In late 1997, two movies were released a week apart. “Titanic” was released to great fanfare, massive box-office, and multiple Academy Awards; “An American Werewolf in Paris” was…not. Still, I was able to indulge in my own little Barbenheimer, watching the films back-to-back. It was inevitable that I’d leave the theater with “An American Werewolf on the Titanic” in my head.

I went home and wrote the story: Miles Kindernacht travels first-class from Liverpool with his faithful companion Walter Moskowitz aboard the Titanic; tragedy strikes. I posted the story to my website “The Half Million” a few months later and didn’t think about it again for 25 years.

I was going through old files for potential Patreon material and found “The Half Million,” in its entirety, full of stories I barely remembered – including “An American Werewolf on the Titanic.” For some reason, the title got into my skull, and I read the story with riveted interest. The story is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, and not particularly unpredictable; more of a commentary on 1998’s Titanic-mania than its own subject. It definitely deserved a rewrite.