 The brand new werewolf anthology, Leaders of the Pack from Horrific Tales Publishing is unleashed on the world, which also happens to be the first full moon of the year. To celebrate the launch of the book Ginger Nuts of Horror has invited the authors featured in the anthology, to tell us why they are fascinated by the werewolf myth. Ray Garton (Author of Ravenous and Beastial) Traditionally, the werewolf has always been a tragic figure. Going all the way back to the 1935 Universal film The Werewolf of London, which came six years before screenwriter Curt Siodmak invented the creature as we know it today in The Wolf Man, the werewolf’s condition was out of his hands and he was condemned to kill the people he loved most. I’ve always found that appealing. He’s a human monster, yes, but his situation is tragic and he is doomed. I also like the fact that the werewolf fits into any time period, any situation. And as vividly ingrained in us as Siodmak’s mythology has become, it’s still slim enough to be malleable so it can be reshaped into something more modern, something more suited to the 21st century. Unfortunately, the werewolf has been relatively ignored in horror literature compared to, say, the vampire, or the zombie. That has slowly changed in the last ten or fifteen years, I'm happy to say, as the werewolf has gradually gained more popularity in horror fiction, thanks to books like Leader of the Pack. Follow @RayGarton on Twitter David Watkins (Author of The Originals Return and The Originals Retribution) Werewolves appear to be under-represented at the moment in a market that is saturated with other creatures, most notably zombies. These lycanthropes are a much scarier concept than the shuffling undead most people could outrun. That notwithstanding, I feel werewolves are more successful on the page than on screen as special effects, no matter how good, are no match for your imagination. When I wrote The Original’s Return I wanted to see how far I could get without using the word ‘werewolf’ or any of the usual tropes – silver bullets, full moon and so on. Two books and a short story later, I have avoided using any of these clichés, and I believe the novels are stronger for it. The concept that silver kills werewolves never rang true – what if you hit one with an RPG or a large calibre rifle? I do think werewolves are intriguing, otherwise I wouldn’t have spent a couple of years writing about them. Perhaps it is something about man’s inner beast, or the contrast of human and monster which is fascinating – why be a nice person but then turn into a salivating monster every month? How does that work? Are all werewolves bad and evil? If you’re a decent person, why not turn into a good werewolf? I wanted to create something a little more complex, but also to move away from the tortured soul trope: my werewolves love the fact they have this power. I suspect I would too. Follow @joshfishkins On Twitter T W Piperbrook (Author of the Outage Series) As a child of the 80’s, my two earliest encounters with werewolves came from television. I’ll never forget the iconic transformation of Michael Jackson in the “Thriller” video, as seen through my five-year-old eyes. I still remember peeking out from my bedroom when I was supposed to be sleeping, catching a glimpse of Michael’s yellow-green eyes and his stretching skin. Nor will I forget the cries of terror from his girlfriend, as she watched him transform from man to beast. That scene stayed with me through most of my childhood. My second exposure came from a (possibly little-known) television series called 'Werewolf', which ran for a few dozen episodes on Fox in the US. The series features an afflicted hero who tried ridding himself of his werewolf curse. My favorite episode took place in a shopping mall—something about watching a brutal creature running rampant in a modern setting fascinated me. These two influences left me with an obsession for the primal beasts. The werewolves I love are hungry, rabid creatures with bloodlust in their eyes, who inspire terror in everyone they come across. I think you will find a lot of that in this anthology. Enjoy! Follow T W Piperbrook on facebook Glenn Rolfe (Author of Blood and Rain) I remember my first lure to werewolves was being scared shitless by Michael Jackson in the THRILLER video. I know John Landis (American Werewolf in London) did that music video. Seeing that gentle, soft-spoken guy morph into this beast powerful enough to knock a tree over with one strike… I guess it goes back to that change and that imagery. I just feel it was embodied incredibly well in that young on-screen Jackson, that insane dichotomy of gentle vs. ferocious. It’s shocking and fascinating. To sit down and write characters that are either in that battle or others that are on the outside dealing with, or trying to survive being in a town with this beast, it offers a great chance to play in the nasty gore while trying to bring heart to the horror in the beats between attacks. I mean, the beasts aren’t lovable, but you have to be aware of the balance when writing around the monster. Those softer moments are what sell the scary stuff. Follow @grolfehorror on Twitter Nick Stead (Author of the Hybrid series) I've had a love of werewolves for as long as I can remember but I still don't think I have an entirely satisfactory answer for what drew me to them in the first place! It probably began with a love of animals with big fangs and claws - not just wolves but things like big cats, sharks and crocodiles, as well as dinosaurs and mythical creatures like dragons. I spent most of my childhood running round pretending to be anything but human, so when I first discovered werewolves I think I was instantly drawn to the idea of transforming into one of these creatures I was so in awe of. Then there was the bullying at school, which I think factors into it as well. The fantasy of being able to transform into something bigger and stronger grew more and more appealing the longer the bullying went on, and it wasn't long before I was devouring all the werewolf fiction I could sink my teeth into. So naturally when I started writing, my first book was always going to be a werewolf one. But more than that, something about that mix of wolf and man in films like Dog Soldiers has always fascinated me. For World Book Day other kids would come as James Bond and Superman. I was always a werewolf or some other kind of monster, and that hasn't changed whenever I get to cosplay as an adult. So why is that? Maybe I was infected with lycanthropy at an early age and nobody's managed to cure it yet! Follow @nick_stead on Twitter Paul Kane (Author of Red, Blood Red and the Lifecycle Series) I’m quite a sucker for all the werewolf tropes and clichés, there aren’t many films or books/stories that I haven’t enjoyed in this sub-genre of horror. In fact, my novelette ‘The Curse of the Wolf’ was a love letter to all of those kinds of tales, whilst at the same time linking it to my own, such as the RED mythos. Having said that, in the story that kicked off what would become the original ‘Life Cycle’ - ‘Lifeline’ is a spin-off from this - the fact the main character is a werewolf is withheld till the end. So I suppose I was trying to do something different there, telling a story which you’d re-read differently once you knew the twist. With the others in this ‘Life Cycle’ series, I’ve been trying to say something about age and modern life - using the framework of a werewolf story to do that. In ‘Lifeline’, however, the focus is on domestic abuse and strong female characters fighting back against that. It’s something I feel very strongly about, an important issue I wanted to write about and I felt like this was the perfect way to do so. Thanks again to Graeme and Horrific Tales for allowing me the opportunity to get it out into the world. Check out Paul's website here https://www.shadow-writer.net Graeme Reynolds (Author of the High Moor Trilogy) Werewolves have always held a very special fascination for me. I remember reading the old Usbourne Supernatural Guides as a child, obsessing over the details and the amazing artwork. Then, one fateful day I saw The Curse of the Werewolf with Oliver Reed on late night TV and it introduced me to the werewolf as a tragic figure – very much the hero of the story, but also the monster. The idea of that loss of control haunted me for years. That a kind, loving person could become a powerful, uncontrollable beast, capable of committing acts of unspeakable violence. When I started to write the High Moor trilogy, I wanted to create the sort of werewolf story that I wanted to read myself. The theme of that loss of control is central to the story. The monsters in my series, the Moonstruck werewolves, are those afflicted with lycanthropy that fight the change and on the night of the full moon, are left in a midway state between man and beast – a monster that is all pain, rage, teeth and claws. It is only by surrendering to the change that those inflicted with the curse can then retain some measure of control over their actions. I wanted High Moor to be the antithesis of the cute, cuddly werewolves that were beginning to dominate the genre. Yes, my werewolves are still very human in many ways, but every single one of them also has the capacity to be a brutal, remorseless killer. Hopefully my entry in this anthology will act as an interesting introduction for those who are not familiar with the series, and fill out some of the back story for one of the series most popular characters, Marie, for the people who are already fans of the books. Follow @graemereynolds on Twitter Thomas Emson (Author of Maneater and Prey) There were proper werewolves when I was growing up. Scary ones. Flesh-eating ones. Werewolves were vicious and deadly. Like the ones in The Howling. Or Wolfen. And, despite it being a comedy, the one in An American Werewolf In London. Then things changed. Perhaps because of An American Werewolf In London. We had Teen Wolf. We had, of course, the Twilight saga. We got “shifter romance”. Lycanthropes in love. Lycanthropes struggling with killing and eating people. Not my kind of lycanthropes. So when I created Laura Greenacre, the protagonist of Maneater, I came up with this before anything else: She's not sweet. She's not nice. She doesn't fight evil. She doesn't protect the weak. She doesn't serve humanity. She doesn't work in an office by day and have a secret identity by night. She doesn't have friends and family who know nothing about her but when they find out they love her anyway. She's not cool. She's not clever. She's not kind to animals. She won't help children, the elderly, and those less fortunate than herself. It was what I wanted my werewolf to be. An antidote to the angst-ridden (we might even say woke, today) monsters that had clawed their way to dominance in cinema and fiction at the time that I was writing the novel. This was basically my character outline. It’s what drove the plot. Laura was red in tooth and claw. That’s what werewolves are supposed to be. They are the animal in us. They are the beast inside, unleashed. The enemy within. So: Don’t tether them. Don’t curb their instincts just because you don’t like those instincts. Don’t make them human. Because they’re not. They’re werewolves, scary and flesh-eating. Follow @thomasemson on Twitter David Wellington (Author of Frostbite and 13 Bullets): I’m pretty excited about my story in Leaders of the Pack because it let me revisit not just one of my favorite characters but two of them. This story is the first time that Laura Caxton, the vampire hunter from 13 Bullets runs across a werewolf and it happens to be Chey Clark from my Frostbite werewolf series. The two women have a lot of common, even though one’s a monster hunter and the other one’s, well, a monster. Putting them in a box together and watching them fight it out was really fun. One weird thing, though—I had a real problem up there calling Chey Clark a monster. Zombies and vampires are one thing. They’re evil, they’re coming for us, they need to be stopped. Werewolf stories, though, have the werewolf as the protagonist, not the heavy, and for good reason. The horror of a werewolf story is in what it would be like to know that every time the moon rises, you will lose control of your self, that you’re going to do terrible things you would never countenance in the light of the sun. In some sense I think they’re the scariest of the monsters I’ve tackled, and it’s this loss of control that does it. Zombies are simply the extinction of self. Vampires are a metaphor for addiction. But the werewolf at its core is a story of conscience, of guilt. The existential dilemma of knowing that we are not in control of our own lives. That’s some chilling stuff—and it rings all too true. In the face of the werewolf myth we understand that we are not our own masters, and every single time, it sends a chill down our spines. I’m really grateful for a chance to revisit these most archetypal of monsters, and tell a fun story! Follow @lasttrilobite on Twitter Jeff Strand (Author of the Wolf Chasers Trilogy) I have to admit that I don’t love werewolves any more or any less than all of the other monsters out there. An American Werewolf in London, Dog Soldiers, and Ginger Snaps are three of my favorite horror films of all time, but my admiration of those movies comes from the humor, the action, the inventiveness, the characters…they’re just great movies, regardless of the creature. Amazing novels like McCammon’s The Wolf’s Hour and Stephen Graham Jones’ Mongrels don’t speak to me in a “Ooooh, I just loooove werewolves!” way. They’re just great stories. I love werewolves as much as zombies as much as vampires as much as horny underwater creatures as much as serial killers and as much as ghosts. For me, it’s all about the individual tale. Follow @JeffStrand on Twitter Jonathan Janz (Author of Wolfland) I’ve always been fascinated by werewolves. Honestly, what probably captured my attention the most as a child was the absolutely elemental and unstoppable power of the change. When I saw movies like The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, and Silver Bullet, I was stunned by how agonized by pain the transforming werewolves were. Then, when the change was complete, they became single-minded and hellishly ferocious. However, after a rampage, the characters would be confused or frightened or remorseful, and in looking at all these emotions, it’s no wonder I was drawn to the subject. What rich, emotional subject matter! With my werewolves in WOLF LAND, I wanted to examine the various ways the “affliction” might affect people. Then, in “The Kiss of Divna Antonov,” I got to examine an important moment in werewolf history (my werewolf history), which was an absolute blast. Honestly, even writing about them now, I feel that pull toward werewolves. I will almost certainly return to the subject sooner rather than later. Follow @JonathanJanz on Twitter Matt Serafini (Author of Feral and Devils Row) The werewolf aesthetic feels like fertile ground to me. You have these creatures hiding inside of men and women and it's a very metaphorical thing. Humans are animals at the end of the day, and so for me it's always been about exploring that. My first novel, FERAL, explores that theme in uncomfortable detail, and I've taken my share of lumps because of it, but that's always been the lure for me. When I sat down to write that book, it was always going to be about the rise of those animal instincts and how my characters deal with it. Some of them embrace the power, others learn to live with it, while some choose to live in total isolation. For me, the werewolf genre is about how disastrous unchecked instincts are, and how they're always inside of us waiting to come out. And that's ultimately why the animal is a curse. Follow @mattfini on Twitter  Since the dawn of time, across almost every culture, there have been legends of shapeshifters. Men who turn into beasts and prey upon anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. Of the shapeshifter tales, none invokes as much terror as the legend of the werewolf. The stories of men who become wolves persisted through the centuries from campfire folk tales to the modern age, where we are still thrilled and horrified by tales of bloodthirsty predators in our midst. Twelve of the most successful authors of werewolf fiction in the 21st Century have returned to their worlds and characters, to bring you a truly blood-soaked collection of werewolf horror. THE LEADERS OF THE PaCK EXPANDED UNIVERSES “His werewolf is a terrifying creature . . . Garton’s well-paced horror novel reworks the werewolf myth to great effect.” --Publishers Weekly When Emily Crane’s car breaks down on a dark, lonely road at night, she is attacked and raped by a man she kills in self-defense. That night, the dead rapist walks out of the morgue. Later, Emily begins to experience strange cravings and her body undergoes terrifying changes. When brutal killings leave victims partially eaten in the northern California coastal town of Big Rock, Sheriff Arlin Hurley scoffs at the talk of werewolves . . . until a tuft of wolf’s fur is found on a victim. It soon becomes clear that whatever is responsible for the killings, it is not alone. There are more than one. And they are doing something much worse than killing and eating people. Nearly twenty-five years ago, Ray Garton reinvented the vampire mythos with his erotic novel Live Girls. Now he has updated the curse of the werewolf in Ravenous.  “He’s tearing him apart! Help us, please, God help us!” Sergeant Peter Knowles has seen it all: in Afghanistan he witnessed death on a level that no-one should walk away from. Returning to Britain, he jumps at the chance to lead a small team in Devon. The task sounds more like a holiday; exactly what Knowles and his men need. The mission: watch Jack Stadler. When the first dismembered body is found, Knowles begins to realise he has made a terrible mistake... "David Watkins has a clear writing style that immediately sucks you into the story, his is a confiding hand on your shoulder, that later becomes a vice-like grip that you can’t escape" - 4*, Kate Genet, Horror Novel Reviews "Great horror! I couldn't put the book down" 4.5*, Pamela Kinney, Ismellsheep.com  For a limited time, the Outage Boxed Set (Books 1-3) is on sale for $0.99! Get it at: amazon.com/dp/B011J6PTBS Over 500 5-star reviews across the series! ___________________________ SOMETHING IS LURKING, WAITING FOR THE CHANCE TO STRIKE... When an early snow ravages the small town of Plainfield, the residents are stripped of heat, power, and mobility. They'll soon wish they had protection. Somewhere outside, something else is lurking. And it has been waiting for this moment to emerge...  Gilson Creek, Maine. A safe, rural community. Summer is here. School is out and the warm waters of Emerson Lake await. But one man's terrible secret will unleash a nightmare straight off the silver screen. Under the full moon, a night of terror and death re-awakens horrors long sleeping. Sheriff Joe Fischer, a man fighting for the safety of his daughter, his sanity and his community, must confront the sins of his past. Can Sheriff Fischer set Gilson Creek free from the beast hiding in its shadows, or will a small town die under a curse it can't even comprehend? One night can -- and will -- change everything. "With slashing claws and blood-soaked fur, Blood and Rain will have you howling in terror and delight. A welcome addition to the werewolf mythos and proof that we're in the presence of a rising star in the genre. Highly recommended!" --Ronald Malfi, author of The Fall of Never and December Park  "Stead weaves an intricate world of hierarchy, history and culture with a sinister underbelly, whilst keeping a popular theme fresh and without any of the old clichés. There is the epic, the sublime and the downright terrifying. Think you know vampires and werewolves? Think again." A full moon rises and blood is about to be spilled. Nick Stead, once a regular teenage boy falls prey to the werewolf curse. He begins to change in ways he cannot understand. The first transformation after receiving the bite is only the beginning. From that moment on, death follows in his wake as he seeks to satisfy the insatiable hunger awoken within. But hunter can easily become the hunted, and whilst battling his own lupine instincts, he must also hide his lycanthropy from those who would seek to wipe out his race. A clandestine faction known as the Demon Slayers are closing in on his trail and mean to wipe out his kind once and for all.  When John Simpson hears of a bizarre animal attack in his old home town of High Moor, it stirs memories of a long forgotten horror. John knows the truth. A werewolf stalks the town once more, and on the night of the next full moon, the killing will begin again. He should know. He survived a werewolf attack in 1986, during the worst year of his life. It's 1986 and the town is gripped in terror after the mutilated corpse of a young boy is found in the woods. When Sergeant Steven Wilkinson begins an investigation, with the help of a specialist hunter, he soon realises that this is no ordinary animal attack. Werewolves are real, and the trail of bodies is just beginning, with young John and his friends smack in the middle of it. Twenty years later, John returns to High Moor. The latest attack involved one of his childhood enemies, but there's more going on than meets the eye. The consequences of his past actions, the reappearance of an old flame and a dying man who will either save or damn him, are the least of his problems. The night of the full moon is approaching and time is running out. But how can he hope to stop a werewolf, when every full moon he transforms into a bloodthirsty monster himself?  She's not sweet. She's not nice. She doesn't fight evil. She doesn't protect the weak. She doesn't serve humanity. She doesn't work in an office by day and have a secret identity by night. She doesn't have friends and family who know nothing about her but when they find out they love her anyway. She's not cool. She's not clever. She's not kind to animals. She won't help children, the elderly, and those less fortunate than herself. In fact, she doesn't care. But if you hurt her, she will kill you. Actually, she'll do worse than that - Meet Laura. She'll eat you alive  For Cheyenne Clark, there's a bad moon on the rise . . .There's one sound a woman doesn't want to hear when she's lost and alone in the Arctic wilderness: a howl. When a strange wolf's teeth slash Cheyenne's ankle to the bone, her old life ends, and she becomes the very monster that has haunted her nightmares for years. Worse, the only one who can understand what Chey has become is the man-or wolf-who's doomed her to this fate. He also wants to chop her head off with an axe. Yet as the line between human and beast blurs, so too does the distinction between hunter and hunted . . . for Chey is more than just the victim she appears to be. But once she's within killing range, she may find that-even for a werewolf-it's not always easy to go for the jugular.  Two thugs. One innocent woman. And one VICIOUS frickin' werewolf. Meet George and Lou, thugs for hire. The kind of intimidating-yet-friendly guys who will break your thumbs, but be polite about it. Their latest assignment is to drive across Florida to deliver some precious cargo to a crime lord. The cargo: a man in a cage. Though Ivan seems perfectly human, they’re warned that he is, in fact, a bloodthirsty werewolf. George and Lou don’t believe in the supernatural, but even if they did, it’s daytime and tonight isn’t the full moon. Their instructions are straightforward: Do not open the cage. Do not reach into the cage. Do not throw anything into the cage. And they don't. Unfortunately, Ivan doesn’t play by the usual werewolf rules, and the thugs find themselves suddenly responsible for a ferocious escaped beast. One who can transform at will. One who enjoys killing in human form as much as he enjoys killing as a monster. If George and Lou want to save their careers, dozens of people, and their own lives, they need to recapture him. Because Ivan the werewolf is in the mood for a murder spree… From Jeff Strand, the three-time Bram Stoker Award nominated author of PRESSURE, comes 75,000 words of action-packed, blood-soaked werewolf terror!  "...this is what werewolf horror is supposed to feel like: gruesome, bloody, dark, angry, messy, and downright terrifying." - Howling Libraries Aside from a quaint amusement park, the small town of Lakeview offers little excitement for Duane, Savannah, and their friends. They’re about to endure their ten-year high school reunion when their lives are shattered by the arrival of an ancient, vengeful evil. The werewolf. The first attack leaves seven dead and four wounded. And though the beast remains on the loose and eager to spill more blood, the sleepy resort town is about to face an even greater terror. Because the four victims of the werewolf’s fury are changing. They’re experiencing unholy desires and unimaginable cravings. They’ll prey on the innocent and the depraved. They’ll settle old scores and act on their basest desires. Soon, they’ll plunge the entire town into nightmare. Lakeview is about to become Wolf Land.  There’s a thin line between animal and man. A line that’s about to be crossed. Jack and Allen need a break. They’ve decided to spend the summer before their senior year of college out in Western Massachusetts. But their quest for rest and relaxation comes to an end when they arrive in Greifsfield, MA. Their friendship is tested by a mysterious beauty and her razor sharp smile, then broken when they’re caught up in a rash of mysterious disappearances. How will these two friends cope with the truth behind a town that craves raw meat? And how will they survive beneath the glow of the full moon? Werewolves are real and there’s no such thing as escape. This vacation’s about to get a little hairy. The Howling meets 30 Days of Night in this furious, lightning blast of a novel. “An ambitious, balls-to-the-wall werewolf extravaganza. You can feel the lifetime of passion for horror in every paragraph.” – Horror Drive-In  RED: Evil takes on many forms. This is something Rachael Daniels, a lowly care worker, is about to find out . . . personally. Because something is roaming the streets of the city where she lives, something with a taste for human blood: sweet, red blood. Something that can be anything it wants to be. Soon Rachael will learn that not even friendly faces can be trusted. But, as she makes her way across that city at night on an errand of mercy, she discovers this terrifying creature will definitely have none for her. BLOOD RED: In the aftermath of the events in RED, the hunt is back on—but who is the hunter and who is the prey? As a team of trackers—fuelled by revenge—attempt to take down the monster that has been causing havoc in its wake, they are forced to seek help from an unexpected source. And after the resultant struggles and battles, things will never be the same ever again. A modern, urban reworking of a classic fairy tale, the novella RED & novel BLOOD RED put the horror spin on an old favourite. If you dare to open these pages, you’ll find a terrifying trip into the unknown courtesy of bestselling and award-winning author Paul Kane (the sellout HOODED MAN series, LUNAR, MONSTERS). With an introduction from bestselling author Alison Littlewood (PATH OF NEEDLES, THE UNQUIET HOUSE), and cover art and design by Dave McKean (CAGES, MIRRORMASK).   Comments are closed.
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