Welcome to Werewolf Grove
To paraphrase the great Walter O’Reilly, werewolves are people too, you know. Yet, where can werewolves go once they tire of ripping throats out of villagers? Where can they live in peace, never having to worry about every yahoo gunslinger kid with a silver bullet who aims to make a name for himself?
Versipellis Nemora, that’s where.
“Versipellis Nemora” is my latest short story, about a retirement home for werewolves, located somewhere in the north-central subregion of Appalachia, U.S.A. The story is part paranormal, part horror, and mostly humor. I first mentioned the creation of this story in a post I wrote a few months ago, when I discussed the wonderful group that inspired it, the Alvarium Experiment.
“Versipellis Nemora” was published May 9, 2025, by Off-University Press as a standalone story ebook, available for 99 cents on Amazon. Then the story will be included in the Alvarium Experiment‘s next short story anthology The Light Fantastic 2: Amazing Pets, in the summer of 2025, exact date and price yet to be announced.
Excerpt:
‘Course, they ain’t dogs. For one thing, they talk. They all used to be human. And Lord, I tell you what, they got some stories to tell. Daddy dug and bricked a nice fire pit out back where I burn the remains of carcasses and some of my garbage, and sometimes I sit next to the fire with a beer, and they come round and tell tales’d curl your hair. I ain’t gonna lie. Some of them was pure evil back in the day. But they’s all retired now. Long as they’s good, we’re good. Draugluin, who probably was the worst of ‘em, keeps ‘em all in line. He’s the biggest damn wolf I ever seen, and black as coal.
Soon as the sun was down, Draugluin called a council round the fire pit.
“Let’s kill them all,” Stubbe said. He’s a gray wolf, not real big, but he’s vicious as all get out, with red, red eyes and big white, slobbery teeth he likes to bare. He scares me more’n any of ‘em.
“That’s no good,” Quentin said. “They’ll just send more and more people after us, and it’ll be like the old country all over again. I didn’t give up being human and come all the way out here just to be chased around again by a bunch of Christian crazies for all eternity. Bad enough when Willard’s mom thought she could cure us with a Bible and a cross.”
“You, leave Momma out of it,” I said. “She just got religion, that’s all. And she couldn’t figure ya’ll out. I mean, who can? Anyway, she ain’t here to defend herself, so it ain’t fair to bring her up. I still love her, no matter.”
“I’m just trying to remind everyone that that’s what we will be up against, from all the people, if we kill everyone who comes out here.”
“Right?” said Jacob, a young, black-and-white wolf, and maybe the cutest of the whole pack. “I don’t want to kill anyone. I’m a lover, not a killer.”
“Grow up, kid,” Bisclavret said. “Love doesn’t last. Only death lasts.”
“I believe there are women out there who are true,” Jacob said. “You’re bitter about love only because your wife left you after she learned you were a werewolf.”
“Mention my ex-wife again and I will rip your throat out.”
