Silver Bullets: Classic Werewolf Stories

by Eleanor Dobson (Editor)

Of the monsters that stalked the pages of 19th- and early 20th-century fiction, the werewolf has continued to represent the beast lurking underneath the veneer of human civilization to this day, a composite creature which is all too easily released and, once at large, difficult to constrain. From one of the very first werewolf stories appearing in Britain to a tale published after World War I, this collection brings together the greatest werewolf fiction from a period stretching to nearly a century, uniting figures as diverse as Hans Christian Andersen, Rudyard Kipling, and the Suffragette writer Clemence Housman.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Werewolves

269 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2018

About the author

Eleanor Dobson is Lecturer in Nineteenth Century Literature at the University of Birmingham.

Reviews

[J.A.Birch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of Classic Werewolf Stories, albeit I have read very little on the subject I know the modern incarnations on television and film. Silver Bullets: Classic Werewolf Stories highlights how myths and legends of these creatures have changed and also stayed the same over the years.

Religion and belief is a recurring theme throughout the stories Eleanor Dobson has collected. I found the first story initially difficult to get through, it was easier to digest after the festivities had concluded in the narrative and the protagonist started his way home (this is my one little niggle). Dobson has called to attention how the myth of werewolves has been enveloped into religion during times of these stories being written and set; it is interesting how belief plays a key role in each story and not always through religion.

I loved the variety of tales and how the werewolf creatures interacted with humans, how they were presented from humans who transformed into wolves, to half humans, to wolf spirits, there are many different interpretations of what a werewolf is.

I really enjoyed these stories. The authors used a variety of characters and relationships to create the narratives, some of which just mentioned the thought of there being a werewolf without actual proof or disproving the claim all together! I am amused to find that none of these stories actually have silver bullets in them but refer to a number of other ways to detect and kill/remove a werewolf.

The two poems within the collection nicely illustrates how the fear and belief in wolf-like creatures can be used throughout written medium, both of which draws to attention the idea that anyone could be hiding a secret even the person you are supposed to trust the most.

My second collection of short stories by the British Library; I have enjoyed both so far and will look out for others that may strike my fancy.

[cypher · Rating 2 out of 5]

definitely a lot of work went into collecting these and bringing the book to readers' eyes, the stories are old collectibles with a theme that was made extremely popular in our media-driven culture.
unfortunately for me, and i do love the concept that werewolves represent (man so in-sync with the powers of nature and the heavens, and completely subordinated to them, that they transform him with every cycle of the moon to experience the world through different senses), most of the stories here are too violent for my taste.