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Mark of the Beast: A Collection of Werewolf Stories
Mark of the Beast: A Collection of Werewolf Stories
Every civilization has some story or legend of creatures half man and half beast. Indigenous native peoples around the world held beliefs about shamans and witch doctors who could transform themselves into animals. The ancient Egyptians worshiped a whole pantheon of animal-headed gods. The superstitious folk of medieval Europe believed that a witch or a gypsy could curse a man to become a werewolf by night. Pacific islanders told tales of men changing into sharks. Certain African peoples feared leopard men.
Coming from all over the world and from every culture, werebeast legends naturally vary. Among the ways said to become a werewolf include being bitten by a werewolf, being bitten by a normal wolf, a potion or curse from a gypsy or a witch, a family curse, a genetic disorder, drinking rainwater from the paw print of a wolf, wearing an enchanted pelt made from wolfskin, through a pact with Satan or a demon, through the act of cannibalism, etc. Some werewolves have no memory or control over their change while others do. Some change only by the light of a full moon while others can change at any time. Some werewolves look like normal wolves, some look like giant wolves, and still others are mutant man-beasts. Some are solitary and some live and hunt in packs or clans.
Herein are gathered a number of tales portraying the glorious and bestial nature of the werewolf. There are horror, sci-fi, Gothic, cyber, fairy tale, and fantasy stories and poems that embrace the essence of the beast, told by an assortment of scribes with diverse styles and voices.
Now the Full Harvest Moon is rising and the soft wail of the autumnal wind begins�
Edited by Scott David Aniolowski
Including stories:
The Wolves Outside the Cage by Abraham Kawa
Thirteen by Alyne de Winter
The Hunting of Philip Ackroyd by Josh Reynolds
Adjustment by Paul L. Bates
Against a Sea of Brilliant White by Michael Matheson
Arcadia by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Best Left Buried by Evan Dicken
WolfGang by Glynn Barrass
Happy? by Daryl Wayne
Hellhound by Aurelio Rico Lopez III
Her Mother’s Fur by Rebecca L. Brown
Into the Moonlight by Donald R. Burleson
Last Night... by Eric J. Guignard
At Long Last by Mollie L. Burleson
Lucy Still Eats Meat by Michael Penkas
Malediction of the Moon by T. Fox Dunham
Moonburn by Robert M. Price
Werewolf Root Canal by Lois Gresh
Over Exposure by Jonathan Templar
Teenage Werewolf by Catharine Clark-Sayles
The Shrieking Shack by Richard L. Tierney
Wolf by Ernest Walwyn
The Better to Type With, My Dear by Megan Engelhardt
The Blood of the Moon by Caitlin Walsh
The Bone Cruncher by Karen Gillard
The Clothes Maketh by Juliet Boyd
The Vestals by Ann K. Schwader
The Wolfgirl in the Cupboard by Gitte Christensen
Mr. Lupus by T.E. Grau
Every civilization has some story or legend of creatures half man and half beast. Indigenous native peoples around the world held beliefs about shamans and witch doctors who could transform themselves into animals. The ancient Egyptians worshiped a whole pantheon of animal-headed gods. The superstitious folk of medieval Europe believed that a witch or a gypsy could curse a man to become a werewolf by night. Pacific islanders told tales of men changing into sharks. Certain African peoples feared leopard men.
Coming from all over the world and from every culture, werebeast legends naturally vary. Among the ways said to become a werewolf include being bitten by a werewolf, being bitten by a normal wolf, a potion or curse from a gypsy or a witch, a family curse, a genetic disorder, drinking rainwater from the paw print of a wolf, wearing an enchanted pelt made from wolfskin, through a pact with Satan or a demon, through the act of cannibalism, etc. Some werewolves have no memory or control over their change while others do. Some change only by the light of a full moon while others can change at any time. Some werewolves look like normal wolves, some look like giant wolves, and still others are mutant man-beasts. Some are solitary and some live and hunt in packs or clans.
Herein are gathered a number of tales portraying the glorious and bestial nature of the werewolf. There are horror, sci-fi, Gothic, cyber, fairy tale, and fantasy stories and poems that embrace the essence of the beast, told by an assortment of scribes with diverse styles and voices.
Now the Full Harvest Moon is rising and the soft wail of the autumnal wind begins�
Edited by Scott David Aniolowski
Including stories:
The Wolves Outside the Cage by Abraham Kawa
Thirteen by Alyne de Winter
The Hunting of Philip Ackroyd by Josh Reynolds
Adjustment by Paul L. Bates
Against a Sea of Brilliant White by Michael Matheson
Arcadia by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Best Left Buried by Evan Dicken
WolfGang by Glynn Barrass
Happy? by Daryl Wayne
Hellhound by Aurelio Rico Lopez III
Her Mother’s Fur by Rebecca L. Brown
Into the Moonlight by Donald R. Burleson
Last Night... by Eric J. Guignard
At Long Last by Mollie L. Burleson
Lucy Still Eats Meat by Michael Penkas
Malediction of the Moon by T. Fox Dunham
Moonburn by Robert M. Price
Werewolf Root Canal by Lois Gresh
Over Exposure by Jonathan Templar
Teenage Werewolf by Catharine Clark-Sayles
The Shrieking Shack by Richard L. Tierney
Wolf by Ernest Walwyn
The Better to Type With, My Dear by Megan Engelhardt
The Blood of the Moon by Caitlin Walsh
The Bone Cruncher by Karen Gillard
The Clothes Maketh by Juliet Boyd
The Vestals by Ann K. Schwader
The Wolfgirl in the Cupboard by Gitte Christensen
Mr. Lupus by T.E. Grau
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2015
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48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 30, 2019
This is a solid 3.2, I'm upping it to 4 because, Holy Drool-fest, THAT COVER, and there are a couple of genuinely good stories in here it's worth finding just for those......having said that....
I love what Chaosium has tried to do here, but I have to admit I was a wee bit disappointed in the lack of 'fright' within these stories, and, with the exception of a couple of pieces, the absence of creepiness and dread. There were a number of stories that truly felt like 'fillers', and I'd rather pay for an anthology with higher quality and less pieces, than a larger one with some plonkers and YA thrown in to plump it out.
Authors to look out for....
Abraham Kawa
Michael Matheson
Juliet Boyd
Jonathan Templar
T.E. Grau (of course!)
I love what Chaosium has tried to do here, but I have to admit I was a wee bit disappointed in the lack of 'fright' within these stories, and, with the exception of a couple of pieces, the absence of creepiness and dread. There were a number of stories that truly felt like 'fillers', and I'd rather pay for an anthology with higher quality and less pieces, than a larger one with some plonkers and YA thrown in to plump it out.
Authors to look out for....
Abraham Kawa
Michael Matheson
Juliet Boyd
Jonathan Templar
T.E. Grau (of course!)
September 29, 2020
A very nice collection of werewolf stories, one of the least appreciated of the classic monsters in my opinion. As with most anthologies, you'll find stories that don't work for you, and other that do. But I found myself enjoying most of them, and even the stories I found mildly interesting were well written and quite engaging. Curl up with this one under the next full moon!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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