Finding New Myths

I'm currently working on an urban fantasy story and am having difficulty in finding more obscure monsters and legends to draw from. Most of what I know stems from basic Arthurian, Greek, and Tolkien mythos. I've always been impressed by the diversity of the mythologies that authors, such as Michael Mignola and Jim Butcher, cite in their works. Unfortunately I have no idea where to look to find more about these diverse legends. If anyone knows of any reference books or websites that provide information on other mythologies the help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Try typing Legendary creatures into Wiki, it has a really good list.

 

Mythology from the Philippines is pretty cool. All kinds of freaky monsters there - I suggest googling it.

 

Hi,

From memory the wiki has a humungous list of mythical creatures and beings, and links to pages about most of them.

Cheers.

 

Aboriginal/Australian mythology is definitely the coolest. In fact, a lot of it's more real than we think (or so I reckon). Hell, how many of you have yowies?

 

have you googled?

 

Celtic myth, Finnish, Japanese, Indian, Native American, Babylonian, Hebrew, African...all are good sources of myth and legend.

 

Personally, I make up my own myths. They can still be set in the real world. That is what is awesome about fiction. You have no boundaries.

 

I appreciate all the responses. As far as googling goes, I have to admit I prefer a hard copy more than web pages. If I could only get my hands on Mike Mignola's library I would have access to everything I need.

 

uh, in case you hadn't noticed, googling can also refer you to titles of actual, hard copy books! ;-)

 

There's always libraries and bookstores. They should have mythology sections... Try amongst kids' books if you can bear to be seen there, as often they make surprisingly good basic resources, seeing as adult books tend towards analysis and picking out one or two for close study. Kids' books actually tell the stories, don't assume you know anything about the subject, and often have a much broader range.

 

Or Amazon if you don't want to leave the house.

 

^ yeah if I'm looking for a book based around a certain thing - such as myths - I use amazon to search and read reviews for what's good and what's not and then go and get it from the library/local bookshop. Amazon is also good for recommending similar types of books but similarly whenever I've been into a book shop - normally waterstones - they bend over backwards to help and they really do know what they're talking about so it's always worth asking in store.

Robert Graves has written several books about Greek myths. I skimmed through one, 'Greek Myths', a couple of months ago out of interest in the subject and found it to be far more thorough than I needed for light reading. Not sure if that's the type of thing you're looking for but thought I'd mention.

 

Well if you're writing a modern urban fantasy why not use modern urban monsters? Like Slenderman, Jersy Devil, things like that?

 

I remember a book my parents had (God help me if I can remember the title or publisher) that had all sorts of information about the different mythological characters, creatures and stories, from the earliest Babylonian myths to Japanese and the Pacifics. I have to admit, Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology seem overdone. I really like Native American mythology (from what I remember) and some Pacific (Mauri and Australian) myths weren't bad either. When I see my parents next, I'll be sure to get details on the book and post it here.