fiction

WULFSHAUPT Review: A Dark Werewolf Tale

/ Winona Morris / Leave a comment

WULFSHAUPT by Nick Hendricks is a short story at only 28 pages. It just takes one look at the cover to know that it is a werewolf themed horror tale.

A pair of brothers (Jakob and Matthias) find their dog, and all of their sheep, slaughtered.

They, and the men of the town, think it is a pack of wolves, though the brothers notice something odd about some of the tracks. They were too large, too broad. Not normal.

Matthias is old enough now that his father and the other men let him come on a hunting party. The party ends in yet more slaughter, with only Matthias returning home.

Then, along with the younger Jakob, he goes back out in an effort to find his father, but Jakob and Matthias find something more. They find out about a cursed bloodline and the truth that sometimes monsters come through inheritance, and with age.

In an age where werewolves have become romantic partners more than evil beasts WULFSHAUPT by Nick Hendricks brings the bite back to werewolf themed horror.

I have the sequel Wulfshaupt Thaw already loaded on my kindle and ready to go.

(This post contains affiliate links that may earn me a commission at no extra cost to you. This post is cross posted to my substack Wild Verbs. Follow me at Wild Verbs if you want more reading, writing and horror related content.)

Fifteen Eyes by Tyler Downs

/ Winona Morris / 2 Comments

I have a confession to make…. I am a notorious judger of books by their covers. There, I said it. I do the thing they always tell you not to do.

Just look at the amazing cover on Fifteen Eyes by Tyler Downs and tell me that it doesn’t make you want to put it right at the top of your TBR as well!

When I started seeing this particular cover pop up in a couple of the horror reading groups I frequent, I was intrigued. When I grabbed it up on KU and started reading it, I was smitten.

This is the author’s debut collection, and I will be surprised if you don’t see the name Tyler Downs going big places in the horror community.

On Amazon, the description of this collection is this:

Solomon Northcutt enjoys the simple things in life: a nice sweater vest, trivia night with co-workers, and using the eyeballs of the deceased to transcribe horrific deaths for his bosses’ reading pleasure.

Tag along with our happy-go-lucky tour guide, Solomon, as he cracks open a fresh batch of 15 sordid tales. There’ll be all sorts of fun stuff inside…Astrology cults. Bodily theft. Cowboys. A whole ton of ants. Cosmic gods the size of skyscrapers. Religious pilgrimages. Arsonists. A traveling guitarist who grants wishes. Desert cannibals. People floating away on balloons. Addiction. A trip to Heaven. Mental hellscapes. The end of the world. A puppet made from decaying body parts and household appliances. Oh, and maybe a werewolf.

“Maybe a werewolf” he says. Oh, yes, there is a werewolf, but before that there is Solomon, who bookends this collection. There is Fallon and Ed and and a whole eclectic cast of supporting characters in Solomon’s office who all deserve their own tales.

There is a method actress preparing for the role of -this- lifetime.
There is a lonely woman willing to risk it all to maybe not be so lonely anymore.
There is a little girl, some bad guys, and a lot of ants just like the description promised.
Also as promised, there is the end of the world, but also a heated revenge story, an intermission to check in on our host Solomon, a screwed up idea of what happiness is, a man on a religious pilgrimage, proof that lies are not the best way to start a relationship, a hellish peek at heaven, wishes with no strings attached, and somebody who just wants to reunite with their old man.

My descriptions can’t do justice to how each of these stories made me feel, and how I kept not picking the book up to read because I didn’t want to reach the end of it.

After all the tales were told, it was mentioned that Downs is hoping for a couple of novel released in 2026, and I’m looking forward to them.

Fifteen Eyes gets 5 stars.

Week End Review – 11-9-25

/ Winona Morris / Leave a comment

Happy Sunday friends! This week seems to have gone by amazingly fast, and horribly slowly all at the same time. Its all a blur I don’t remember too much of. Not that I do much anyway. I work. I sleep. I get up and do it again.

Lets face it though….I’m in it just to make the faux newspapers every week. Look! This week there are cow jokes:

  1. I was interviewed by Nora B. Peevy.
  2. I wrote a story for an upcoming Christmas special for The Butchered Writers. Ya’ll have to wait ’til December to read it.
  3. I read 4 Thanksgiving themed short stories and wrote a little bit about them: 4 Short Reads Filled with Family, Fear, and Feast Gone Wrong
  4. I’m still plugging away at The Butchered Writers Pinterest board. Its dropping in impression since the 31 Days of Free Horror ended. But even the best of us can’t put out a story a day infinitely (at least not if we want them to be any good.)

I have no major plans for the upcoming week really.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. Hopefully it will end up with me being able to come off my diabetes medicines. Or at least one of them. My at home tests have all been in range for a while now.

I want to write a story for the Horror flash fiction contest since I skipped the last 2 months. And there is a Butchered Writers anthology that a story is due for I need to get knocked out. (As soon as I get an idea)

Due to working several 6 day stretches and not having 2 days off in a row my mental health isn’t where it out to be. That means with my AuDHD I have an onslaught of doom piles growing, an I plan to tackle those this week, so you might have some before/after blogs coming up.

I also need to start working on crafting projects. I’ve started a TikTok that I hope to dedicate to my “Feral Crafts” and want to have at least one day a week here where I share what I’ve made, which means I actually have to make something. I have SO much craft stash built up I need to use it all.