Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings
John Michael Greer
Llewellyn Books
Nonfiction, Magic/Paranormal
Themes: Bestiaries, Cryptids, Dragons, Faeries, Ghosts, Merfolk, Occult, Vampires and the Undead, Werebeasts
*****
Description
Dragons, ghosts, vampires, mermaids... the staples of fantasy stories and folktales for untold generations. Long ago, people believed in all
of them, but modern science tells us that these beings cannot exist. They are relics of superstition or gross misidentification, nothing more.
Somebody forgot to tell the monsters.
People are still seeing these things, and more supposedly impossible beings, and they’re not what the fantasy authors and fairy tales have cracked
them up to be. So what exactly is going on? According to the author, a practicing magician and occasional monster investigator, what’s going on is a
woefully inadequate scientific view of the world colliding with real, if nonphysical, entities. Though not so common as they once were, and not at all
what most people think they are, these “monsters” are still in existence, and people still encounter them. In this book, Greer includes descriptions
of the origins and nature of various creatures and offers pointers for dealing with such beings.
Review
This is perhaps the most unusual book on paranormal beings in my library to date. The closest I have is a book by John Keel, who takes a somewhat more orthodox scientific approach to similar subjects. Greer lacks Keel’s obsessively wild enthusiasm when explaining his viewpoints, and comes across far more rational because of it. I also must say that Greer’s arguments make a certain kind of sense, especially considering how little modern science can really explain about many phenomena, choosing to avoid or denounce what it cannot fit into neat little categories of its own design. This is a completely different take on the subject, and a welcome change of pace. I’m not sure how much of it I’m willing to believe, but it certainly makes for some fascinating reading, not to mention story inspiration.