Monster Monday: Not your fairytale Mom

All month we’ve paid tribute to monstrous mothers – from Grendal’s mom to the Queen of the Alien flicks, these dangerous mama bears have some serious bite.

But what about the mums with less, er, obvious monstrous traits? Don’t let their human faces fool you, some of the most spine-tingling of mothers can be found in your common fairy tale – and don’t even get us started on step moms.

Cinderella’s mother exploited her, Snow White’s mommy dearest was jealous of her (and we all know how that story ends) and poor Coraline had not one, but two deadbeat Moms, one who had no time for her, and another who ruled the monstrous “other world.”

Of course, we’d be remiss to leave out the evil mama from Carrie and the dead mom from Psycho that turned Norman Bates, well, psycho.

Good grief, is it any wonder some folks have Mommy Dearest issues?

There doesn’t appear to be a shortage of monstrous mothers – but what about tales of devilish Dads? Join us in June as we uncover the most dangerous of the pops.

Monster Monday: The Queen of Monster Moms

Forget Lady Gaga, the self-professed Mother Monster, on this Victoria Day long weekend we're celebrating the true Queen of Monster Moms. You know, the acid-blood spilling, breeding machine of an extra-terrestrial from the ALIEN films, often referred to as xenomoph, but never really named. And that's okay, you won't care what she's called if you run into this momma. You'll just tremble in fear.

1979 was the beginning of ALIEN, a sci-fi monster saga that's still going strong today if the buzz surrounding Ridley Scott's indirect prequel, Prometheus, is any indication. It's in the second film, ALIENS, that we see the Queen in all her glory as she fights against the human female, Ripley, with her own maternal instincts in high gear.

It's a we're-so-not-soccer-moms showdown of epic proportions.

Survival Tip: Fire seems to be the most reliable source of injury to xenomoph. When exploring space, keep a futuristic flame thrower handy.

Can't wait for Prometheus? Neither can we! Let's watch the trailer:

Monster Monday: Monster Mom, Echidna

A face only a mother monster could love, perhaps THE phrase that describes Echidna, AKA, she-viper, AKA the mother of all monsters – who is also half-serpent / half-human. Because this Greek goddess has a knack for birthing offspring way off the ugly chart. And we’re not talking physical appearance - these babies were nasty in the evil-at-heart, gonna-hunt-you-down-and-eatcha-cause-mumsie-don’t-like-ya sort of way.

Hesoid, one of those Greek poet types, had this to say about Echidna in his work, Theogony, a detailed explanation of monster origins:

“The goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men.”

Despite sounding like a bit of a hermit, Echidna and her babies managed to cause quite a bit of chaos for the heroes of Greek myths. Without her many-headed dogs, sea-serpants, dragons, gorgans, sphinxes (sphinxi?), and harpies these legends wouldn’t be so…well, legendary.

Survival Tip: Echidna is known for appearing outside her cave, letting her attractive, human half lure in victims which she will then drag down into the depths of her realm and consume. So, yeah, when cave hiking - BEWARE.

Monster Monday: Grendel's Mom

In a creeptastic nod to Mother’s Day this month, we’ll feature four monstrous “moms” – fierce protectors of their kin, mama bears of epic proportions.

Perhaps none rank more notorious than Grendel’s mother, one of three primary antagonists in the story of Beowulf.

For more than a thousand years, Beowulf  has been part of the foundation on which all classic English literature is built. Filled with monsters and heroes, including the fiercely strong Beowolf, this anonymously authored text contains a number of archetypal friends and foes.

In fact, Grendel’s mother – who is never actually named – is often cited as one of English literature’s most famous monsters. She’s certainly one heck of a Mama bear.

When Grendel is slain by Beowulf, his mother attacks the mead Hall Heorot to avenge his death. Of course, Beowolf is tasked with destroying her and ventures into the snake-infested waters of her lake-based home, Grendel’s Mere. She attacks Beowulf, drags him into her lair and an epic battle ensues.

This fierce, seriously ticked-off Mom is about to avenge her son’s death when Beowulf spots a sword at the Mere. (Convenient? Perhaps!) He uses it to decapitate Grendel’s Mom, and then return to the water’s surface  -  just in time to save the day, of course.

A to Z Challenge Winners!

Whew - we weren't quite sure we'd make it out April alive, but we did it! 26 post about our favourite beasties for the A to Z Blogging Challenge - avec poems to celebrate Poetry Month. Not too shabby. I'm still amazed that Dawn took up the challenge on her two other blogs as well, with equally cool themes. WhatYAReading? on her blog, The Oubliette, as well as her Dawn Ius blog (reserved for her adult thriller fiction), Through The Looking Glass featuring music that inspires her.

Anyway - we've randomly selected 4 winners (one per week in the month of April) from the commenters on our A to Z posts. These lucky souls will each receive a Kindle edition of SPIRITED: 13 Haunting Tales in which Dawn and I both have a ghostly tale. We know you'll love this anthology of best-selling and wicked new young adult authors.

WINNERS:

S.L. Hennessy


Jeremy Bates


Janyce


Retro-Zombie

Thanks to all who dropped by during the challenge!