Anatomy of a Monster

As it is nearing Halloween, I thought it might be a good time to share about a race of monsters that play a role in Spacemouse 9. As I mentioned in my appendix entry on the Manta System, the home world of Spacemouse 9 was once devastated by a horde of alien invaders. These invaders are referred to by the Rothi as the "Kiltrexx". I have never drawn a Kiltrexx, but in my imagination they are something like a conglomeration of the five Earthly creatures pictured above. I don't want to give away too much before the release of my book, so I will leave you to ponder exactly how the individual characteristics of these animals might come together to form a Kiltrexx. ;)

While you are pondering, I will leave you with two Fantasy passages about monsters that have stuck with me since my childhood and may very well serve as unconscious inspiration when I write about the Kiltrexx. Both passages are about enormous spiders!

Burroughs, Barsoom and Spacemouse 9

A while back, I watched Disney's John Carter. The movie got me thinking about Science Fantasy literature and how Spacemouse 9 fits within the genre. John Carter is based on Edgar Rice Burrough's 1912 serialized pulp magazine story "Under the Moons of Mars". In 1917, the serial was collected and published as the novel A Princess of Mars. The story line of A Princess of Mars follows the exploits of Civil War veteran John Carter after he is mysteriously transported to the planet Barsoom (Burroughs name for Mars). Many consider A Princess of Mars to be one of the earliest Science Fantasy novels.

I have a dim memory of reading one of Burrough's John Carter novels when I was young, but not remembering many details, I decided to download a free copy of A Princess of Mars and reintroduce myself to the world of Barsoom. Right away I noticed several unintentional similarities between the book and Spacemouse 9: