Why I like wolves so much and other stuff...

Today I released my new short novel, entitled Mercerian Tales: The Call of Magic, and it got me to thinking. Without giving too much away, it has some wolves in it, a topic which has always fascinated me. Please note that this does not mean I’d ever want one as a pet, they are wild animals and should remain so, in my humble opinion.

If you ever get a chance to see a documentary about wolves, I  think you’d be surprised. There is a definite social order to their pack, and the leader looks after the rest. In addition, they mate for life, which is apparently a rarity among many other species. Why am I interested in all this? Writing, of course. Albreda’s origin story might be complete, but there are plenty of other stories out there.

This week, I was working on Burden of the Crown, and in the middle of the night, I came up with an idea concerning wolves. Of course, I can’t tell you what it is, so I’ll just leave it as a tease, but you might see one or more of these creatures in Burden, or the next book, Defender of the Crown (or the next, or the next, etc.). I’m sure I’ll get round to including them again at some point. Of course, I won’t have them just for the sake of throwing in some creature. They have to have meaning for the bigger story that’s unfolding.

By the way, if you want to see an interesting movie that features wolves, I can recommend one called Alpha. It takes place during prehistoric times and offers a story about how wolves and humans learned to work together. I found it riveting, but don’t expect much dialogue, it’s not that kind of movie. I suppose if you don’t like that, there’s always the dire wolves of Game of Thrones, but I found them woefully underutilized, impressive as they were.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!