History Literature / CycleOfTheWerewolf

** [[spoiler:Milt Sturmfuller]] attempts to do a short term version of this by driving over to a different town on the night of the November full moon, while also using the opportunity to see his mistress. Unfortunately for him, the werewolf has also driven out of town to avoid the hunting parties and runs into him there anyway.

A short story written by Creator/StephenKing and published in 1983, ''Cycle of the Werewolf'' is about a small town in Maine that is terrorized by a series of killings. According to Website/ThatOtherWiki, King originally started the project when he was asked to write twelve short chapters that would accompany a werewolf-themed calendar. Apparently, no one told them that this is the guy who wrote ''Literature/TheStand''-- the "uncut" version of which is over 1,100 pages long. Inevitably, the decision was made to scrap the calendar idea, and release the story in GraphicNovel form with accompanying illustrations (by Berni Wrightson, of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' fame). The influence of the initial idea can still be seen in the format of the story, though, as each chapter focuses on one month in the year of the killings.

A short story written by Creator/StephenKing and published in 1983, ''Cycle of the Werewolf'' is about a small town in Maine that is terrorized by a series of killings. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, King originally started the project when he was asked to write twelve short chapters that would accompany a werewolf-themed calendar. Apparently, no one told them that this is the guy who wrote ''Literature/TheStand''-- the "uncut" version of which is over 1,100 pages long. Inevitably, the decision was made to scrap the calendar idea, and release the story in GraphicNovel form with accompanying illustrations (by Berni Wrightson, of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' fame). The influence of the initial idea can still be seen in the format of the story, though, as each chapter focuses on one month in the year of the killings.

* DomesticAbuse: Milt Sturmfuller to his wife, in just about every way it can be done. At one point he beats her badly enough to hospitalize her, giving the "she fell down the stairs" cover story (which she backs up). Later, he's mentioned to have caught "a roaring case of herpes" from his mistress and passed it on to Donna Lee.

* MotiveDecay: [[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] initially struggles with the curse, particularly in the book, but in both versions they eventually justify their actions by saying that [[spoiler:God gave him the curse for a reason, and most of his victims have been sinners anyway.]] Once Marty starts sending him anonymous letters asking him to kill himself to end the murders, [[spoiler: Lowe]] somewhat petulantly says to himself "because I don't want to".

* SuicideDare: After Halloween, when he discovers who the werewolf really is, Marty starts sending anonymous letters to him, some of which asks him to committ suicide to end the killings. Once it becomes clear that the werewolf has no intention of ending himself, Marty signs his name on the last letter with the intention of forcing a confrontation.
* TragicMonster: [[spoiler: Reverend Lowe]] has no memory of his actions as the werewolf, and the werewolf itself appears to be almost entirerly bestial, to the point that it took him almost six months to even realize he ''WAS'' the werewolf. Downplayed near the end once he starts trying to justify the murders to himself, edging closer to a FullyEmbracedFiend.

* HotForPreacher: Barmaid and church choir singer Elise Fournier is mentioned as having a secret crush on Reverend Lowe. [[spoiler: Presumably this crush loses it's luster once it's revealed Lowe was the werewolf all along after his death in the climax.]]

* HotForPreacher: Barmaid and church choir singer Elise Fournier is mentioned as having a secret crush on Reverend Lowe.

* MotiveDecay: [[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] initially struggles with the curse, particularly in the book, but in both versions they eventually justify their actions by saying that [[spoiler:God gave him the curse for a reason, and most of his victims have been sinners anyway.]]

* DomesticAbuse: Milt Sturmfuller to his wife, in just about every way it can be done.

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* ExtremeDoormat: Poor Donna Lee.

** The werewolf rips Milt Sturmfuller's head off; the illustration shows the aftermath.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Not really different, as for the most part the classics are followed; this werewolf is described as having the man-wolf appearance when transformed, is vulnerable to silver, transforms at the full moon with no control and [[spoiler:reverts back to human when killed]]. The only major departure is that he doesn't seem to infect through bites--[[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] was apparently infected through a flower, which is classically said to carry the curse of the werewolf, a method which predates ViralTransformation through bites. However in the book, the werewolf does speak. The werewolf also spoke more in the script to the film adaptation but for some reason was not included.
* PetTheDog: An almost literal example. The first scene has Arnie hear the werewolf (which has yet to experience killing anyone yet) scratching and whining at the door of the line shack where he is snowed in. Sympathizing with an animal trapped out in the cold (although hesitant due to a bad feeling in his bones) he starts to go let it in before the wolf starts snarling hostilely and then suddenly breaks down the door and attacks him.

** [[spoiler:Milt Sturmfuller]] attempts to do a short term version of this by driving over to a different town on the night of the November full moon, while also using the opportunity to see his mistress. Unfortunately for him, the werewolf also drove out of town to avoid the hunting parties and runs into him there anyway.

* {{Tsundere}}: Kate Coslaw, who ranges from BrattyTeenageDaughter to CoolBigSis when the time comes. When the werewolf tries to go after Marty, she's easily the most concerned for his safety despite having taunted him the night before and often tries to make up for any act that might be deemed cruel to him.
* VigilanteMilitia: The Zineman brothers, local farmers, deduce the existence of a werewolf from some slaughtered livestock and tracks in the mud, and spend the next two months organizing hunting parties to pursue it once the leaves fall of the trees, as it won't be able to hide as well in the forest. Unfortunately, this just causes the werewolf to drive over to another nearby town before transforming.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The above-mentioned VigilanteMilitia, who Marty never tries to tell about Lowe (although he might not have known about them due to being out of town for a while and being just a kid whose parents don't talk to him much about what's going on).

* DeathByIrony: Milt Sturmfuller congratulates himself on going out of town the very night murders tend to happen, thinking this will ensure he will be spared. Turns out this was the ''one'' night the werewolf got out of town as well to avoid the mob looking for him, and he just happens to be staying at the same motel as Milt.

* DoomedContrarian: Brady Kincaid and Constable Neary are among the few characters not to believe in the werewolf, and both pay dearly for it. Averted with Marty, who also didn't believe at first but survives two attacks.

* NoNameGiven: One of the victims of the werewolf is a drifter, KilledOffscreen right outside of town. His chapter focuses on the discovery of his body, surrounded by wolf tracks. No one in town knows the man's name, and he didn't get a POV of his own to reveal it either.

** The fourth victim, Brady Kincaid, was found decapitated and disemboweled.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Not really different, as for the most part the classics are followed; this werewolf is described as having the man-wolf appearance when transformed, is vulnerable to silver, transforms at the full moon with no control and [[spoiler:reverts back to human when killed]]. The only major departure is that he doesn't seem to infect through bites--[[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] was apparently infected through a flower, which was classically said to carry the curse of the werewolf, a method which predates ViralTransformation through bites. However in the book, the werewolf does speak. The werewolf also spoke more in the script to the film adaptation but for some reason was not included.
* PetTheDog: An almost literal example. The first scene has Arnie hear the werewolf (which has yet to experience killing anyone yet) scratching and whining at the door of the line shack where he was snowed in. Sympathizing with an animal trapped out in the cold (although hesitant due to a bad feeling in his bones) he starts to go let it in before the wolf starts snarling hostilely and then suddenly breaks down the door and attacks him.

* ArtisticLicenseSpace: King points out in a short author's notes section that anyone with just a little interest in astronomy can tell that the moon cycles portrayed in the story couldn't happen in reality. He freely admits that he ignored this because he found idea of setting the chapters [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday on various holidays]] too appealing to pass up on.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Neither Milt Sturmfuller nor [[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] get killed in the chapters that introduced them; the former's first scene is merely used as a EstablishingCharacterMoment to show [[DomesticAbuse what kind of person he is]], while the latter's first chapter merely focuses on a strange nightmare he has involving everyone in the church turning into a werewolf. This is both a build-up to [[spoiler:Milt's upcoming KarmicDeath in later chapters]] and to the reveal [[spoiler:Lowe is the werewolf]].

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: King points out in a short author's notes section that anyone with just a little interest in astronomy can tell that the moon cycles portrayed in the story couldn't happen in reality. He freely admits that he ignored this because he found idea of setting the chapters [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday on various holidays]] too appealing to pass up on.

* VigilanteMilitia: The Zineman brothers, local farmers, deduce the existence of a werewolf from some slaughtered livestock and tracks in the mud, and spend the next two months organizing hunting parties to pursue it once the leaves fall of the trees, as it won't be able to hide as well in the forest. [[RealityEnsues Unfortunately, this just causes the werewolf to drive over to another nearby town before transforming]].

* VigilanteMilitia: The Zineman brothers, local farmers, deduce the existence of a werewolf from some slaughtered livestock and tracks in the mud, and spend the next two months organizing hunting parties to pursue it once the leaves fall of the trees, as it won't be able to hide as well in the forest. Unfortunately, this just causes the werewolf to drive over to another nearby town before transforming.

* YourCheatingHeart: On top of being a DomesticAbuser, Milt Sturmfuller has been noted not only to have been breaking his marriage vows but his mistress has herpes...which he gave to Donna Lee.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Because the town constable decides Marty has gone a little crazy from the shock of almost being killed, his failure to follow up on Marty's testimony results in more deaths, [[spoiler:including his own death]].

* DoNotGoGentle: Arnie, the first victim, dies fighting the werewolf with an ice pick.

* DoomedContrarian: Brady Kincaid and Constable Neary are among the few characters not to believe in the werewolf, and both pay dearly for it.

* HotForThePreacher: Barmaid and choir singer Elise Fournier is mentioned as having a crush on Lowe.

** [[spoiler:Milt Strumfuller]] attempts to do a short term version of this by driving over to a different town on the night of the November full moon, while also using the opportunity to see his mistress. Unfortunately for him, the werewolf also drove out of town to avoid the hunting parties and runs into him their anyway.

--> ''But she plans to leave the Mills by summer, crush or no crush, this wolf business has begun to scare her. She has begun to think that the tips might be better in Portsmouth. . . and the only wolves there wore sailors' uniforms.

** Marty is briefly shown (although not mentioned by name) in the March chapter in a montage of people listening to the werewolves howling (with Constable Neary being another of those people).

The story uses a whodunnit format for the most part, with the reader knowing that a werewolf is responsible for the killings, but not knowing who the werewolf is. It also has plenty of horror scenes, with most chapters describing a werewolf attack rather than developing the non-victim characters. The first survivor, a crippled boy named Marty Coslaw, is not introduced until the fourth of the twelve chapters, and is only featured prominently in chapters seven, ten and twelve. As a result, there is no strong protagonist to oppose the werewolf, and some may consider the narrative to be a little weak for this reason.

** Marty is briefly shown (although not mentioned by name) in the March chapter in a montage of people listening to the werewolves howling.
** Reverend Lowe is mentioned briefly in the beginning of the April chapter, giving a sermon about the coming of Spring, before being the POV character of the next chapter and remaining somewhat important afterwards.

A short story written by Creator/StephenKing and published in 1983, ''Cycle of the Werewolf'' is about a small town in Maine that is terrorized by a series of killings. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, King originally started the project when he was asked to write twelve short chapters that would accompany a werewolf-themed calendar. Apparently, no one told them that this is the guy who wrote ''Literature/TheStand''-- the "uncut" version of which is over 1,100 pages long. Inevitably, the decision was made to scrap the calendar idea, and release the story in GraphicNovel form with accompanying illustrations (by Bernie Wrightson, of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' fame). The influence of the initial idea can still be seen in the format of the story, though, as each chapter focuses on one month in the year of the killings.

* AbusiveParents: Marty's mother sometimes takes not being soft with her son a little too far.
** Both of Marty's parents seem visibly uncomfortable with their son's disability to the point where both of them are in full denial, especially Mr. Coslaw who happens to be a physical education teacher. Mr. Coslaw puts on a boisterous act and talks down to Marty often while in the opposite direction, Mrs. Coslaw is more or less emotionally distant with her son to the point where she hardly laughs around him.

* AssholeVictim: [[DomesticAbuse Milt Sturmfuller.]] The narrative lampshades this:

* ChristianityIsCatholic: The aversion of this is actually a plot point: [[spoiler: it's ''because'' Marty's Catholic that he doesn't figure out who the werewolf is until Halloween, since he obviously doesn't attend Reverend Lowe's Baptist sermons or have any reason to cross paths with him, and isn't at first aware that the Reverend's now missing an eye.]]
* CoolUncle: Uncle Al, to Marty at least. He secretly gives Marty some fireworks to celebrate his own Fourth of July, and even has the silver bullets Marty needs forged. He is also the only member of the family who stays with Marty to await the Werewolf on New Years Eve.

* DoomedContrarian: Brady Kincaid and Constable Neary are among the few character not to believe in the werewolf and both pay dearly for it.

* FairplayWhodunnit: Before [[spoiler:Reverend Lowe]] is revealed to be the werewolf, there is a chapter where the character [[spoiler:has an intense dream sequence showing several other townsfolk turning into werewolves]]. Experienced readers/viewers may recognize this as a symptom of lycanthropy.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Neither Milt Sturmfuller nor Reverend Lowe get killed in the chapters that introduced them; the former's first scene is merely used as a EstablishingCharacterMoment to show [[DomesticAbuse what kind of person he is]], while the latter's first chapter merely focuses on a strange nightmare he has involving everyone in the church turning into a werewolf. This is both a build-up to [[spoiler:Milt's upcoming KarmicDeath in later chapters]] and to the reveal [[spoiler:Lowe is the werewolf]].

* HandicappedBadass: The wheelchair bound Marty is able to use firecrackers as weapons and arm himself with silver bullets.

** [[spoiler: Of course, it could be that [[SanitySlippage his justification later on could be the result of the guilt and the burden of his curse causing him to go fully round the bend.]]]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: See CassandraTruth above. The town constable decides Marty has gone a little crazy from the shock of almost being killed, and his failure to follow up on the kid's testimony results in more deaths, [[spoiler:including the constable's own death]].

* OffWithHisHead: The werewolf rips Milt Sturmfuller's head off; the illustration shows the aftermath.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Not really different, as for the most part the classics are followed; this werewolf is described as having the man-wolf appearance when transformed, is vulnerable to silver, transforms at the full moon with no control and [[spoiler:reverts back to human when killed]]. The only major departure is that he doesn't seem to infect through bites - [[spoiler:Reverend Lowe was apparently infected through a flower]]. However in the book, the werewolf does speak. The werewolf also spoke more in the script to the film adaptation but for some reason was not included.
** The flower may well be a case of ShownTheirWork; a specific flower was classically said to carry the curse of the werewolf, a method which predates ViralTransformation through bites.
* PetTheDog: An almost litteral example. The first scene has Arnie hear the werewolf (which has yet to experience killing anyone yet) scratching and whining at the door of the line shack where he was snowed in. Sympathizing with an animal trapped out in the cold (although hesitant due to a bad feeling in his bones) he starts to go let it in before the wolf starts snarling hostilely and then suddenly breaks down the door and attacks him.

* VigilanteMilitia: Local farmers the Zineman brothers deducing the existence of a werewolf from some slaughtered livestock and tracks in the mud spending the next two month organizing hunting parties to pursue it once the leaves fall of the trees and it won't be won't be able to hide as well in the forrest. Unfortunately, this just causes the werewolf to drive over to another nearby town before transforming).

* NoNameGiven: One of the victims of the werewolf is a drifter, KilledOffscreen right after coming into town. His chapter focuses on the discovery of his body, surrounded by wolf tracks. No one in town knows the man's name, and since he didn't appear in person, and he didn't get a POV to reveal it himself.

The story uses a whodunnit format for the most part, with the reader knowing that a werewolf is responsible for the killings, but not knowing who the werewolf is. It also has plenty of horror scenes, with most chapters describing a werewolf attack rather than developing the non-victim characters. The first survivor, a crippled boy named Marty Coslaw, is not introduced until the seventh of the twelve chapters, and is only featured prominently in chapters ten and twelve after that. As a result, there is no strong protagonist to oppose the werewolf, and some may consider the narrative to be a little weak for this reason.

* VigilanteMilitia: Local farmers the Zineman brothers deducing the existence of a werewolf from some slaughtered livestock and tracks in the mud spending the next month organizing hunting parties to pursue it and keep the town safe come the next full moon (which just cause the werewolf to drive over to another nearby town before transforming).