Every book has a doorway.
The Spirits & Creatures series began with a question.
While writing The Unborn Hero of Dragon Village, the first book in the Dragon Village series, I introduced a mysterious book said to hold the secrets of every mythical creature in Zmeykovo (Dragon Village). Within the story, it was known as Lamia’s Bible—a forbidden volume used by the evil dragon Lamia to dominate and control the land.
At the time, the book served its purpose in the narrative. It was dangerous. Powerful. Ominous.
But once it existed on the page, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
What were those secrets?
If I had a magical book like that—one that cataloged spirits, monsters, and ancient beings, I wouldn’t just want their names or appearances. I’d want to know their weaknesses. Their fears. Their hidden rules. What bound them to the world, and what could send them back into the shadows.
- How could I defeat each creature?
- How could I protect myself from them?
- And—perhaps most dangerously—how could I control them?
That curiosity planted the seed for what would eventually become the Spirits & Creatures series.
From Fictional Artifact to Folklore Collection
At first, I imagined Lamia’s Bible as a purely fictional creation, something born solely from the needs of the Dragon Village story. But the more I thought about it, the more it began to resemble something very real: the way folklore has always functioned.
Long before fantasy novels and encyclopedias of monsters, people passed down knowledge of spirits and creatures as a form of survival. These stories weren’t just meant to entertain. They warned you where not to walk at night. They explained why you should leave offerings, speak carefully, or follow certain rituals. They taught you how to live alongside the unseen.
Growing up in Bulgaria, I experienced these kinds of stories as part of everyday life. The spirits didn’t feel distant or abstract; they were woven into forests, rivers, crossroads, and homes. My grandmother’s stories weren’t about good versus evil in simple terms. They were about balance, respect, and consequences.
That realization changed everything.
What if Lamia’s Bible wasn’t just a villain’s tool, but a reflection of how knowledge itself can be used for protection or control?
Reclaiming the Stories
The Spirits & Creatures series became my way of exploring that idea.
Instead of a single magical book hidden inside a fantasy novel, I began to imagine a collection that felt like a recovered folklore text—one that gathered spirits, monsters, and supernatural beings from across Eastern Europe. Each entry became less about “how to kill the monster” and more about understanding it.
- What does this spirit want?
- What offends it?
- What bargains does it accept?
- What happens when humans forget the old rules?
Some creatures are dangerous. Some are protective. Many are both, depending on how they’re treated.
In folklore, power rarely comes without cost.
Why This Series Exists
At its heart, the Spirits & Creatures series exists because I wanted to answer the question that started it all—but from a different angle.
Yes, knowing a creature’s weakness gives you power over it.
But knowing its story gives you something else entirely: context.
These books are not spellbooks or manuals for domination. They’re invitations to step into an older worldview, one where humans aren’t the center of everything, and where the unseen world responds to how we behave within it.
In a way, this series is the opposite of Lamia’s Bible.
Where Lamia sought control, these stories seek understanding.
Where fear was once a weapon, it becomes a lesson.
And like all good folklore, the real magic lies not in the creatures themselves, but in what they reveal about us.
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