Welcome to the first guest post of the 12 Days of Christmas Extravaganza! I'm also pleased to be taking part in "A Blog Tour to Howl About" featuring Unleashed by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie. You can find my review of Unleashed HERE.
Books, Barks, and Werewolves
By
Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
We’ve both written a lot of books, and we’ve been loved and cherished by a lot of animals. Debbie dedicated Unleashed in part to Wolfie, her wolf hybrid (now playing on the Rainbow Bridge), and she and her husband are planning on bringing a pup into their family now that they’ve settled in Florida. Nancy is currently being loved and cuddled by two Corgis—a Pemmie and a Cardi—named Tater and Panda. Both of us also live with pampered cats—Debbie has one, named Schrödinger; and Nancy has three—McGee, David, and Kittnen (sic) Snow Vampire.
The fact that we’re such animal people helped us a lot while we were writing Unleashed, since dogs are assumed to be descended from wolves. We already knew a lot about canine behavior—Debbie’s family raised poodles and Nancy and her daughter have been active in AKC obedience. We augmented that knowledge by reading a lot about wolves, and observing living wolves whenever possible. Nancy is a member of the California Wolf Center, located in the historic gold mining town of Julian, which is about an hour’s drive from her home.
We used our understanding of wolf behaviors to underscore the rigid pack hierarchy in Unleashed. The alpha has both the right and the responsibility to run the pack so that all benefit (even the poor omega, lowest of the low) and in a perfect werewolf world, the alpha would be a fair and just king. However, nothing in Wolf Springs, the setting for Unleashed, is perfect—and the reigning werewolf alpha, tragically, is far from normal. Add to that the pack’s fears that the Hellhound, the werewolf equivalent of the boogeyman, is punishing them because they have gone astray, and you have some of the fears and concerns swirling in the wooded hills above the tiny Victorian town of Wolf Springs.
Enter Katelyn McBride, forced to move to Wolf Springs by her grandfather after the death of both her parents. Katelyn has dreamed of a “big life,” Hollywood style, and nothing in her past prepares her for the terrifying realities of her new home. At night, wolves howl, and drumbeats echo off the hills. At Wolf Springs High, every time Katelyn tries to answer the question, “Who do you run with?” her new friends and confidants are no longer safe. And Katelyn is never safe.
We have loved werewolf lore all our lives, and we did just as much research on the different mythologies of the loup garoux as we did on real, live wolves. We’ve probably seen more werewolf movies in the last year than most people watch in a lifetime. We’ve built playlists to inspire us to imbue our story with creepiness, and we’ve sent dozens of articles and images to each other about the myths and legends of the isolated Southern Ozarks.
We hope you enjoy our efforts.
All of the blogs participating in the tour:
11/14: Livin’ Life Through Books (review)
11/15: Mundie Moms
11/16: Reading Teen
11/17: Urban Fantasy Investigations
11/18: Dark Faerie Tales
11/21: One Book at a Time
11/22: The Book Monsters
11/24: Total Bookaholic
11/29: A Sea of Pages
11/30: A Cupcake and a Latte
12/1: Tynga’s Reviews
12/3: Urban Fantasy Reader
12/5: LitFest Magazine
12/6: The Compulsive Reader
12/8: Literary Escapism
12/9: Good Choice Reading
12/10: Kings River Life Magazine
12/12: Books and Barks
12/14: Bibliophile Support Group
12/15: The Children’s Book Review
12/16: WereVamps Romance
PS - Don't forget to check out Pawing Through Books & Alaskan Book Cafe to see what authors they are featuring today!
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