Book of the Werewolf

by Brian J. Frost (Editor, Introduction, Contributo), Manly Banister (Contributor), A. Merritt (Contributor)

Brian J Frost has selected thirteen brilliant werewolf stories, which range from Victorian tales of physical horror to modern stories of psychological terror. These stories, which are the cream of 130 years of supernatural fiction, include such classics as:
The White Wolf of Kostopchin - Sir Gilbert Campbell (1889)
What kind of beast was it that tore out the hearts of its victims? The peasants on Paul Sergevitch's estate knew only too well - but he ignored their warnings and paid a horrible price for his folly.
The Wolf of St. Bonnot - Seabury Quinn (1930)
Giles Garnier, the notorious 16th century lycanthrope, returned to the world of the living. And psychic investigator, Jules de Grandin, had to defeat this powerful adversary from beyond the grave and save the soul of an innocent young girl under his evil influence.

Banister, Manly - Eena
Bierce, Ambrose - The Eyes of the Panther
Campbell, Sir Gilbert - The White Wolf of Kostopchin
Derleth, August - The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf
Donaldson, Dale C. - Pia!
Fleming, Peter - The Kill
Haaf, Beverly - Mrs Kaye
Houseman, Clemence - The Were-Wolf
Menzies, Sutherland - Hugues, The Wer-Wolf
Merritt, A. - The Drone
Munn, H. Warner - The Werewolf of Ponkert
O'Donnell, Elliott - Mère Maxim
Quinn, Seabury - The Wolf of St. Bonnot

Genres: Werewolves, Horror, Short Stories, Gothic, Fiction, Anthologies, Paranormal

328 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up in a second-hand bookshop, surprised to find that almost all of the stories were ones I had never read. As an avid reader of weird fiction, this is an unusual occurrence unless it's an anthology of recently written tales. The Book of the Werewolf features yarns dating from the early 19th century up to the 1960s (the book was published in 1973). Werewolf stories tend not to present the same scope for variety and interpretation that the vampire myth has offered over the years but this anthology remains interesting despite that - and, with the exception of two stories, they all feature werewolves as opposed to other were-creatures. They vary in quality from the classic tale by Clemence Housman (my main reason for buying the book since it's one I seem to have missed reading after all these years); superb stories by Peter Fleming (The Kill - one I had read before), H Warner Munn (The Werewolf of Ponkert) and Abraham Merritt (The Drone); to entertaining hack work by the likes of Seabury Quinn and August Derleth. The Book of the Werewolf certainly deserves its place on my little bookcase of other horror paperback anthologies.

[CQM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, entertaining Werewolf stories. As always with compiled collections there are hits and misses but mostly hits I'm pleased to say.
Standouts being The Kill by Peter Fleming and The Drone by A. Merritt.
There is also a helpful introduction and a short essay on the Werewolf theme in weird fiction.