FANTASY COVER!!!

Here is the cover of my fantasy book, Numen the Slayer!

BLOOD MAGIC

Easily one of the darkest forms of magic is blood magic. As its name suggests this sorcery is fueled by blood. The more blood you sacrifice the more powerful the magic becomes. In order to truly master blood magic, you need blood from someone you love, blood from someone you hate, and blood from yourself. I will be featuring blood magic in my fantasy series and it will be used to perform unnatural and unholy feats.

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7: THE WHITE WALKERS

The season premiere of Game of Thrones blessed us with a glimpse of the growing strength of the White Walkers. Their numbers have grown to the point in which their undead army can be seen as far as the eye could see like an unholy ocean of death. To make matters worse, the White Walkers have now added at least three undead giants to their army. We all saw how much effort it takes to kill a live giant so re-killing an undead one is going to be much more difficult. So far, we don’t know if the White Walkers have undead bears or ice spiders that are as big as hounds like in the books, but due to the vastness of the undead army it is likely they are there somewhere waiting to strike. I cannot wait to see the full lethality of the White Walkers this season as they continue to march towards the Wall to invade the realms of men once again. Like Euron Greyjoy, the White Walkers are the storm; the first and the last. Soon the War of the Five Kings will be over and the new War for the Dawn will begin.

SMITHSONIAN BUTTERFLY HOUSE

While I was at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, I went into their butterfly house. It was like walking into a fairy tale because the butterflies and moths reminded me of fairies. There was even one butterfly that stubbornly clung to a lady’s bag and would not let go no matter what. Even though it is unlikely that I would include fairies in my fantasy series, I thought it would be nice to draw inspiration from this experience if I decide to write a children’s story.

DRAGON’S HEAD

How is this for a dragon head? This is close to what I think of when I imagine a dragon’s head in my fantasy book.

INSPIRATION: BOMBARDIER BEETLE

While thinking of something original for the dragons in my fantasy series, I drew inspiration from the bombardier beetle. Bombardier beetles have various glands that combine combustible chemicals and when they are attacked by a predator the beetle sprays super-hot toxic chemicals that are the same temperature as boiling water. This gave me an idea for making my dragons breathe fire. What if dragons have similar glands in their mouths that ignite when they come into contact with each other? That way, a dragon’s fiery breath would not be pure flame but a thick stream of flaming chemicals. Now think of those chemicals operating like napalm by sticking to you as it burns you alive. That is essentially how I have imagined the dragon fire in my fantasy book.

DRAGON WEAPONS

It has been frequently mentioned throughout the fantasy genre that a dragon’s scales are stronger and harder than any castle-forged armor. I once saw in the 1981 film Dragonslayer a shield made from dragon scales, which protected a man from dragon fire. This got me wondering if a shield can be made from dragon scales why not a sword. With this in mind, what if the reason why dragon scales are so durable is because they have an organic metallic ore inside them that is tougher than steel? I have been toying with this idea for the main character’s weapon in my fantasy book.