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    Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel
    Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel
    Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel

    By Stephen King and Bernie Wrightson

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The classic masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King—illustrated by the legendary artist Bernie Wrightson!

    Terror began in January—by the light of the full moon...

    The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf’s fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated Maine town of Tarker’s Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next. But one thing is sure. When the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through Tarker's Mills. For snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind. And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated...
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateAug 13, 2019
    ISBN9781501141133
    Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

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    Reviews for Cycle of the Werewolf

    3.5/5

    936 ratings29 reviews

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    • 5/5
      For me this is an extended graphic novel from King. He hires Berni Wrightson to take on the glorious illustrations and explores werewolf lore in a one-off story. In the style of The Long Halloween, King brings the werewolf to town each month, frequently on holidays. It brings terror to, you guessed it, a small town in Maine. The story is short, but inspires you to consider the potential of the story. It screams to be made into an 80's movie or hopefully Netflix series.I loved the illustrations, the writing style, and the clear comic-book/campfire stories feel. It even referenced the Incredible Hulk!
    • 4/5
      Simultaneously my introduction to King, as well as my introduction to a lifelong love of werewolves.I first read this in sixth grade and it haunted me quite a bit until I was able to come by my own copy.
    • 3/5
      Not the normal King fare. It was interesting, well written and engaging, just nothing to write home about. The best part, by far, were the lovely illustrations.
    • 3/5
      man, i wish i was stephen king. he can sit in the bathroom and write a simple, 10,000 word story, find a brilliant illustrator, wrap it in a perfect binding with glossy paper, and sell it for years. King's only werewolf book is solidly bloody and werewolfy. If you are a fallen Christian, you'll love who the beast turns out to be. If you cannot guess it halfway through, you're not trying.
    • 4/5
      I really love it when Stephen King and Bernie Wrightson get together (The Stand), and this pairing is especially great. Though it's a short novel, it plays like a really long issue of Tales From the Crypt or any other of the EC line of comic books, complete with the same black humor and over the top characters. I know EC was a big influence on King and outside of the Creepshow flicks this is his best homage. This was one of the first king books I picked up when I was a kid (probably because it was illustrated) and I have to say that the picture of the slaughtered pig has stuck with me to this day.
    • 4/5
      A werewolf plagues the small town of Tarker Mills. Every month during the full moon, someone is attacked and killed. Marty Coslaw, a disabled little boy, encounters the creature and escapes unscathed after he throws some fireworks in its face. He alone knows the werewolf is out there while others dismiss it as a child's fantasy and he vows to kill the creature.Cycle of the Werewolf is a short, illustrated horror novel. The illustrations have equal weight as the prose. The story takes place over a whole year and each month takes a chapter. Each chapter starts with the same three pages: one with the twelve months in a list and the current month darkened and two more combining to make sweeping landscape. These are pages are always in black and white and incredibly detailed. The cemetery in November is my favorite. Each chapter also has one full color illustration of the most important or dynamic scene, most often a werewolf attack. These drawings are so varied even within the same subject matter. The first woman killed is shown in extreme closeup with the werewolf, reflecting her feelings at the time. A drifter killed is shown after the event, frozen in the snow with no werewolf in sight. My favorite of them is the priest's dream that his congregation all transform into wolves. The juxtaposition between the snarling wolves and the setting of a church seems wrong and the wolves in the background are bathed in red light, almost like flames are in front of them. These illustrations add tremendously to such a short novel and capture the atmosphere of the small town.Most chapters focus on a different character, giving the reader a peek into their life and thoughts. These characters usually die right after seeing into them, but it provides a piece by piece view of the inhabitants of the town. King is skilled at creating memorable characters that feel real in only a page or two. The only character that survives an encounter with the werewolf is Marty Coslaw, a child who wants his celebrations and fun. So many treat him differently because of his wheelchair, but he is the same as any kid. Except after his attack, he turns into a stern vigilante, driven by the need to protect his town. We get some insight into the werewolf's mind as he starts to rationalize the violence he inflicts and grows more monstrous even as a human. The reveal of the werewolf and the ending are rather predictable, but it's still enjoyable. The events surrounding the fate of the werewolf stretch reason and seem unbelievable. For such a short story, Cycle of the Werewolf packs a punch and says so much with few words. The wonderful illustrations support and add to the story. The only tiny flaw with the illustrations is that the book clearly says the boy has a motorized wheelchair and the illustration doesn't reflect that. Other than that, this is a very short but memorable read. I hope it comes back into print eventually.
    • 4/5
      There is a werewolf loose during the full moon of each month in Tarker Mills, ME. January has a railwayman killed, February is a woman in her bedroom, etc. Little bit of gore in description, but not too bad. This book is written with each chapter being the month, for one year. Each month the citizens of the town are in fear when the full moon takes over. My absolute favorite part of this book is how Stephen King describes a grandfather clock: Ticks solemn ticks and tocks solemn tocks.
    • 4/5
      Yeah you know that movie depicting a different stage of life as a Buddhist monk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring,) well Cycle of The Werewolf is ten times more exciting.I mean you’re following a werewolf not a monk for one. Each chapter takes place on a full moon of one month (usually some kind of holiday) comprising a whole year of werewolf attacks, and forming a single narrative. The small town of Tarker’s Mills, Maine doesn’t know what hit them. Is it a wolf? A man? A man in costume? And the one eye witness is a kid, and no one wants to believe a story from a kid in this town despite their gut feelings.What I love is that the protagonist, Marty Coslaw turns out to be a ten year old boy in a wheelchair that everyone seems to treat in a patronizing sort of way. He’s a paraplegic; he’s not dumb despite people treating him differently. Except for his Uncle Al who buys him fireworks for the Fourth of July when the town cancels their usual celebration. Up until then we had six months of deaths: a railroad employee, a seamstress, a drifter, a small kid etc. Up until July the plot was sort of boring to be honest, but everything changes in the later half.In July Marty is able to take out one of the wolves eyes by throwing a packet of firecrackers in it’s face (how cool is that?) Fearing some retaliation Marty’s family sends him to Vermont for three months, and while he’s gone law enforcement ignore his deposition and the killings keep happening (really?! He just told you the killer is walking around with one freakin’ eye, and you choose to ignore that?) It gets really exciting in October, because when Marty returns and goes trick or treating he figures out who the werewolf is. And he is pretty courageous about it. Really, he seems like a boy on a mission. Unshakeable.This is like the rated R version of Home Alone, I mean no one believes him so he takes matters into his own ten year old hands. I won’t spoil the ending by saying who the werewolf is but when he is human he has no memories of what he has done. Just evidence, a scratch here, a dream there…an eye blasted out all of a sudden.The last six months of this story was when I began to notice the brilliance of Stephen King’s storytelling. It painted the story, and drew me in. Now that it wasn’t just following killings, but getting to the point of solving the problem, was it exciting. I didn’t like all the deaths (although I was happy when a man slut, wife beating, librarian got the axe,) but I like that it did have a happily ever after of sorts.
    • 4/5
      Pretty good (and quick) read of the story which the movie Silver Bullet was based on. Didn't realize this was a short story when I first found it; a longer version would have been nice, but this was enjoyable nonetheless. Now I'm in the mood to watch the movie again. :-D
    • 4/5
      This semi-graphic novel, which apparently started as a challenge to create a calendar, worked very well for me. Forced to be short and precise, King still manages to evoke the terror of a small town discovering it has a werewolf in its midst. The hero is a small boy and the villain, well, he's not. The illustrations are worth the price of the book and wow! this would have been a calendar that I bought.
    • 4/5
      Stephen King is always entertaining. Ever time I finish a story of his, I marvel at the way he tells a tale. This short story is very good indeed, though short, it leaves you satisfied.
    • 3/5
      I love King, but his short stories have never been my favorite. For me, King is at his best when he over analyzes, over writes, and over horrifies with his usual 500+ pages. This book just wasn't long enough to showcase King's writing. Good story...but anyone could haver written it. I'd still recommend it for a quick read.
    • 5/5
      This book was great. Better than a classic werewolf tale. I loved the artwork too.
    • 1/5
      The text of the book wasn't too bad. It started very basic, not great, but picked up a lot towards the end. I hated the placement of drawings! They showed what was going to happen before it happened! Hate that, and is the reason for the one star.
    • 5/5
      An amazingly short novella/graphic novel, Cycle of the Werewolf follows a town in Maine as it suffers from the monthly visits of a werewolf, and the terror that follows. Starring an unlikely protagonist and an even unlikelier antagonist, the story shows all of the normal werewolf characteristics, while following a formula devoted to days that only fall on those during the (falsified for plot reasons) lunar calendar. A very fun story with an easy to follow plot, Cycle of the Werewolf is a great work of Stephen King, one of his easier ones to follow. Definitely worth five stars out of five.
    • 3/5
      Cycle of the Werewolf is a fun, quick read that can easily be finished in just a couple of hours. Each chapter is only a few pages long and covers the supposed moon cycle for one month in a year of terror. The story centers around a small New England town that is being terrorized by the savage and violent attacks of a werewolf. Each vignette centers on the werewolf's activity for the full moon of htat month. King acknowledges that he manipulated the fall of the full moon to fit his own scheme of what dates he wanted to have events fall on and that he knows that his moon cycle is in no way accurate, but accuracy doesn't really matter in the course of the tale itself.This story is very choppy as you might imagine with all of the time in between events, but overall, the storyline itself is fairly well thought out. The idea itself is very fun and the artwork for each chapter really enhances the tale and gives an almost comic book feel to it. In some ways, this is a sort of prequel to King's later works in continuing the Dark Tower series in graphic novel form with Marvel.On a side note, it may be fairly cheesy (especially by today's standards) but I do also own and enjoy the film version of this book, Silver Bullet, starring Corey Haim and Gary (A)Busey.
    • 4/5
      A novella that started as a calendar, Cycle of the Werewolf has got to have one of the most interesting backstories of any Stephen King work.King was challenged to write a story made up of twelve short chapters, one for each month. Each chapter would be paired with an illustration by Bernie Wrightson in a 'Stephen King Calendar'. As a result, each chapter had to be short.King tells of the year the small Maine town of Tarker's Mills spent under siege by a maniac who would kill under the full moon.The first few months are self contained scenes, showing what the werewolf was up to the night of the full moon. About half way through, we meet our hero, wheelchair bound Marty Coslaw, the first person to survive an attack.Marty manages not only to escape, but even manages to wound the wolf. The rest of the novel is spent setting the scene for Marty to take on the werewolf.This is a quick, short read. Due to the length, there isn't the depth of character you would get in a Stephen King novel, but he still manages in quick sketches to pull off characters that are better than you will find in most horror fiction.King's writing here is punchy and viceral, his use of the holidays marking certain months is fun, the discovery of the werewolf's identity is handled very well and Bernie Wrightson's illustrations (a remainder from the calendar origins) are fantastic. Easily one of the best werewolf tales I've read.
    • 2/5
      Forgettable, but yeah it passed the time and had pictures.
    • 4/5
      I am (re)reading King in chronological order and he wrote a few books in 1983 which I'm not actually being particular to exact order I read them. This next book offers up another unique piece of work. Not just happy polishing off novel after novel, King has now shown us that he is a man of many talents and his readers can expect the unexpected. This book or some may call it a novella, is an illustrated werewolf story which started out as an idea for a calendar but grew into a book with 12 chapters, one for each month. This is classic King horror. It involves a large cast of characters yet while each set mainly only lasts for one chapter King works his magic bringing them to life as fully realized people. The main character is King's classic outsider youth, a boy in a wheelchair. The book has some good moments, a bit of gore, a great cast of characters and careful readers can figure out who the werewolf is before the reveal. The book is profusely illustrated by Berni Wrightson, returning again from Creepshow, in both colour and black and white. A decent entry in King's cannon. The book was published in two other formats: first as a limited edition hardcover and then simultaneously with the cheesy movie version as a paperback entitled Silver Bullet. I remember the movie being cheesy when it came out, but now I've just looked it up and notice the stars are Corey Haim & Gary Busey! I think that's worth a rewatch to see those two alone! LOLLooking for connections to his previous books and the King Universe we are first set down in Tarker's Mills, Maine which gives a familiar feeling being back in King's Maine. Tarker's Mills sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place it and didn't find any connections to the other books so far. So I did a little research and it turns out Tarker Mills is part of King's Universe, but this is its first appearance. There is one connection to a previously published work to this date. The GS & WM railway line is mentioned here and this is the same train line featured in "The Body".
    • 5/5
      Let's get a few things out of the way: First, this is a classic. Second, there's only one version of this book that counts, and that's Plume's 1983 trade paperback. Thirdly, the film adaptation, "Silver Bullet" (written for the screen by Stephen King), is a deeper overall experience: better character development, cooler kills, the inclusion of that most-epic motorcycle/wheelchair every 80's kid wanted whether they were handicapped or not, and mo' frakkin' Corey Haim partnering up with crazy-as-balls Gary Busey. Pure epicosity.

      Even though the film is an overall better experience, it does not detract from my enjoyment of the novella. To quote King: "Movie and books are like apples and oranges. They both taste delicious in their own ways." I will admit, though, my love for this book has a great deal to do with Bernie Wrightson's artwork. Of course, we wouldn't have Wrightson's fantastic drawings without King's story, and the two go together like sex and heroin.

      I was three when the original Plume paperback came out, but I remember finding this on my mother's bookshelves some years later (perhaps around the age of five or six). I mistook it for a comic, and decided to flip through to find all the artwork. The most graphic of these pictures for me at the time was the slaughtered pigs. Forget the cop who has his face torn off, or the decapitated body atop the cab of the Peterbilt, the one who's being feasted upon by the titular hulking beast. The pigs' dismembered corpses upset me to the point that I started crying. Needless to say, Mom put the book up a little higher on the shelving after that.

      I reread it at least twice a year, and it remains one of my favorite King stories.

      In summation: Cycle of the Werewolf is a great place to start if you're new to King. If you're an old fan of his, you've probably already read this and agree with everything I've said in this review. Highly recommended for fans of graphic novels, werewolves, and bloody good times.
    • 4/5
      Stephen King is not at his best for most of the chapters of Cycle of the Werewolf. Aside from the ones for July and December, they're pretty so-so. Each month of the year opens with a beautiful double-page pen-and-ink illustration. Each closes with a pen-and-ink drawing that takes up half or less of a page. Each month also boasts a full-color illustration. The werewolf is present in almost all of them, usually going after the victim(s)-of-the-month. The illustrations alone make the book worth owning. One character, a 10-year-old boy, may be in a wheelchair, but he's the smartest guy in town. I really enjoyed his dealings with the werewolf. (The werewolf's rationalizations did not impress me.) The possible reason the Tarker's Mills inhabitant became a werewolf was not one I recall encountering before.
    • 5/5
      An old favorite of mine. First read it when I was a kid. Watched the movie numerous times over the years, too. It was great to read it again for old times sake.
    • 3/5
      This is a pretty good, short read. I did find it hard to connect with the story though, so maybe it should have been longer, or perhaps followed a central character more closely. The illustrations make for a nice change in reading experience, although a couple were placed a little early in the book and were effectively spoilers.Intriguing and interesting, but not one I found scary.
    • 5/5
      Once again the King of horror produces an excellent story…
    • 4/5
      I love werewolves, and I also really enjoy the Silver Bullet film so I was looking forward to reading this book. Having wanted to read the book for years, I could not find it until I found it on Scribd so that's my first book here lol
      However, I wasn't satisfied with the book. To me, that's the perfect example when the film is much, much better than the book, although King himself wrote the screenplay, too. I don't like the way the book is written for many reasons - from how the story unfolds to some weird metaphors he used such as "its cry as silver as the moon" to how he structured some of his sentences, i.e "Brady turns to run and dry arms suddenly encircle him; he can smell something like blood and cinnamon, and he is found the next day propped against the War Memorial." He goes from the kid can smell something to being found dead the next day and all in one sentence. And that's not the only example in this book.
      But still i enjoyed it, some moments did really play with my imagination and thrilled me. I enjoyed the illustrations as well
    • 5/5
      Perfect pulp read before going to bed. Great movie too.
    • 4/5
      This is a very short story about 1 hr to read. Book is 127 pages with plenty of pictures, so maybe 50 reading pages. Small town is terrified by a werewolf for 1 yr. Each month is it's own chapter with 2 to 4 pages. This is for a 10 to 13 year old just getting interested in this kind of thing. Hero may be surprising, villain isn't. By chapter 6 June, you should have figured it out.
    • 4/5
      One of Stephen Kings earlier works that garnered him the title master of the macabre. Traders Mills is being terrorized by a werewolf. While most of the towns leading citizens believe the number of killings are the work of a vagrant one paralyzed little boy knows better. Marty Coslaw has had to create his own July 4th cele ration and that’s where he encounters the werewolf up close and personal. This is a quick read accompaniedbbeautiful illustrations.
    • 3/5
      One of King's slighter efforts, but it distills a lot of his recurrent themes in quite a tasty, takeaway-meal fashion: the intrusion of the horrific into recognisable (stereotyped?) small-town America; an omnipotent narrator laying bare the unhappinesses and cruelties of people you'd otherwise have walked past on the street; and a big ol' dog.

    Book preview

    Cycle of the Werewolf - Stephen King

    Somewhere, high above, the moon shines down, fat and full—but here, in Tarker’s Mills, a January blizzard has choked the sky with snow. The wind rams full force down a deserted Center Avenue; the orange town plows have given up long since.

    Arnie Westrum, flagman on the GS&WM Railroad, has been caught in the small tool-and-signal shack nine miles out of town; with his small, gasoline-powered rail-rider blocked by drifts, he is waiting out the storm there, playing Last Man Out solitaire with a pack of greasy Bicycle cards. Outside the wind rises to a shrill scream. Westrum raises his head uneasily, and then looks back down at his game again. It is only the wind, after all . . .

    But the wind doesn’t scratch at doors . . . and whine to be let in.

    He gets up, a tall, lanky man in a wool jacket and railroad coveralls, a Camel cigarette jutting from one corner of his mouth, his seamed New England face lit in soft orange tones by the kerosene lantern which hangs on the wall.

    The scratching comes again. Someone’s dog, he thinks, lost and wanting to be let in. That’s all it is . . . but still, he pauses. It would be inhuman to leave it out there in the cold, he thinks (not that it is much warmer in here; in spite of the battery-powered heater, he can see the cold cloud of his breath)—but still he hesitates. A cold finger of fear is probing just below his heart. This has been a bad season in Tarker’s Mills; there have been omens of evil on the land. Arnie has his father’s Welsh blood strong in his veins, and he doesn’t like the feel of things.

    Before he can decide what to do about his visitor, the low-pitched whining rises to a snarl. There is a thud as something incredibly heavy hits the door . . . draws back . . . hits again. The door trembles in its frame, and a puff of snow billows in from the top.

    Arnie Westrum stares around, looking for something to shore it up with, but before he can do more than reach for the flimsy chair he has been sitting in, the snarling thing strikes the door again with incredible force, splintering it from top to bottom.

    It holds for a moment longer, bowed in on a vertical line, and lodged in it, kicking and lunging, its snout wrinkled back in a snarl, its yellow eyes blazing, is the biggest wolf Arnie has ever seen . . .

    And its snarls sound terribly like human words.

    The door splinters, groans, gives. In a moment the thing will be inside.

    In the corner, amongst a welter of tools, a pick leans against the wall. Arnie lunges for it and seizes it as the wolf thrusts its way inside and crouches, its yellow eyes gleaming at the cornered man. Its ears are flattened back, furry triangles. Its tongue lolls. Behind it, snow gusts in through a door that has been shattered down the center.

    It springs with a snarl, and Arnie Westrum swings the pick.

    Once.

    Outside, the feeble lamplight shines raggedly on the snow through the splintered door.

    The wind whoops and howls.

    The screams begin.

    Something inhuman has come to Tarker’s Mills, as unseen as the full moon riding the night sky high above. It is the Werewolf, and there is no more reason for its coming now than there would be for the arrival of cancer, or a psychotic with murder on his mind, or a killer tornado. Its time is now, its place is here, in this little Maine town where baked bean church suppers are a weekly event, where small boys and girls still bring apples to their teachers, where the Nature Outings of the Senior Citizens’ Club are religiously reported in the weekly paper. Next week there will be news of a darker variety.

    Outside, its tracks begin to fill up with snow, and the shriek of the wind seems savage with pleasure. There is nothing of God or Light in that heartless sound—it is all black winter and dark ice.

    The cycle of the Werewolf has begun.

    Love, Stella Randolph thinks, lying in her narrow virgin’s bed, and through her window streams the cold blue light of a St. Valentine’s Day full moon.

    Oh love love love, love would be like—

    This year Stella Randolph, who runs the Tarker’s Mills Set ’n Sew, has received twenty Valentines—one from Paul Newman, one from Robert Redford, one from John Travolta . . . even one from Ace Frehley of the rock group Kiss. They stand open on the bureau across the room from her, illuminated in the moon’s cold blue light. She sent them all

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