Werewolf links, news, and reviews
It’s been a good week for werewolf literature at Werewolf News! Monster Librarian just wrote in to let me know that July is Werewolf Month at MonsterLibrarian.com.
This is our second annual appreciation for all things lycanthropic and whether it is horror, urban fantasy, or paranormal romance. We will be bringing you a list of new werewolf titles coming out, reviews, and this year we will be featuring the werewolf artwork of Jerrod Brown.
Fantastic! Get your reading glasses on, werewolf fans.
Most people, if they read, get off on books that incarnate into movies, video games, Fruit Roll-Ups, and toothpaste. Of course, the little demon of intellectual affirmative action sits on my shoulder and says “Don’t over-generalize; they’re not all as bad as you’re implying!” Sure, I want to let my South Park conservativism kick into gear by shoving his pitchfork up his ass. However, I really can’t help the camera from dramatically zooming up to my eyes as I whisper, “Such is true. Touche, my dear man.” After all, the bad-assity of Indiana Jones will never be tainted by all the cereal toys they’ve made of him. But in spite of this, I’m still pretty pissed off at humanity’s tendency to read cheap things and then cheapen them further. And to me, “At least they’re reading” has lost its power as an excuse.
Don’t worry; I have indeed chilled out and have gotten off my literary high horse. However, I’m not going any lower than the pony I’m on now. While I’ll always be an Indy fan, I’m also a fan of D.H. Lawrence and Jorge Luis Borges. And although those two gentlemen cannot steal Sankara Stones and liberate all the children of an entire third world country, they also have produced great writing that is booby-trapped against being incarnated into Saturday morning cartoons or granola bars. This is commendable, although I can’t help but ask, “Why can’t there be some kind of balance between Indiana Jones and John mother-fucking Milton? Between Teen Wolf and… you know… something that’s kind of not stupid?”
Well, you’re in luck if you’re reading this, because I’m going to introduce you to some werewolf / monster stories that have not only achieved this balance, but have done so while avoiding anything remotely Twilight-esque in nature. This means that the protagonists won’t sparkle inexplicably, faint or fall down when aroused, or generally act like Hot Topic employees.
“Queer Wolf“, an anthology of werewolf stories that would undoubtedly make Carrie Prejean frown in prim distaste, is now available from Amazon
The debut anthology from James EM Rasmussen’s QueeredFiction is an entertaining and varied collection, boasting such talents as Charlie Cochrane and Ginn Hale. Lovers of the lycan will find much to slaver over here: from the werewolf wanabee to the lovers-through-time, to waifs and strays. From the carnal to the violent to the passionate, this anthology will wag your tail, I guarantee it.
Thanks to James for giving Werewolf News the heads-up!
Werewolf News is pleased to present this special report from jujitsu / River City Ransom sensation Mike Roukas.
There is a fine line between the intentional retardedness of Teen Wolf and the unwitting ineptitude of the JarJar Binks-era Star Wars movies. I regret to say that when it comes to making werewolf-related media, it’s very easy to cross that line and blast into uncharted dimensions of stupidity. The following are what I believe to be the top five aesthetic blunders in the wide, wide world of werewolf book covers. Please keep in mind that the cringe-inducing ineptitude of these covers doesn’t necessarily reflect the writing inside them, but it probably does.
I wanted let you know about two book series that involve werewolves and which might be making the transition to television or film– one for young adults, and one for mature adults.
The first item comes from a Publishers Weekly post about books being shopped around for translation to film. Wolven is a ‘planned trilogy’ by author Di Toft, the first book of which is set to be released later this year by The Chicken House (a U.K.-based subsidiary of Scholastic). Wolvens are described as being “werewolves in reverse” (a popular topic lately!), and the trilogy revolves around a boy and his wolven friend “out to save the world from a gang trying to turn shape-shifting creatures into weapons”. According to the PW article, there’s already a lot of interest in the manuscript from various producers and financiers.
The second series is one that’s probably already occupying the shelves of many Werewolf News readers. The Boston Sci-Fi Examiner is reporting that Laurell K. Hamilton‘s popular (and steamy) Anita Blake series
Say what you will about Michael Jackson… Thriller was an amazing video when it first came out in 1983, and it’s still pretty awesome today. Jimi Cuell feels the same way, and last October, he and his dedicated crew of dancers / zombies / 80’s fashion victims / filmmakers collaborated to create an homage that is both hilarious and impressive.
Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is an eight-minute short film that Cuell & friends wrote, shot and edited, all within 48 hours. Madness, you say? Nay, friends, it’s the Bloodshots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Contest. Cuell’s group was required to create a film in the werewolf genere, and they had a few other guidlines as well– they had to include an occult book as a prop, and use the line “this picture looks familiar” as part of the dialog. “We came up with the idea in something like 10 minutes,” Cuell told The Vancouver Courier. “And then we went straight home and started working on the song and that took three hours or so. We wrote the lyrics accordingly and went and grabbed a werewolf mask and just went from there.” See the results for yourself!
Tony Slotslider’s Book of Terror is being screened at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Centre on Friday the 27th (tomorrow!) at 9:30 AM, as part of the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth. Jimi Cuell will be in attendance, so be sure to impress him with your dance moves.
Jon Abrams, a man whose opinion on werewolves I have previously praised, recently posted a review of The Wolfman. This is the novel
If you’re a fan of werewolves and a writer of gay fiction, you might want to dig up those old manuscripts. QueeredFiction is a start up small press publisher that focuses on the Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual ‘Genred’ market, and in early 2009 they’ll be publishing Queer Wolf – Once In A Pink Moon…, an anthology of gay werewolf tales. Right now they have an open call for submissions:
We’re looking for contemporary, urban fantasy set within a fictional city (unnamed and not location specific) centering on a community of queer werewolves. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking sensual fiction with positive images of gay/lesbian characters. We are not looking for clichés.
They are accepting submission until November 30th, and payment “will be through a royalty split between contributors”. For more information on what they’re looking for and how to submit your work, visit the Queer Wolf page of the QueeredFiction site.
Author Eva Gordon sent in this note late last week:
I’m an author of fantasy/paranormal novels. My debut novel The Stone of The Tenth Realm
I was checking out Eva’s site, and noticed that she has a background in biology, environmental science and anatomy/physiology, and she’s also worked at a wolf sanctuary. This range of knowledge and experience could make for some extremely detailed and interesting werewolves, and I asked her how she applied this knowledge to her writing. She replies:
…my background in the biological sciences has certainly influenced my writings. I’ve read a few paranormal novels about wolves and I often cringe because some wolf biology and behaviors are off. I’m more lax with lycan characters because they are the author’s own creative invention. In my just released novel, my werewolf was cursed, but when he joins a pack of real wolves he behaves as they do. In my current work in process, The Wolf Maiden Chronicles my lycans are genetic and I even drew out a pedigree and punnet square (biology 101) before writing the first one, Werewolf Sanctuary, which is under consideration with a publisher at this moment.
It’s always a pleasure to see writers approaching the subject of werewolves with care and interest, particularly when they’ve got real-world knowledge to help shape the characters. You can find Eva’s first published novel, The Stone of The Tenth Realm, on Amazon.
If you’re at all interested in video games, web comics, or things that are awesome, you’ll be familiar with Penny Arcade!, the ongoing adventures of two lovable, video game-obsessed misanthropes named Gabe and Tycho. Against all probability, Gabe and Tycho are fathers, and one of their recent comics addresses the tough decisions parents sometimes need to make in preparing their kids for the unknown. Specifically, the furred, fanged, closet-lurking unknown. This isn’t the first time werewolves have been referenced in Penny Arcade!, either– back in June, Tycho got caught up with some reading, and in February of 2007, there was some discussion about the myriad versions of Windows Vista out there. For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t run Vista even if there was a Wolfman Edition.