The varmints of Chad Arment

I admit I'm jealous of Chad Arment. His younger than me, yet has his own publishing company, and seems to both write his own books and publish some pretty cool titles penned by others! He's also on a first name basis with reptilians, amphibians and (gasp) hobby herpetologists. Less clear are his religious-philosophical commitments, since Arment claims to be interested in the "zoological aspects of young earth creationism" and is listed as a "Darwin skeptic" by Jerry Bergman, who is a...well, young earth creationist.

Apart from his interest in herpetology, The Managing Director Mr. C. Arment is an avid cryptozoologist, which brings me to this book, "Varmints", arguably some kind of magnum opus in the field. Strictly speaking, the book isn't really about varmints as usually understood, something given away already in the sub-title: "Mystery Carnivores of North America".

While the book does contain short presentations of North American carnivores, the emphasis is on cryptids, i.e. mysterious beasts unknown to science. Some of them might be real flesh-and-blood animals awaiting detection, but many others could simply be local ghost stories. Arment seems to regard the Lava Bear, Great White Wolf and Eastern Cougar as potential candidates for flesh-and-blood status, while being much more sceptical of the Great Naked Bear (sic), the Ranger Bear (which supposedly spouts a white star or crescent on its breast) or the Santer (a precursor to the Beast of Bladenboro).

Most of the book is really an encyclopaedic reference to sightings of mysterious carnivores, from the late 18th century until today, arranged in alphabetical order after the U.S. state or Canadian province where the sightings took place. For this reason, I don't think "Varmints" is of interest to the general reader, but if you are a folklorist specializing in local legends about beastly creatures, or a really hard-line cryptozoology buff, this could perhaps be a good addition to your private library. Those interested in so-called phantom cats might find the volume of special interest, since most mystery carnivores covered are of the feline persuasion (or quite simply unfathomable). It's not a co-incidence that the book cover shows the iconic black panther...

For the record, I bought the book mostly because I'm quite the character! I actually used it once - to check up some needed background on the Vampire Beast chased by MonsterQuest in North Carolina. As I suspected, the naturalist explanation "stray cougar" doesn't wash...

If that has something to do with the Mosaic revelation in the King James Bible, or with different forces entirely, is - I suppose - another story...

;-)