I love monsters. I’ve always loved monsters. Whether they’re dinosaurs and sabre-tooth cats from our prehistory, dragons and griffins from myth, or vampires and werewolves from modern horror movies, monsters are so much fun. And one of the best things about these monsters is their bestiaries, the loving encyclopaedias created by medieval monks or modern eccentrics about all the creatures that used to exist or were believed to exist or were imagined to exist. All the beasts of never, creatures of myth, and legends of long ago.

Along with my love of monsters is my love of world-building and of collaborations, and thus we have the Monster Alphabet. Every week, I create a monster name for a particular letter of the alphabet (A, then B, then C….), and then talented comic artists sketch what they think that particular monster should look like, it gets posted on the Cloudscape website, people vote, a picture is chosen, and a write a description of the critter that matches that particular description. It’s a lot of fun.

So far, the monsters have been:

A is for Albora The most exuberantly friendly animal you could imagine, except during the full moon….

B is for Babithy Multiple bodies inhabited by a single mind, sent out to feed.

C is for Calillux A giant gastropod that zealously protects all slugs and snails.

D is for Degyt A massive territorial beast with a savage temper and hypnotic eyes.

Come and take a look!