There's a book out there called Bitten, it's in a series and my advice is to stay AWAY from this. The premise is interesting -- not many female werewolves, a chick werewolf living alone in the world without pack or family. There's a different subspecies of werewolf. But the worldbuilding isn't that great so the story starts to fall apart.

I finally - after three haircuts - got all the pink cut out! (It never did wash out or wear off.) Thanks for asking!

So what books/movies/etc. would y'all recommend as archetypal werewolf stories?

Avoid Teen Wolf.

So. I figure I need to learn the usual werewolf myth so I can figure out how to play with it for purposes of my embryonic plot. So what books/movies/etc. would y'all recommend as archetypal werewolf stories?

I've been told, as others have said above, that what is normally considered the classic werewolf myth was invented for the Lon Cheney movie.

Does not mean there are not versions that preceded it. I read a 19th century story about a family that could change back and forth between wolf and human form. They were actually undead; reading a christian burial service over their graves gave them peace, and put a stop to them.

I suspect that varies as much from the "classic" folklore as the Lon Cheney movie. I think Most pre-Cheney legends are about voluntary shape-shifters, mostly magicians or witches, who can take the form of animals. I think there is a Welsh tale about a man who shoots an arrow at a Rabbit, injures one leg, and the local wisewoman turns up with the same injury the next day.

I think Most pre-Cheney legends are about voluntary shape-shifters, mostly magicians or witches, who can take the form of animals.

Yep. They take off their clothes and put on a magical animal skin that transforms them into that animal.

I finally - after three haircuts - got all the pink cut out! (It never did wash out or wear off.) Thanks for asking!

So by my calculations your hair should be shimmeringly silver and extra short now, right? Good work!

This month, I *will* have sushi.

And a beer.

Though not at the same time.

Sorry, got giddy there for a second.

I read that "pre-Cheney" legends as being pre-DICK Cheney ... and while I wouldn't be surprised if he sprouted fangs, his behaviour seems to be consistent regardless of the phase of the moon.

Susan, a book that a friend of mine found useful for checking out general portrayals of werewolves was Jim Butcher's Fool Moon. He's got four or five different kinds of werewolves in it, with some exposition about the mythologies, all efficiently packaged into one novel.

oh, and David, my hair's back to its natural brown going white and, yes, extra short. Thank you again!