Topic Brainstorm

Mythical Greek Athletes: Looking back, it's kinda funny how little I cared for most of Greek Mythology as a child compared to my friends given that I, myself, am Greek. The gods and monsters and heroes were all a bit much for me, I guess. One part of Greek Mythology that always did intrigue me, however, was the stories that could almost be real. The legendary athletes, fighters, and warriors whose records and feats were almost certainly embellished, but maybe, just maybe, they could have done it. Figures like Theagenes of Thasos, a fighter said to have won 1300 professional matches, Leonidas of Rhodes, the runner who won twelve Olympic gold medals, or Milo of Croton, the wrestler who carried a bull on his shoulders, all have very interesting stories to tell.

Yeti, Bigfoot, Yowie and more: I've always held a great interest in North American cryptids, and I'm not sure why (probably something to do with Boy Scouts). Bigfoot or Sasquatch, however, has always been especially interesting to me due to the vast amount of Bigfoot-like creatures that have made their way (seemingly independently) into the folklores of so many different groups around the world. From the Yowie in Aboriginal Australia to the Yeti in Tibet or the Yeren in central China, everyone seems to have a big, hairy ape-creature roaming their wilderness (even Scotland has one!). Given the wide array of Bigfoots (Bigfeet? Bigfeets?) out there, there is an equally wide array of approaches to putting together a storybook for them. One I am especially keen on is the possibility that it's just the one Bigfoot/Yowie/Yeti/etc on a bit of a worldwide sightseeing trip.

(Personal Photo, a Bigfoot sighting somewhere in Washington state)

Bears: This option was kind of a toss up between lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!). Mostly, I wanted to look at the way a big, scary (and magnificent) apex predator is portrayed in folklore across cultures. Bears made the best candidate of the three due to their large range. I figure concerning this topic I will want to, at the very least, cover a North American tale, a Greco-Roman tale, and a Russian tale. 

Giants: This final possible topic comes from my look through the Project Ideas Index and is actually closer to two separate topics. Everyone loves giants; that much is clear given how many giant stories there are out there, but it's worth noting that giants tend to come in one of two forms: a race/species of giant or a specific individual who happens (for some reason or another) to be giant. If I choose to pursue this topic, I will choose between looking at one of these two types of giants. For example, if I pursue the first option, I may put together a collage of stories concerning mythical races of giants such as the Japanese "Oni", the Greek "Gigantes", or the Norse "Jötunn". For the second option, I have been tossing around the idea of something that would bring together a bunch of mythical giants from around the world like Goliath (of David and Goliath fame), Paul Bunyan, or the ancient Greek villain Antaeus. Maybe they have a support group for the vertically advantaged?