I was in the garden the other day, sweeping up some leaves (as you do), when I happened across this monstrosity:
😳
Putting aside my quivering hands and the beads of sweat cascading down my forehead, I wasn’t surprised that there weren’t any flies or insects caught in the web.
Nothing screams more:
“A BIG, HAIRY, AND HUNGRY SPIDER LIVES HERE”
… Than this webby enclave.
I, of course, cannot validate whether this is true or not, as I made the sensible decision to resume my leaf-sweeping duties, blissfully scrubbing my mind of the fact that I’m sharing space with a monstrous squatter.
Yet, as much as I fear insects with more than four legs, they have inspired some of the most terrifying beasts in fantasy and sci-fi.
Like Shelob, the colossal, ancient spider dwelling in The Two Towers.
(Terrifying.)
Or Gandalf’s “moth messenger” in The Fellowship of the Ring.
(Admittedly, not as scary, but moths are hideous things when you get a good look at them!)
Or, in the case of Yours Overlordy…
The Stingtails in The Great Betrayal.
These scorpion-like creatures were quite literally based on an experience I had many moons ago as a wee young boy when my dad and I cycled up a Greek mountain.
We stopped off at many points, but this one time, we took shelter from the midday sun and accidentally disturbed a rock when BAM…
Out came a scorpion, pincers ready, and a tail poised to dish out a nasty sting.
Luckily, all three of us escaped the encounter unharmed, but the memory still lives strongly in me. So much so that I thought, “I’d love to plant a bigger, more menacing version of this in my fiction one day.”
Yet, that “one day” evaded me for years.
Until earlier this year, when writing The Great Betrayal.
There are many new beasts and beings we encounter in this sequel, and the Stingtails are just as deadly as the others.
I’ll reserve the grisly ways one could meet their end at the hands (pincers?) of these insectoids for Chapter 1, but if you’re like me and get the heebie-jeebies with big insects, then this chapter will engross and horrify you in equal measure.
To read all about the Stingtails and the other beasts we meet in this instalment, you can grab the digitally signed e-book that’s ONLY available at my Storehouse (soon to be audiobook and paperback) here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/The-Great-Betrayal
Now, back to the issue of that hairy squatter of mine…
DJJW