I thought I'd whip this out in record time, because I had several gryphon articles and stories written already. However, I found many interesting new details about the critters that I felt I must incorporate. Not an easy task, I'll tell you: the main reason I wrote these essays and tales was because actual folktales and legends -- and fiction -- concerning the feathered and furred beasts were rare as gryph's teeth.
Historical tid-bits about gryphons certainly vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. Take this bizarre theory as to the origin of the bird-beasts:
Nineteenth-century naturalist Valentine Ball provided an
even less likely origin for gryphons.
First of all, he believed that the high mountains where the lion-birds
roosted were the Himalayas . Building on that, he suggested:
“Taking Photios’s account alone, and excluding from it the
word birds, and for feathers reading hair, we have a tolerably accurate
description of the hairy black-and-tan coloured Thibetan [sic] mastiffs, which are now, as they were doubtless formerly, the
custodians of the Thibetans, their gold-miners as well as others.” [4]
So gryphons were actually dogs? Well, if you take the description of the
gryphon and exclude from it the word eagle, and for lion read cocker spaniel,
you could make it sound more canine. I
have my doubts.
The fiction ranges from short stories to one novella. Here's the shortest of all:
EASY COME . . .
"Gold!"
cried the Gryphon.
He scooped
up coins in a great eagle’s claw and watched their shiny avalanche.
"And
so easy to snatch from fat merchants," the bird-beast continued. "Even their mightiest swordsmen flee
before -- Squawk!"
Fire swept
in an orange storm over his leonine hindquarters. He flapped away in pain.
"Gold!"
cried the Dragon, stretching out his scaly length.
Hey Michael, I was reading through your book last night and you mentioned that you have several stories with gryphons in them (in addition to the ones included with the book). I was wondering if you had a list of your gryphon stories? I've been slowly reading through all the gryphon books (my reading list is over 70 books at this point) and I'd love to add yours to the list.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a fun fact if you do a new edition, you mention the Gryphon jet in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus but I thought you might appreciate that Megagiurus is a mutated form based on a prehistoric dragonfly that holds the record for longest wingspan on an insect, the "griffinfly." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganisoptera
Hello, Vin,
DeleteLet's see . . . The Eyrie contains:
"Ears of the Gryphon"
"The Guarded Gold"
"Io Unbound"
"A Missing Chapter from 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'"
"The Curious Adventure of the Jersey Devil"
"Heiracosphinx"
"Cherub" and the mini-tale "Easy Come . . ."
My novel about Amelia Earhart and gryphons, DRAGONFLY WOMAN, is also on Amazon Kindle.
The only other story with any gryphon connections in print is "Origins" which contains the mythos of the gryphons' world (and a brief appearance by Karuta, the Gryphon God). It is available in GODS WITH FUR, edited by Fred Patten.
I have two gryphony novels finished, HOARD SEARCH and THE GRYPHON ORB, but they both need extensive (to say the least) revision. Not sure when I'll have the time to do it, but I will do it!
I have other stories in various stages of completion -- someday I'll get to them, and to "Volume II of the Amelia Earhart Chronicles" -- Amelia returns to earth and brings a few lion-birds with her
The Griffinfly, eh? No doubt hunted to extinction by the Gryphosaurus!