The Beast Mongers

I’ve talked a bit before about how I created the world of the enchanted races. After reading K.M. Shea’s Magiford Supernatural City trilogies, I thought it was so fun that all these stories took place in the same world, though was sad that I couldn’t do something similar, because all of my story ideas took place in entirely separate worlds. This was a very face palm moment in my life, because it took me a couple months to realize that I do, in fact, have full control over my writing and could therefore just expand those planned stories so that they DID take place in the same world. 

Inspiration

After I made that decision, I went through my folder with all my urban fantasy story ideas to pick out which ones I wanted to stick in the same world, which was a big factor in deciding which races would exist here. Based on the stories I planned to include, I needed celestial guardians, vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, sorcerers, and alchemists. Then I added some other races for fun to spice up the world – sprites, pixies, nymphs, sirens, and light and shadow phantoms.

Once I had those twelve races, I still felt that something was missing in this world. You see, I LOVE animals. I’ve almost always had cats and dogs, I’ve always enjoyed going to the zoo and aquarium, and I also love animals that aren’t real (as evidenced by the dragon plaques lining my office wall). So I sat at my parent’s desktop computer (because my laptop was being serviced and my mom graciously allowed me the use of her desktop so I wouldn’t fall behind on planning out/writing in this new world) and wondered how I could best include animals. 

I considered having mythical animals exist in this world and be used as pets for the supernatural races, but that didn’t quite fit the role I had in mind for the animals. Instead I ended up creating spirit beasts and then the beast mongers to go along with them. I’m quite happy with how they turned out in The Hidden Hotel and really look forward to the role they’ll play in subsequent trilogies. Especially, of course, in the trilogy focusing on beast mongers, where Veer will be the main character.  

I find the spirit beasts super fun because of the eclectic role they play in the world of the enchanted races. They can essentially be pets (though also closer to genuine friends because they’re more intelligent than regular animals), guardians, messengers, etc. And while I can’t promise they’ll cameo in every trilogy, I do expect them to make frequent appearances. 

And, I have to say, that if I could be any of the races within my enchanted races world, I would probably choose to be a beast monger. And I would own cats in so many varieties. 

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