The Werewolf Pack

Title: The Werewolf Pack
Selected & Introduced by Mark Valentine
Publication: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (12 Jun 2008)
Paperback: 224 pages 
Rating: 2 out of 5

This collection aims to provide a selection of werewolf tales that are popular, sometimes even rare, and once, quite weird. 3 stories from the book deserve mention for the reasons stated below. Read on. 

R.B. Russell, yes, the same man who penned Like Clockwork, does the bizarre routine again with his Loup-Garou – a short postmodern tale about French cinema, possible mania and a puzzling end that I couldn’t grasp. 

The Clay Party by Steve Duffy is a combination of the American Manifest Destiny, ambitious settlers, Romanian matriarchs and a pack of steadfast wolves. The story is reminiscent of the movie, Ravenous (which totally rocks by the way). Yeah, cannibalism rampant. 

Gail-Nina Anderson’s The Tale Untold tries to be Angela Carter’s In the Company of Wolves – the short story and the movie. So, that is very disappointing. Not many can imitate Carter’s prose and wicked sense of storytelling successfully. 

One thing shared by all authors mentioned in this review is that they are all contemporary writers. The rest of the stories in this collection make for some very dry reading. Not a good book to waste your time on.