Monday, August 4, 2014

Full Moon Mayhem with Louise Herring-Jones

Today's visitor is Louise Herring-Jones, whose short story "Gooji" appears in Luna’s Children: Full Moon Mayhem, edited by D. Alan Lewis (Dark Oak Press 2014).

She says: "Several trips to a remote island in Southeastern Alaska inspired me to write a contemporary werewolf story set in some of the last of North America’s wilderness areas. 'Gooji' means 'man-eating wolf' in Tlingit, a native language of SE Alaska. What starts as a joke becomes harsh reality when Gooji, Jake’s hybrid wolf-dog, defends her human from an attack by Skinner, a disreputable sled-dog trainer turned were.'


Excerpt:
Gooji growled and placed her body between Jake and Skinner. The ruff rose on her neck and her tail whipped back and forth in ferocious imitation of her normal happy wag. Skinner, now transformed into a giant yellow wolf, leapt off the porch and charged into Gooji’s chest. The werewolf and wolf-dog met in midair as Gooji jumped away from Jake, her jaws locking with Skinner’s fanged maw.
The pair wrestled, twisting and biting as they rolled over the cleared area in front of the cabin. Jake grabbed a thick branch fallen from a mountain hemlock and jerked from one side of the fight to the other, straining for an opportunity to hit Skinner without hurting Gooji. More yellow than gray brindled fur stood out for an instant. Jake attacked, striking at Skinner’s back with the heavy branch.
The werewolf yelped, releasing Gooji, but sprang at the makeshift weapon. He bit into the branch and held when Jake tried to shake him away. When he finally succeeded, he realized he had made a mistake. Abandoning the branch, Skinner bit deeply into the meat of Jake’s forearm. Jake screamed and tried to loosen the grip, but the fangs locked on, stapled into muscle.

Pick your copy of Luna's Children: Full Moon Mayhem here.

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