New from CFZ Press - Glen Vaudrey's The Northern Isles

Mystery animals? Great Britain? Surely not.

These are not phrases which would normally be thought of in the same sentence. But it is true.

The zoogeography of the British Isles is not as hard and fast as one would have imagined; there are mystery big cats, sea monsters, strangely coloured variants of well known species, animals only known from a handful of specimens or even less, and a body of evidence to suggest that entire new species await discovery.

The Fortean zoology of these islands is even more impressive, with dragons, monsters, ghostly animals and weird animal folklore. For the first time, all these subjects are being gathered together under one, somewhat eccentric, roof.

The Mystery Animals of the British Isles is a major new series from CFZ Press, the publishing arm of the world's largest mystery animals research organisation. It will cover Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, on a county by county basis, describing the mystery animals of the entire island group.

New from CFZ Press: Mystery Animals of Gloucestershire...

This latest offering from CFZ Press looks promising - it's the latest in a series of regional British cryptozoology texts exploring the nation's mystery animals, this one authored by Dr Paul Williams (no relation to Matt or Mike!).

Dr Williams is also the author of Howls of Imagination (Heart of Albion Press), which explores the demonisation of wolves and reveals how folklore and myth can create and sustain misleading ideas while simultaneously offering a more factual understanding of this iconic animal of the wilderness.

Author Nick Redfern reviewed that book and wrote: "Howls of Imagination is a superb study of the fact, the fiction, the legend, and the mythology surrounding that most mysterious of creatures: the wolf.

"Howls of Imagination was probably one of my most enjoyable reads of this year so far; and I can say for certain that in this concise-yet-packed [107]-page book, the author has revealed a wealth of hidden knowledge on this majestic beast, dispelled some myths, answered a lot of questions, and offered a rich body of data that is diverse, eye-opening, mysterious and magical in equal measures."

Dr Williams completed a PhD thesis on wolves in folklore in 2004 at Sheffield University. His short fiction and poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies such as Focus and Roadworks.

Mystery Animal series gets a plug in FT

The Fortean Times, courtesy of Dr Karl Shuker, recently reviewed three volumes of The Mystery Animals of the British Isles. He wrote:

"The British Isles boast a diversity of mystery beasts: alien big cats and loch monsters; bat-winged monkey birds and grave-desecrating earth hounds; mermaids and sea serpents; dragons and flying snakes; cockatrices and human-headed horse-men; Black Dogs and wulvers; master otters and horse-eels; and even the (very) odd Skye-inhabiting unicorn.

"Yet only a few of these, most notably Nessie, the dragons, and the Alien Big Cats (ABCs), have ever attracted any sizeable treatment in books. The rest have been allocated a few paragraphs here and there – until now, that is.

"The CFZ Press, publishing arm of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, has launched a monumental, multi-volume series entitled ‘Mystery Animals of the British Isles’, in which the cryptids and zooforms of each major county or region of Great Britain will receive comprehensive coverage by a writer from that area (and therefore presumably familiar with its local crypto-fauna). 

"There is also a volume documenting the monsters and mystery beasts of Ireland. Judging from the quality of the first three volumes, the series looks set to become the standard work on British mystery beasts."

Read the entire review at the Fortean Times website.

The series continues apace, with Neil Arnold presently writing Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Sussex.

More must-have tomes for the library!