The Compendium of Magical Beasts: An Anatomical Study of Cryptozoology's Most Elusive Beings

by Melissa Brinks, Melissa Brinks, Lily Seika Jones (Illustrator)

From controversial cryptozoologist and explorer Dr. Veronica Wigberht-Blackwater, The Compendium of Magical Beasts is a definitive field guide that explores the history, biology, and anatomy of mythological creatures. Approaching the fantastic with a scientific eye, Dr. Wigberht-Blackwater explains the history, habits, and biology of each creature's existence with equal attention to detail. Her research is accompanied by stunning scientific illustrations of each specimen's anatomy, providing a comprehensive view of creatures most often dismissed as pure fantasy. Combining biological fact with folklore, cultural studies, and history, this volume is crucial to science both fringe and mainstream. Locked in a dusty attic for almost a century, Dr. Wigberht-Blackwater's trailblazing work was recently discovered by writer Melissa Brinks, who spent months transcribing the journals she found. Brinks joined forces with artist Lily Seika Jones to digitize the doctor's amazingly detailed anatomical diagrams in order to share these revolutionary findings with the world for the first time. The Mermaid, Unicorn, Wild Man, Gnome, Werewolf, Troll, Fairy, Jackalope, Winged Horse, Centaur, Minotaur, Vampire, Dragon, Sea Monsters/Loch Ness/Kraken, Goblin, Sphinx, Phoenix, Harpy, Cyclops, Banshee, Incubus/Succubus, Nymph, Ghoul, Selkie, Kelpie

Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Fiction, Art, Animals, Reference, Mythical Creatures

200 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2018

About the author

Melissa Brinks is a freelance writer, editor, and podcaster. Melissa graduated in 2014 from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in English with a creative writing emphasis, having spent several years editing and writing for newspapers and a literary journal. Since graduation, she has pursued writing as a career and has published many articles for a variety of entertainment sites, including Game Rant and Women Write About Comics.

Raised on a rich diet of fantasy novels and pop music, Melissa developed an early taste for the intersection of magic and modern society. Finding the lack and/or mistreatment of female characters in her favorite novels distasteful, she took to writing her own, kicking off a lifelong love of writing women slaying dragons, overcoming obstacles, and losing their cups of tea to misplaced curses.

Melissa’s short story, “Damn It,” was published in Vibrations, Everett Community College’s arts and literature magazine, and can be found here. Her poem, “Cecaelia,” can be found in issue ten of AU, the University of Washington’s speculative fiction magazine.

She currently co-edits the Women Write About Comics game section, co-hosts a podcast about geeky stuff and intersectional feminism, and tweets about cats and Sailor Moon.

Reviews

[Emily Wohlers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This belongs on every coffee table. I love the beautiful illustrations and reading all the information on my favorite “magical beasts.” Recommend to anyone who has a pulse.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always been a sucker for fantasy scientific journals. The illustrations are wonderful, the descriptions are fascinating, and the “cryptozoologist” the authors created as a background story is a neat way of framing the whole work. I could have done without the political commentary, however. Yes, women’s rights are important, but in this context they are simply distracting from the book’s actual content. Also, I would not refer to a bird carrying an egg as ‘pregnant’, but that is simply nitpicking on my part. Very interesting book overall.

[Nadia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written by a frustrated feminist. Superficial information.. I'm sorry i bought this trash

[Godzilla Enthusiast · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read one chapter—the minotaur chapter—and this book is not at all what I thought it was. Maybe that's my fault, but I think my opinion still stands. Most of my expectations come from the obvious hint to scientific papers, the book title resembling scientific books very much and the author being titled 'Dr.'. I soon learned this was a farce. Instead of looking at the cryptids in a scientific matter and trying to create an 'anatomical study' based on what information we have, it just makes up information as it goes without any basis whatsoever. If you're going to do something like this, use sources we have, don't just make crap up. On top of that, the conclusions she reaches have a very obvious political influence, something that in no instance, whatsoever, should appear in a book like this. It simply doesn't have anything to do with it, it's brought up for no reason. Not only that, but the conclusion goes against her own fabricated information! She states that male minotaurs are physically stronger than the females—with about the same ratio as humans—and then states that one single female is physically dominant over all the males for inexplicably no reason besides her own agenda. Even in an extreme example, strongowoman can hang with more weight compared to their own body-mass, but strongmen can deal with way higher weights. Look at Eddie Hall's video with Rhianon Lovelace, I think that is the fairest example I can give. If I can tell this much from a single chapter this easily, I see no hope for the rest of this book.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whimsical read with beautiful illustrations.

[Jordan Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a fun and informative book. I like the way it subtly blends real folklore with imagined, but plausible, scientific concepts. That does mean that it is not the best for an introduction to the topic. You really want to be already familiar with most of these mythologies to fully appreciate the satire.
The illustrations are gorgeous and haunting and really bring the creatures to life.

[Kayla (krakentoagoodbook) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This was a fun book about cryptozoology! I enjoyed the amusing quips/comments throughout the book. While the information is generally pretty surface-level, this was still enjoyable. The illustrations are great!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. So much fun reading the “scientific” findings of the world’s most elusive creatures. So much fun that she mentions the Pacific Northwest in her studies. So happy I bought this book, my granddaughter will enjoy reading this also.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 only because I wish there were more.

[ISAAC]

this book is AMASING

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

I enjoyed the wit, the style and had an overall good time.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The illustrations were neat, but the "information" and writing style just made this book feel like a prop.

[elstaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book to be savored.

[Jessica Rutsky Privette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply beautiful illustrations and fun to read about such creatures with a scientific, historical, and folkloric lens.

[Ming Terk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Apparently well researched. But how much is true, that is the question. But then, people read fiction. So take it with a big pinch of salt. Some of the theories put forward strains whatever little credibility I have left. Whatever you may want to believe, it is an interesting read. It is well written. You want to find out more about these creatures. At least the legends or stories surrounding them. Yes, that would be much more interesting.

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very wittily written!

[Heidi]

This is a thoroughly awesome book for anyone who enjoys cryptozoology and folklore. It is full of a very different look at everything from vampires to selkies to goblins.