Speaking of spooky, your Vine<\/a><\/em> update: Thursday was Chapter 15: \u201cChristina The Astonishing Part Three.\u201d<\/a> Brendan and I sincerely hope you had as much fun reading Christina\u2019s miraculous undeath as we did writing it. Today is another that we had a great deal of fun with\u2014so much so, there was jealousy about who got to read it on the podcast (listen to the podcast!<\/a>)\u2014Chapter 16: \u201cManifest Destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I\u2019ve Been Reading Lately<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s shocking, how much I love werewolves, compared to how little werewolf content is in my personal canon. People ask me for werewolf book recommendations and I bring shame to myself. Well, this book was recommended to me\u2014I think by my dear friend Adrian Sobol\u2014a few years back. To-read lists being what they are, it\u2019s taken awhile to get there. Boy oh boy was it worth the wait. I knew from page one. Hell, I started taking notes for a werewolf novel I\u2019ll eventually write by page three. I\u2019m talking, of course, about Mongrels<\/em> by Stephen Graham Jones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our narrator, between the ages of eight and 16 at various points in the book, is an on-the-run nomad with his aunt and uncle. They in Texas, Arkansas, \u201cit\u2019s all one Carolina, isn\u2019t it?,\u201d Georgia, and Florida at various points. They\u2019re not rock stars, though\u2014they are a family, one whose patriarch dies in chapter one. The narrator, whose non-werewolf mother died in childbirth, flits in and out of school, while Darren and Libby take trucker job after car wash attendant job to scrape by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s lore here, which is fun. Werewolves don\u2019t have as much known lore, the same way vampires have Dracula<\/em> vs. Anne Rice vs. Twilight<\/em> rules or zombies have Romero vs. 28 Days Later<\/em> rules. Towards the end of the book, some questions are cast at the lore we just read, which is fun. It\u2019s refreshing to read not just about poor werewolves (as opposed to, say, wealthy vampires), but also about werewolves who shift at will but aren\u2019t tortured by their own monstrousness. These are werewolves who kill, yes, and there is <\/em>some will-they will-they shift drama, but for the most part? These are outlaws. People living on the fringes. I wasn\u2019t glued to the page because I wanted to see if these melancholy brooders could find peace or to see if they could kill a few cops\/villagers on their way to their own fiery death. I was glued to the page because Who Gets To Survive In America? Can this family be included? <\/p>\n\n\n\n LINKS!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something to listen to while you peruse? This Klipa Trio set from Goodstock Music is a very fun trip. Wholly new, but shades of Miles\u2019s Sketches of Spain<\/em> or Coltrane\u2019s Impressions<\/em>\u2014at least in terms of chord colors. May Alpert\u2019s bass playing here is absolutely wonderful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"book:](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/19a7ec38-c4e2-44cf-8173-1f7eb01b2a87_3024x4032.jpeg\")
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