Bestiaries have a long and vibrant history. The first spontaneous bestiary survives in historical documents from ancient Macedonia. A beehive, through a Fortean expression of the uncanny, was transformed overnight. As observed by the beekeeper, and then those that he summoned, all of his bees now had the heads of unusual monsters “and these heads were so heavy that most plummeted to the ground,” there to be marveled at by the onlookers. By dusk, the bestiary no longer existed, having been plundered by perhaps the world’s first souvenir seekers.

Here is a modern bestiary of made-up fantastical creatures organized from A to Z, along with an ampersand and an invisible letter, featuring some of the best and most respected fantasists from around the world, including Karen Lord, Dexter Palmer, Brian Evenson, China Miéville, Felix Gilman, Catherynne M. Valente, Rikki Ducornet, and Karin Lowachee.