Angela Quinton

Song for the day: Fiona Apple’s “Werewolf”

I’ve always liked Fiona Apple (thanks largely to my wife, who played Extraordinary Machine endlessly during our first summer together), but she releases new records so infrequently that her latest release caught me by surprise, particularly once I discovered it contains a song called “Werewolf”. It’s a rueful, bittersweet track about – what else? – confronting the realities of a failed relationship, and while it’s not really about a werewolf (unlike another favourite “Werewolf” song), I like it a lot.

From the Pitchfork review of the song:

“Werewolf” is a song about one of the superpowers you get as you grow older: it gets easier to see things from both sides. “I could liken you to a werewolf, the way you left me for dead,” Apple sings, and then the next line feels like something that nobody would have written as a teenager (especially not Fiona Apple), “But I admit that I provided a full moon.”

Not every post on Werewolf News needs to be about some gloriously gory comic or movie, right? Right?

Angela Quinton Jun. 19th 2012

Read my short story “The Librarian” in the upcoming Hic Dragones Anthology “Wolf-Girls”

When I posted last year about a call for submissions for a short fiction anthology centered on female werewolves, I didn’t expect that my submission would make the cut, yet here we are! My story “The Librarian” is one of seventeen stories in Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny, available June 29th from Hic Dragones. Here are the details:

lycogyny, n., the assumption by women of the
form and nature of wolves

New title from Hic Dragones
Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny

Edited by Hannah Kate
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 978-0-9570292-1-7
Available: 29th June 2012

Feral, vicious, fierce and lost… the she-wolf is a strange creature of the night. Attractive to some; repulsive to others, she stalks the fringes of our world as though it were her prey. She is the baddest of girls, the fatalest of femmes – but she is also the excluded, the abject, the monster.

The Wolf-Girls within these pages are mad, bad and dangerous to know. But they are also rejected and tortured, loving and loyal, avenging and triumphant. Some of them are even human…

Wolf-Girls is the second title from Hic Dragones, and it contains new stories from Kim Bannerman, Mary Borsellino, J. K. Coi, Helen Cross, Marie Cruz, Beth Daley, Rosie Garland, Jeanette Greaves, Hannah Kate, L. Lark, Lyn Lockwood, R. A. Martens, Lynsey May, Mihaela Nicolescu, Sarah Peacock, Andrew Quinton and Nu Yang. This is the first time my fiction has been published anywhere, and I am absolutely honoured to be in such fine company.

If you’re in the Manchester area on June 29th, you would be wise to attend the Wolf-Girls launch party. I won’t be in attendance because somebody decided to situate my city 7,340 km away, but there’ll be readings from contributors, giveaways, competitions and wine, so somebody please go and have a good time on my behalf.

Hey Mom, Dad, I did it!

Angela Quinton Jun. 14th 2012

Don’t pedal so hard, Bill! Stephen King’s “IT” to become two-part Warner Bros. film

According to The Hollywood Reporter, we can expect not one but two films based on Stephen King’s epic doorstop of a book, IT. Warner Bros. has chosen Cary Fukunaga to direct, and he and screenwriter Chase Palmer are splitting the story into a two-part film. No release date or casting details… yet.

I like the two-part approach, since It really tells two tales that encompass the same characters and themes, but divide them with 27 years. In both parts of the story, a central cast of characters (the “Losers Club”) faces a nameless monster that incapacitates its victims by appearing as the victim’s worst fear. The novel alternates between the two time periods, but for the sake of keeping the storylines straight, I hope the first part of the film focuses on the 1950’s Losers Club and the second with their grown-up counterparts.

It is one of the first “grown-up” books I read. I couldn’t have been older than eight or nine, and I know I didn’t understand most of what was happening in the book, but reading about Bill Denbrough‘s encounter with “It’s” werewolf disguise is one of my most vivid childhood memories. I must have re-read those pages a dozen times, hoping each time that somehow the story would change and werewolf-It would be just a little faster, and snatch Stuttering Bill off his bike. And I liked Bill! I’m glad they kept the werewolf in the 1990 made-for-TV version, even if they did completely re-write the scene. I hope Fukunaga and Palmer keep the original scene in the new films.

The real question, though, is this: will they ask Tim Curry to make a cameo appearance? Curry’s turn as the monster’s “Pennywise the Dancing Clown” persona in the 1990 adaptation is the stuff of legends!

Angela Quinton Jun. 9th 2012

A Double Dose of Deering: Original Werewolf Painting Sale & Anathema #1 For Free

I have two Rachel Deering – related things for you this morning. Firstly: original werewolf painting for sale! In an effort to finance some 2012 convention appearances and book printing costs, Rachel is selling an original 3′ x 4′ acrylic painting by Ohio tattoo artist and painter Toby Gehrlich. Created in payment for designing Gehrlich’s art book, this fearsome beast has lived in Rachel’s office since 2011, and now it can hang in your office, den or nursery. If you’re interested, get in touch with her via Twitter.

Secondly: if you’ve wanted to read the first issue of Rachel’s werewolf comic Anathema but missed out on both Kickstarter campaigns through which it was available, get ready. Are you ready? Good. Now, click this link for a free PDF of the first issue in its entirety. That’s right, she’s giving away the first issue of Anathema for free. If you haven’t read it yet, please stop what you’re doing and dedicate the next 20 minutes of your life to some serious self-enrichment involving werewolves and righteous vengeance.

Angela Quinton May. 29th 2012

The most awesome werewolf birthday cake, ever

This was on the kitchen counter when I woke up this morning. Chocolate werewolf birthday cake? I have the best partner ever. Thanks, Tandye!

Angela Quinton May. 25th 2012

Short film “Animal” is a tasty little werewolf snack & an example for would-be Kickstarters

Yesterday, @werewolfnews follower @jasonious alerted me to the existence of Animal, a 5-minute short by Cosmic Mutt Pictures. It’s a short, simple little snack for the werewolf-hungry. I liked the makeup, especially the menacing portrait at 3:22.

Okay, unsolicited opinion time. Are you thinking of raising money for a short film or a web series? Do you need five (or twenty-five) grand to pay for the actors, equipment and makeup? Let me make a suggestion: don’t even create an account on IndieGoGo or Kickstarter until you’ve got something like Animal to show as an example of what you intend to do with the money you raise.

I don’t know how much money Cosmic Mutt spent on the production of Animal – they’re a 2-person production company that makes “micro micro micro budget films (for now)!” – but I’ll bet it wasn’t much more than the cost of the MacBook I’m typing this on. Showing what you’re capable of with a small budget you raised yourself will go a long way to reassuring potential backers (and promotional venues like Werewolf News) that you’ll put your crowdsourced budget to good use.

Angela Quinton May. 25th 2012

Make Titanic passengers werewolf food in the upcoming Eerie Canal game “Dreadline”

1UP and other game news sites are spreading the giddy (if slightly uneasy) word about an upcoming game from Eerie Canal. The premise of Dreadline is just as delicious as it is ludicrous: you play as one of four monsters (a mummy, an ominous floating cube, a ghost with a knife and backpack, or a werewolf in pigtails) who travels through time, visiting calamitous events in which many people died. The monters’ goal is to – wait for it – kill as many people as possible before the disaster strikes. If I was cleverer, this is where I would employ a portmanteau of “gruesome” and “awesome”.

In an interview with Colony of Gamers, Eerie Canal dev Bryn Bennett elaborates:

All missions will take place during a calamity, both historic and imagined. (Like, maybe there are a bunch of zombies in a mall, but the monsters want to kill the humans first.) Generally the players will control monsters as they rampage through the level, trying to kill as many humans as possible before the catastrophe hits.

What gives this premise its edge (and what has some people flexing their moral indignation) is the fact that some of the levels are based on real life occurrences. RMS Titanic and Pompeii are the only real events mentioned so far, although Steven Kimura told ThinkProgress “Not the World Trade Center. Please stop asking about that people.”

When asked about where the game sits on the line between humor and horror, Bennett told CoG:

It’s a tough line. You play a group of monsters who are doing terrible things, but we also want the players to be able to relate to them. There will definitely be a lot of dark humor in this game. If not, it’s kind of psychopathic!

Dreadline is slated for a Q1 2013 release, and will be available on PC only (no indication if that means Windows, OS X or both). You can follow Dreadline’s progress on the Eerie Canal Facebook page or Twitter account.

Angela Quinton May. 18th 2012

Werewolf Wednesday Digest – May 2012, Part 1

It’s been a few weeks since my last celebration of Werewolf Wednesday, but when I woke up in my Boston hotel room this morning, I had this inspirational image by Tandye in my inbox, so I knew the time was right. (more…)

Angela Quinton May. 16th 2012

Rob Zombie ruins my day, officially nixes “Werewolf Women of the S.S.” feature-length project

I saw this on the Werewolves.com Twitter feed and it wrecked my morning. Rob Zombie just talked to Screen Crush about his current film project, The Lords of Salem, and what he won’t be working on next: a feature-length version of the Grindhouse faux-trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S., which he says was

…just what it was, it was a fake trailer for a Quentin Tarantino movie. That’s all it was ever suppose to be, it was never going to be a full movie.

I guess I’m not surprised, since he’s already downplayed the concept, but after years of hopeful rumour-mongering, it’s a shame to hear the official “no”. I’m in a conference hall in Boston right now, but as soon as I get back to my hotel room I’m going to listen to Werewolf, Baby! and have a little cry.

Angela Quinton May. 15th 2012

Werewolf News Favourite Graphic Novel “Feeding Ground” Film Rights Optioned

The Hollywood Reporter says that one of my all-time favourite graphic novels, 2011’s Feeding Ground, has been optioned by veteran producer Edward R. Pressman. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will direct a screenplay by Carlos Coto.

“Feeding Ground is an intense and terrifying thriller with a subtle but pointed commentary on immigration in modern America,” said Pressman. “The graphic novel is so cinematic in nature — as soon as I read it, I knew we could make a film that would resonate with a wide audience.”

I think “cinematic” is an understatement. After reading the first issue, I wrote that the “heat, desperation and simmering violence of the Busqueda family’s world is evident” in every panel, and if it can be successfully translated to the big screen… wow. I’m very excited for the three friends who created the book – Swifty, Michael and Chris. For more on the deal, including background on the names involved (Pressman’s done some fun stuff), read the whole article on the THR site. And if you haven’t read Feeding Ground yet, the first issue is available for free on Graphicly.com, and the whole thing is on Amazon for less than $20.

Angela Quinton May. 12th 2012