Tag Archives: Written 2020s

Feb 8 2026

Historic Patreon: An American Werewolf on the Titanic – April 11, 1912

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.

Dec 21 2025

Parched Patreon: Hot

I wrote “Hot” in the dead of winter, coldest day of the year, with the wind howling outside the windows and the thermometer reading 8F. I was thinking about how my earlier complaining about the snow and cold would soon give way to complaining about the suffocating summer heat, giving the impression that one could never be truly satisfied with the weather.

The story went a long way toward cementing the Tribe as a running series; after writing it, I edited older stories to match its setting. The town of Ashton, Maine, a former mill village with a population of around 9,600, puts in its first appearance, 24 miles from Carver Cabin in Carver Gore, the territory of the Tribe and the 152 werewolves who call its dozen or so square miles of unincorporated land their home. The Tribe’s leader, called simply “The Master,” is a young visionary celebrated throughout the Pack for his problem-solving skills, though the people remain largely ungoverned. The Pack’s freedom is partly due to the legal maneuvering of Gabriel Blaine, a member of the Pack who passed the bar and created a non-profit trust granting the Pack stewardship of Carver Gore.

The werewolves of the Tribe are an indolent, goofy lot, though they do have the ability to lock-in when one of their own is in danger, and they have little tolerance for hostile humans. “Hot” asks a lot of its two protagonists: what do you do next when you’ve achieved your greatest dream? When does ennui turn into depression? How do you encourage someone else to take the reins of your life? And is the problem really just the heat, or is it something deeper? As Breakwater and Patrick stumble out of the woods on their fool’s quest to briefly join civilization, they’re confronted by their neglect of a part of themselves as beautiful as any beast.