Finally, I discovered the Anthropophagi, who seemed to fit the bill perfectly: written about since the fifth century B.C. I searched long and hard for those creatures. Rather, believability means Warthrop’s quarry had to be biologically viable and “actual” creatures from history – that is, they cannot be products of my imagination either. Believability does not preclude the bizarre or outlandish there are plenty of creatures in the natural world that are wondrously bizarre and outlandish. And, to be true to my premise, that something had to be believable.

So vampires and their ilk were out – but what was in? A monster-hunter has to hunt something. Pellinore Warthrop, and his loyal chronicler, Will Henry, pursuing things like vampires would, to my mind, violate that premise and actually mitigate the horror by allowing readers to comfort themselves with the notion that these so-called monsters were products of my – or, rather, the collective – imagination. That is the simple premise behind the series: What if monsters were real? To have my hero, Dr. But something didn’t feel right – and I think it had to do with the dream that was the germ of the series: this thing that was chasing me was not some supernatural creature. When I first began working on the idea for The Monstrumologist, I played around with using the “classic” creatures that are so ubiquitous right now: vampires, werewolves, zombies and the like. The memory of that dream still makes me shudder. It hasn’t caught me, but I know it is only a matter of time before I am monster-meat. In it, some huge, faceless shadow is stalking me. The Monstrumologist began, appropriately enough, with a nightmare – a thirty-year-old nightmare from my childhood. Ladies and gentlemen, ghouls and monstrumologists, please give a warm welcome to Rick Yancey! The Monstrumologist books are amongst Thea’s current favorite series’ – so when we were given the opportunity to have Rick Yancey over for Halloween week to talk about his Inspirations and Influences, we responded with Will Henry-esque alacrity.

Today’s guest is none other than Rick Yancey, the author behind the brilliant Monstrumologist books ( The Monstrumologist and The Curse of the Wendigo).

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey