Today I have an exciting guest post from Thomas Rydder another wonderful author I have met in my travels through. Be sure to check out his new book!
Werewolf.
Read that word, then close your eyes. Go ahead - see what pops up.
It was pretty gruesome, right? Right. Because no matter your age, gender or geographic location, that word will summon some kind of savage, snarling baddie. You know why? Because, from Lon Chaney, Jr. as a loping, agonized werewolf ("The Wolfman" - 1941), to Jack Nicholson's transformation from a worn out, tired publisher to a cock-sure lady's man as the result of a werewolf bite (The movie "Wolf" in 1994), Loup Garoux is one of the oldest - and most beloved - monsters in history.
Now, "Therianthropy" is the scientific term for the metamorphosis of a human into an animal, and Lycanthropes (aka werewolves) are but one version of the shape-shifter. Many countries have their own unique legends:
Chinese mythology contains many tales of animal shapeshifters, capable of taking on human form. The most common such being is the Huli Jing, a fox spirit which usually appears as a beautiful young woman; most are dangerous, but some feature as the heroines of love stories.
In Armenia, shapeshifter legends include the Nhang, a serpent-like river monster than can transform itself into a woman or seal, and will drown humans and then drink their blood.
Scotland abounds with tales of the shapeshifter. One is the legend of the Selkie, a seal that can remove its skin to make contact with humans for only a short amount of time before they must return to the sea. Or water spirits called Each Uisge, which inhabit Lochs and waterways in Scotland, and appear as a horse or a young man.
As a matter of fact, almost every country has a shapeshifter dwelling in their folklore. But most prominent of all is the werewolf. There have been hundreds of movies made depicting the ancient beast in every possible light, and an equal assortment of novels written about the moon-worshiping behemoth. But who dreamed up the first howler?
None other than Zeus, ruler of Mount Olympus - and father to the werewolf.
In ancient Greek mythology, King Lycaon of Arcadia was a fierce ruler whose cruelty was legendary. Word came to Zeus of Lycaon's troublesome ways, and the god decided to pay earth a visit. What he observed upon his arrival confirmed what he had heard, and he decided to meet with King Lycaon face to face. Lycaon's servants cowered at Zeus's arrival, but Lycaon was said to sneer. He didn't believe his visitor was really a god, and decided to test him. Lycaon invited Zeus to a feast that he had prepared himself. The meal's main courses was human flesh from an innocent messenger that he had killed.
Zeus, of course, knew at once what was happening and was furious with Lycaon's cannibalism. As a punishment Zeus first killed all 50 of Lycaon's sons, and then turned Lycaon into a werewolf. Lycaon's entire body changed, only his eyes were human, and he was damned to a lifetime craving human flesh. It is from the doomed king's name the the term "Lycanthropy" was fashioned.
Okay, but what makes the legendary lupine so popular? What makes us flock to every new werebeast film and rush to the kindle (or Heaven forbid, a bookstore), to snatch up the latest fang-filled thriller?
Maybe it's his supernatural strength. Perhaps it's his attachment to the moon. (After all, we're certainly linked to it - it's a fact that more conceptions occur at the time of the full moon.) Or it might be that he creates his own rules - actually, doesn't really have any. His only desire is warm blood flowing down his throat, the broken body of a vanquished foe lying beneath him, the fierce glee that envelopes his soul as his teeth sink into quivering, moist flesh. That's certainly man's distant past, and some deeply hidden gleam of the savage still dwells in all of us.
Oh, come on, admit it. Don't you root for him? When the farmers have him cornered in a patch of woods, when he's running for his life looking for escape, don't you hope just a little that he survives to howl another night? Sure you do. And you know, it doesn't really matter why, the werewolf is alive and well - on the big screen, and in modern-day literature.
And he always will be, because we all have just a tiny bit of werewolf in each of us.
"The Clearing"
KindleUnited States - www.amazon.com/The-Clearing-
The United Kingdom - www.amazon.co.uk/The-Clearing-
Canada - www.amazon.ca/The-Clearing-
Paperback on Amazon
United States - http://www.amazon.com/
The United Kingdom - http://www.amazon.co.uk/
Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/
Find Thomas
Blog - http://thomasrydder.wordpress.
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/
The United Kingdom - www.amazon.co.uk/The-Clearing-
Canada - www.amazon.ca/The-Clearing-
Paperback on Amazon
United States - http://www.amazon.com/
The United Kingdom - http://www.amazon.co.uk/
Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/
Find Thomas
Blog - http://thomasrydder.wordpress.
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/
BIO-
I was born in 1957 in a small town in Western Pennsylvania that had - and still has - one traffic light. There wasn't a whole lot to do there, and we had few neighbors, so I learned to play quite a bit of make-believe ? soldiers, cowboys and Indians, that kind of thing. At the same time, I loved to read and watch old movies. On Saturdays, my dad played in a country western band, and I stayed up to wait for him. It was during that stretch that I discovered the horror movie. You know the ones I mean. Karloff, Chaney, Lee. The masters, right?
Fast forward 40 years. I'm now the project manager for a small civil engineering firm in picturesque Charleston, South Carolina with my lovely wife and four rescue pets, two dogs, two cats. Oh and eight feral cats outside that put up with us because we give them two squares a day.
Anyway, since childhood, I've loved to create. I played trumpet, sang, even dabbled in genealogy. Nothing quite did it for me. Over the years, I'd composed quite a few term papers and theses (there are a few ex-teenagers in this world who owe their English grades to yours truly), and unfailingly earned an 'A'. My wife knew this, and one day just suggested that I try writing.
What the hey, I thought. So I sat down and found a writing site called Hubpages. Nice little site, and I started getting the basics of writing a little from some of the inhabitants. I wrote a short story, and everyone liked it. So, I wrote another one. Except it kept growing, and I kept getting more ideas, and it lengthened to 20 thousand words, then 30, then 40. By the time I sat back, I had the rough draft of my first novel, except back then it was called "Werewolves and Flapjacks". Somewhere along the way I decided to submit my work (now called "The Clearing") to three publishers. I was turned down twice, and miraculously was accepted by the gentleman who gently rules this site, Mr. Tim Taylor. And the rest, as they say, is history. By the way, you need to like Tim...he's a great guy, and I owe him much, which can never be repaid.
So. The Clearing. I don't know where I came up with the idea. Some shred of one of those old delightful movies perhaps, superimposed on modern times. It just came, and I just typed - simple as that. I do know that I modeled the story's location after my little one-lighted home town. And every one of the characters in my book shares either a first or last name from my life in the sleepy burg of Apollo, Pa.
I do hope you decide to pick up my book. And if you do, I hope even more you enjoy it. If you do enjoy it, rejoice, because I'm working on the sequel!
Even though I make wise cracks about all of it, this is all like living a dream and I don't plan on waking up for a very long time.
Thomas Rydder - writer