My Goodreads review: Howl

[ankh_hpl]

Howl: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror by Stephanie M. Wytovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This generously-sized (22 stories and poems) anthology bills itself only as "an anthology of werewolves" from Women In Horror. However, as the Introduction makes clear, this is an anthology of werewolves used to examine women's mostly contemporary concerns. Women's power, its loss and regaining, is probably the most frequent theme. Relationships between women, either in families or friendship groups, also come in for close examination. Family secrets about women are exposed in the full glare of moonlight. And always, in the face of abuse or worse, there is vengeance.

This anthology is divided into moon-phase sections, New Moon through Waning. This places the stories in rough groupings, though I was unable to figure out why some stories were placed where they were. The New Moon tales have a somewhat mythic or fairy tale feel to them, exemplified by Donna Lynch's "Silver Boots." Waxing Moon stories mostly involve friendships or sisterhood, with a couple of standouts (for me) in this section being Erika T. Wurth's "When He Could Have Me" and Gwendolyn Kiste's post-apocalyptic "Our Howls Like Dirges, Our Eyes Like the Moon." The Full Moon tales involve lycanthropy as empowerment or coming of age. Some of these stories seemed a bit vague to me, but I particularly enjoyed Christina Henry's "When We Run We are Free" -- a frankly feel-good rescue/vengeance plot with bits of werewolf culture thrown in.

The final section, Waning, addresses such contemporary concerns as bodily autonomy, racial identity, and the ability of powerful men to get away with serial abuse. Examples here include Alexandrea Weis' "Dark Justice," with a Louisianan loup-garou running a battered women's shelter, and Wendy N. Wagner's "The Wolf Line" with its action-packed road trip from Idaho to Oregon, a sympathetic werewolf driving a fifteen-year-old with a too-adult problem and bounty hunters on their tail. There is also another bit of SF -- Katrina Monroe's "Super Moon" -- and the prose poem "13 Times I Swallowed a Full Moon" by Stephanie M. Wytovich.

As with all themed anthologies, not every story (or poem, with three well-crafted ones appearing here) will appeal to every reader. However, there's enough variety here to make it worthwhile for those who enjoy socially influenced dark fiction.

[My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.]




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