Werewolf

Anyone who’s read my books, seen my website or spoken to me in any capacity has probably noticed the werewolf is my favourite monster. That and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

But what you might not know is that there are many, many kinds of werewolves.

Werewolf is a generic term applied to any human who can transform, or partially transform, into a wolf, or even simply behaves as one, depending on the legend. They can be born, bitten, or cursed. Some voluntarily become these beasts. Most do not.

Some are at the mercy of the cycles of the moon, and others can change voluntarily. Some can control their behaviour in their transformed state, most can’t. Even those that do are sometimes at the mercy of instincts they only partially understand: werewolves are not like real wolves.

Real wolves hunt for survival. They’re wild animals - they’ll avoid people unless they’re hungry or feel threatened.

Most legends depict werewolves as creatures who actively seek people out to hunt them, for no reason that’s ever explained other than that they are bloodthirsty monsters. The most famous legends are often like this: the rougarou of New Orleans, the Armenian mardagayl, the anjing ajak - a dhole-headed werewolf from Java, Romanian Priocoli and even the Polish/Serbian legend of the Neuri, a tripe that transformed into wolves every nine years, follow this pattern.

Nearly every culture has some sort of werewolf legend. They even appear in the stories of Australia’s Aboriginal people, in their tales of the Irrinja, also known as Sandhowlers or Demon Dogs. According to the stories, the Irrinja is a witch, or a magician, who uses special ointment and a dingo-skin belt to transform into a monstrous predator, but what is really cool about this story is that to do so, they need a sandstorm, not the moon. The magician will anoint themselves, don the dingo-skin belt and lie down before an oncoming sandstorm, letting it bury them in the red dust of the Australian outback. Then, they burrow out of the sandbanks, transformed into a giant dingo.

A dangerous predator, like most werewolf legends. Or were-dingo, in this case.

Yet not all werewolves are like this. Then there a legends like the Scottish Wulver, or the Faoladh of Ireland, which break that mould by being benevolent, protective, and helpful - unless you push them.

There are more varieties than I can list here - and I use a lot of them in my stories. Because in the Slipworld, every story holds truth.