Were Wolf Short Stories

Tales of human wolves have been with us since early medieval times, combined here with new stories from modern writers in the stunning, Gothic Fantasy series.

There’s more to being a wolf than just howling at the moon! Stories about werewolves, shapeshifting humans, rivalries and alliances between vampyr and werewolves abound in this new volume in the Gothic Fantasy series, bringing modern stories from short submissions to mix with the folklore and mythology of medieval times. The word ’were’ traces back more than a thousand years, coming from the Old English ’wer’, meaning Man, then combined with wolf but here you’ll also find old Norse legends such as Fenrir (born of Loki) defeating Odin at Ragnarök, and early Slavic myths and rituals in which were-wolf skins are removed and stolen. New stories explore wolves which might have been human, changing by choice at the howl of the moon, or people cursed and damned to be wolves for all time. Is that why the lone wolf is alone? The wolfish grin is a little shy? Is that why we wolf down our food? Is there a wolf inside us all, in the forests around us, hunting us, haunting us, protecting itself and its kind? It’s a glorious new book of power and identity, horror and romance.

Karen E. Macfarlane (Foreword) is a Professor in the Department of English at Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada. She is past president of the International Gothic Association and organised the association’s 17th Biennial conference in 2024. She has published widely in Gothic studies, with a specific interest in monsters at the turns of centuries.

The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Karen E. Macfarlane is a Professor in the Department of English at Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada. She is past president of the International Gothic Association and organised the association’s 17th Biennial conference in 2024. She has published widely in Gothic studies, with a specific interest in monsters at the turns of centuries.