About Werewolves

For today's countdown to Halloween post, let's talk about a critter that might need a bit more love: the werewolf. Well, maybe it's just me, but I feel like it hasn't been as popular as other horror creatures and maybe has not always been used to its full potential. A few years ago, I read The Howling by Gary Brandner. The rather uneven (but enjoyable) movie adaptation is now far more famous, but I preferred the original novel, although I found it flawed. My full review and recommendation in this post from 2017. Be that as it may, while I recognised novel's shortcomings, I liked it enough to buy its sequel, simply (and rather dumbly) called The Howling II. It had even more shortcomings, but I must confess, I still enjoyed it. There is just something about these bloodthirsty beasts and their relationship to men and civilisation that I find endearing. I find it sad that The Howling's film franchise went stupidly down the drain after each installment and that the original novels are all but forgotten. Brandner I thought had managed to bring the werewolf into a modern setting and give it a certain relevance, but keeping its menace. There is so much to do with werewolves depending on how you develop them: is their condition a curse or do they embrace it, what causes it, how do they deal with mankind, and so on. Werewolves deserve their own series of novels, something Brandner had started, but never quite finished. Anyway, I am rambling, but what do you think about werewolves? Are there any stories featuring them you would recommend? And how would you make them original?