Okay, get out your pencils, paper, paints, crayons, felt pens, whatever you want to use, and try your hand at reproducing the creatures described in the excerpts. Perhaps some day you will be doing this for your job! Send it by mail, or scan it (get your parents to help you with this) and send it by e-mail. You will find my address and e-mail in my Contacts. Have fun! I look forward to seeing your drawings!


Excerpt for a bellator:
Athena folded her leathery wings, lowered her head, and glared at me with red-rimmed brown eyes. Her long eyelashes may have looked feminine, but her massive shoulders with a ridge of tan spikey hair did not. Athena swished her long tail with a claw-tipped fan on the end back and forth. She bared yellowed fangs to taunt me. She never did this to Dad, but then, he was her rider, so she wouldn’t dare. I faintly remembered seeing tiny bats similar to bellators on Earth. I would far rather have played with them than this giant version.


Excerpt for a terracancer:
What stood in front of me stopped me in my tracks. I had seen many creatures, both in the ship’s files before we arrived on Dauma and then in the jungle near Orion. But I’d never seen this creature before. It was as tall as me but twice as wide. It reminded me of an Earth crab. Only this creature had many more legs, and what looked like eyes all over its shiny black shell. It chattered and held its clawed front legs high. I ordered my legs to run, but they stood still.


Excerpt for a sacchora:
Four orange eyes with black vertical slits stared at me from a heavily jawed face. The adult sacchora was only a few yards away. Its muscle-bound body was similar to an Earth lion, but three times the size, and its head resembled a pazion serpent’s. It stood, brown-and-green-striped head lowered, with all four legs spread wide in a ready-stance, lashing its tail.