps their gruesome factor is a little too much for the average zombie story, so they don’t have as much in the way of mass appeal. There are examples of alien parasites, like the tongue-like creatures in Slither, but not all are extra-terrestrial. Some such parasites actually exist in nature, infesting and controlling ants, grasshoppers, cockroaches, spiders, wasps, worms and snails. Toxoplasmosa gondii, Hymenoepimecis Argyraphaga, Glyptapanteles, and more are real and present in our world. I even referenced one of these parasites, the Leucochloridium variae or brown-banded broodsac, in my zombie novelette, Escarg-0, that appears in the anthology, Zero from May December publications. You can find it at: http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Chantal-Bo...
Viral Zombies:
Viruses are something even our scientists don’t entirely understand, and it is well known that we fear what we do not understand. Not quite meeting the definition of what is alive, viruses need other life-forms to replicate. Viruses can be airborne, transmitted by touch or by bodily fluids. With a viral outbreak as a source, zombiism can spread rapidly with the only means of prevention being avoidance unless some form of vaccination can be developed. In my opinion, it is the simplest and most obvious means of transference, and with the way viruses are known to mutate without warning, there is no need to go into great detail as to how such a thing could happen. It seems to be the preferred origin of most modern zombie literature, evident in works from World War Z to the book I’m currently reading, The First Days, by Rhiannon Frater. I used this source in several of my own stories including my cowboy zombie tale, What A Man’s Gotta Do, appearing in Rymfire ebooks anthology, Undead Tales. You can find it at: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Tales-Ar...
Next week, I cover the mother of all zombies, magic, the last in this blog series.
Adventures at Hal-Con
My very first convention was a Hal-Con, back in 1986, the first time the convention existed. It was Hal-Con 9, and I was a scrawny little fourteen-year-old with a crooked smile and lopsided glasses. My mother had sewn a costume for me, a dragonrider of Pern costume in greens and golds, and I made a little red fire lizard (yes, I know they aren’t red) to sit on my wrist. I entered artwork in the art show (an utter disaster), played a few games and met Guy Gavriel Kaye for the first time.
That feels like eons ago, and I never imagined myself as a guest at a con, even as a “local celebrity”, but there I was at Hal-Con 2011, the revived version, with my table of books, my scheduled slots in panels, and my official “guest pass”. It was a first of a different kind, and one that was equally exciting and overwhelming. This time I was forty instead of fourteen, and trying to be noticed so that people might take an interest in my books, rather than to avoid being stepped on. I was nervous but ready to face the crowd.
The first challenge was lugging boxes of books to my table, bleary-eyed and a little lost. Luckily, I had the help of my trusty sidekick, Brad, and a friend who worked at the con venue, Pete, to get me loaded onto a dolly and into the Author’s Corner. The volunteers at the convention were priceless, helping me to get settled in and making me feel very welcome.
Later that morning I sat for an interview with Haligonia.ca (which were streaming live at http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/n... ). They covered a lot of the action at the con, and added some fun to the hustle and bustle.
I then sat on a panel discussing zombies in popular culture. You can catch the highlights here:
http://hexedpodcast.blogspot.com/2011...
The rest of the afternoon was a busy blur at my table, handing out business cards, pimping Ren Garcia and Arlene Radasky’s works as well as my own, and selling the occasional book. The only real low points of the con, and they were minor, was not really having the opportunity to grab a bite to eat or a coffee, and the one fellow that soured my fun for a few moments when he looked at me scornfully and berated me for having a male protagonist in Fervor instead of a female one (yeah – I’ll fix that for you...just let me get right on that *sigh*)
I was pretty hungry when I got to the Stargazer Soiree, but the food there was scrumptious, the company was delightful, and along with a lovely lady named Heather-Anne, I stole away more than an hour of Kelley Armstrong’s time (she had the coolest laptop bag ever – with a werewolf face and red bows). The three of us snuck over and stole a hug from Nicholas Brendon. I was so happy I was giddy.
The next morning I dragged myself back to the con centre for a 9:00 author Q & A panel (I was in very good company). Then I returned to tending my table, where I stayed until closing with the exception of a stolen hour at Starbucks with a strudel muffin, an eggnog latte and my NaNoWriMo project on my laptop (Sleep Escapes Us, check it out at: http://www.scribd.com/chantal_boudreau ). I shared some friendly conversation with my neighbour, Mark Oakley, a talented cartoonist. I traded a copy of Magic University for a signed copy of Stardrop for my daughter (she loved it!) Check out his great work at: http://iboxpublishing.com/index.php .
All-in-all, it was an extraordinary experience and my thanks and kudos go out to all of the organizers and volunteers. I got an invite to return in 2012, which I gladly accepted, and I’m looking forward to an even bigger and better gathering of the fandom kind next year.
That feels like eons ago, and I never imagined myself as a guest at a con, even as a “local celebrity”, but there I was at Hal-Con 2011, the revived version, with my table of books, my scheduled slots in panels, and my official “guest pass”. It was a first of a different kind, and one that was equally exciting and overwhelming. This time I was forty instead of fourteen, and trying to be noticed so that people might take an interest in my books, rather than to avoid being stepped on. I was nervous but ready to face the crowd.
The first challenge was lugging boxes of books to my table, bleary-eyed and a little lost. Luckily, I had the help of my trusty sidekick, Brad, and a friend who worked at the con venue, Pete, to get me loaded onto a dolly and into the Author’s Corner. The volunteers at the convention were priceless, helping me to get settled in and making me feel very welcome.
Later that morning I sat for an interview with Haligonia.ca (which were streaming live at http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/n... ). They covered a lot of the action at the con, and added some fun to the hustle and bustle.
I then sat on a panel discussing zombies in popular culture. You can catch the highlights here:
http://hexedpodcast.blogspot.com/2011...
The rest of the afternoon was a busy blur at my table, handing out business cards, pimping Ren Garcia and Arlene Radasky’s works as well as my own, and selling the occasional book. The only real low points of the con, and they were minor, was not really having the opportunity to grab a bite to eat or a coffee, and the one fellow that soured my fun for a few moments when he looked at me scornfully and berated me for having a male protagonist in Fervor instead of a female one (yeah – I’ll fix that for you...just let me get right on that *sigh*)
I was pretty hungry when I got to the Stargazer Soiree, but the food there was scrumptious, the company was delightful, and along with a lovely lady named Heather-Anne, I stole away more than an hour of Kelley Armstrong’s time (she had the coolest laptop bag ever – with a werewolf face and red bows). The three of us snuck over and stole a hug from Nicholas Brendon. I was so happy I was giddy.
The next morning I dragged myself back to the con centre for a 9:00 author Q & A panel (I was in very good company). Then I returned to tending my table, where I stayed until closing with the exception of a stolen hour at Starbucks with a strudel muffin, an eggnog latte and my NaNoWriMo project on my laptop (Sleep Escapes Us, check it out at: http://www.scribd.com/chantal_boudreau ). I shared some friendly conversation with my neighbour, Mark Oakley, a talented cartoonist. I traded a copy of Magic University for a signed copy of Stardrop for my daughter (she loved it!) Check out his great work at: http://iboxpublishing.com/index.php .
All-in-all, it was an extraordinary experience and my thanks and kudos go out to all of the organizers and volunteers. I got an invite to return in 2012, which I gladly accepted, and I’m looking forward to an even bigger and better gathering of the fandom kind next year.
A Sample of My Research
Despite the fact that I write dark fantasy and horror, I do a fair amount of research for my NaNoWriNo novels. Since I’m using a mythological backdrop, I search for as much relevant information on the mythologies I’m using and the area where the myths originated. In the case of Sleep Escapes Us, I actually wanted to set the story in Ancient Thrace and the surrounding regions, so I felt some elements should be historically accurate, despite the fantasy and supernatural nature of the tale.
I also like to include a certain amount of realism in my fantasy and horror tales, even if the events never did, or never would, happen. In this instance, I wanted some validity to my herbalist character, Kerza’s skill-base. This is what I came up with...
The Flora of Sleep Escapes Us
When I started my research into Ancient Thrace for Sleep Escapes Us, I was pleased to stumble across information from Dioscorides' De Materia Medica and Pseudo-Apuleius' Herbarius , sources that discussed the Dacian names for plants along with their English and Latin names and the uses for some of the specimens mentioned. I planned on having Kerza knowledgeable in herbalism, so I knew it would be a great resource for my story. It turned out there were several places I could make use of the information beyond the witch’s remedies and incenses. Here are the various points in the story where the Dacian flora came into play:
In chapter 3, Zalmoxis prepares to sacrifice Zelmis using a zuuster club, which is the Dacian term for wormwood (Artemisia arborescens or Tree Wormwood). This is shrub with a woody base, and a club would have to be made from securing a bundle of the woody stems into a solid bunch with some heft. It may have been supplemented with a more solid core, of wood or stone in order to issue a lethal blow. The plant was believed to be linked to things psychic and death/afterlife.
In chapter 5, Alina asks her father, afflicted by infection, where she can find the diesema (mullein or verbascum) to purge his blood. It is used again later in Kerza’s treatments for Sur. Mullein has been used historically to treat everything from colds to colics, although mullein remedies meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs. Mullein contains glycyrrhizin compounds with bactericide, concentrated in the flowers. Different extracts have varying levels of efficiency against bacteria.
In chapter 9, Kerza prepares an herbal remedy in the form of a tea. In addition to diesema, she also mentions using diassathel (wavyleaf mullein or verbascum sinuatum – sathel signifies “sieve”), which has similar properties to diesema, and lax (purslane or portulaca oleracea, supposedly used as a laxative), which was historically used to treat infections or bleeding of the genito-urinary tract as well as dysentery.
In chapter 11, Kerza tries to escape Sur’s company by excusing herself to gather kinouboila (wild pumpkin or cucurbita foetidissima), but Sur follows. Supposed medicinal benefits include using pulverized root in tea to speed protracted labor in childbirth, tea made from boiled peeled roots is used to induce vomiting, powdered seeds and flowers mixed with saliva reduce swellings and dried root ground to a powder, mixed with cold water, can be drunk for laxative.
In chapter 14, Kerza makes a stomach soothing tea from salia (anise or pimpinella tragium – having a carminative effect to settle the stomach), tuedila (peppermint or menthe x piperita – reduces abdominal pain and stomach irritation) and a bit of amalusta (chamomile or matricaria recutita – used to treat sore stomach and an irritable bowel syndrome). She also finds gonoleta ( gromwell or lithospermum tenuiflorum- used as an oral contraceptive).
In chapter 18, Kerza uses incense made from dracontos (rosemary or rosemarinus officinalis – used in incenses as it was considered a divinatory herb, possibly because its use in large quantities can cause seizures) and ziodela (sweet marjoram or origanum majorana – used historically as an incense, a mild sedative). She then anoints Alina and Zareus with holy oil made from azila (hound’s tongue or cynoglossum – it softens and soothes the skin, but it has a narcotic effect, depressing the nervous system) and hormia (annual clary or salvia horminum – primarily for aromatic purposes, a soothing/relaxing effect).
I was pleased to have a source that allowed me to have proper names for the herbs and assured what I was using was native to the area. This was probably one of the most useful results of my research for Sleep Escapes Us.
Sleep Escapes Us is available in first draft format, posted by chapter, on Scribd.com and will remain there in full until the end of December. If you would like to read it (by year’s end), you can find the first chapter at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/71346987/Sl...
Also – this month marks the release of the ebook version of Elevation, the sequel to Fervor (the print version to follow at a later date). You can purchase it at Smashwords or Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Elevation-ebook...
I also like to include a certain amount of realism in my fantasy and horror tales, even if the events never did, or never would, happen. In this instance, I wanted some validity to my herbalist character, Kerza’s skill-base. This is what I came up with...
The Flora of Sleep Escapes Us
When I started my research into Ancient Thrace for Sleep Escapes Us, I was pleased to stumble across information from Dioscorides' De Materia Medica and Pseudo-Apuleius' Herbarius , sources that discussed the Dacian names for plants along with their English and Latin names and the uses for some of the specimens mentioned. I planned on having Kerza knowledgeable in herbalism, so I knew it would be a great resource for my story. It turned out there were several places I could make use of the information beyond the witch’s remedies and incenses. Here are the various points in the story where the Dacian flora came into play:
In chapter 3, Zalmoxis prepares to sacrifice Zelmis using a zuuster club, which is the Dacian term for wormwood (Artemisia arborescens or Tree Wormwood). This is shrub with a woody base, and a club would have to be made from securing a bundle of the woody stems into a solid bunch with some heft. It may have been supplemented with a more solid core, of wood or stone in order to issue a lethal blow. The plant was believed to be linked to things psychic and death/afterlife.
In chapter 5, Alina asks her father, afflicted by infection, where she can find the diesema (mullein or verbascum) to purge his blood. It is used again later in Kerza’s treatments for Sur. Mullein has been used historically to treat everything from colds to colics, although mullein remedies meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs. Mullein contains glycyrrhizin compounds with bactericide, concentrated in the flowers. Different extracts have varying levels of efficiency against bacteria.
In chapter 9, Kerza prepares an herbal remedy in the form of a tea. In addition to diesema, she also mentions using diassathel (wavyleaf mullein or verbascum sinuatum – sathel signifies “sieve”), which has similar properties to diesema, and lax (purslane or portulaca oleracea, supposedly used as a laxative), which was historically used to treat infections or bleeding of the genito-urinary tract as well as dysentery.
In chapter 11, Kerza tries to escape Sur’s company by excusing herself to gather kinouboila (wild pumpkin or cucurbita foetidissima), but Sur follows. Supposed medicinal benefits include using pulverized root in tea to speed protracted labor in childbirth, tea made from boiled peeled roots is used to induce vomiting, powdered seeds and flowers mixed with saliva reduce swellings and dried root ground to a powder, mixed with cold water, can be drunk for laxative.
In chapter 14, Kerza makes a stomach soothing tea from salia (anise or pimpinella tragium – having a carminative effect to settle the stomach), tuedila (peppermint or menthe x piperita – reduces abdominal pain and stomach irritation) and a bit of amalusta (chamomile or matricaria recutita – used to treat sore stomach and an irritable bowel syndrome). She also finds gonoleta ( gromwell or lithospermum tenuiflorum- used as an oral contraceptive).
In chapter 18, Kerza uses incense made from dracontos (rosemary or rosemarinus officinalis – used in incenses as it was considered a divinatory herb, possibly because its use in large quantities can cause seizures) and ziodela (sweet marjoram or origanum majorana – used historically as an incense, a mild sedative). She then anoints Alina and Zareus with holy oil made from azila (hound’s tongue or cynoglossum – it softens and soothes the skin, but it has a narcotic effect, depressing the nervous system) and hormia (annual clary or salvia horminum – primarily for aromatic purposes, a soothing/relaxing effect).
I was pleased to have a source that allowed me to have proper names for the herbs and assured what I was using was native to the area. This was probably one of the most useful results of my research for Sleep Escapes Us.
Sleep Escapes Us is available in first draft format, posted by chapter, on Scribd.com and will remain there in full until the end of December. If you would like to read it (by year’s end), you can find the first chapter at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/71346987/Sl...
Also – this month marks the release of the ebook version of Elevation, the sequel to Fervor (the print version to follow at a later date). You can purchase it at Smashwords or Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Elevation-ebook...
Thracian Mythology as a Basis for “Sleep Escapes Us”
Sleep Escapes Us grew from an idea of zombie armies tied to some lesser known mythological figure, the latter to allow it to follow Elements of Genocide in my Darker Myths theme for NaNoWriMo. Despite the fact that it is an “alternate history” dark fantasy/ horror novel, I wanted to adhere to an existing pantheon to give it a sense of realism and a historical flavour. I needed an obscure god of death that lore reported as dying and being reborn, one to match the storyline I had in mind. I wanted the tale to be something set with an ancient civilization backdrop, so I could bring in elements of culture and tradition.
My research brought me to Zalmoxis, a Thracian god with whom I was not familiar and who had a very detailed legendary existence - that of a mortal who became a god, as outlined in Mircea Elidae’s “Zalmoxis, The Vanishing, God”. The myth fit very well with what I had planned and as I further researched the Thracian culture and the other gods they worshipped, everything seemed to fit together like carefully constructed puzzle pieces. It was easy to interweave Hecate into the tale, because of her influence over witchcraft and midwifery amongst many other things, and Bendis also proved to be a welcome find for the story, giving my characters cause to venture out into the wilderness for a fertility ritual and thereby encountering more wild zombies and avoiding the armies searching for them. Lastly came Zagreus, a god born of mortal womb for the finishing touch.
Here is a sample of what my research uncovered about each of these deities of the Thracian mythos and how they were essential to the story.
Zalmoxis: Zalmoxis was regarded as the sole god of the Getae people to which he would have taught the belief in immortality so that they considered dying merely as going to Zalmoxis. Legend had it that Zalmoxis was once a slave on Samos of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos. After being liberated, he gathered a huge wealth and once rich, went back to his homeland, a regular man before he became a god. Once home, he built himself a hall and those he received there he taught that none of his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead they would go to a place where they would live forever in a complete happiness.
Supposedly, Zalmoxis then dug an underground residence in Kagaion (also referred to as Kogainon and other variants) and, once finished, he disappeared from the Thracians going down to his underground residence. The Thracians missed him and feared him dead. Then he came back amongst them and upon his return, Thracians became in the immortality of the soul, which explained their reverence of the dead and the belief in their ascension to a better place where they would be gifted with god-like powers. Death was not to be feared, and past and present were not separate in time, but coexisted as one. Caves were considered by the Thracians as symbolic entrances to the womb of the earth. This is likely where the notion of Ialomicroaia (also referred to as Ialomicioara and other variants) Cave and Kagaion, Zalmoxis’s subterranean chamber in the Bucagi (also referred to as Bucegi) Mountains, came from.
Human sacrifice was sometimes practised by the Thracians. I based the lottery for the sacrifice to Zalmoxis on the writings Herodotus, in his “Historiae,” who spoke of sending a messenger to the god every few years (some references say four years, other say five) by means of a death ritual.
Zalmoxis was a fairly enigmatic god, so I was comfortable manipulating the myth slightly to work within my “alternate history” for ancient Thrace and Gatae. He was associated with bear skin so I incorporated into the ritual required for birthing his replacement and he was also linked to spears and the number three in his rituals, so I used that in his death scene. Because of the necessity of translation, there are variants of the name, Zalmoxis and the locations associated with his rebirth as a god.
Hecate: Goddess of the crossroads, this deity was one of multiple forms and faces, her personifications sometimes varying to a significant degree. She was the “Mysterious One”, not understood by those who did not worship her and often feared for that reason. She had both a negative persona, associated with magic, poisonous plants, witchcraft, the restless dead, necromancy, darkness, lunar lore, snakes and crossroads, and a positive persona associated with healing plants, childbirth, nurturing the young, gates and walls, doorways, torches and dogs.
Hecate had a number of depictions in art and religious iconography. Sometimes she was depicted as a singular maiden, virginal and demure, other times she was a three-faced crone or an angry, gigantic woman with snakes for feet and hair, wielding a torch and a sword, surrounded by thunder, shrieks, yells, and the barking of dogs. She was even presented as an invisible figure, appearing only as a glimpse of light. These depictions are referenced in Lewis Richard Farnell’s “The Cults of the Greek States” from Clarendon Press and “Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome: Hecate” from Anno Urbis - The Roman Empire Online.
Hecate’s mysterious nature allowed her seers in the story to be more intimidating and their hidden lairs in the catacombs beneath Lagina and her temple seemed like an appropriate home for her favoured followers in my tale. This followed with information also drawn from my research, from Strabo’s “Geography”, which stated regarding Hecate: “The place of origin of her following is uncertain, but it is thought that she had popular followings in Thrace. Her most important sanctuary was Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs. Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year ... where she was the city's patroness.”
In addition to witchcraft and midwifery, Hecate was closely associated with plant lore and the concoction of medicines and poisons. In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. This association allowed Kerza to possess the skills she used to help Sur and Alina when they needed medical attention.
One of my sources, the Oxford Classic Dictionary, described her as: “Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition.” It was because of her varied forms and supposed assorted spheres of influence that when she made an appearance in the story, I described her as shifting and indefinable.
Bendis: The Thracians revered nature and believed in a “Great Mother”. She was goddess of wild nature. It is believed she encompassed influences from the strong fertility goddess cults which thrived in the Balkan lands during the earlier Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (per A Spell in Time/Professor Ronald Hutton’s “Bulgarian Myth and Folklore”.)
As great mother she initiated creation, bringing forth from herself her son, who was both the sun in the daytime and the fire god at night. She united with him in divine marriage so that the cosmic cycle could be fulfilled and fertility renewed.
She supposedly had temples hidden away deep in the wilderness, a formidable location for a fertility ritual required for the conception of a new god. I felt this scene and setting were an appropriate bridge from the introduction of the story and the main characters into the centre of the action and the plot. It also allowed for a different kind of zombie battle.
Zagreus: Zagreus was the name used for Dionysus in Thrace. He was considered to be twice born, a dying and reborn god who was born of a mortal woman, one who met a premature death. He was tied to Zalmoxis in some instances and appeared to be a suitable “replacement” for the living god.
Just as with Elements of Genocide, the mythology integrated into Sleep Escapes Us blended fairly seamlessly with the story and I’m hoping that my plans for next year’s NaNo, Wearers of Skin, will combine as smoothly with Scandinavian mythology as well.
My research brought me to Zalmoxis, a Thracian god with whom I was not familiar and who had a very detailed legendary existence - that of a mortal who became a god, as outlined in Mircea Elidae’s “Zalmoxis, The Vanishing, God”. The myth fit very well with what I had planned and as I further researched the Thracian culture and the other gods they worshipped, everything seemed to fit together like carefully constructed puzzle pieces. It was easy to interweave Hecate into the tale, because of her influence over witchcraft and midwifery amongst many other things, and Bendis also proved to be a welcome find for the story, giving my characters cause to venture out into the wilderness for a fertility ritual and thereby encountering more wild zombies and avoiding the armies searching for them. Lastly came Zagreus, a god born of mortal womb for the finishing touch.
Here is a sample of what my research uncovered about each of these deities of the Thracian mythos and how they were essential to the story.
Zalmoxis: Zalmoxis was regarded as the sole god of the Getae people to which he would have taught the belief in immortality so that they considered dying merely as going to Zalmoxis. Legend had it that Zalmoxis was once a slave on Samos of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos. After being liberated, he gathered a huge wealth and once rich, went back to his homeland, a regular man before he became a god. Once home, he built himself a hall and those he received there he taught that none of his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead they would go to a place where they would live forever in a complete happiness.
Supposedly, Zalmoxis then dug an underground residence in Kagaion (also referred to as Kogainon and other variants) and, once finished, he disappeared from the Thracians going down to his underground residence. The Thracians missed him and feared him dead. Then he came back amongst them and upon his return, Thracians became in the immortality of the soul, which explained their reverence of the dead and the belief in their ascension to a better place where they would be gifted with god-like powers. Death was not to be feared, and past and present were not separate in time, but coexisted as one. Caves were considered by the Thracians as symbolic entrances to the womb of the earth. This is likely where the notion of Ialomicroaia (also referred to as Ialomicioara and other variants) Cave and Kagaion, Zalmoxis’s subterranean chamber in the Bucagi (also referred to as Bucegi) Mountains, came from.
Human sacrifice was sometimes practised by the Thracians. I based the lottery for the sacrifice to Zalmoxis on the writings Herodotus, in his “Historiae,” who spoke of sending a messenger to the god every few years (some references say four years, other say five) by means of a death ritual.
Zalmoxis was a fairly enigmatic god, so I was comfortable manipulating the myth slightly to work within my “alternate history” for ancient Thrace and Gatae. He was associated with bear skin so I incorporated into the ritual required for birthing his replacement and he was also linked to spears and the number three in his rituals, so I used that in his death scene. Because of the necessity of translation, there are variants of the name, Zalmoxis and the locations associated with his rebirth as a god.
Hecate: Goddess of the crossroads, this deity was one of multiple forms and faces, her personifications sometimes varying to a significant degree. She was the “Mysterious One”, not understood by those who did not worship her and often feared for that reason. She had both a negative persona, associated with magic, poisonous plants, witchcraft, the restless dead, necromancy, darkness, lunar lore, snakes and crossroads, and a positive persona associated with healing plants, childbirth, nurturing the young, gates and walls, doorways, torches and dogs.
Hecate had a number of depictions in art and religious iconography. Sometimes she was depicted as a singular maiden, virginal and demure, other times she was a three-faced crone or an angry, gigantic woman with snakes for feet and hair, wielding a torch and a sword, surrounded by thunder, shrieks, yells, and the barking of dogs. She was even presented as an invisible figure, appearing only as a glimpse of light. These depictions are referenced in Lewis Richard Farnell’s “The Cults of the Greek States” from Clarendon Press and “Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome: Hecate” from Anno Urbis - The Roman Empire Online.
Hecate’s mysterious nature allowed her seers in the story to be more intimidating and their hidden lairs in the catacombs beneath Lagina and her temple seemed like an appropriate home for her favoured followers in my tale. This followed with information also drawn from my research, from Strabo’s “Geography”, which stated regarding Hecate: “The place of origin of her following is uncertain, but it is thought that she had popular followings in Thrace. Her most important sanctuary was Lagina, a theocratic city-state in which the goddess was served by eunuchs. Lagina, where the famous temple of Hecate drew great festal assemblies every year ... where she was the city's patroness.”
In addition to witchcraft and midwifery, Hecate was closely associated with plant lore and the concoction of medicines and poisons. In particular she was thought to give instruction in these closely related arts. This association allowed Kerza to possess the skills she used to help Sur and Alina when they needed medical attention.
One of my sources, the Oxford Classic Dictionary, described her as: “Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition.” It was because of her varied forms and supposed assorted spheres of influence that when she made an appearance in the story, I described her as shifting and indefinable.
Bendis: The Thracians revered nature and believed in a “Great Mother”. She was goddess of wild nature. It is believed she encompassed influences from the strong fertility goddess cults which thrived in the Balkan lands during the earlier Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (per A Spell in Time/Professor Ronald Hutton’s “Bulgarian Myth and Folklore”.)
As great mother she initiated creation, bringing forth from herself her son, who was both the sun in the daytime and the fire god at night. She united with him in divine marriage so that the cosmic cycle could be fulfilled and fertility renewed.
She supposedly had temples hidden away deep in the wilderness, a formidable location for a fertility ritual required for the conception of a new god. I felt this scene and setting were an appropriate bridge from the introduction of the story and the main characters into the centre of the action and the plot. It also allowed for a different kind of zombie battle.
Zagreus: Zagreus was the name used for Dionysus in Thrace. He was considered to be twice born, a dying and reborn god who was born of a mortal woman, one who met a premature death. He was tied to Zalmoxis in some instances and appeared to be a suitable “replacement” for the living god.
Just as with Elements of Genocide, the mythology integrated into Sleep Escapes Us blended fairly seamlessly with the story and I’m hoping that my plans for next year’s NaNo, Wearers of Skin, will combine as smoothly with Scandinavian mythology as well.
