John Vamvas's Blog, page 4
August 8, 2013
10 AMAZING BOOKS, 12 AMAZING AUTHORS – GIVEAWAY
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June 8, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars A ‘beastial’ adrenalin rush for the mind & body
Wherewolves is a powerful tale of menace and social commentary, with dark humor and clever plotting that keeps the reader knotted in its tight spiral of teen angst mixed with horror film imagery. On the surface it is a teen-in-peril tale, but the writing of the characters, the nature of the peril, and the narrative twists makes it surprising, exciting, and inventive. Characters jump off the page as vivid personifications of troubled teens caught between hormonal change, vice-like parental pressure, and the possibility of chemically induced monsters lurking in the proverbial woods. The best horror stories leave the reader with palpable frissons; this is always the ultimate aim of a good horror story: to strike uncertainty and fear in the reader; but many of these best examples also use the monster to reflect a subtext of social, cultural or political allegory. Wherewolves scores points on both these levels by appeasing the demands of a good horror story (with a bloody finale that is not for the squeamish) but also layering the `monster’ (as a metaphorical `beast within’) to bear the weight of social commentary on a wide range of themes: the deadly consequences of drug use; the dangers of unchecked military psychological & physiological training; the burdensome pressures of unrealistic parental expectation and lack of parental guidance. Wherewolves is a novel that rewards multiple readings, with elements of its plot twists embedded in descriptive details and foreshadowed through dialogue and narrational point of view. The story begins with a bang, in medias res, chaos in the woods, a prey and a victim. The young woman, Dilly is being chased through the woods by something feral, monstrous, dangerous, and animal-like. Like Sally from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, she is rescued by a truck driver, Drew, who battles with her against the unseen force. Once nearing safety, the state troopers arrive on the scene to help Drew and Dilly, but mysteriously, Dilly has disappeared….only to return much later as a key character. Here we see one of the strengths of the writing: the play with appearance and reality, as characters and situations, including the ultimate nature of the beast, end up not being what they appear. Here Dilly appears as a victim, chased by the `monster,’ but with the gain of hindsight, is anything but a victim. The lightning paced opening ends with the force of a blunt object: Drew and the troopers arrive at a diner, where chaos seems to be brewing on the inside; the outside of the diner window covered by the inside shades and thickly splattered blood. A crowd of media and police gather outside, plotting the best way to enter the troubled diner. And then we are left to hang, as the story cuts back in time, methodically churning its way back to the beginning, to Dilly running, and eventually returning to the bloody mayhem inside the tragic diner, in classic A-B-A non-linear structure. At this point the novel spends the next chunk of story time developing the many young protagonists (you may want to write them down to keep track of whose who), and then the story shifts into nervy energy overload when it arrives at the ex-soldier teacher Tim O’Sullivan’s planned weekend survival retreat, designed to `toughen’ the kids up to be military `worthy’. Tim leaves the kids stranded to fend for themselves (as his Dad did to him years earlier) but instead of your usual survival agenda there is something mean, vicious and fascinatingly mysterious lurking in the woods, encircling the teens who themselves are becoming unstable. The reader learns of several twists concerning why Tim leaves and to where (without giving away much, he remains as a distanced observer of a scenario gone horribly wrong). What makes this a particularly inventive take on the werewolf lore is the nature of the beast. The writers manage to have their cake and eat it by offering us the violence and ferociousness of the traditional werewolf, but tinged with a realist edge that strives for social commentary with a lexicon of youthful argot that is a mix of street slang and made-up language, a la `Clockwork Orange’. Wherewolves is a novel to savor quickly the first time, and slowly the second.
PS: I started to read this as a Kindle version but then HAD to switch to the real thing, so bought a hard copy. With the old school nature of the story, and the many references and homages to 1970s & 1980s horror, it seemed like the right thing to do!
June 5, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifyingly realistic story!
June 4, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book! If you’re a Horror fan and you don’t buy it…you’re missing out!!
By Corey
Wow! What more can you ask from a horror novel?! It is action packed, terrifying, and to top it off, realistic. The dialogue…! The dialogue is slick and original. I have never ever read anything like it. The teens are so vivid you feel like they’re right there with you. You get a full visual of what they see, what they do, what they think, what they feel! The gore, the blood and guts, is sick! The reading flows smoothly with twist after twist then does a three-sixty and gives you one final twist that will make you say “WOW!”
Based on a screenplay. I can’t wait for the movie! Should be a mega blockbuster!
May 26, 2013
But the real monster is within…
WHEREWOLVES
4.0 out of 5 stars “But the real monster is within.” May 26, 2013
By Amelia Gremelspacher TOP 500 REVIEWER
While we see a. Terrified woman running from an unknown animal. We figure it is a werewolf, given the title of the book. But let’s face it, the viciousness of a group of teenagers in the next chapters is pretty unsettling too. We know that they are from troubled homes. Many of them have had parents in the war who returned changed or not at all. O’Sullivan is a teacher who seems to have reached them, and he has unbelievably undertaken to take them on a weekend survival trip.
Right away These kids have an edge of physicality. They are willing and able to carry weapons. They do not like weakness. When things fall apart in the woods, we really do not know where to turn. My single criticism is that the kids are just enough alike that the names and identities are not easily remembered. In many places this doesn’t matter at all. And of course some of these kids we really do not mind seeing afraid.
The prose of this novel holds the story well. The plot is well manipulated. I would agree many of the talk belongs in YA, but nothing is wrong with that. . The last few pages really are a surprise, and it adds quite a dimension to the book! I am a forest coward, certainly wouldn’t read it before a hike!
May 24, 2013
Amazing story telling!
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing story telling!, May 24, 2013
By Stupid_Hamster
I picked up this book this afternoon and I was done with it in the evening. There’s been very few books that I could not put down and this is one of them.
It has action, twists and an element of every werewolf story in it. A beautiful homage to all my favorites and the artful pirouette at the end is an elegant twist!
Well done!
A HORROR Must Read!!!!!
5.0 out of 5 stars A HORROR Must Read!!!!!, May 24 2013
By Sandy
WHEREWOLVES was an amazing novel that propelled me from page to page. I could not put it down. The characters were extremely well described that you felt you knew each of them personally. The descriptive horror even shocked you while reading. The visuals created in your imagination were terrifying.
Definitely not a children’s book. Best for teens and adults. A very easy read lets you get lost in the story from page 1.
Story line extremely “au Courant” for todays world. The authors write with great passion for horror. Twists and turns that lead to a fantastic ending!!!!!
May 1, 2013
April 26, 2013
A well written and enjoyable read – deserves 5 star status.
Dennis Coates says:
April 25, 2013 at 7:35 am (Edit)
A provocative and chilling reminder of man’s latent inhumanity to his own species. The writing style is contemporary and humane with coruscating use of idiom and slang beloved of all affinity groups who set out to explore their own culture – but when interwoven with humour and panache creates it’s own compelling, urgent momentum. A well written and enjoyable read – deserves 5 star status.
April 22, 2013
A Must Read!, April 22, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars
By Robyn G.
Based on the screenplay, WHEREWOLVES, by John Vamvas and Olga Montes this novel
kept me on my toes once all the action started – I just couldn’t put it down. A
group of troubled high school seniors who mainly all come from military
backgrounds, along with their teacher, The Sarge, go away on a weekend of
survival training and must face their fears. The novel was completely
unpredictable – I couldn’t believe how it ended, I thought it was something else
and I was completely fooled (in a good way). The entire novel was completely
realistic as well (the way the teens talked, acted, were, etc). The beginning of
the novel, which is really the end, starts with an action scene to grab your
attention, and then moves on to build up the story a bit before the action at
the end makes you not want to put the book down. The detail in the novel was so
“detailed” that I vividly saw everything in my mind, but it wasn’t too
overwhelming. I am not usually into “werewolves” type novels, but this is not
your usual “werewolves” novel either! I absolutely recommend it.
I hope a second novel is written, I want to know more, what happens next? What happens
after Dawn leaves the cabin? Please give us more!
A MUST READ!
