The magic of Livraria Lello

I’ve been blogging about the inspirational trip my family and I took to Europe in March—and the challenges of travelling with a five-year-old!

I love galleries, museums, castles—you know, all things historical! But for our son, unless it’s a place where he can run around with impunity, he’s not a fan.

Still, we tried to incorporate as much of these things as possible during our trip and one of the places I was really looking forward to visiting was the Livraria Lello & Irmão in Porto. 

I first heard about Livraria Lello from my in-laws, who brought back a picture book for Hiro a couple years ago. It mentions how the store served as inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s world-building. Once we knew we were heading to Portugal, we did more research on the store and realized it was a must-see destination. During my author visits to schools, one of my favourite story starters with students is something called “Lost in the Library,” in which I lead the students in a brainstorming activity to map out a massive magical library, filled with wonder and danger. I show images from many of the libraries and stores I have visited around the world—so I simply needed to experience Livraria Lello.

The store is so popular that you have to buy tickets for entry. I believe they were five euros each, but you can use these toward book purchases once you’re inside. So we purchased our tickets the day before and headed to the store for our entry time.

I was definitely surprised by the length of the line-up to get in.

My expectations were now heightened! I was super excited, and then . . . 

Well, if you’re a parent of a toddler, you know you can ask your child 7,648 times before leaving anywhere if they have to go to the bathroom and they will say no 7,647 out of those 7,648 occasions. Then, the moment when it’s most convenient, there’s the most urgent need to answer Mother Nature’s beckoning. 

The moment we crossed the threshold of Livraria Lello, Hiro announced for all to hear that he needed to go (and he was very, uh . . . specific in his proclamation). So, instead of having that romantic moment of gaping in wander, breathing in the aroma of books—you know, all the things—we had to deal with a panicked plea. I was having flashbacks to earlier on in the trip when I tried to take Hiro to the Picasso Museum.

Marcie said she’d take care of the situation, and whipped into action. (Byt the way, it’s no surprise, but there’s no bathroom in Livraria Lello, which meant Marcie and Hiro had to negotiate an exit with the guard at the gates, then go on a bit of an odyssey to find facilities.) 

It all worked out, and Hiro was in a much better mood by the time they met back up with me.

In a way, they timed it perfectly. I entered the shop with a swarm of people, and it wasn’t until twenty minutes later that I realized the crowd had thinned. So my recommendation is if you visit and find yourself in the same situation, wait it out at bit. The visitors come in waves, as is suggested by the staged ticketing—I assumed most people would be like me and spend at least an hour in the store, but many cleared out within fifteen minutes.

There are many things to marvel at in Livraria Lello. It’s famous for its gorgeous red staircase—and it’s definitely wonderful. I even liked the underbelly of the steps, where you can find carved lion heads and—in the case of Hiro—a place to hunker down in relative solitude.

There were many different details that Marcie and I noticed and photographed; the cabinets and (Narnia-like?) lamppost on the top floor, the ceiling . . . well, it’s just one of those magical realms you have to experience for yourself.

Hiro’s favourite part was definitely the book bin. This is a bin that travels along built in rails along the bottom floor—kind of like a mine cart. My favourite part was the architecture—and, of course, the books! They came in many shapes, sizes, ages, languages, and genres. 

Yep, we cashed in all the vouchers that came with our tickets! Afterward, we headed to a nearby park, sat underneath a tree at an outdoor cafe and mooned over our wares. Here’s what we ended up with (Hiro got two books, and I’ll let you guess which ones).

Oh, by the way, there’s a vending machine outside—a vending machine for books . . . just in case you get caught late at night and needing your fix.

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When you find a big hole . . . go down it

It’s kind of a rule when you’re an author seeking inspiration. And not only did I recently descend into the cavernous, spiralling pit that I found . . . I took the five-year-old.

But first things first! This is Part 2 of a recap of the big family trip we took in March to Europe. My wife and I are accustomed to going on long, exploratory trips to build inspiration for our writing (me), acting (Marcie), and teaching careers (both of us), but this is the first sort of epic journey we’ve taken with our son. 

Ups and downs—literally and metaphorically

After spending time in Spain, we made our way to Portugal. It was a long travel day that involved a car ride to the airport, then the flight itself, followed by subway hopping to arrive at our hotel, which was just on the outskirts of Lisbon’s main quarter.

Hiro was exhausted by the time we arrived—not just from the travel day, but from all the unceasing days of adventure we had spent so far. Did that make us pause and take a day off for rest?

Nope.

Our first full day out, we were charging around the city, checking out Elevador de Santa Justa, which is a 19^th century elevator that transports you up from the Baixa district in Lisbon to the Largo do Carmo, where you can visit the Museu Arqueológico do Carmo. Hiro was already showing signs of fatigue here, so I went into the archaeological site by myself while Marcie and Hiro rested in the square outside.

I had the time to trek beneath the roofless arches and explore the different corners of the site. The medieval convent was ruined in the earthquake of 1755, and some of it has been restored for visitors to explore. It was a fantastic experience, and the cost to enter was only five euros!

By the time I got out, we could tell that Hiro was fading fast. We headed back to the hotel, and for the next two days his fever bounced around, going up and down and causing us a lot of anxiety. Thankfully, we had a really good farmacia nearby and their English was excellent. I was able to get the right combination of fever medication for Hiro.

A maze, a castle, and some vainglorious chickens

Well, we were forced to hunker down while he recovered. Marcie and I spent shifts looking after him, while the other one of us went out and did our own exploring. I took the opportunity in the morning to visit the nearby Parque Eduardo VII, which featured a long set of decorative mazes. They only went to my knees—so not really that tricky, but I had my notebook with me and it was a good place to sit in the sun and do a bit of writing.

Afterward, I decided to train into the heart of Lisbon and trek up the hill to visit Castelo de São Jorge. It was quite the hike up there, but I enjoyed the switchback streets and all the old sights along the way—including the main weathered and storied doors.

The castle itself was a marvellous experience, offering many breathtaking views. I enjoyed climbing up to the various turrets and rampart walkways. I’m not the best with heights, and the stones of this castle are worn and weathered to smoothness, but there are plenty of railings. Still, I was amazed to see people perching between the crenellations, taking selfies. All I could think of was how simple it would be to plummet off the edges.

I was also thankful Hiro wasn’t with me. He bounces around so much, and has NO fear of heights. My imagination would have been going wild if he had been with me, charging along those narrow walkways and trying to lean out for a view.

After exploring the walls, I made my way back to safety and weaved my way past the peacocks (or as I like to think of them, gradiose chickens) who populate the castle grounds.

Next it was time to relieve Marcie and take some time with Hiro. 

A place of palaces

Eventually, after two days of rest and sleep, our little explorer had recovered and we set off for some day trips. The first trip was to Porto, but I’m going to leave that for another post! The second trip was to Sintra, where you can visit palaces and castles.

We had grand ambitions of visiting all the sites there, but we quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen, especially with Hiro (we started to realize that we needed to slow down!). So we decided to focus on two sites: Palácio da Pena and Quinta da Regaleira.

Sintra, like so much of Portugal, is situated in the hills, which means it’s not entirely easy to navigate to the different sites. We opted on getting a bus pass, but found this to be a bit inefficient and quickly realized why so people opted for the motorized tuk-tuks. I will say that Hiro loved the bus rides though—the dramatic winding roads made for a lot of fun, kind of like a rollercoaster ride. His “oohs” and “ahs” definitely entertained our fellow passengers.

Still, busses can only take you so far to the sites. Climbing is inevitable!

Still no photos, please!

Palácio da Pena is branded as a fairytale palace—and we saw why, firsthand.

The brightly coloured spires and turrets and the lavish interiors offer many photo opportunities—though Hiro still fought us on the poses. Marcie managed to capture one great photo with Hiro and I, but when we tried to get a family photo . . . well!

Speaking of “well” . . .

Our next stop at Sintra was Quinta da Regaleira, which features the famous Initiation Well, which was built for ceremonial purposes, to conduct rituals based upon arcane or esoteric beliefs. Really, it’s like a subterranean tower, with a set of stone steps spiralling every downward into the dark and damp. In other words, it looks like a set straight out of Star Wars or Game of Thrones, and I desperately wanted to go down it. 

Marcie was straggling, so Hiro and I headed into the well without her. I immediately wondered if I was making the wisest of decisions because it wasn’t immediately apparent how to exit the pit, since it was a one-way flow. This worry was underscored by the woman right behind us who had her baby on her front carrier. She asked me, “Should I take my baby down here?” I pointed out that maybe I wasn’t the best one to follow. 

But follow us, she did! Downward we spiralled and the way grew darker and damper. I kept expecting Hiro to panic, but he didn’t—in fact, he was having the time of his life. When the woman behind us bumped into us at one point, Hiro laughed and said, “I just got kicked in the head by a baby’s foot!”

Eventually, we ended up in the labyrinth of tunnels at the bottom of the well and had additional fun exploring them. Eventually, we found Marcie down there and we all exited at the same time, through a cozy grotto patrolled by a guard. I asked the guard if they ever had to go into the cave to find lost stragglers and she admitted “sometimes.”

I have to say that well was one of the absolute highlights of my trips. I’m definitely going to take inspiration from this place in my writing.

Inspirational doors

I leave you with some of my favorite doors from Portugal.

Travelling with child—and trying to find inspiration along the way

One of the key ways I find inspiration as an author is by travelling—nothing quite stimulates my creative juices wandering through a dungeon or getting lost in a maze in a foreign country. Travels have been few and far between for my family the last few years, but we recently were gifted flights to Europe (and some free accommodation with friends and family), so we wanted to make the most of it—in other words, we wanted to do all the usual things we’ve always done on our past trips to Europe, Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. That means wall-to-wall exploring, every single day.

However . . .

One significant thing has changed since our last major trip, though: we now have a child. Before the pandemic, we actually did a major international trip to Korea and Japan with our son, but he wasn’t even walking back then, so that was enough to curtail our ambitions.

But he’s five now, so we thought we could revert to our old ways: see everything, go everywhere, and adventure it up.

Yes, we were that naïve!

The first part of our trip was in Spain and reality sank in for me when we visited the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. Hiro and I look at artwork all the time at home (I highly recommend the Daily Art app!), and we’ve visited art installations and galleries in Vancouver . . . which is all to say that I thought I had sufficiently and cleverly laid out the groundwork for a visit to the Picasso Museum.

Wrong.

Is this another room of boring?

As soon as we entered, our grumpy five-year-old, at the end of his late-afternoon rope, announced for all to hear: “BOR-ING.” Turning crimson red, I quickly shuffled him along, trying to find a different room to spark him. All I got was, “Is this another room of BOR-ING?” (Of course, as soon as he knew that was getting a reaction from me, he kept it up.)

Sigh. 

The other thing that my wife and I realized? We had to do WAY more carrying than we expected. We had been building up Hiro’s stamina, but there were many times when we were on a time crunch to meet an entrance time—or to catch a train—and the easiest thing was to just plonk him on my shoulders.

My back sure paid for that halfway through the trip!

So, I didn’t get the ponder and pontification time that I’m used to. BUT . . . of course, there are so many other positives to travelling with a toddler.

The world through a five-year-old’s lens

I’m the one in the family normally accused of getting sidetracked by a detail (usually a doorknocker), but Hiro often became interested in something I wouldn’t have paid remote attention to—like the designs on the sidewalk.

Or the scale of everything—he had never seen anything quite like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In some cases, I wanted him to appreciate the magic of a moment in a more profound way, but eventually realized he WAS seeing things in a profound way. His own, personal profound way. 

Mapping, mapping, mapping

Hiro has been obsessed with maps since he was old enough to understand what they were. I remember when he was barely two and I had to map out our neighbourhood for him, because he wanted to see our house in context of his world (which, for him at the time, was the neighbourhood).

So, there was a lot of looking at maps at every city and site. Marcie ended up buying him maps of the major cities we went to (even as I write this, he’s sitting near me, studying one of them). 

No photos, please!

You can never predict a kid’s mood when it comes to photos. Sometimes, he loves to pose and ham it up, especially next to my wife. Other times? Well . . . 

On the run

We tried doing a few things that we thought would appeal to Hiro’s interests—the aquarium, the zoo . . . but, really, what he wanted most was to just run around (except when we wanted him to—like, you know, to catch a train).

Barcelona is famous for Guell Park, but we decided to forgo it (Marcie and I had both been there on previous trips) and instead went to Parc del Laberint d’Horta, which featured a beautiful maze. That was something we could all get behind—and lost in. We must have spent two hours there (and not only because we got lost in the maze, but because we wanted to do it more than once).

There’s no bull here

Another favourite experience that we shared was exploring the bull ring in Mijas, the town where our friends live. I have zero desire to witness an actual bull fight, but for a couple of Euros, we could take a self-guided tour through the ring during off-hours. Hiro loved running around the arena. In particular, I loved going down the alleys behind the arena. I have been working on a middle-grade time travel book, and now I’m thinking I might have to write an extra scene to feature my characters ending up in a bull ring back in the day.

Visiting the Mijas bull ring, made me realize how similar gladiator pits and bull rings are. The father of my friend who lives in Mijas did say that bull fighting came from the Romans—I haven’t corroborated that information, but it does make sense to me.

The run of the place

Another successful experience for us was in Seville. We only had one night there, on our way to Lisbon, and because of that, we missed out entry on two of the main sites there, Royal Alcàzar and the Cathedral, because they were sold out. (The reality is that we didn’t want to prebook a lot of things because we quickly learned that we couldn’t predict Hiro’s day). 

However, we did go check out Setas de Seville on the morning of our departure. This is a site built over the old marketplace, part of a revitalization of the area, and it’s a futuristic looking walking platform that provides a 360-degree view of the city. Because we got there so early, we had the run of the place—literally. Hiro did laps around those walkways, and it was all completely safe, so we felt completely at ease. And the views were absolutely stunning.

As mentioned above, we did head to Portugal after Seville, but I leave those adventures for a future post. 

By the way, I normally blog DURING a trip . . . but I simply didn’t have time for that during this one. Once again—travelling with a toddler! I thought I would get more work done on some of the train trips—in one case in particular, I sat down to write and edit some students’ stories, but Hiro wanted me to plug my headphones in and listen in as he watched a movie (Sing).

Inspirational doors

I leave you with some of my favorite doors from Spain. (Yep. I got sidetracked a lot!)

My day is a train wreck

During our recent family vacation, we ended up revisiting the train wreck, just south of the Whistler mountain resort.

Rusty carriages are strewn throughout the woods, the result of a catastrophic derailment in 1956. Over the years, the cars have been brightened up with graffiti, adding an eerie aspect to the site. 

When we first discovered this place back in 2019, I was just hatching the idea for my next book, Spell Sweeper. The site made such an impression on me that it the location of a major event in Spell Sweeper’s plot (one of the chapters is even called “My Day is a Train Wreck”). 

It was fun to revisit the site and to discover how it had changed (one thing was that it was a lot busier than the last time we were there) and to see the new artwork and further degradation of the train carriages (which makes sense, given what I did to them in Spell Sweeper!).

Spell Sweeper is being released by HarperCollins Children’s Books on November 30. Want to preorder or add it to Goodreads (things that really help authors, by the way)? Head on over to this page on my website for all the links.

Yep, I wrote a book about wizard school

My latest middle-grade book is called Spell Sweeper, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books. 

You can add Spell Sweeper to Goodreads HERE or preorder it HERE. You can also request a digital or audio advanced reading copy via NetGalley or Edelweiss. 

Release feels like a long way off (the book is coming out as hardcover, ebook, and audio book in November 2021), but I wanted to provide some insights into my inspirations. Spell Sweeper is very different from anything else I’ve had published. It’s written in first-person present-tense and is set firmly in this world (as opposed to my other books, which take place in completely made-up worlds). 

So here’s a little background . . .

Who in their right mind writes a book about wizard school?

What a dangerous enterprise! To the masses, the Harry Potter books are so popular and authoritative that many give J.K. Rowling credit for single-handedly inventing the concepts of wands, wizards with long white beards, owls as familiars, the Chosen One and many other fantasy tropes. (This is a testimony to the power of her characters, settings, and world building.)

Instead of trying to ignore this behemoth of a series, I tried to play upon it, giving my main character Cara Moone a slightly satirical tone as she confronts certain tropes in her adventures and, depending on her mood, is either impressed by them being fulfilled or miffed that they have been contradicted. 

Of course, I wasn’t thinking only of Harry Potter, but of the long line of fantasy books, movies, and TV shows that populate this genre (though at the same time understanding that for many of my readers, their own references may go no further than Rowling’s books). I was thinking about Jane Yolen’s Wizard’s Hall, The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, The Worst Witch by Jilli Murphy, Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono, T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, The Chronicles of Narnia, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly . . . the list goes on. I was thinking of how often we find these common (and cherished) tropes of a mentor, a magical talisman used to finish the quest, a prophecy of a chosen one.

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Side note: 
I am particularly fascinated by the concept of the Chosen One. If you’re interested in exploring the roots of this archetypal character, then I suggest you check out the excellent two-part series from the IDEAS podcast:

The Chosen, Part 1

The Chosen, Part 2

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Now, onto my specific inspirations . . .

My own experience of a magical school

In 2004, I met a like-minded dreamer named Joon-hyoung Park who was seeking a writing program for his daughters to take. He couldn’t find the right type of workshop, so he decided to invent one—and he wanted my help. The next thing you know, Joon and I had started a creative writing program in Vancouver for immigrant kids from Asia (our own school of magic!). 

Our workshops blossomed and bloomed, and now we host many programs for kids from all walks of life. We write stories, draw pictures, brew potions, build dragon eggs—you name it!

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My wife and I have enjoyed an additional privilege—the opportunity to visit Asia to teach creative writing at schools, libraries, and education centers (I’ve been to Korea over twenty times!). Reading the stories by these creative kids—and about their dreams, desires, and fears—has definitely played a role in the creation of Dragonsong Academy. (By the way, it’s no exaggeration to say that our teaching experiences led us to Japan, and our son Hiro, in 2018.)

Over the years, I’ve met a lot of Harry Potter fans, but my students, being largely from an Asian background, always had trouble finding themselves in the books. (Yes, there’s Cho Chang, but as far as I’m concerned, she doesn’t get to do any of the fun stuff.) So, one thing I wanted to do was to populate my school with characters that represent and reflect my students (and, for that matter, my son). These aren’t just side characters, but ones who are talented and powerful and often get to lead the charge.

The other common feeling I’ve observed in my students is a yearning to be popular and famous, whether it be in their families, at their schools, or on the Internet. Cara is like so many of us; she feels inadequate and is constantly pestered by those “why not me?” or “when is it my turn?” moments. The thing is that Cara has actually already “made it”, being one of the lucky few who gets to go to wizard school. The catch is that she views herself at the bottom of the pecking order. As a MOP (Magical Occurrence Purger), she’s left to clean up the magical residue left behind by “real” wizards. 

This concept of how we view ourselves—our luck, our privilege, our role—is something that I really wanted to investigate in this book, and it’s my hope that Cara’s journey rings true for readers.

My fascination with brooms

Speaking of being lucky, I’ve had the good fortune to visit the castle in England where they filmed many of the scenes for the Harry Potter movies. My wife and I went to Alnwick Castle way back in 2014 and we took “broom flying” lessons. 

For the record, I did poorly:

After that trip, I began seeing brooms. Everywhere. There was always one leaning against a park bench or in the corner of a temple, as if impatiently waiting for its owner to return. I wasn’t sure why exactly, but I felt there was a hint of magic happening with these brooms. Maybe they belong to a wizard who had just plonked down and darted off to fetch a tea. Or maybe they were abandoned during a scuffle with a dark adversary!

Truth is, I didn’t contemplate these broom encounters too deeply at the time. Instead, I just made sure to note them, take photographs, and make notes in my brainstorming journal, mostly because that’s what I’ve trained myself to do: pay attention to the things that spark me. 

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Eventually, another memory was resurrected in my mind: my grandfather used to make his own brooms! He grew the broomcorn, harvested it, and bound them to broomsticks. I never saw my grandfather build a broom (I really wish I had), but I realized I had one of his creations in the dusty corner of my closet. On a subsequent visit to my parents, I scavenged their house to find they had their own collection of my grandfather’s handmade brooms. They all have the same humble construction—and, if you ask me, their own type of magic. Clearly, these brooms have been lingering in my subconscious all these years, waiting for me to tell their story.

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But one thing I knew is that I did not want to write a story in which brooms were used for flying. I kept wondering what brooms could do in a magical world if they weren’t for zipping wizards and witches from Point A to Point B. 

Of course, the answer eventually became obvious . . . and Spell Sweeper was born. 

Activities for kids: Small room—BIG world

It sure feels like our world is shrinking with the covid-19 crisis. We’re stuck at home, can’t gather, can’t visit.

Personally, I’m reverting to my age-old survival tactic: Disappearing as much as possible into my imagination.

As a children’s author and specialized arts and creative writing teacher, I’d like to help kids do the same, so I’m presenting some of my favorite activities.

Recently, I posted about building a shrink ray with household items. The bonus project was to imagine that every member of the family was shrunk by the device by building peg-figure versions of everyone!

Well, if you can imagine you’ve an inch or two high, then your world is now suddenly BIGGER. So, I invite you take the next (tiny) step . . .

Map your GIANT world

I’ve done this project with schools I’ve worked with in Canada, Korea, and Thailand, and will be posting some examples of my students’ past projects.

What you will need:

• Paper
• Drawing supplies: pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, fine-liners—whatever you like to use.
• Hey, I’m not going to stop you from using stickers or glitter either . . . but you know: the CLEAN-UP!
• A BIG imagination!

In this activity, you’re asked to imagine a single room in your house as an epic landscape that you have to cross as a miniaturized person. So, for example, a pile of dirty laundry might become “Mount Clothes” or a tipped-over soda can might become “Fizzy Falls.”

This is a fun way to think about perspective—and, also, to just imagine a bigger, vaster world.

Here are some examples of past maps—and at the bottom of this post, I’ve posted links to handouts that you can use to help with this project. I always find a bit of brainstorming helps at the beginning of every project!

Handouts

First of all, here is a map template.

Of course, you can do it on blank paper, but a whimsical frame makes everything more fun, if you ask me. (Also, I want to point out that this is the exact same frame I used for the map in Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers, which, by the way, is also about tiny people).

Here is a “Small Room — Big World” brainstorming sheet to help get you thinking about the types of items and pieces of furniture you might want to include in your map, and how to convert them into landscape items.

If you’re looking to add a writing project to do this—NO problem! Just imagine you have to navigate your way across this vast—and possibly dangerous—landscape! (Also, I’ll post a nice little wrinkle for you in a couple of days to make this epic journey even MORE fun!)

Stay safe, stay well, and stay tuned . . .

Door of the Day: the lion, the peacock, and the unicorn

A stoic lion door knocker greets you at one of the doors to Blair Castle in Scotland.

This castle features a banquet hall, many doors, stairwells with railings of unicorn horns (they are actually narwhale tusks) and grounds with parading peacocks and the ruins of an old kirk.

I’m posting my door inspirations from around the world to celebrate the release of The Guardians of Zoone on February 25!  This door knocker would fit right in at Zoone!

You can find order links for the books of Zoone HERE.

Door of the Day: Here live ghosts

Some doors have warnings, like this one to The Golden Fleece pub in York, England. We visited York in 2014, and immediately fell in love with this nexus of history.

Whenever we are visiting a city, we like to go on ghost tours. They are a fun way to learn about the history of the place, especially the macabre side!

I’m posting my door inspirations from around the world to celebrate the release of The Guardians of Zoone on February 25!  Many of the doors at Zoone have warnings, too!

You can find order links for the books of Zoone HERE.

Door of the Day: the door and the station

This Medieval-style door is from Koyko Gaien Park in Tokyo, Japan. We visited these stunning grounds in 2018, when we adopted our son. This door features a door within a door, with the smaller gate set within the bottom quarter.

Nearby, is the magnificent Tokyo Station, which was just one of many places that served as inspiration for Zoone Station, located at the nexus of the multiverse, where a thousand doors lead to a thousand worlds.

I’m posting my door inspirations from around the world to celebrate the release of The Guardians of Zoone on Feb25!

You can find order links for the books of Zoone HERE.

Door of the Day: some are guarded by beasts . . .

This is a door from Gyeongbok palace in Korea, with a traditional lock to secure its weathered wood.  I have walked the grounds here a few times, and have never tired of its beauty!

I especially love the haetae guarding the gates and entrances to different buildings with the complex—haetae is a famous creature from Korean mythology. It is a protective creature, said to guard against natural disasters.

I’m posting my door inspirations from around the world to celebrate the release of The Guardians of Zoone on Feb25!  There are no haetae in Zoone but there is, of course, one very unique skyger named Tug!

You can find order links for the books of Zoone HERE.