Death of a Friend

I killed a friend yesterday.

I’d known this person since 1993. I met him because of a creative writing course at Francis Tuttle Technology Center. He’d been a good friend, though always a little strange. He didn’t deserve to die, but then life and death seldom play fair. I miss him already.

Fortunately, since he only exists in my fiction, I won’t be charged with murder for killing him. Still, considering I can’t name a single real friend I knew in 1993 that I still talk to today, I kind of feel like I killed a real person.

He’s gone, though. This needed to be done. Knowing it had to be done kept me from really getting started on the next book of The Werewolf Saga. I didn’t want to do it, you know. But now it’s done and I can go on. He may reappear through the magic of flashback and … I have three award-winning chapters and an outline of an historical romance novel that stars him, too. So, as Harley Shaw learned, “Dead ain’t gone, and gone ain’t dead.”

I have 25 pages of the new werewolf book done. That’s about 6,000 words. I suspect it will go pretty quickly now. Much quicker than The Girls Nobody Wanted to Date! This one is called Nadia’s Children. If you don’t know who Nadia is, you can find out by reading the history pages at The Werewolf Saga online. If you can’t figure out who I killed … you probably didn’t read the ending of Ulrik.

Finally, just a reminder about the Vampire vs Werewolf “fight” between me and Gabrielle Faust. It isn’t too late to make a $2 donation to Mission: Wolf for a chance to win all four signed volumes of The Werewolf Saga. Or, yeah, you can support the vampires and have a chance to win four books from Gabrielle by donating to her bat conservatory cause.

Mission: Wolf on board in battle against vampires

I am very pleased to say that Silver Cliff, Colorado-based Mission: Wolf has graciously accepted my invitation to join the werewolves in battle against Gabriel Faust and her vampire minions at Vampire vs Werewolf.

Mission: Wolf is a wonderful organization that rescues wolves born in captivity, as well as wolf hybrids, and gives the animals a safe home in a remote part of Colorado’s beautiful Rocky Mountains. They encourage visitors to come out, see the wolves, camp on-site and wake up to the song of the “children of the night.” They also take wolves on the road to educate people about the truth concerning these majestic and often misunderstood animals.

And, to make it even better, Kent was very cool about coming on board. Good folk there in Colorado! Speaking of which, I need to thank my long-time friend Robyn Lydick for recommending Mission: Wolf.

This is all well and good, you’re saying, then adding, “But what can I do?” I’m glad you asked! Go to www.vampirevswerewolf.com and read about the “battle” between the mighty werewolves and the dirt-sleeping vampires. Or, we can cut to the chase and you can just go straight to the donation page and start buying raffle tickets that will help support Mission: Wolf and put you in the running to win a full set of my Werewolf Saga books.

When you go visit the Mission: Wolf site, make sure you click on the Links page and read about some of the things being done for and to the wolves in North America. If that doesn’t make you want to support an organization like Mission: Wolf … well, I worry about ya.

Last word: Don’t forget to come to the live “battle” between me and Gabrielle at noon on July 18 at Eerie Books of Wylie, Texas.

Vampire vs. Werewolf

Eerie Books of Wylie, Texas, will be hosting a Vampire vs. Werewolf smackdown at noon on July 18 featuring me and Gabrielle Faust. No, Gabrielle and I will not be mud wrestling, boxing, or trying to bite one another. But we are discussing making this a competitive signing. Details on that will come later. For right now, just mark you calendar and plan to be at the best bookstore in Texas on July 18.

A Brief Vampiric Interlude

“Why?” people ask, “Why is the vampire more popular than the werewolf?”

I have a few ideas as to why that is, but first let’s look at the evolution of the vampire. One of the best books I’ve read on this subject is Paul Barber’s Vampires, Burial, and Death. In this book he talks about the “revenant,” the early vampires that had to claw their way our of their graves night after night. They stank. They were emaciated, inarticulate, disgusting and dreaded beings. They were about as sexy as, well, a month-old corpse. A revenant was something to be feared, and the fear had no flavor of erotic danger. It was damnation. It was tormenting those you loved who were still alive.

Of course, the general population was much more religious at the time, too. A vampire was a being separated from God, someone denied the grace and salvation of Christ … denied the communion of Christ’s blood, you could say. The important point being that Christianity was very prevalent.

Then comes the Enlightenment of the 17th century. Science gains popularity and belief in things like vampires and religion becomes unfashionable for those who consider themselves to be progressive. Enter John Polidori with the first vampire novel in 1819, called The Vampyre (and yes, I’m aware of the controversy surrounding the true authorship of this short novel). Polidori based his cultured, urbane supernatural antagonist on Lord Byron; Polidori was Bryon’s personal physician.

Later, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu would follow Polidori’s lead with his short novel Carmilla, about a female vampire. Then, of course, came the master, Bram Stoker with Dracula in 1897. When Bela Lugosi portrayed the Count on screen in 1931 and women got turned on by him, it was all over for the vampire as a starving revenant.

Now, couple the vampire’s new sex appeal with an increasingly secular society and pretty soon you have Richard Matheson’s I am Legend in which the vampire is a result of disease, then Anne Rice, where, in the early books of her Vampire Chronicles, Louis and Lestat actually mock Christianity as they take the Byronic hero idea to a supernatural extreme. This, of course, threw the coffin open to the booming field of paranormal romance we have today and led us to … yes, I’m going to say it … to Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight.

Twilight is the height (or dregs) of vampire-love wish fulfillment. The vampires are as sexy as Lestat, but they’ve basically been defanged. They don’t have to drink blood. They don’t have to do any of the “evil” things that have always been associated with the vampire, but they still get the more modern cool things like superhuman strength and speed. It should be noted that the series is written by a Mormon author. So, maybe, some branch of Christianity has finally tamed, or “saved” the vampire, after all.

Where does this leave the werewolf? If you know me, you know how I love the rock band KISS. Think of the vampire as KISS, once a thing feared by religious folk, but now the most fearsome of the original foursome is pitching cherry Dr Pepper and living a scripted lifestyle on TV’s “Gene Simmons Family Jewels.” The werewolf is like The Sex Pistols — raw, nasty, untamed and probably not something you really want to live with. At best it’ll pee on your furniture. At worst, it might eat you.

Ironically, in most cases the werewolf has become more vicious as the centuries wear on. Why? He’s a thing of nature, and we are increasingly a population of city-dwellers afraid to go too far into the woods. He is primal and does not wear a tuxedo. He does not offer a small bite to the neck and some exciting sucking. He tears and breaks and chews and salivates and leaves behind a mess.

On another level, women in general don’t like guys with hairy backs, let alone hairy feet. They don’t have elegant dinners with guys who can lick their own balls. And women, you see, read much more then men today. Publishers cater to readers, and the readers want their monsters tamed, combed and sexy, with just a little trace of danger.

And that, my friends, is why I think the vampire is so much more popular than the werewolf.

A joke

Why did Little Red Riding Hood stop running and give her virginity to the Big Bad Wolf?

She was tired of being chaste.

So what if it’s lame. I hadn’t made a post for a while.

Are you sure about this?

So, you think you want to become a werewolf. Have you really thought this through? Really? Here are 10 things you might want to consider.

1. Fleas — You’ve seen your dog running in circles, biting at himself, or sitting and scratching himself bloody because of the pesky parasites. Are you ready to deal with that? Sure, you might find a human willing to bathe you, but the possibility of you eating him or her after the bath could make that difficult.

2. Ticks — All the fun of fleas, but these get really gross as they swell up.

3. Hair — You’ll shed like you wouldn’t even believe. When you change back to human you’ll swear you’ll never let that wolf back in the house. You’ll need an industrial vacuum cleaner. And you better switch to leather furniture because you can forget about taking all that hair off your cloth couch with a lint roller.

4. Greetings — Do I need to remind you that wolves don’t have hands? Are you into sniffing butts? Getting your butt sniffed? No? Get used to it.

5. Worms — You think the fleas and ticks are bad? Because you’ll crave raw meat, you’ll more than likely get a case of worms from time to time. That’ll be you dragging your dirty butt across the carpet with your spouse chasing you with a broom, yelling at you to get outside. Once in the yard, you’ll be dragging in the grass, trying to scratch that itch that just won’t be relieved.

6. Dinner — Sure, chasing down a deer and eating fresh venison sounds wonderful, right? Will your humanity get in the way when you hear the bleat of the dying animal? Do you really like the taste of blood and the toughness of raw meat?

7. Dinner, Part 2 — Not everything wolves eat is as romantic as fresh deer. Ever eaten a mouse and been glad to have caught it? How about the skunk that was run over on the highway two days ago, on July 15? Yummmmm!

8. Sex — Umm, only the alphas of the pack get to engage in this activity. Your chances of being the alpha? Not so high, really. Sure, you can start your own pack, or coven, or whatever, but do you have the charisma to lead it on a long-term basis?

9. You think your monthly is bad now, ladies?

10. Prejudice — As wrong as it is, you’ll just never be as popular as those vampires. Sure, werewolves are better. We don’t have to sleep in the dirt, we can party hard day or night, and we’re far from dead below the belt, but for some reason people seem to prefer the blood suckers.

Keep these things in mind if you choose to continue your quest to become a werewolf. Being a flea-bitten, butt-dragging, roadkill-eating celebate omega wolf might not be what you’re really after.

Werewolf movies, hairy, shaved, plastic and unmade

Invariably when I’m interviewed I’m asked about werewolf movies. Which ones do I like? Why are there so few good ones out there? Will any of my books be turned into movies? The other day my wife rented a flick called Big Bad Wolf and we watched it last night. Because of that steaming pile, I’ve decided to write a bit about werewolf movies today.

The Hairy

• The Company of Wolves — This is the king of all werewolf movies. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched it, but each time I do I discover something new. Neil Jordan’s direction of Angela Carter’s stories is deep, metaphorical, dreamy and extremely captivating. This is a werewolf movie for people who think.
• The Howling — Only the first one. This is one of the few movies that kind of freaked me out as I watched it alone in the dark in the early days of the VCR. Not as deep as The Company of Wolves, but it does rely on plot despite its groundbreaking special effects. I have to say, though, that I absolutely do not like the stop motion animation inserted into the DVD release. At all.
• Dog Soldiers — The best modern werewolf movie. No CGI! No one jumping around on wires! Lots of characterization, lots of gore, excellent pace and some of the best lines ever in a beastie flick. The strong British accents were a little hard to follow at first, but that only makes it better on the second viewing.
• The Wolf-Man — It’s flawed, but there’s no discounting the pathos created by Lon Chaney Jr. and its influence on so many werewolf movies that came after it. How a man walking upright on the balls of his feet leaves wolf tracks is beyond me, but this is the patriarch of the pack and a must-see.
• Ginger Snaps — I had to warm up to this one, as certain elements were a little too close to home, but once I did I really liked it. There’s plenty of gore to keep modern viewers watching, but the movie has a strong story and makes you care about the plight of the sisters. And, really, the scene where Ginger is trying to cut off her tail? Classic!

The Shaved

• Ginger Snaps Back — I really like this one, and can’t quite put my finger on what is wrong with it, but it falls just short of making it into the upper echelons. Maybe it’s simply that, plotwise, it’s too close to the first one in just a different setting, but then it’s that frontier setting that really draws me to it.
• Bad Moon — A good, solid flick without much to really distinguish it, but I enjoy it a lot. And it’s almost kid friendly. My youngest son loves the scene where the werewolf uncle gets back at Thor by peeing on his dog house. There’s really nothing wrong with this one (unless you want to nitpick dates about the full moon), but it isn’t quite strong enough to be higher on the list.
• Wolf — Jack Nicholson as a werewolf publisher and the eternally gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer as his love interest. How could this possibly go wrong? Apparently director Mike Nichols thought the best thing about being a werewolf was having the ability jump really, really high. In slow motion. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a werewolf movie.
• Werewolf of London — It’s older than Lon Chaney’s The Wolf-Man, and is a damn fine film, but just doesn’t make that much of an impact. No doubt that’s why Universal Studios made another, completely different werewolf movie so soon after instead of just going into sequel mode with this one. Still well worth watching.
• Underworld: Rise of the Lycans — No silver nitrate or solar bullets here. Granted, I’ve only seen this one once, so I may be overrating it, but I really liked it. It seemed more believable than the two Underworld films set in the modern world.
• An American Werewolf in London — The humor grates on me. Yeah, there are some funny scenes. There are some creepy scenes. For some reason, I don’t like the horror/comedy mix in this one. I love it in Return of the Living Dead, but not here. Still a decent flick, just far from my favorites.
• The Curse of the Werewolf — A fine effort by Hammer. The lore is different and has some holes, but the atmosphere is typical Hammer and Oliver Reed as the werewolf does a good job. It’s very enjoyable, but not great.

The Plastic

• Big Bad Wolf — In 2007 this thing won the Worldfest Houston Silver Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Film. Was there really nothing better offered in 2006, or was writer/director Lance Dreeson the only one to enter? Beast actor Richard Tyson tries really hard to be what Jack Nicholson should have been in Wolf, but it’s too obvious he’s impersonating a, umm … real actor. The werewolf cracks Freddy Krueger jokes and looks like an adolescent Bigfoot. A look at the DVD cover should tell you all you need to know about this one.
• Dark Wolf — Words cannot even begin to describe this one. How bad is it? Even a lesbian scene can’t save it. The worst werewolf movie ever, I believe. There’s a scene where a young white woman transforms and halfway through it the human-in-makeup scene changes to a bad video game animation, then back to human actors, where our Aryan babe has somehow become a black chick with dreads. Watching fresh wolf crap steam on a cold day is more entertaining and less insulting to your intelligence.
• Monster Dog — Alice Cooper is no actor. The king of shock rock, but no actor. This one’s aka Leviatan, maybe in hopes a fancy foreign name will make people forget what it really is. Bad, bad, bad. They say this is only good for fans of Alice, but I’m a big fan of Alice and werewolves and I’ll never watch this one again.

There’s a list of 15 flicks, made up mostly of middling stuff. I didn’t even touch on “gems” like Werewolf in a Girl’s Dormitory and Werewolves on Wheels. Things like that are on a completely different level. So, do you agree with my assessment? What are your favorites, and which are the worst you’ve seen?

Finally, as to my own work being filmed … I wrote a script for Murdered by Human Wolves and a young director in another state liked it and said he wants to film it, but that was two years ago and nothing’s been done. So, I would have to say no, there is not currently any plans to film The Werewolf Saga. I can hope, though, and, of course, hope that if it happens it’ll be one of those upper level efforts.

First signing of 2009

First, I gotta say that I did not get in to see Underworld: Rise of the Lycans tonight. We arrived at the theater an hour and 10 minutes before the show started, but it was already packed and lined up real deep outside. That was a real bummer, but I’m glad to see so many people turned out for a werewolf movie. We will swing the tide against the dirt-sleepers.

Duvy of Darkfaery Subculture Magazine has offered me some space at her table at Scarlet’s Mid-Winter Renassiance Festival this weekend. Althought it’s in downtown OKC, I have not been to this particular festival before, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be taking a stack of flyers and — get this — the Darkfaery Girls will be passing them out and showing people where to find me. So, yes, I will sit at a table and beautiful women in black leather, fishnets, etc. will bring me people who want to be separated from their money. I could soooo get used to that.

There is an $11 charge to get in, but I’m assured that it’s a great festival and worth the money. And yes, it is all indoors, so you don’t have to worry about the crazy Oklahoma weather. Come on out a visit me!

OKC Underworld Party

I posted a summary of last night’s party at my main web site. It was fun, but I’ll let you hit the link to go read about it.

To those who picked up one of my cards as are visiting The Werewolf Saga Online for the first time, I bid you welcome. (Pretend I can imitate Lugosi there, okay?) It was great meeting you last night and I hope to see you again real soon.

Congrats to Caleb from Tulsa who won the complete set of The Werewolf Saga books. I hope you enjoy them.

Underworld & Werewolf Saga tie-in

Sort of.

My friend Duvy over at Darkfaery Subculture Magazine has teamed up with Sony to throw a party to celebrate the release of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. The party will start at 9 p.,m. at Skyy Bar in downtown Oklahoma City on Jan. 16. They’ll have all kinds of stuff going on, as you can see from this poster. Duvy has put me on the VIP list, and she’ll be giving away a complete signed set of The Werewolf Saga books that I donated. You do have to be 21 to get in, but if you are and you’re in the area, I encourage you to come down. She’ll also be giving away passes to an early screening of the movie, T-shirts, hats and more.

Come on. We need to scare the yuppies out of Skyy Bar. There will be reps from Sony there and we need to show them that Oklahoma City and Darkfaery are viable outlets for this kind of stuff.