Bradbury Season: Prowlers by Christopher Golden
At age nineteen, Jack Dwyer's best friend Artie is murdered. Not by humans, but by Prowlers, a group of ancient creatures whose handiwork is typically thought to be that of wolves.
But these are no wolves. They are animals, but their ability to think, their emotions and their need for revenge makes them as cunning as humans. Jack, as well as most of America, knows nothing of the Prowlers... That is, until Artie travels from the Ghostlands to tell his friend what truly happened.
Christopher Golden's horror novel Prowlers is positively riveting and inventive. Before the book was through, I was captivated by the villains, connected to the protagonists, and yearning to go on the prowl again.
Luckily, Prowlers is the first of a quartet of novels, so I could continue the journey with Jack and company through the other books. Of course, when the fourth and final book came out, I pretended it wasn't the last book. It couldn't be. As soon as I turned the last page, I felt the need to read all four books again. And again.
This series should be read in order.
Prowlers
Laws of Nature
Predator and Prey
Wild Things
One of my favorite lines from the first Prowlers book:
Her voice was full of presumed knowledge and expectation.
Read more about the series.
Prowlers at Christopher Golden's website
Monster Mash Booklist at Bildungsroman
Christopher Golden's Love for Horror
When the first Prowlers book was released, author Christopher Golden wrote this piece about the horror genre. He said, in part:
I started to write in earnest while still in high school. Even then, all my stories were creepy, eerie things, about serial killers or ghost trains filled with zombies (true! they still exist!). In college, my mother asked why I never wrote anything "good." I knew what she meant: something in which nothing strange or unnerving happened. I explained that I had written funny stories, science-fiction stories, romantic stories, but somehow, in some way I could not control, somebody always died.
I have waxed philosophical in interviews in the past year or two about WHY I think people like to be afraid. I still believe those things. But for me, as a child, I think there was something much simpler at work as well. The presence of the supernatural, of monsters, suggests that normal people must ever be prepared to rise to the challenge, to combat evil. We must become heroes, in a way, despite the mundane reality of day to day life. There's a grand and wonderful magic in that.
With PROWLERS, I hope to remind readers why horror is such a universal emotion. Love, mystery, suspense, aching sadness, tales of wonder and fantasy . . . in horror, you can do it all.
I hope you'll come along for the ride.
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At Kiba's request, I created a playlist for the books. (Twist my arm.)
Prowlers Playlist
In Between by Duncan Sheik
Sea of Doubts by Azure Ray
Good Lonely by David Poe
Knowing Too Little Lyrics by Laika
Beyond Reach by Curve
Nothingwrong by Jimmy Eat World
Important lyrics from the first track:
Saints and sinners, losers, winners
Masters and their slaves
The more you hide one or the other
The earlier your grave
The triumph and the tragedy
The endless bright parade
I know that most of us are innocent
But some should be afraid
- and the last track:
Don't ask why
Don't cry
Don't make a scene
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Colleen Mondor from Chasing Ray is encouraging bloggers to post today about a book or author they find particularly suitable for the month of October.
Colleen declared, "I am always amazed by the number of people who haven't read Ray Bradbury's short stories. His talent is so enormous that it dazzles me, even after all these years of loving his work. When it comes to October he is the author I think of first - the one who truly seems to appreciate and understand what this season means to me. Bradbury is my October magic and an absolute literary treasure." The image you see to the left was captured by author Ray Bradbury.
Blogs participating in Bradbury Season include:
Betsy at Fuse #8: Ryan Heshka's ABC Spookshow
Colleen at Chasing Ray: Ray Bradbury
Gwenda at Shaken & Stirred: Vampires
Jackie at Interactive Reader: Prowlers by Christopher Golden and The Curse of the Rumbaughs by Jack Gantos
Jules & Eisha at Seven Impossible Things: Adam Rex
Kelly F. at Writing and Ruminating: Neil Gaiman
Kelly H. at Big A little a: A Beasty Story by Bill Martin Jr. and Steven Kellogg
Kimberly at lectitans: Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci
Leila at Bookshelves of Doom: Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
Little Willow at Bildungsroman: Prowlers by Christopher Golden
Liz at Tea Cozy: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
Sarah at Finding Wonderland: Diana Wynne Jones
Tanita at Finding Wonderland: Kindred by Octavia Butler