Wolf Moon, Antler Moon

by A.C. Wise

In one small town, the delicate balance between predator and prey is threatened when five girls are murdered on prom night.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Novella, Young Adult

54 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2025

About the author

A.C. Wise's fiction has appeared in publications such as Uncanny, Shimmer, and Tor.com, among other places. She had two collections published with Lethe Press, and a novella published by Broken Eye Books. Her debut novel, Wendy, Darling, is out from Titan Books n June 2021, and a new collection, The Ghost Sequences, is forthcoming from Undertow Books in October 2021. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, as well as being a two-time Nebula finalist, a two-time Sunburst finalist, an Aurora finalist, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. In addition to her fiction, she contributes review columns to the Book Smugglers and Apex Magazine, and has been a finalist for the Ignyte Award in the Critics category.

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In one small town, the delicate balance between predator and prey is threatened when five girls are murdered on prom night."

Merrow witnesses the murder of 5 girls on Prom Night; girls she calls "doe-girls". She sees who kills them, men from her high school. The principle, the coach,

She runs off into the woods.
"She needs to not be prey.

It’s that simple."

She remembers some important wisdom from her grandmother about taming wild things so that they become your responsibility.
She thinks,
"The first thing her grandmother ever taught her about the shape of the world, their world, is that there are wolves and there are deer. There’s a sharp line drawn between them—predator and prey."
And all Merrow knows is that she doesn't want to be prey.
So she becomes a monster who hunts the wolves.

I enjoyed this. I love A. C. Wise's storytelling. The meaning behind the story is slightly elusive, but I think I understand what's going on. The age-old predator/prey story of Men who hunt girls with a flipped script of a girl who was taught out to hunt them back.

[Lizzie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars - this was really, really good.

[jovena s · Rating 3 out of 5]

way too vague to understand anything but such a cool idea about doe girls and wolf skins

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 52 Book Club : A book that cost me nothing
28 Reads in 28 Days : 3/28

This slapped. I would've read an entire novel of it; while not as lyrical or mythological as The Spear Cuts Through Water, it has a similar "all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again" vibe, a similar blending of the tangible modern with the ephemeral once-upon-a-time. Really beautifully written.

Read it for free here : https://reactormag.com/wolf-moon-antl...

[andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked the way it was written, but i didn't fully grasp what the author was trying to say. the story itself was interesting, quick to read and i quite enjoyed reading it.

[Christopher Pate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange, almost primordial novelette that leads one down dark animal-scented paths, both in this world and those eerily adjacent. It seemed very much a coming of age tale with teen angst and familial trauma elements juxtaposed against a dark and horrific background. Carrie but with wolves and deer-girls and ultimately taking responsibility for her actions rather than acting out in bloody revenge. Complicated, twisty and almost slip-stream at times, it'll take you to unexpected ends even though you think you know what's coming. Enjoy the dark and howl at the moon.

More at my blog: https://tinyurl.com/4a9zb74f.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of the Tor reactormag.com Short Story Challenge.

I'm not sure I got everything the author was trying to say in this story, but the images were touching, and bloody, and sweet.

[Chanel Chapters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eat or be eaten, babe 🐺

2.75

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was darker and more horrifying than I anticipated. It's a paranormal fantasy set in a town filled with animals spirits and people who can shift and transform between animal and human. the main protagonist shifts between the roles of prey, predator, and hunter. a very interesting setting.

[Dimitra P · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original and eerie story that reads like a folk tale. Although the vagueness added to the eeriness of the story, I felt it was a little too vague. I just wanted more of something. I would say this is a very high 3.

[Clarence Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merrow is a typical high school student in a small town that is anything but typical. Here, people are either wolf or deer – predator or prey – and the town depends on maintaining a balance between the two in order to thrive. Merrow’s late grandmother had an essential role to play in this balance, as do the “doe-girls”, five teenage girls who were born at the same time on the same day. When a third group – hunters – murder the doe-girls on prom night, the town is thrown into chaos. Merrow can take on her grandmother’s previous role to restore the balance, but doing so requires a great sacrifice.

A long novelette written in a non-linear, high-immersion style, “Wolf Moon, Antler Moon” throws the reader in the deep end and slowly teaches them how to swim. I always appreciate a story that makes up its own rules and insist the reader learn to play by them. The story is often cryptic without being obtuse, and despite the frequent time jumps, structuring the linear progression of the story around the phases of the moon gives readers a tangible thread to follow while the narrative charges on. I really enjoyed the tone of dark enchantment the author imbues in the prose, as well as the tug-of-war between chaos and order that builds steadily to the climax.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A horror story that starts in a small town with the casual murder of five girls. As the story reveals, this is no ordinary small town, but one where that is a balance between predators (wolves) and prey (deer), with the townspeople taking on one of the roles by donning a 'skin'. But now, that balance is being threatened by a group of hunters.

Restoring the balance may require one girl who had a mystical grandmother, who had a role in keeping the balance in the past, subduing predators when required. And now, it may be up to the girl to do the same with the hunters, but doing so would require a sacrifice that only a wolf can perform.

The story skips back and forth in time around the time of the murder, slowly revealing the relationships between the girl, her grandmother and town people, and the role her grandmother did and which she now has to perform.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolf Moon, Antler Moon by A. C. Wise is Tor original short. You can read this story (and all the other ones in this series) for free on the Tor.com site https://reactormag.com/wolf-moon-antl...

In one small town, the delicate balance between predator and prey is threatened when five girls are murdered on prom night.

My ongoing quest to get current with the Tor short stories.

Dark, and well written. I'm a fan of A. C. Wise, she always brings something extra.

4 Stars

[Thia Reads A Lot]

2*

There is a lot of unanswered questions, things that might be real or only symbolic.

Summary: Merrow became friends with Shep and they go to prom together as friends. At prom, the five doe-girls are killed by Shep's father and four other men (the principal and the coach among them). That disrupts things in town, another girl dies (I'm not sure I understand fully why she had to die). Merrow has the wolf she tamed eat her heart, then she eats the darkness in the five men, who become her wolves.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her grandmother had never shied away from bloody things—not in the stories she told Merrow, not in the chores she had her do. Not in what she did to protect the town.

It all happened a long time ago. Her grandmother looked through the kitchen window, rinsing the rime of gore from beneath her nails. But that doesn’t mean it’s done.

A bit too vague, but a really cool vibe to the story that made it well worth the time anyway. Definitely intriguing enough to check out more from this author.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eerie and uncomfortable story about girls becoming things they never wanted to be, whether as prey or as predator. I enjoyed it, but I kind of wanted more of it than there was. (Novella problems, lol.)

[luiloth · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/wolf-moon-antl...

[Jery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story, it really made me think about the nature of love and protection and responsibility. I enjoyed the slight similarities to selkie stories, albeit with a much different outcome (or, is it?).
I will definitely read this one again.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting little read. Some of the choices were a little clunky, but overall I enjoyed this. It surprised me which is worth more maybe than a pleasing cadence or well turned phrase.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/wolf-moon-antl...

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.

Eh, I didn't find the meandering nature of this story to be very compelling. I think I honestly would rather it have been a straightforward narrative. Interesting concept though.

[Varadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ideas were cool but the actual characters beyond the fable were weak, so ultimately the story fails to really land with the punch the ideas deserve.

[Eddie T · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Beauty and the Beast if the Beast was many and wicked but Belle was a hunter too.

[MollyK · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was fantastic. I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Erinn Wilkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars rounded up

[arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh hell yeah