The Devil's LairBONUS EXTRAS
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Welcome, Intrepid Reader!
Gael here! THANK YOU for being a part of the Gryphon fam! We thought we'd take this chance to share some behind-the-scenes inspiration and research that went into creating this tome. Enjoy!
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Locust SwarmsWhen you look at the locust swarms in these two short video clips, you can get a sense of how horrible it would be to be stuck in one ~- and regular locusts are bad enough without even thinking about locust MEN! Unfortunately, this is a plague humanity has dealt with for centuries...
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A vintage can of London Purple (was for sale on Ebay), a common pesticide of the Victorian Era.
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Singing Skeletons ~ A Halloween Tradition
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Into the Black Fortress we go! We'll meet some strange folk there. The hospitality is fabulous. Would you like a snack?
Well, a-clack, clack, clack and a wobbledy-doo,
I said a-clack, clack, clack and a wobbledy-doo, (Bah-do-bee!) Clack, clack, clack, and a wobbledy-doo, Lemme tell ya, brother, wouldn't wanna be you! Oooo, Oooo, spookity RAH! Run away, children, but you'll never get far. A warlock's castle no place to go sneakin'! Honestly, you silly kids, what were you thinkin'? ~ Fionnula's Fellas |
Deadwood the Necromancer
Why my subconscious hatched the idea of a talking evil tree man, I have no idea, lol. I should probably see a shrink. :P But then I remembered that we had the Old Father Yew, so it only makes sense that we would want his evil counterpart, right??
From the YouTube channel of Sacha Muller:
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Eric's like: "So, did that tree man go out and fight alongside Raige, or is he still in the great hall when Jake and co. walk in there?"
And I said, "Aw, man...!" because I never thought of that. **shoulders slumping** Well, once he asked the question, my brain got working on developing that only-mentioned-in-passing tree character. But I'll tell you what, I had so much fun inventing evil Deadwood and pulling out all the stops, because where else but in a middle-grade fantasy novel do you get to create an evil tree warlock?? I mean, come on, do Eric and I have a fun job or what? So, I was taking a walk at the park one autumn day when I noticed that the conkers/chestnuts/buckeyes looked like a bunch of weird little eyeballs watching me walk past. Also, there's a magnificent old, twisty, gnarled, ancient tree at this park, too (a white birch, not a horse chestnut). But my brain combined the two, and presto! Out came Deadwood. It's surprising how many ideas writers can get while taking walks. :) |
Mother Octavia's Pets
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"Danger, danger, danger!" as Steve Irwin used to say. Listen to the swamp witch’s gators having a conversation (and watch how the water dances on their backs due to the low-frequency vibrations of their voices – whoa!! Cool yet kinda horrifying, lol.
(By the way, thanks to those of you who helped pick out gator names on our Facebook page a while back. Those will be used in the next story, most likely.) Looking on, meanwhile, is pretty-bird Bandit the osprey, the swamp falcon. Ain't he purty? as Tavey would say. Alligator Noises by JadeAtema Channel on YouTube: |
Photo credit "Mike" Michael L. Baird via Wikipedia, Creative Commons
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Let the Dancing Begin!
In the interests of not giving any spoilers to those who haven't finished the book yet, I'll just share these examples of the various dances mentioned in the story...
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Polonaise (Pushkin Ball, 2011) by Khasanov1988 Channel on YouTube:
A wonderful How-to Dance the Galop video, from Adventures In Dance Channel:
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Charming expert demo of the Galop from Dancetime Publication Channel:
Grab a Kleenex! Schubert's Ave Maria from the King of the Tenors, Warner Classics Channel:
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