Writer & Editor
I was tagged by poet, writer, and mushroom photographer Ariel Gordon to take part in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop, so today I’m going to chat about my work-in-(interminable)-progress, Bark at the Moon.
(Before I forget, I’ve tagged Angélique Jamail, Noree Cosper, Jóhann Thorsson, and Peter Dawes, so hop on over and visit. And while I didn’t tag them myself, do check out Chadwick Ginther and Emmie Mears.)
Without further ado, here we go:
Usually by this point in the holiday season (and the year) I am totally exhausted, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank you all for being part of my first year of blogging here at As You Were.
I started in February with a WordPress.com site, and started connecting with great bloggers such as Offer Kuban (wonderful writing on wine and travel), sj (brilliantly booksnobby), Amy (hilarious and with many deep thoughts), Andreas (witty and smart scientific posts), and The Booksluts (who very patiently bore with me as I tried to figure out WordPress.) (Actually, I’d say that goes for everyone who stops by here.)
It’s fair to say 2012 has been great for women werewolves. Lycanthropes have also had some ups and downs in literature and pop culture this year; and as for gatherings of werewolf fans, there was one disastrous convention and one that was quite good.
Given the subtle, moody atmosphere created on the new CD by Swedish publisher Malört förlag, Werewolf Songs, weaving in dark emotions and barely-suppressed savagery, it’s fair to say the Swedish werewolf’s bite is nastier than its bark.
The collection was released as a companion piece to by Malört förlag’s new reissue of ethnologist Ella Odstedt’s Varulven i svensk folktradition (The Werewolf in Swedish Folklore) which was first published in 1943. The songs on the CD, by musicians from Sweden, Finland, Belgium, England, and the United States, are based on the book.
Regular visitors to As You Were may have noticed a new badge or two on the site — the ones from Alltop.com. I’m happy to say after seeing Alltop recommended as an aggregator of web content, I submitted As You Were to Alltop’s discerning editors in the categories of “heavy metal” and “werewolves.” They got back to me a number of weeks ago to tell me As You Were had been approved in the “heavy metal” category, and it’s now listed under that topic on their site.
Those fortunate enough to attend the inaugural HowlCon in Portland, OR this past weekend had the opportunity to hear Dr. Phillip Bernhardt-House speak on werewolves and canine figures in ancient Celtic traditions. He completed his Ph.D on the subject in 2006, published as Werewolves, Magical Hounds, and Dog-Headed Men in Celtic Literature:A Typological Study of Shape-Shifting in 2010 by Mellen Press. The book was awarded D. Simon Evans Prize in Medieval Studies.
Werewolf aficionados out there, let that sink in: you can do a Ph.D studying lycanthropes.
