Author: Karen E. MacFarlane

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), prophesied to defeat Odin at Ragnar?k, 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.

New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Richard Beauchamp, Charlotte Bond, B.A. Booher, Ramsey Campbell, Catherine Cavendish), E.C. Dorgan, Roy Graham, Maria Haskins, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Andrew Lyall, Mark Patrick Lynch, Clara MacGauffin, Natasha Marshall, Jim Moss, James Musgrave, Plangdi Neple, Aggie Novak, Rachel Nussbaum, Natalie Shea, M.M. Williams, Zez Wyatt, and Wen Wen Yang. These appear alongside classic work by Algernon Blackwood, Gilbert Edward Campbell, Saki, and more, as well as a range of mythology, legends and folklore.

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.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 06/17/2025
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Hardcover
Size: 9.25h x 6.00w x 1.38d
ISBN: 9781835622650

About the Author
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.