C. C. Harper - Author

  There’s something delightfully magical about a garden gnome. Isn’t there? Standing quietly in a flowerbed or nestled between shrubs, they seem to simply watch over their surroundings—innocent, stationary, perhaps even ordinary. Or are they? I’ve always been deeply fascinated by these little figures, especially after watching The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain . There was something so whimsical about the idea of a garden gnome secretly traveling the world, sending postcards to its unsuspecting owner. It made me wonder—what if these gnomes have lives of their own when we’re not looking? During one of my trips to Finland, I noticed that many cabins had their own resident gnomes. They stood in gardens, watching over homes as if they had always been part of the landscape. And for the first time, I began to imagine what sort of stories these gnomes could tell if they came to life. What world do they belong to when the stars come out and the humans go to sleep? In European folklore,...

  Today, on folklore friday, I'm going to tell you a bit about werewolves. After all, they are characters in my book, so might as well explain a little about them.  The myth of werewolves, or lycanthropy, is a widespread and persistent part of folklore in many cultures, and the concept of humans transforming into wolves dates back to ancient times. The term "lycanthropy" comes from the Greek word "lykánthropos", meaning "wolf-human", and one of the earliest known accounts is the story of King Lycaon in Greek mythology.  According to the myth, told in Ovid's "Metamorphoses", Lycaon, king of Arcadia, doubted the divinity of Zeus and decided to test the god's omniscience. So he decided to invite Zeus to a banquet and served him a dish made from the flesh of a sacrificed boy, which was either one of his own sons or a hostage, depending on the version of the story. This heinous act was intended to mock Zeus and test whether he would recogn...