Werewolves of.......Idaho????

On the thirteenth day after the end of the world, Byron was down to his last pill. Two weeks since the lights went out and there were no answers, no reassurance. Still they waited. The whole little town, except the fifteen men and twelve women who had gone off into daylight to look for information, now huddled in the high school, most of them in the gym, everyone from the mayor down to the newest infant to be born into a world suddenly very uncertain. The twenty-seven who had left had not been heard from again.

What you've just read is the first paragraph of the latest of my stories to be published. "The Librarian," in the new anthology of werewolf stories, Tails of the Pack, just released by Sky Warrior Books and edited by Steven E. Wedel. Tails of the Pack contains eleven brand new stories, including mine. The anthology is available as an e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. 

Here's a look at the cover, which I think is a wonderful piece of art:

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised to suddenly be the author of a werewolf story. I've never considered myself a big fan of werewolves. Sure, I like some fictional depictions of this particular type of supernatural beast. The original Lon Chaney Jr. film, The Wolfman is certainly one of Universal's monster movie classics, and I have to say I like the earlier Universal film, Werewolf of London even more. Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" has always been one of my favorite songs, guaranteed to make me smile every time I hear it.  But overall, werewolves have never appealed to me as much as vampires or Frankenstein's monster or even zombies. But when I heard, sometime last year, that an anthology was open for werewolf stories, I let the idea float around in my head for a while and, as they often do when I let them, a story popped into existence.
Byron Phelps, the librarian in the small town of Ramsey, Idaho, is enjoying a peaceful, quiet life despite a dark secret that no one else in town knows about. Then everything turns upside down and nobody is sure exactly what's happening. A once-normal town is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world and everyone is plunged into confusion, uncertainty, and fear. Then...

Sorry. I can't say anymore! 

But I'm glad I took advantage of the chance to write a werewolf story. It was fun and I hope those who buy the book will enjoy it. Will I write more about werewolves in the future? I don't know. Maybe next time I sit at my keyboard when the moon is full and the children of the night make music outside my door...