Recommended sites/books for monsters

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Ivonia

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Recommended sites/books for monsters?

Hey,

I'm interested in finding websites or books that have creatures/monsters in them (googling didn't really help), preferably ones with pictures (not that words aren't enough, but I want to have a rough visual to work off of). If possible, would prefer something that isn't copyrighted (i.e. I'm looking for stuff in public domain), and no werewolves/vampires/other creatures more or less done to death.

Would be a bonus if it's based off mythology or religion (other than Satan or Greek mythology of course lol). Almost anything else is acceptable, such as ghost-like, mortal, immortal, land based, airborne (not so much sea cause virtually none of the action ever takes place near a large body of water, it's mostly land or outer space).

Posting it here because I have monsters in my sci-fi/fantasy novel, but I want to have more variety (so far I have a ghostlike spirit, a wolflike creature without the fur, and something resembling an orc but is grey skinned and has no nose). I know I can come up with my own stuff (and I am), but I want to see if the things I created wasn't just something that I saw a long time ago and forgot about, or else if it's cool enough, I want to include a version of it (I'm hoping to find some "elephant-sized" monsters if there are any, since I have mechs in my story, and they need something to fight besides enemy mechs and aircraft. If anyone's ever played Starcraft, I need inspiration to make my own version of the Ultralisk :)).

Any info you guys can provide would help me a lot. And don't worry, the monsters will have a reason for being there. They're not there just for the sake of having monsters in my story, there's a bigger plot involving them (for one thing, the bad guys are using them, and monsters normally don't just follow anyone's orders either, esp. not the large variety that I'm going to introduce).
 
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Richard

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Try this as a starting off point: http://www.pantheon.org/areas/bestiary/articles.html

Next, buy yourself a copy of a book called Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It's one of the best books in the world as far as I'm concerned, with references to just about every odd story or legend you could possibly imagine.

Typically, most well known mythology is Greco-Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or Slavic. If you cover those bases, you'll probably be okay. Don't forget that not all myths are actually what they're known as now - vampire mythology for instance doesn't stop at Dracula and Buffy. Quite often you can find a different spin on them just by going back to the source. Just as an example, dhampiels (half-vampires - Bloodrayne, Blade, Durham Red et al) are always depicted as blood-drinking freaks because that looked cooler than boneless children whose special ability was being able to see the invisible vampires.

As for your specific requests - there are plenty of monsters as big as an elephant, although the noseless orc is a little specific. When it comes to wolves, the closest I can think of is the Vilkacis; although that's basically just a werewolf with a twist.
 
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alanna

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all right, I confess...Gurps. I have a bunch of their books. And their Bestiary is exactly what I think you're looking for. Seriously, it has specs on a whole bunch of monsters, pictures, habits, etc. It has helped me mucho times to spark the "odd creature" part of my imagination...hope that helps!


-alanna
 

mdin

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I really love the (puts bag over head) Dungeons and Dragons Fiend Folio and various Monster Manuals they have. You can find them used all the time for fairly cheap.
 
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