“You’re researching what?”

“Well,” I said to hubby, “I have this idea stuck in my head about the librarians on the archive planet of Jebeha being lizard-like.”

He shrugged. He’s used to the weird things that come out of my brain.

Why lizards? I don’t know — I just go with my gut on a lot of these things. But then I had to determine whether lizards might actually be feasible as archivists/librarians.

It turns out they would, rather.

On a planet that serves as a galactic archive, media would need to be stored and preserved in various formats, to accommodate the needs of a variety of species, not just humans. And lizards have a number of different sensory organs in their biological repertoire.

They have excellent eyesight, useful for finding prey and judging the distance to it. Some lizard species, like chameleons, can move each eye independently of the other. Some lizards even have a light-sensing organ on top of their heads, called a parietal eye. It can detect changes in movement and light/shadow. Many lizards can see in colour, a useful method of identification and classification.

All lizards have a specialized olfactory system in their tongues to detect odours. They discern clues about the environment, possible mates, and the presence of predators.

They have eardrums and can hear, which theoretically would make them able to understand the Galactic language in my novels.

Lizards are remarkably adaptable, living everywhere except Antarctica.

Now, combine that with a more-or-less bipedal form with hands that can grasp and manipulate objects, and, if you’ll pardon the pun, a ‘dry’ sense of humour, and the lizard-like monks of Jebeha were born!

The question of the oddest thing I’ve ever conducted research on came up on an ‘about me’ form for an event I’m participating in mid-September, the dReadCon Horror and Dark Fiction Convention in Burlington, Ontario. I had to think about it for a minute — I’ve completed a lot of research on a cornucopia of subjects — but the lizard-thing beat them all out in the end.

You can find my complete write-up on the Blog:

I hope you find it entertaining. I’m really looking forward to this convention — right up my darkened alley, so to speak, and for all lovers of a little shade and shadow. I’ll be offering special Spooky Reading Kit bundles, with signed copies of the book(s), bookmark, a Roads Troublemaker mug, a Chaos Roads coaster, a 10-bag box of my favourite tea, 10 Chaos Roads napkins and a pouch of tea treats. Everything you need for a spooky night of reading time! More info to come!

Saucy green lizard in the Amazon jungle – by E. Jurus, all rights reserved