Hybrids in fiction

Hybrids aren't just cars that run on more than one fuel source.

There are hybrid animals, and hybrid plants which occur either naturally or with the assistance of mankind, also hybrids in Greek and Roman mythology. Some hybrids are sterile, and some are not. Some hybrids are called after a combination of the father's name and the mother's (father's name first).

The mythological creatures do not appear to follow this convention... and in fact, now I understand the convention, my mind boggles over the Manticore (man-lion-scorpion).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid
wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid


The etymology is delightful. According to wikipedia, hybrid comes from the ancient Greek for "son of outrageous conduct."

I could have called my Tigron world's black sabre-toothed tigers ... pangers, or tigthers, but I think that would have complicated matters.

After the discussion with Josh about what carnivores in fiction should and should not eat, I spent several hours reading the ingredients on dry pet food for research purposes, I do have to wonder under what circumstances a dog in the wild would eat corn on the cob. Or rice!

There are some schools of alternative healing thought that claim some of our painful ailments (such as arthritis) are a consequence of us eating fruits or vegetables that we are not adapted for, or to which some of us are allergic. My mother cured very painful arthritic swelling in her hands by giving up all produce in the tomato families. Other people have a problem with potatoes. (Some have a problem but don't know it.)

In Insufficient Mating Material, the hero and heroine are marooned on an island on an alien world, and they have to test food and deal with the possibility that the heroine might not have a tolerance for some of the fruits and vegetables growing there.
They also notice some strange and apparently inappropriate alien animal behaviour and wonder how those animals evolved.

(For those who like to watch such things, it's quite instructive to see some of the videos that You-Tube in its wisdom has decided should be bundled with Insufficient Mating Material... a lot of animals going about their business!)

Best wishes,

Rowena Cherry
Insufficient Mating Material
"racy, wildly entertaining futuristic romance" ~Writers Write

What Josh said on Werewolves

Josh's remarks are too cool to be left in "Comments"

When I asked what would happen if a werewolf guzzled chocolate, Josh (author of PET HATES) said...

Werewolves and chocolate? Real (high-cacao) chocolate would certainly excite them as their livers would be intermediate between humans' and dogs' at metabolising theobromine. There's a possibility that they could have fatal seizures. On the other hand if you palmed them off with the inferior so-called chocolate that many Brits seem to love then they might explode with rage.


As for animals with strange, expanding genitalia (of the sort that develops a natural "anchor" to keep the male parts inside the female parts for prolonged coitus).

Josh said...

Interrupted mating? There's a possibility that you'd be severely bitten! The genital tie is very firm.


Best wishes,
Rowena Cherrry

Animals in love stories

On one social loop, the conversation has turned to strange sights seen in Spring time, such as astonishingly well hung male tortoises trying to mount small, mewing felines (they were mewing before the pursuit began), but that is not what I mean.

Got you going, though!

And if Josh, author of PET HATES, wants to explain how animals can make such a horrible mistake, I'd love to know more.

Deborah Anne mentioned the monkey in Pirates of the Caribbean. In the first Pirates, there was another pet: the psychic, and strategically incontinent parrot.

I don't think this is the first time a pet bird has been used for comic relief in a romance. (Pun intended)

A couple of years ago, at the Amelia Island concours d'elegance, there was someone with a really well trained parrot. When nature called, it climbed down its owner to the ground, did its business, and then climbed up him again. Which goes to show that a bird doesn't have to be messy.

Fieldfares (I believe) used divebombing as a coordinated method of deterring raptors such as crows. Apparently, there is something in bird poop that is not good for wing-feather condition and functioning, so after the crow has taken a few hits, it leaves before serious damage can be inflicted. I wonder if my local geese are under the impression that my black car is a threat to them! They'd probably like my house to move away, too.

I'd like to conclude with a mention of a bird with a starring role in a love story. Lady Hawk.

Best wishes,
Rowena

Don't you love the editing process??

I know Rowena is running into the "do as I say, not as you think" wall.

I am busy editing--though at the moment waiting for some Green-eyed male to fix me breakfast. Handy things to have around once they are housebroken.

Now, if only I could get one editor similarly trained...mwahahaha.

nixsnay on the fake ice cream!!

Hard working writer-reviewer kitty FOUTCHIE, loves to take a break from all the work and chow down to a drumstick. She also loves strawberry ice cream, enjoys getting the berries!

Only, she is on strike. I have been in a mood for sherbet - Lime and Pineapple. She is not amuzed. She gets her tongue going and then gets close enough to smell, and has to stop in mid lap! This is FAKE ice cream and she is getting bloody well tired of me tormenting her in this fashion.

It could possibly be on par with shooting undead monkeys!

At least, she thinks so!

Capt'n Jack Sparrow -- sexy pirate or vicious cruel abuser of undead monkeys?

Does shooting an undead monkey constitute an act of cruelty?



Mwahahaha... In Pirates of Caribbean 2, Capt. Jack shoots the undead money. Now, I wonder. Will this precipitate poor undead monkeys to have a new fear from piratehood in general? How about little children exposed to this random act of violence? Might they not try this at home with their undead monkeys??

Inquiring Minds want to ken!!???

This is what happens when you have edits!

What PET HATES author Josh said.... (wine)

Could a fictional big cat drink wine?

Josh said...

Wine bad for cats? Depends on how the owners behave after having imbibed it! Surely you don't mean to give your cat alcohol? Cats' livers are very poor at detoxifying chemicals as they are obligate carnivores and so have not evolved to cope with the array of chemicals that plants contain.

----
I am so glad I asked!
Fortunately for me, I write about Alien cat-like creatures (the black, saber-toothed Tigers of Tigron) and they are not the apex predator. Maybe I can find an evolutionary loophole.

I suppose it would be plausible for animals on an Earth-like moon of a gas giant to evolve differently, especially if the world had large arid areas. Perhaps they have to get their water by chewing succulents, like cactii.

Would that work, Josh?

I've seen dogs and cats chew on, and swallow grass, so I'm sure the behavior could evolve under the right conditions.

You'll say, perhaps, that the blood of their prey ought to provide all the liquid a predator needs. I wonder how I get around that one. Is blood salty? Might too much of it interfere with a creature's sanity?

Another possible loophole would be your comment about "the array of chemicals".

What chemicals are in plants? Are all the problematic chemicals in plants natural, or are some of them the result of farming methods? Or of mankind's pollution?

Rowena Cherry,
Insufficient Mating Material

Animals are better at understanding...

Animals are better at understanding people...

A generality, yes, but very often generalities are spot on.

But think on it. An animal gives you devotion, true devotion and trust. People don't display this open acceptance. I know Josh will cringe, but I do a lot of vet style work. Force to. Often when you are far away from things, it's hard to get vet to give a herd of cats shots, hard to get one to come treat a horse when it's sick. Poke one of my cats with a needle, he will fuss and fight, but never takes it personally. Kitty's love doesn't change. Without words to justify my actions, she has an understanding of me that I won't do anything to hurt her. So if I poke her with a needle, she may not like it, but she comprehends I'm doing it for a reason. Two minutes after, she is back to loving me, all forgiven.

I'm sure if I poked my husband with a needle, he would not be anywhere so understanding.

If I could "Ask A Vet..."

As an author of speculative romance, I make up animals as part of my world-building, but that doesn't relieve me of the obligation to be plausible, and also to be responsible.

If I create an apex predator, he has to be constructed like a predator. His eyes should probably face forward, unless there is a very good evolutionary reason (such as convergence -- where he evolves to look like his prey in order to mingle better and pick off prey without having to chase it, or spoil its flavor by frightening it.)

Here are some questions I'd like to ask a vet.

1. I know chocolate is bad for dogs. Is wine bad for big cats?

2. If chocolate is bad for dogs, should it be bad for werewolves?

3. I've read that dogs have a knob that acts as a sort of anchor once mating is underway. What would happen if a knobbly mating was forcibly interrupted?

4. Is it true that cats have "barbs" on theirs?

5. Do wasps (yellow jackets) really get drunk on rotten fruit? And if they do, is it because they like getting drunk? Or is it accidental?

6. Is there still animal cruelty involved in movie-making these days?


Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

Archetypical male stupidity

The camera often lies. What are we seeing here? And why is it interesting?

For instance, looking at this astonishing picture, my first thought is not to ask myself whether the photographer put the doggy equivalent of Spanish fly on the dog's belly. Or hamburger.

To be honest, when I looked at this photo, I laughed to think of the shock he seems to be about to inflict upon himself. How nasty of me! Why do I think that is funny?

Would I find it equally funny if the contortionist in question was not a dog but a man? (Not as much! I wouldn't believe that he was going to follow through). Suppose it was a tom cat? Do I like cats better than dogs? Having read excerpts from Josh's clever and amusing book PET HATES, I'm not sure I want to admit to any animal preferences.

Dogs --and cats-- chase their tails for fun, don't they? They even catch their tails. Why do they do that? Doesn't it hurt when the triumphant jaws snap shut on a tail?

In real life and in art (or in our literary endeavours) do we all do the equivalent of chasing our tails? Do we repeatedly set out to bite ourselves in the butt (metaphorically speaking) even after we've done it once, and ought to have learned not to make the same painful mistake again?

The archetypical shapeshifter

The archetypical shapeshifter was Zeus. Right? He was king of the gods, his wife was rightly jealous. He loved to swing, but was too glorious for an ordinary mortal woman to look upon and live.

So, he went looking for love in animal disguise (except for the time he turned himself into a shower of gold, which I hope represented coins... sovereigns, perhaps).

I guess the ancient Greeks didn't have a problem with bestiality. Nowadays, I think we prefer our dragons, bears, wolves, lions, horses, centaurs, elephant seals, very large bats... you name your beast! to shift into manly form in order to make love.

Occasionally, Zeus turned the woman into a cow --Io, if my memory serves-- so he could act the bull. In some cases, after he'd had his fun, he neglected to turn the woman back into herself again. This was for her own protection, the myth writer would say. Now, speaking personally, I don't think I'd want to live out my life as a bovine after a quickie with a shapeshifting god, even if my eternal reward was to have a distant star or planet (or moon) named after me!

We have swans on our lake, and they are fiercely sexy birds, so I can understand the fascination of Leda and the Swan (though I've never figured out why Leda had to lay eggs afterwards, and I've occasionally wondered how big a swan would have to be if it was really a godly hunk in disguise).

A Tiger in a Spaceship

I'm considering it, but all in all, I think it would be impractical. "Alien" was more dramatic. "Snakes On A Plane" was more visceral.

Men and horses - or Freud says giddy up!

Ever notice how a 12-year-old girl can develop a grand love for her horse?

When I was twelve, I lived on the back of my horse. Out at first light, rode all day, swam together, ate together...we were inseparable. Mum had to come and drag me away at dark. I never made the jump from a young girl handling a 2000-pound animal to puberty hitting. However, Discovery Channel recently had a special showing that as puberty takes over the child and pushes her to be a young woman, it drives her to also seek out horses. Freud wasn't far wrong...mwahahah? A young girl learns through this experience―what does she learn? Well, that she is barely a hundred-pound lass, yet through smarts and misdirection she can control this beast and make it do as she wishes.

Nature pushes her to learn these things, that she―a mere slip of a female―can saddle and bridle these beasts of power (and some might say limited brainpower―though I won't). Horses are not smart. They have very small brains. Only, you should never underestimate them. They are tricksey elveses!! A horse who doesn't want a bit in his mouth quickly learns to gum it, so the rider THINKS they have seated the bit properly. They just spit it out and give you a horselaugh. If they don't want the saddle, they will suck air into their stomachs (they have several, another thing similar to man, methinks). In essence, they puff up like a blowfish. You tighten the girth, step into the stirrup―and POW―they will exhale and deflate. The saddle suddenly spins and will dump you on your arse!

Horses don't like to be approached from the rear where they cannot see. Again, men have similar aversions to someone sneaking up on their blindside. Horses can sleep standing up. Men have this ability, too! Horses adapt to repetition quickly. Again, I think males have this same characteristic.

So as you see, if a young lady can handle one of these monstrous beasties...it will be a snap in handling her man!
Giddy Up Go!

man / animal

Personally, I tend to think of all my heros as an animal of some sort. Yeah, yeah, men are human (most of our alien heros have a human-like personna otherwise he would be hard for our readers to fall in love with him). But honestly, all the male characters in our books can tend to piggish, prissy, arrogant, fercious, feral, etc. Just about any adjective that can be attached to an animal can be attached to our men. So...what, I ask you is this difference between a hero and an animal with really good pecks and a tight bun?

Well, damn then, the best heros tend to use their brains sometimes--usually at an inconvenient time for the heroine. Just when she has him going all primal on her--hubba, hubba!--he actually shows that he's a smart, intelligent person too. The silly man! Doesn't he understand that our heroine wants him to do just as she says? Oh wait...perhaps that's what makes him different from all the other men in the book--he actually does think! And (hopefully, think well!) *Sigh* Do you think perhaps a nice mixture of animal and human makes for a great hero? Perhaps that explains the perponderance of shapeshifters, huh?