Beast

by Todd Michael Cox

Andy Hull has made a promise. He has vowed to care for his nephew, who suffers from a disorder so horrible it has left him a recluse and pushed away everyone he ever loved. But to what lengths will Andy go to fulfill this promise, and at what cost to himself or the woman he loves? ___________________ BEAST is a dark and intimate novel about a man who has made a promise to care for his ill nephew… who just happens to be a werewolf. But not the kind of werewolf you might be used to. Cox’s monster is entirely human, cursed not by a gypsy but by biology, suffering from a disease that is completely organic and disturbingly real. “I made a list of everything that’s normally included in a werewolf story,” Cox says. “And then I deliberately avoided all of them. This helped give the story the kind of grit and realism I knew it needed. This isn’t a story set in some dark English castle. There are no moors, and no gypsy curses. And there are certainly no romantic teenagers running around wasting time making googly-eyes at each other. This is my attempt to write seriously about this kind of affliction and, more importantly, how that affliction affects the people around the man who has it.” The way the story is told is different, as well. Says “In many ways there is a story going on in Beast that could be told in a much more conventional way, but that story is in the background. I am interested in turning the camera just slightly off-center, and focusing on what would normally be off-stage in another story. I get bored with the focus always being the heart of the action. When a person is killed by a monster, let’s say, I always think of their family. The fact that a monster killed their loved one would, really, be secondary to the simple fact of their loss. It’s that background story I find more interesting, the one going on at the outskirts of the main action… or what would more conventionally be seen as the main action.” With Beast, another writer might have focused on entirely different characters, and tell an entirely more conventional story. Cox chose to keep that conventional story in the background, and let it come in and out of focus in the reader’s mind. The result is a novel of realism and pathos, a character portrait focusing on those who love the unfortunately inflicted soul, with a depth and grit and realism not usually seen in this genre.

314 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2014

About the author

Todd Michael Cox was born in the northwoods of Wisconsin, and has been writing for most of his life. Although he's had short pieces published here and there he considers the novel to be his natural medium. His work ranges from comic adventures (like DIZZLEMUCK) to darker studies of death, mourning, and the loss and recapture of innocence in modern day America, along with everything in between (as in new novel WE ARE STRANGE CREATURES). He counts a disparate group of writers as influences, including Wallace Stegner, Hemingway, Harper Lee, Alice Munro, Edward Abbey, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, James Joyce, Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, and Katherine Dunn. The influences of his young and formative years were more along the lines of Bradbury, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and a variety of strange and cheesy movies. Some of this interest still lingers, with traces of fantasy in works like WE ARE STRANGE CREATURES, which deals with kaiju attacking America... though in a far more serious and realistic way than old Godzilla movies.

"Nature's probably my greatest inspiration," Cox says. "Everything I need is found in nature, it compels me to create and care. If you can't find what you're looking for in wild places or the eyes of wild creatures, it probably doesn't exist."

Todd is also a wildlife lover, as well as a musician. His spoken-word project, Ripe For Shaking, has been included on a CD compilation from the Journal of Experimental Fiction called ATTOHO (After They Tore Our Heads Off). See also his TOMICO Bandcamp site (https://tomico.bandcamp.com/) for orchestral, ambient, and experimental pieces, along with other sorts.

His popular Wisconsin Unhuggables blog, originally hosted by Wisconsin Trails magazine but now found on Wordpress, is a collection of his thoughts and perceptions regarding the lesser-loved critters of the world. Todd was a featured guest on the Joy Cardin Show on Wisconsin Public Radio in Spring of 2013 to talk about these critters and his interest in them.

He is the founder of the Snake Anti-Defamation League.

He can be contacted via Twitter at: @TMCwrites

Or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toddmichaelcox

Reviews

[Steve Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the writing was very good, but I did feel that it a while for anything to happen so I am giving it a four star instead of 5. But I did like his writing enough to download two of his other books.

[John Nondorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without spoiling too much, I'd say Beast has echoes of Shelley's Frankenstein in which you have a "monster" for whom the reader feels sympathy. The reader also feels the fear, concern, and love of the beast's caretakers. A realistic dive into a world where something impossible disrupts daily life in a small Wisconsin town. Not a jump-scare type horror story, but one filled with dread that eats away at individuals and their relationships.

[Mavis Mather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I really enjoyed Dizzlemuck, but this book, this book took me back. This 'horror' novel was like rediscovering an old friend. The way it gently played on your mind like an old Richard Matheson or Joe Landsdale book was refreshing. It was so easy to just fall into this book and forget everything going on around you.

I am looking forward to a re-reading soon.

[Sarah Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once you get over the plot being set up, there is very little change of tone for the whole book. A little bit of a drag, wanted there to be more intrigue and plot action, instead there's a lot of dismay and personal reflection.