The Wolfman is one of the great classics of modern horror. Now, based on the upcmoing film, is a terrifying new novelization novel written by Jonathan Maberry, based on the screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self Based on a motion picture screenplay by Curt Siodmak
Lawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother's fiancée tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector has come to investigate. As Talbot pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature that stalks the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself . . . one he never imagined existed.
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JONATHAN MABERRY is a multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His novels include Ghost Road Blues, Dead Man’s Song, Bad Moon Rising, and Patient Zero.
He reached down and lifted the skull from the grave. It was old and battered, its jaw missing, the eye sockets fixed in an eternal stare. The man who held it brushed dirt from the cheeks and brow and held it in one hand, considering the lines and planes of the old bones. The eyes of the skull and the eyes of the man met and for a long minute they shared the secrets of eternity, the subtle truths of the grave.
"Alas," murmured the man in a voice that could hide no trace of the real hurt that wrenched his heart. "Poor Yorick." He half turned to his companion. "I knew him, Horatio."
In the shadows beyond a row of candles, thousands of invisible hands began applauding. Lawrence Talbot did not flick so much as a covert glance at the audience. His eyes remained locked with those of the skull, though his features shifted with a half dozen emotions as he turned the skull this way and that. When he regarded the brow his own brow knotted as if remembering old conversations; when turning it away from him his mouth betrayed the sadness of a boy suffering the disappointment of a beloved tutor; when he tilted the head back he smiled in remembrance of countless old jests. He shared the moment with the skull while the applause ran its course, and when it abated he spoke softly.
". . . a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times. And now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? No one now to mock your own grinning. Quite chap-fallen?"
Lawrence did not shout or bleat. He spoke with tenderness to the skull and everyone in the theater bent forward to be included in the private discourse, hanging on his words, their senses entirely given over to the soft voice of the Prince of Denmark, for— to the watching crowd— this was not Lawrence Talbot, the American actor, this was Hamlet himself. Alive, real, his mocking words clear evidence of the tortured pain within his troubled soul.
Except for one man, a well-dressed buffoon to whom Shakespeare was a bore and Shakespeare performed, a torment. Before Hamlet and Horatio had wandered into the cemetery the man had nodded and drifted off to sleep and now his buzzing snore sought to undercut the moment.
But Lawrence was too practiced a professional to allow a fool to upstage him. He tossed the skull into the man’s lap and continued with his soliloquy as if the act had been staged to include this moment. The skull landed hard on sensitive softness and the man shot upright in his seat, flushing red as the crowd around him erupted into laughter.
"Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her," continued Lawrence as he drew his energy and all eyes back to center stage, "let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come . . ."
Lawrence wore a suit of dark velvet and a ruffled shirt open to midchest. His wavy hair was as black as the pit and it framed a face that was rough and thoughtful and angry and handsome. "Brutally handsome" was the phrase used by The Times theater reviewer. He knew that everyone packed into the theater had read that review, and more than half of them were there because of it. When he stepped close to the footlights he was able to see past them to the rows of faces, each as pale as the moon, tilted up toward him, eyes fixed on him. The naked adoration in the faces of the women stoked fires within him, but the similarity of the faces— each as empty and vacuous and uncomprehending as the next— made him feel cold, empty. Gutted.
His full lips curled into a sneer. But they saw it as a smile and the applause rolled over him in waves.
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than twenty countries.
His novels include the Pine Deep Trilogy: GHOST ROAD BLUES (Pinnacle books; winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2006), DEAD MAN'S SONG (2007) and BAD MOON RISING (2008); the Joe Ledger series of action thrillers from St. Martins Griffin: PATIENT ZERO (2009, voted one Best Zombie Novel of 2009; winner of the Black Quill Award and a Bram Stoke Award finalist), THE DRAGON FACTORY (2010; now available), THE KING OF PLAGUES (2011), ASSASSIN'S CODE (2012), EXTINCTION MACHINE (2013); THE WOLFMAN (NY Times bestseller from Tor and winner of the Scribe Award for Best Adaptation, based on the Universal Pictures film starring Benecio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Sir Anthony Hopkins); the Benny Imura series of Young Adult dystopian zombie thrillers from Simon & Schuster: ROT & RUIN (2010) and DUST & DECAY (August 30, 2011), FLESH & BONE (2012) and FIRE & ASH (2013); and the forthcoming zombie thriller DEAD OF NIGHT (October 2011). Watch the book trailer for DEAD OF NIGHT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czc4WmjY1yo
Jonathan will be featured in a History Channel special on zombies scheduled to air October 26.
His nonfiction works include: VAMPIRE UNIVERSE (Citadel Press, 2006), THE CRYPTOPEDIA (Citadel, 2007 -winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction; co-authored by David F. Kramer), ZOMBIE CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead (Winner of the Hinzman and Black Quill Awards and nominated for a Stoker Award; 2008), THEY BITE! (2009 co-authored by David F. Kramer), WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (2010 co-authored by Janice Gable Bashman), and THE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEAD (2001, written under the pen name of Shane MacDougall).
He writes a variety of projects for Marvel Comics involving BLACK PANTHER, DOOMWAR, WOLVERINE, DEADPOOL, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR and the NY Times bestselling MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN, MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER, and MARVEL UNIVERSE VS WOLVERINE. All of Jonathan's comic book collections will be released as Graphic Novel collections.
Recent short stories include "Pegleg and Paddy Save the World" (HISTORY IS DEAD, Permuted Press 2007), "Doctor Nine" (KILLERS, Swimming Kangaroo Press, 2008; and reprinted in THE STORIES (in) BETWEEN Edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne B. Benzel, and W.H. Horner. Fantasist Enterprises, 2009), "The Adventure of the Greenbrier Ghost" (LEGENDS OF THE MOUNTAIN STATE 2, Bloodletting Books, 2008), "Clean Sweeps" (AND SO IT BEGINS, Dark Quest Books, 2008), "Family Business" (THE NEW DEAD, St. Martins Press, 2010), and "Zero Tolerance" (THE LIVING DEAD 2, Night Shade Books). Jonathan also created two Joe Ledger short stories for the Internet: "Countdown", "Deep, Dark", "Material Witness", "Zero Tolerance", and "Dog Days", all available on audio from Blackstone.
Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of ON THE SLAB, an entertainment news show in development by Stage 9 for ABC Disney / Stage 9. He was also a 'blog correspondent' on Sony's zombie-themed web show 'WOKE UP DEAD'; and a recurring character on 'IT'S TODD'S SHOW'.
Jonathan's Big Scary Blog (www.jonathanmaberry.com) focuses on the publishing industry. Jonathan's interviews include Charlaine Harris, Sandra Brown, Gayle Lynds, Alafair Burke, James Rollins, Harlan Coben, Jeff Abbott, John Saul, Jonathan Kellerman, Barry Eisler, Robert Kirkman, Maz Brooks, CJ Box, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccarilli, Dale Brown, Kevin J. Anderson, Joe Lansdale, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell, and many other best-selling authors.
Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, IAMTW, MWA, SCBWI, SFWA and HWA. He is a frequent guest of honor and keynote speaker at genre cons and writers conferences, including Central Coast Writers, KillerCon, AnthoCon, Necon, ThrillerFest, Sisters in Crime, BackSpace, PennWriters, Dragon*Con, PhilCon, Horror-Realm, HorrorFind, Monster Mania, Philadelphia Writers Conference, Balticon, The Write Stuff, Hypericon, LunaCon, and many others.
Jonathan regularly visits local middle schools, high schools and colleges to talk about books, reading, publishing and the writing life.
Jonathan is a founding member of The Liars Club, a group of networking publishing professionals that includes celebrated authors Merry Jones, Gregory Frost, Jon McGoran, Ed Pettit, Dennis Tafoya, Keith Strunk, Don Lafferty, Kelly Simmons, Marie Lamba, Solomon Jones, Keith DeCandido, Sara Shepard, William Lashner, Laura Schrock, and the late L.A. Banks. The Liars Club works to support booksellers, raise awareness and support for public libraries, and cultivate a joy of reading and books.
On the last Sunday of every month Jonathan hosts the Writers Coffeehouse, a free three-hour open-agenda networking and discussion session for writers of all genres and levels of skill. The event is held at the Barnes & Noble in Willow Grove Pennsylvania.
Jonathan has been a popular writing teacher and career counselor for writers for the last two decades. He teaches a highly regard series of classes and workshops including Write Your Novel in Nine Months, Revise & Sell, Experimental Writing for Teens, and others. Many of his students have gone on to publish in short and novel-length fiction, magazine feature writing, nonfiction books, TV, film, and comics.
In 2004 Jonathan was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame largely because of his extensive writings in that field. His martial arts books include Self-Defense for Every Woman (Vortex Multimedia, 1985); Introduction to Asian Martial Arts (Vortex Multimedia, 1986); The Self-Defense Instructor's Handbook (Vortex Multimedia, 1990); Judo and You (Kendall Hunt, 1991); Ultimate Jujutsu Principles and Practices (Strider Nolan, 2002); The Martial Arts Student Logbook (Strider Nolan, 2002); Ultimate Sparring Principles and Practices (Strider Nolan, 2003).
Visit his website at www.jonathanmaberry.com or find him on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace.
This review is from: The Wolfman (Mass Market Paperback)
Being a fan of all things lycan and having enjoyed Bad Moon Rising, I had to check this book out before seeing the film. The book is a very quick read, it's just over 300 pages and the text is rather big. But although it is a quick read, it's still worth the ten spot because it compliments the film very well. In the book, Maberry gives the characters much more depth, not that that's abnormal, books have more time to play around with characters than films. However, if one reads the book first and keeps it in mind while watching the film, they may find the film to be more enjoyable. The book gives Gwen and Lawrence far more intensity and the locals are made to look far more "disturbed". Sir John is also much more of a solid character in the book than he is in the film.
The film itself isn't bad at all, it just seemed to be edited in an unnatural way that made many of the scenes seem abrupt. I'm hoping when it comes out on blu ray that a director's cut is released with additional footage. However, if that is not the case, I can still praise the film for not being some lousy b flick like Dog Soldiers or some angsty, girly teen drama like New Moon. The film almost captures what Coppola's Dracula had, almost.
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This review is from: The Wolfman (Mass Market Paperback)
Movie novelizations are usually a mixed bag of quality, ranging from terrible to acceptable, with most being on the terrible end of the scale. That's why this book, a very enjoyable read, was such a surprise. There is nothing new in this story for either the book or movie; the movie is, after all, a remake of an earlier work who's story has become a cliche, but this novel does an excellent job of filling in the movie's broad plot holes. Further, the characters are much more developed than the movie's characters, and the physical and emotional torment experienced by the doomed hero and those around him is expressed here much more thoroughly and coherently than in the movie.
If you like dark, angst-ridden, classic horror fiction, it is worth giving this one a shot, even if you don't see the movie.
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I always like getting the movie novelization for the added info in the book and in that I was not disappointed. I found the growing love between Gwen and Lawrence handled more appropriately and believably in the movie rather than the novel, but the story and connections between the characters were better in the book. I agree with another reviewer stating that the movie seemed oddly edited/cut in places which a Director's Cut will probably fix. Thankfully the book expanded upon those areas and made the story make more sense. Definitely recommend for those who enjoyed the movie and all those who enjoy stories about real werewolves, not teen shape shifters.
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