by Sherrel Lee
Thanks for stopping by to read this blog posting. I thought I would tell you a bit of how myth, legend and lore became the central focus for the Valens. I’ve always love myth and have read the classics stories–Greek, Celtic, Roman, and Norse and I realized that as much as I love them, there has to be more and I wanted to know about the other legends from other cultures, and I wanted to take the well-known tales and give them a unique twist.
For example, what if there were shapeshifters that appeared human, but had alternate forms or fates. Maybe the belief in them would fade over time. Humans would stop believing in them. They would became the creatures of the myths. But maybe they still exist hiding behind a human face. Then when they needed their special powers they could change from human to Minotaur, a smoke demon known as an Enenra, or any of the other hundreds of amazing creatures of myth, legend, and lore.
Would the change be painful and a punishment – or could it be a beautiful, natural and full of joy and excitement? Did the Minotaur really eat people or did he rescue them from abuse and torment? And did I mention Dragons? I love dragons and have brought them into two tales of the Valens.
In VALENS REVENGE which takes place in Brazil, and in the soon to be released VALENS RECLAIMED where two dragons are destined to challenge each other.
So, you might ask, what are the Valens and where did you get the weird name? We’ll address the weird name first. I decided the shapeshifters would be a sister race to humans, Homo sapiens which loosely mean intelligent, so I went to the Latin dictionary to find a word for power—there it was Valens. So the Valens are “Homo sapiens Valens”. Since they are more powerful than normal humans, I wanted them to be guardians of the human race. But even the good guys have their enemies and they usually come from the same place they did. So the Valens are both the good and the bad guys with a bit of regular human evil stirred into the plots.
In the early days, even before mankind was more than an idea, the Valens existed and lived in their fated forms. They frolicked across the world in dragon, bird, animal and gargoyle forms. However mankind began to hate them, fear them, and want what they had. By the time of the European and Salem witch hunts the Valens, good and bad, knew they had to hide so adopted their human form as a way to fit in.
The books are filled with legendary characters: Phoenix, Gryphon, Inuit Amarok, and Chinese Black Dog. Brazilian Encantado, and Russian Sirin. I admit I could go on and on just naming them but I found characters all around the world. These musing are now the stories of the series The Valens of Legacy. A little bit of the familiar mixed with something new. I hope you’ll drop by my website sherrellee.com to leave a comment or send me a note via email addressed to [email protected] and let me know what you think. I’d also love to hear from you if you know some fascinating myths, legends or lore that could end up in a book.
Again, thanks for dropping in. If you decide to take a chance on the Valens of Legacy Series the first book in the series VALENS RISE is always free. Happy reading adventures to you all.
Warmly,
Sherrel Lee
Hi. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading your books yet but Valenzuela Rise sounds like something I would enjoy. Will have to check you out.
Valens* auto correct sorry
Wonderful, hope you like it as much as I did the auto correct. Gave me a laugh. Happy adventures in reading.