The Werewolf before Christmas

Spandex and Superpowers #3

by Charles Payseur

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2017 Advent Calendar collection Stocking Stuffers.

Ray seems like the perfect boyfriend—he’s gorgeous, incredibly romantic, and has a mechanical suit he invented to become the dastardly MantaRay. For Alec, who also spends his nights making life difficult for do-gooders everywhere, it’s a match made in supervillain heaven. Except that Ray is a bit too into the hit soap opera All My Werewolves. When tempers flare during what’s supposed to be a quiet night out, Alec nearly ruins everything over a stupid bet with an alien gorilla.

Desperate to prove his feelings to Ray, and with Christmas fast approaching, Alec decides the fastest way to Ray’s heart is to embrace the thing that threatens to divide them—a certain werewolf show with a certain actor who Ray admires. A simple kidnapping promises to do the trick, only fur (and fandom) fly when Alec’s romantic gesture leads to a very hairy situation. Can Alec prove to Ray how much their relationship means to him, or will his plans be ruined by the werewolf before Christmas?

Genres: Holiday, Christmas, M M Romance, LGBT, Paranormal, Short Stories, Science Fiction

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2017

About the author

Charles Payseur is an avid reader, writer, and reviewer of speculative fiction. His works have appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Lightspeed Magazine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others, and many are included in his debut collection, The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories (Lethe Press 2021). He is the series editor of We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction (Neon Hemlock Press) and a multiple-time Hugo and Ignyte Award finalist for his work at Quick Sip Reviews. When not drunkenly discussing Goosebumps, X-Men comic books, and his cats on his Patreon (/quicksipreviews) and Twitter (@ClowderofTwo), he can probably found raising a beer with his husband, Matt, in their home in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

Another entertaining tale in this alternate universe where superheroes and villains abound!

Here, Alec is challenged to show his worth and love to his boyfriend Ray in the spirit of Christmas. The stakes are high, and what better way to represent his devotion than to kidnap the main star of Ray’s favorite show and make him perform?

Of course, things never go as planned. Again, this was quirky and smexy featuring another couple in this original creation. Happy Holidays!

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I loved this. It hit all the right buttons for me, somewhere in the Venn diagram where campy, queer, supervillainy, magic, hilarity, sweetness, and just enough spice intersect.

I'm not sure I can do a better job than the blurb describing the set-up of the tale, but I will add that if you think it sounds too campy to be readable with any seriousness, it's not like that at all. I mean, it's not a serious story, but there's verisimilitude, which is hard enough with any spec fic, but we're talking a magic and a tech based queer super-villains in love, one of whom watches a soap opera about werewolves—and it totally holds together. I bought in, and loved the ride.

So when a magic-wielding supervillain (whose magic isn't totally reliable) decides the one grand gesture that will make Christmas work involves kidnapping the star of his supervillain lover's favourite character from his soap opera of choice? It's gold. And it's a holiday story, and romantic, and still freaking adorable.

I'm biased. I love superhero stuff. And there's so damn little of it (especially queer stuff) so finding this was like reaching into the holiday stocking and finding a chocolate orange where you thought there was just going to be a roll of socks.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky, funny little story about super villains in love, with one of them arranging a Christmas surprise for the other, and unforeseen consequences.

I had fun reading it. Alec was hilarious, often unintentionally so, and his snarky inner monologue was highly amusing.


** I received a free copy of this story story from its publisher in exchange for an honest review. **

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

3.5 stars

This is a silly, comic-book Christmas story with villains and heroes, magic, mayhem, and science all rolled up together. The world building is slap-dash, the plot is frenetic, the dialogue is a bit simplistic, but, for what it is — an enjoyable short story with a happily ever after involving super villains — it’s a fun read.

Alec is a touch insecure and, from what little we see of his past and his powers, he may have reason to be. His magic is far from perfect and almost never predictable. Sometimes his spells go perfectly, sometimes they don’t, and often he has no idea if what he casts will even work. Compare that to Ray, who is a bit of a genius and a powerful super villain, and Alec has reasons to for his feelings.

But with this being Christmas, the time of miracles and good will towards men, Alec some how manages to make it all work. His gift idea for Ray shows not only an urge to show off, but a man who knows what his boyfriend likes and truly wants to make him happy. Even as he’s putting together his surprise, he isn’t really thinking about winning the bet, he’s thinking about making Ray’s Christmas perfect.

Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.

[Serena Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

As it turns out in this newest episode of the ‘Spandex and Superpowers’ universe, supervillains have a vicious streak for one-upmanship not just where destroying the world is concerned, but also when trying to impress their boyfriends more than the next guy. In this hilarious Christmas story, Alec accepts Gorillord’s challenge to impress Ray with a romantic gesture that will reach the national news and get Liu Lang to write an article. If he wins the bet, Ray has to stop watching his favorite soap opera, and if he loses the bet, he has to break up with Ray… very high stakes either way! As a consequence, this bet gets everyone into all kinds of tight spots – much to my amusement.


Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Werewolves, super villains, superpowers - so totally not in my wheelhouse ... but I loved this snarky sweet little novella about Alex trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for his boyfriend Ray. And of course, the cheesy soap opera All My Werewolves that threads its way through the Spandex and Superpowers series, featuring

"... science werewolves, not magic werewolves. They were created by a secret government agency to be supersoldiers and then disavowed when they broke out and took refuge in the Rocky Mountains. Now they're ski instructions-slash-superspies working for a secret countergovernment freedom front that fights against the explortation of supernatural beings."

[Lila Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.

ARC provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review.

[Scott McQ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the Top

This book is just amusing AF! Over the top and wonderfully unbelievable. A perfect little stocking stuffer of a book!

[Natosha Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is was a diffeeent kind of Christmas love story. It is not about super hero's but instead about the other side of the law andnis about how a super villain goes about showing the man he loves how much he loves him at Christmas time. The thing is what starts out as a bet turns into so much more.

Alec and Ray have been together for a couple of months now but Alec has not been able to fall in love with the part of Ray that is crazy about a TV show called All My Werewolves. Actually the show rwallybjust annoys Alec. But Ray loves the show and so does most of the people that that goes to The Sinister Plan.

This is how Alec finds himself in hot water with Ray and almost loses the man that he loves. Alec is not one of those people that will back down from something so when Ray's buddy Gorillord goads Alec into a bet about serving Ray up a better gift for him then what Ray would for Alec, Alec takes the bet. The problem lies in the fact that if Alec loses then he also loses Ray.

But Alec may lose Ray regardless because Ray is not happy about the bet or the consequences to either losing or winning. Can Alec figure out a way to keep his man and win the bet or is he just doomed to lose not matter what?

This was a good read. Though it is based around super villains I enjoyed it. I liked being able to read about the other side of the good versuses bad guys. It was different. What I did not really like about it was this seemed like it was a rushed read. Not enough in the plot about certain parts of his read. Regardless it was an entertaining read.

Was given this galley copy for free for an open and honest review

[Sierra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story just didn't do it for me. For one thing, although it's part of a Christmas anthology, it has almost nothing to do with Christmas. The gift in question could have been for a birthday or anniversary and nothing would have changed about the story. The sci-fi villain shtick fell a little flat too me, too campy instead of inventive or cool. It also made the R-rated parts feel extremely out of place. It was like having a stripper show up at a kid's magic show. I think that some readers will love this though--the juxtaposition will feel especially funny to them instead of bizarre the way it did to me. So take this reading as just a personal preference where my expectations just didn't line up with the story at all.

[Katy Beth Mckee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time for the annual super villain offering. Not my usual genre choice but I love reading through the advent set every year. In this one we get to exam how hard it can be to find the perfect gift for the villain you l-- like a lot. But despite some really wild times Alec may have actually nailed it this year with Ray.

[Lois - Who Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a short story of the silliest supervillians you have ever come across. Alec is out to prove that he is worth having Ray’s love and comes up a very villainous plan to present Ray with an amazing Christmas. My favorite evil stunt was turning someone’s clothes into rabbits who hopped away. A quick fun read.

[Monika · Rating 1 out of 5]

**1.5 Stars

I'm not sure if it was the story or just me but I felt lost reading this. For someone who is a huge fan of scifi, fantasy, paranormal, superhero and all things different I couldn't make heads nor tails of this holiday short.

[Karen Dubois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet book. Short, but enjoyable. I really liked the fact that Alex and Ray were villains, they weren't evil. I wished we could have seen more of Lucas as he was an interesting character - was kinda rooting for a threesome there.

[Seeilin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the Superheroes&Villians Series, and it's the best as of yet. ❤

[Mrsgeo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my thing at all.

[Elaine White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story. Nice to see previous characters mentioned, though it can be read as a standalone.

[Suze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny send up of antiheroes, supervillains and their outfits, how bad can they really be without affecting their crowd funding!
Alec needs a big gesture to show Ray (of MantaRay infamy) just hiw he feels - and win his bet with Gorrilord.
Hoping to cash in on Ray’s favourite soap about werewolves, Alec sets off to filming but gets more than he bargained for.
Quirky, light, fun.

[Angela Goodrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.

While I ultimately enjoyed The Werewolf before Christmas, it took me four attempts to read it. As a rule, once I opt in to review a book, I don’t reread the blurb so that I can read the story without any expectations as it’s usually been a couple of week to a few months since I read the book’s blurb. In the case of this holiday short, it probably would have been better if I had reread the blurb because the first few pages of the story were a tad confusing as I didn’t realize that the main characters were supervillains.

That said, the fourth time was the charm at getting through the author’s setting of the scene and my making sense of who and what the characters were. And to clarify, it wasn’t the author’s writing that made it difficult to read because once I got past the first few pages, I plowed through the story. I wanted to see what dastardly plan Alec came up with. I enjoyed watching him carry out his plan and making the necessary adjustments to the plan when he learned previously unknown information about the target of his plot. I found his interactions with Ray to be sweet and his insecurity about not being good enough for Ray to be charming – even supervillains have doubts. I thought the ending was perfect, especially when Alec revealed the final bit that Ray didn’t know about. Even better was that Alec didn’t enforce the terms of his “win” because he’d been bitten by the werewolf-bug too. The Werewolf before Christmas was not the typical holiday romance, but it was certainly an entertaining read.

Please note: My review is of an unedited, pre-release copy of this book and assumes that any errors were corrected prior to publication.

[Heather York · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've got to start by saying that if you are looking for something a little different for your holiday reading than The Werewolf Before Christmas is definitely worth reading. With superhero/villain movies and comic books popping up everywhere and being the latest craze, it only seems fitting that we get one in our Christmas novella shelves. But don't think Werewolf is your typical superhero story because its not, the author doesn't really give us superheroes but the villains instead and not the evil garden variety type that has become commonplace in Hollywood. No, MantaRay and Alec Azam(which I'm adult enough to admit it took me a few minutes to get the full effect of the name) are fun villains and even though he's pushed into by fellow baddie, GorillaLord, Alec is determined to prove to Ray how important he is to him with a huge Christmas stunt. Throw in the hit soap, All My Werewolves and Ray's favorite actor from the show and Alec thinks he found the perfect stunt to prove his heart to Ray.

HOLY HANNAH BATMAN!(Or should I say HOLY HANNAH MANTARAY!) Talk about a delightful holiday ditty. As I'm writing this I just discovered that The Werewolf Before Christmas is actually the third Superhero/Villain story in the author's series Spandex and Superpowers. I guess I have to go back and read the first two because this universe that Charles Payseur has created is fun, intriguing, and just plain old-fashioned entertainment with just the right amount of lusty WOW to get the adrenaline pumping. So whether you are looking for something different or not I highly recommend Werewolf because its brilliantly entertaining that left me smiling from beginning to end.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was super fun. If you’re looking for candy canes, stockings and cocoa, this will not be your jam, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a total kick. It speaks to anyone who is hardcore into one fandom or another and any fan of superheroes and supervillains. The author covered a lot of ground in this short and built a world with just enough detail without being too much for the number of pages here. The only thing I would have liked would have been a little more backstory for Alec and Ray. They don’t spend a whole lot of time together and what banter I did get I really liked, I would have just liked a little more to get a better grasp on their connection.



**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

[Sadonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I was shocked that I actually liked this because superheroes/villains are SOOOO not my thing. I have never really read a comic book - and don't intend to start now. I don't see the Marvel or DC movies, so I'm not in the know at all on these things. But I found Alec and Ray charming and funny. Well done.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this even better the second time through. It's cute, if a little silly.

[Ame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorably geeky, gay supervillains with a nod to the influence of fan fiction!

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, witty, sweet, and with feeling. A lovely short story.