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Werewolf
Classic Western Novella by Max Brand originally published in Western Story Magazine in 1926.
Why would the youngest son in the noble Royal family take to the hills to escape the vengeance of stone cold killer.
Christopher Royal must find the courage within himself somehow or risk roaming unknown regions forever - a cursed coward.
Why would the youngest son in the noble Royal family take to the hills to escape the vengeance of stone cold killer.
Christopher Royal must find the courage within himself somehow or risk roaming unknown regions forever - a cursed coward.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Max Brand
1,948 books140 followersFrederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver
Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.
Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 24, 2018
One of the finest Western tales I've ever read or probably ever will read.
My first Max Brand title.
Not to be the only Max Brand title I've read.
My first Max Brand title.
Not to be the only Max Brand title I've read.
July 17, 2018
The Boy Who Shied from Wolves
I must admit that I was never as much fascinated by vampires as I am by werewolves because where the latter mirror a human being’s inner conflict between their passions and their ability to think and to reason, the former are simply a more refined species of leech and, for some odd reason, remind me of my annual tax declaration. Therefore, when I downloaded the Collected Works of Max Brand on my e-reader, the novel Werewolf was the first I wanted to read. A Western setting and a werewolf? That concept sounded quite intriguing to me.
The story turned out to be completely different from what I anticipated, though: It is about a young man named Chris Royal who shoots down another young man in self-defence. You know you are in a Western when it soon turns out that the man Chris killed was the brother of the most-feared gunman in the area, and that, of course, the gunslinger will have to have it out with Chris now. Chris’s problem is that although he is a good shot – as far as animals and targets are concerned –, he is simply afraid of fighting and facing the risk of death. He even killed the gunslinger’s cocky brother more by chance than in cold blood – a circumstance nobody noticed because the fight took place in a locked room. As Chris is the youngest brother of the renowned Royal family, his siblings’ valour and manliness prevent anyone from suspecting that things may be very different with Chris himself, and even Chris’s betrothed is so much in love with her high-minded idea of what a man should be like that she does not for a second doubt that Chris is not worried in the least by the knowledge of the gunman’s impending arrival. Our protagonist is so scared, however, that he absconds like a thief in the night – only to learn that fear of a gunslinger may be outweighed by fear of something else, something more uncanny.
Actually, Max Brand is a pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust – a name that certainly gives rise to a reader’s highest expectations, and although the writing is not anywhere near the power of Schiller’s or Goethe’s language (but then who would expect such a thing), Brand is certainly not a dime novel hack, either, but writes in an entertaining and picturesque style. He manages to create interest in the fate of the protagonist, which may not be too easy an enterprise because Chris Royal is essentially cowardly, and while fear and even cowardice may be wide-spread, nobody really likes to admit that they themselves, too, are not ignorant of the desire to avoid a challenge and play it safe. Still, Brand depicts the inner strife of his young protagonist in such a way as to enable the reader to sympathize with him. He also shows his familiarity with Shakespeare’s plays – for instance the fact that a coward dies a thousand times before his death, whereas the valiant do it much more seldom –, and in Western style, this allusion to Julius Caesar sounds like this:
All in all, I really enjoyed this Western tale even though the twist in the tale was somewhat predictable – but then who watches or reads Westerns merely for the stories they tell?
I must admit that I was never as much fascinated by vampires as I am by werewolves because where the latter mirror a human being’s inner conflict between their passions and their ability to think and to reason, the former are simply a more refined species of leech and, for some odd reason, remind me of my annual tax declaration. Therefore, when I downloaded the Collected Works of Max Brand on my e-reader, the novel Werewolf was the first I wanted to read. A Western setting and a werewolf? That concept sounded quite intriguing to me.
The story turned out to be completely different from what I anticipated, though: It is about a young man named Chris Royal who shoots down another young man in self-defence. You know you are in a Western when it soon turns out that the man Chris killed was the brother of the most-feared gunman in the area, and that, of course, the gunslinger will have to have it out with Chris now. Chris’s problem is that although he is a good shot – as far as animals and targets are concerned –, he is simply afraid of fighting and facing the risk of death. He even killed the gunslinger’s cocky brother more by chance than in cold blood – a circumstance nobody noticed because the fight took place in a locked room. As Chris is the youngest brother of the renowned Royal family, his siblings’ valour and manliness prevent anyone from suspecting that things may be very different with Chris himself, and even Chris’s betrothed is so much in love with her high-minded idea of what a man should be like that she does not for a second doubt that Chris is not worried in the least by the knowledge of the gunman’s impending arrival. Our protagonist is so scared, however, that he absconds like a thief in the night – only to learn that fear of a gunslinger may be outweighed by fear of something else, something more uncanny.
Actually, Max Brand is a pen name of Frederick Schiller Faust – a name that certainly gives rise to a reader’s highest expectations, and although the writing is not anywhere near the power of Schiller’s or Goethe’s language (but then who would expect such a thing), Brand is certainly not a dime novel hack, either, but writes in an entertaining and picturesque style. He manages to create interest in the fate of the protagonist, which may not be too easy an enterprise because Chris Royal is essentially cowardly, and while fear and even cowardice may be wide-spread, nobody really likes to admit that they themselves, too, are not ignorant of the desire to avoid a challenge and play it safe. Still, Brand depicts the inner strife of his young protagonist in such a way as to enable the reader to sympathize with him. He also shows his familiarity with Shakespeare’s plays – for instance the fact that a coward dies a thousand times before his death, whereas the valiant do it much more seldom –, and in Western style, this allusion to Julius Caesar sounds like this:
”’Only the cowards,’ nodded the Indian. ‘All these people have souls so that they may suffer. They see death always before them. It is curled up like a rattlesnake among the rocks. It stands in the darkness of the teepee and watches them like a hawk. It whistles for them in the wind. It beats on them in the hail and rain. It strikes for them in thunderstrokes. So that the cowards are always dying.’”
All in all, I really enjoyed this Western tale even though the twist in the tale was somewhat predictable – but then who watches or reads Westerns merely for the stories they tell?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews