bookheaven | The Werewolf at Dusk: And Other Stories

The Werewolf at Dusk: And Other Stories by David Small

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of my friends suggested David Small when I was asking for suggestions for this year's popsugar challenge for a Michigan author. I really wish GR had half star ratings because this was a 3.5 read but I really don't feel like rounding up because they just weren't memorable stories. Small is an illustrator and author. He did all the art for this and the art did have an eerie quality to them but I was wondering a bit about the choices of stories. One was Smalls and the other two were not. Based on the first two I thought the theme was aging which is scary enough but the last one was much more about the rise of Nazism and didn't feel like it fit.

The first short is the titular Werewolf at Dusk about an aging werewolf who no longer likes his appearance, getting pretty scruffy now that he's an old man. Moreover he regrets not the lives taken but the fact that he can't hunt any more. He enjoyed taking people down and now he's lucky if he can snag a squirrel. So it's dark not just in the effects of aging but his lament he can not longer kill like he once had.

The second is A Walk in the Old City written by Small based off a dream he had about an old man who's beginning to develop dementia and his beloved walks in the city often get him lost. And the man he thought was going to help him is anything but helpful. Again it was good but it's not going to stick with me.

The Tiger in Vogue was written probably around the time Hitler rose to power. It revolves around a man who used to love going to the theater but now doesn't want to go because of a certain act: a lady tamer and her tiger. The little man with eye bags is obviously Hitler (and Small draws him as such). It's clear the woman isn't controlling the tiger. He is with his mind and power, a not so subtle nod to how Hitler brought in followers and major world powers.

It's a well drawn collection if nothing else.

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