Welcome A.K. Morgen!

Today is the last day of the Blogger Book Fair and I'm happy to welcome A.K. Morgen to help me close out this great event!
Put your reading glasses on and adjust your thinking caps and enjoy this fantastic post on the Mysterious Creatures of Myth and Reality!

Take it away, A.K.


Mysterious Creatures of Myth and Reality

Blogger Book Fair Guest Post

In one of my favorite mythical tales, Odysseus and his crew faced extraordinary odds on their journey to their homeland (Ithaca) after defeating the Trojan monarchy and laying waste to Troy. Odysseus and company were captured by Calypso who wanted to marry Odysseus, forced to battle a Cyclops and contend with angry gods, and required to sail their way through the horrors of Scylla and Charybdis.

If you're familiar with the Odyssey, you know Charybdis was a sea monster who sucked unsuspecting ships into the depths of the ocean via a frightfully powerful whirlpool. Across the strait from this sea monster stood Scylla, a beast with many heads who legend says was no kinder to seafarers than Charybdis. Forced to choose between the two, Odysseus chose to face Scylla, and promptly lost six of his men.

Most believe Scylla and Charybdis were mythical beasts cooked up in Homer's mind, but that's not quite true. In reality, such a dangerous passage exists in the Straits of Messina. On one side sits Charybdis, a whirlpool. On the other sits Scylla, a large grouping of dangerous, rocky shoals. Neither are sea monsters, obviously, but it's not hard to see why Homer thought they were.

And Scylla and Charybdis aren't the only mythical monsters that aren't quite as imaginary as we believed! The world is full of mysterious creatures we've been told don't really exist, but actually kind of do.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. Hobbits - Remember when you first realized Hobbits weren't real? If you're like me, you were beyond disappointed. But don't count the hobbits out just yet! Several years ago, researchers discovered the bones of a group of tiny people in a cave in the Indonesian island of Flores. These little people stood three feet tall and had skulls one third the size of a modern person.

2. The Kraken - In addition to being an ominous sounding monster to release, the Kraken was pretty terrifying to behold, according to those who wrote about this sea creature. In reality, the Kraken myth didn't quite hold up until a Japanese crew filmed a Colossal Squid not long ago, at which point we learned the Kraken might not be so mythical after all. The Colossal Squid can grow to fifty and sixty feet. They also have wickedly sharp hooks up and down their tentacles. Kinda creepy, right?

3. Dire Wolf - These video game characters are much larger and stronger than their gray wolf counterparts. They're excellent hunters. They're also rather terrifying, but they don't exist. Anymore, that is. Dire wolves were real once upon a time, but they went extinct over 16,000 years ago.

4. Berserkers - According to Norse myth, the Berserkers were skilled warriors who possessed superhuman strength and prowess on the battlefield. They were hard to kill, and some even turned into frightful wolves in the heat of battle. These bad boys were one of the greatest weapons the Norse people possessed. We've always assumed this was just a myth, but turns out we were wrong. Sort of. The Berserkers didn't turn into wolves, but they did take a powerful hallucinogen that made them the lean, mean, crazy fighting machines history remembers.

About the Author:

A.K. Morgen lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband, three dogs, and demonic cat. She has a graduate degree in Criminal Justice and Law, and plans to save the world some day. When she’s not writing, she spends her time teaching her niece and nephews how to cause mischief. You can also find her dancing in the grocery store, building a spork army, and fundraising for nonprofits close to her heart.

You can learn more about Ayden at http://akmorgen.com or by following her on Twitter, GoodReads, or Facebook.

FADE – The Ragnarök Prophesies: Book One –

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance

Summary:

What do you do when you realize nothing in your life is what you’ve believed it to be?

When Arionna Jacobs loses her mother in a tragic accident, her world is turned upside down. She’s forced to leave her old life behind and move in with her father. Dace Matthews, a teaching assistant at her new college, is torn in two, unable to communicate with the feral wolf caged inside him.

When they meet, everything they thought they knew about life unravels. Dace has intimate access to Arionna’s mind, and something deep within her fights to rise to the surface. They don't understand what's happening to them or why, and they're running out of time to sort out the strange occurrences around them.

Their meeting sets an ancient Norse prophesy of destruction in motion, and what destiny has in store for them is bigger than either could have ever imagined. Unless they learn to trust themselves and one another, they may never resolve the mystery surrounding who they are to one another, and what that means for the world.

FADE is available from Curiosity Quills Press at Amazon US, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.

Thank you, Ayden, for this great guest post, and for hosting me as well. To find my Top 10 Favorite Magical Books and why they made the cut, click HERE.