EDITOR'S NOTE: When Fear Zone launched back in September, our very first Video Author Reading was a hilariously filthy one by Steven E. Wedel. Steve is a regular contributor to Horror World (he also interviewed Brian Keene for us), an HWA Trustee, a full time English teacher, and one hell of a writer. Look for an in depth interview with him on Fear Zone--tomorrow!

A Call To The Hunt - The Werewolf Saga

When I was commissioned to interview author Steve Wedel, ye gracious Fear Zone editor arranged a few books from his personal collection to be sent my way while I waited for Steve to send me what he had and so I set about whetting my palate with Steve's ghost story, Seven Days in Benevolence. As perfectly executed and creepy as hell as I found this ghost story to be, that's not what I'm here to discuss. Four of the other books sent to me were born of a single literary thread dubbed The Werewolf Saga which I chewed through in short order, which brings us to the point. Steve all but re-invents the nature and humanity surrounding these shape-shifting beasties with an honest and fierce tenacity that's refreshing in its originality. The first of the series had me hooked. The others solidified me as a die hard fan yearning for more of the series. Without further foreplay, I present you with the ongoing Werewolf Saga which includes Call to the Hunt, Murdered by Human Wolves, Shara, and Ulrik, all of which are published by Scrybe Press. Lock your doors, draw the blinds and let's gather 'round the fire while the moon's still full, shall we?

The first book of the series is a quick read of a little chapbook called Murdered by Human Wolves. Set in the early 1900's, superstition is thick in the air as the people of Konawa, Oklahoma speculate on the evil that dwells on the edge of their quaint town. Strange things are happening that cannot be explained by conventional reason. Butchered livestock ripped apart and ravaged beyond suspicion of natural predators. Young girls who mysteriously vanish while others secretly confess to strange dances around the bonfire of alluring hosts. Is there a were-beast in the midst attracting these innocent young girls to their doom, or are the townspeople so caught up in their own fear that they're willing to believe anything? When Katherine Cross's friend, Elise, gets mixed up with a peculiar man with a devilish reputation named Luther McGrath, Katherine tries to intervene, but soon winds up in a tryst of her own with Luther's cousin, Thomas. What transpires from Elise's fate results in truths being dug up that have no business being in a world of civilized logic. And when Katherine becomes pregnant with Thomas's bastard child she quickly finds herself at a crossroads between myth and reality with no imminent means of escape. However, as tragic as this tale of mythical beast and forced fate may be, the scariest part is that Murdered by Human Wolves is a tale derived from actual facts that are merely filtered by the author's own creative inventions.

With crisp, tight writing, Steve exorcises his strict discipline in journalism by leaving no fat intact and cutting straight to the meat of the story. As a bonus, this tale of werewolves is book-ended by an engaging forward in Steve's own words and a most intriguing interview with Mary Franklin, a paranormal researcher who investigated the disappearances of many young women during the time surrounding Katherine Cross's death. Man or beast, fiction or legend - no matter which side of the coin you choose to view this story from, there is one thing which remains unquestionable - Wedel's got the goods to keep any reader hanging on with tooth and claw until his tale is done and we are left with nothing more than the quiet company of our own stirred imagination as we venture into the next book in the Saga, Call to the Hunt, which is more of a companion piece for the most fervent of werewolf fans in the series.

Call to the Hunt is a collection of bite sized stories that rounds up the historical adventures of Gar, an ancient werewolf who unknowingly plays host to The Prophecy of werewolf clan through his future son, Ulrik. The thing I liked most about this collection is even if this the first book of Wedel's you happened to pick up, as with his other individual werewolf books, this one also holds its own as a standalone piece which any fan of the beasties ought to enjoy. From the first story, we travel with Gar and his dutiful wife as they are aboard a vessel full of other refugees like themselves who are hopeful of a better beginning in The New World. The trouble is where do you hide a werewolf on a boatload of people when his cycle is upon him, and how does one keep discreet about those passengers that seem to vanish without a trace nor a whisper? I won't tell you how they survive the trip, but each story that follows transcends the author's adventurous spirit and all but grabs hold of the reader, forcing him or her to experience Gar and Ulrik's quest from a bird's eye view. Missing this one won't taint your enjoyment for the rest of the series although reading it will accentuate the details to come as references from this "historical" collection are scattered here and there in the books to follow and acts as a nice set-up for Shara, book two, and the first full length novel of the series.

Shara is a fresh invention of an age old mythological beast that hits the forest floor running and casts us into the life and tribulations of Shara Wellington. Shara is just your average pretty shy girl struggling to find herself in an unstable world while trying to not stand out in a crowd. She was once promised romance and champagne by her high school sweetheart and was fed rape and trauma instead. She doesn't trust so easily anymore and holds those around her at arm's length with cautious eyes. She's got an overbearing mother who drives her crazy sometimes and a professor at college who seems to understand her, at least a little, and even gave her a job typing his book on Siberian wolves. But she can also be a real bitch when provoked. Especially when the dark hairs sprout from her body as her tail pushes out from her backside, her face contorting into a long snout, and she begins to growl and prepare for the hunt. You see, Shara also happens to be a werewolf, thanks to professor Ulrik and the passing of his Gift. Turns out he saw something special in Shara, something he hasn't detected so strongly in centuries. Could she be The Mother he has spent his life searching for? The one among The Pack who could bear children naturally without violence? If what The Prophecy predicts is true than perhaps Shara would be the one to raise a son whom would one day lead The Pack to victory in the Great War among mankind.

For Shara, accepting The Gift was easy. Living with it, however, would prove to be a whole other animal. All she ever wanted was to be a normal happy person - even with the Gift of which she was sworn to secrecy. Deep in the mountains, Ulrik tutors her in all she would need to know in order to survive as the wolf. And, left to the devises of her own cunning and intellect, with the Othala Rune branded into her flesh - the sign of heritage among werewolves - Shara leaves the mountains to settle down in a small coastal town with nothing but hope and the sizable bank roll Ulrik arranged for her. Things went well for a while and she even managed to net herself a sweet and doting husband who made every sacrifice to care for her and to love her for who she was. Mostly. He even accepted the condition that Shara had to visit an ailing mother for about a week every month. And then she got pregnant and upon the birth of her offspring, well, that's when things began to get a little hairy and the lies she kept were no longer her own. To say Shara's hubby was a slight bit unhappy with his new arrivals would be quite the understatement, and what follows next is a gut wrenching period of regret, loss and the decline of all that Shara thought she should be living for, told simple and pure in Steve's raw style.

When the world around Shara is stripped and realized for the fate she is bound to, She must fight to not give in to the temptations and doom of the wolf, regardless of what The Prophecy may dictate. Her fight to hold back the wolf within her hardly goes unnoticed among The Pack as she soon discovers that what lays within it is a great and treacherous divide. There are many among The Pack who deem her as a messiah among werewolves while many more see her as a threat to their very existence and a presence that must weeded from their midst and killed. Both sides will stop at nothing in pursuit of their goals and what transpires when they discover Shara's intention to design a cure for the werewolf syndrome is the stuff that great tales are made of. Suffice it to say that you'll have no use for a bookmark during the last third of this book. I know I didn't.

With book four of the series, Ulrik, Steve cuts his teeth on culling new characters into the Saga to expand further upon the epic feel of the story. A shape-shifting werebear named John Redleaf is a particularly favourate new character of mine. When Shara discovers the serum she'd developed to hold off the always inevitable cycle of the wolf has been outgrown by her eight year old son Joey, a birds and bees discussions suddenly seems like a favorable idea by contrast. Tension escalates after Joey escapes his compound-like home and is snatched away by one of Kiona, a fellow pupil of Ulrik, Shara' own trusted mentor and friend. Kiona wants Joey for herself. She yearns to be The Mother of the pack and to be the one to raise the boy who would grow up and lead the werewolves in a great war against mankind. The only thing standing in her way is Shara and those who charged with protecting her. Led to believe her husband has been killed and unsure whether or not Ulrik's motifs favour her over him, Shara must fight to find her son and hope it's not to late to tear him back from Kiona.

Denying she's part of any pack, there are many wolves who live by The Prophecy and deem Shara as sort of Messiah among wolves and will fight to their honorable deaths to endure she fulfills her life's purpose. But there are many wolves still would much rather intervene and see to it that Shara's skin is strung up to a post beneath the burning sun. With the companionship of Thomas, a rogue wolf who holds allegiances to none but seems intent on protecting Shara and her boy, Shara must use her wit and cunning and as she starts to think that holding off the cycle of her wolf despite its natural, regular calling, for so long was now about to bite her in the ass. With an imminent war of wolves bringing the pack to gather, it's only a matter of time before the snare snaps shut and traps Shara in an unbreakable fate of pain and sorrow forevermore. Ulrik. is set to be unleashed for publication by Scrybe Press March 31st of this year (2008).

As mentioned earlier, if you've come to his work looking for poetic philosophy that sings to your inner being, you won't find it here. What you will find is pure story told in a chiseled down, straightforward style that's as engaging as it is rewarding. I'd love to see what this guy could accomplish if given the marketing edge and budget of some major publishing house. I predict it's only a matter of time before the greater world of readers - and (big house) publishers - catch on to his hair-raising work. After all - to steal a well quipped phrase from Steve's beloved character Josef Ulrik - the pack is gathering and there shall be no culls among us, including that which lies between the covers of The Werewolf Saga. Can you hear them howling, mournful and seductive, calling you, Dear Reader, to the hunt? Go ahead. Leave the path and dance with them in the forest.


To learn more about the history of the Pack, Steve's writing life, or to contact him and tell him to hurry up on that next Saga novel, check out his website, where you can also find plenty of bonus material and informative entertainment, or subscribe to his "What's On Board" newsletter .