AtoZ2017 - K is for Kastrian & David Kessler #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 11 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter K. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

K is for 

Kastrian (Eldrad)

Back to my childhood we go, although I have to admit I don't actually remember ever seen this Doctor Who episode at the time since I was only 4. It is called The Hand of Fear.

The Kastrians are a silicon based lifeform and the one we meet is called Eldrad. Although not technically shapeshifters of the can-change-form-at-will kind, Eldrad regenerates into a female form from just a hand and then, later regenerates again back into his male form. Destruction of the previous phsical form is required first and regeneration takes an emormous amount of energy.

This makes them very hard to kill. In fact Kastrian execution is called Obliteration and involved blowing up a spacecraft in the vastness of empty space. Eldrad only survived because his execution had to be done early before the spacecraft had reached position and the hand landed on Earth.

Kastrians also appear to have the ability to control human minds.

Eldrad is definitely not someone to mess with if at all possible.

Werewolf of the Day

David Kessler (An American Werewolf in London)

So I've talked about the sequel for A, so let's talk about the original for K: An American Werewolf in London. David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman are American backpackers trapsing across the North Yorkshire moors when they come across The Slaughtered Lamb pub. Here they meet very weird locals who warn them not to leave the path.

Unfortuneately they don't heed the warnings and Jack is killed which David is infected by the bite of a werewolf.

David wakes up three weeks later in hospital in London with no memory of the attack. Things are quickly explained, however, when Jack appears to him as an animated corpse and tells him he's a werewolf. He also urges him to kill himself so he doesn't kill anyone else, which is not so good.

David does not believe what he is seeing and hearing until he turns into a werewolf and does exactly what Jack told him he would.

There is no doubt aAWiL is a classic black comedy horror. It's dark and bloody, but very funny at times too. Well worth seeing.

Thank you all for any comments, I hope you liked today's choices.

• Do you have a favourite silicom based lifeform? Xenomorphs? Gorignak? Tholians? etc
• What is your favourite comedy horror film?

See you soon. Have fun with the other AtoZ sites.

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - J is for Jonathan Chase & Jamil #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 10 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter J. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

J is for 

Jonathan Chase

Dr Jonathan Chase is a character from the action adventure series Manimal. He was played by Simon MacCorkingdale and he was terribly dashing.

Now this series was made in 1983 and, at the time, the special effects were thrilling. These days they look really rather bad :).

You see Jonathan's secret is that he can turn into any animal. Studying with shaman in Africa and holy men in Tibet he learned the art and he now uses it to fight crime. Only two people know his secret, his best friend Ty and Detective Brooke Mackenzie. To everyone else he is a rich animal expert who turns up in the oddest places.

For any of us who watched this when it first aired it is iconic, but trust me, rewatching it, be prepared to cringe. They are, however, planning a new movie, which, let us hope, will be up to scratch.

Werewolf of the Day

Jamil (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter)

Jamil is an enforcer in the werewolf pack of St Louis, the Thronnos Rokke Clan. His position is called a Skoll. He is the number one enforcer and hence acts as the pack leader's bodyguard.

He was thrown out of his previous pack for being a trouble maker, but serverd under the previous Ulfric of the Thronnos Rokke Clan as Skoll as well. In werewolf tradition, when a new Ulfric takes over he should have killed Jamil as well, but did not, which makes Jamil very loyal to his new Ulfric indeed.

Jamil is just under 6ft tall, he is slim, moves like a dancer, and very, very strong. His skin is a rich brown and his hair is long and woven into corncrows. He is one of the few members of the pack who can keep the Ulfric's power out of his mind.

Thank you for stopping by.

• Have you had the delight of seeing Manimal?
• What is your first memory of seeing a special effect that awed you?
• Do you think being fast or being strong would be the most useful trait of being a werewolf?

Happy AtoZing!

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - I is for IT & Ian #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 9 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter I. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

I is for 

IT

Okay, hands up who hates clowns! I have never liked clowns - ask my parents about the time they tried to take my sister and I along the front in Margate when we were small and both of us screams because they had big clown heads on polls.

It is a novel by Stephen King (one which I have never been able to finish), but I love the mini-series adaptation. Pennywise the Clown is played by the incomporable Tim Curry and he will scare the bejesus out of you.

The town of Derry has a shadow hanging over it. Every thirty years people disappear and there is usually some sort of disaster. In every instance, Pennywise is about. In the 60s he picks the wrong victim in Georgie Denbrough, brother of Bill, because Bill and his friends defeat Pennywise.

30 years later, however, Bill and nearly all of his friends are all successful people, but all childless and they are called back to Derry by the only one who stayed, Mike Hanlon. It is at it again. Able to shapeshift into other people and mosters, Pennywise is taking children again.

In the end Bill and friends find out that It isn't even really Pennywise, it's an ancient creature with what the heroes refer to as its deadlights, that is a powerful agent of evil.

I really hope the new movie will do It justice.

Werewolf of the Day

Ian (Howling VI - The Freaks)

So I'm guessing very few people will have heard of my next werewolf. Ian (Brendan Hughes) doesn't even get a last name and, although, a decent enough movie, Howling VI - The Freaks, is not very well known.

Ian is a drifter and takes a job in a small town helping to repair a local church. To those who give him the job and a place to live, he seems to be rather obsessed with the full moon.

Also new to town is a travelling carnival, run by R.B.Harker. People soon start to disappear. Unfortunately for Ian, R.B.Harker realises he is a werewolf and forces him to become part of the carnival as one of the oddities. The town, believeing he is the cause of their problems do not object, however, Harker has dark secrets of his own, which soon come to light.

This movie has a good script, but terrible special effects and a relatively low budget. If you like werewolf movies, however, it is worth a watch.

Many thanks for surfing by, I hope you enjoyed the post.

• Which are scarier, clowns or rabid werewolves?
• Do you find you can look past bad special effects or do they ruin a movie for you?

See you soon!

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - H is for He-Man & Derek Hale #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 8 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter H. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

H is for 

He-Man

No, this isn't from the movie Masters of the Universe again because He-Man is never Adam in that. Today I am talking about the original cartoon.

Prince Adam of Eternia is given the Sword of Power by the Sorceress, which give him to power of Greyskull and transforms him into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. It also tranforms his cowardy, green pet tiger, Cringer into Battle Cat.

Frankly I never could understand how no one knew Adam and He-Man were the same person - I mean Adam even has the muscles. He doesn't even have glasses to get in the way like Clark Kent! He really only changes clothes and gets a tan ;).

Clearly people in Erternia are face blind and go by what people wear, since no character ever changed costume, ever ;).

We never watched He-man regularly, but I remember enjoying the odd episode. My husband and I watched a few recently on Amazon Prime too :). It brings back fond memories.

Werewolf of the Day

Derek Hale (Teen Wolf)

My werewolf today is the lovely Derek Hale, from MTV's Teen Wolf as played by the were easy on the eyes Tyler Hoechlin.

Derek is my favourite character in Teen Wolf, right after Stiles and, yes, my OTP is Sterek! Derek is a somewhat grumpy beta then alpha then beta werewolf, born into a werewolf family and has a truly tragic past. Almost his entire extended family, were burned alive by rogue werewolf hunters when he was a teenager, and they gained access to the house because one of them seduced his underage self.

His sister Laura became the alpha and they went to New York, but when Teen Wolf opens, Derek has returned to Beacon Hills looking for his sister, who has returned there looking for something and disappered. It is quickly established she is dead.

When Derek becomes alpha he makes some questionable choices, but does, in the end, grow into his role, sacrificing his alpha powers in the end to save someone he loves. Derek is gruff and grumpy, but kind of sweet too, and there is a sense of humour lurking under the dark exterior.

Teen Wolf has some major plot problems, but many of the characters are great and played by brilliant actors. Up to the end of season 4 is worth watching.

Thanks for reading, I hope you approve of my choices today.

• Are you of the He-Man era, did you have any of the toys?
• What do you think would be the hardest thing to deal with when being born a werewolf?

See you tomorrow :)

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - G is for Guyver & Michael Gallatin #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 7 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter G. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

G is for 

Guyver

So you could argue that the Guyver isn't really a shapeshifter, since it's really alien armour covering a human, but I would disagree. The armour is almost an entity and it definitely changes shape, disappearing into Sean when not in use.

Sean Barker accidentally bonded with the armour in Los Angeles, where he used it to bring down the Chronos Corporation and their band of Zoanoid mutants. In Guyver Dark Hero (the movie the image left is from) it is a year later and Sean (David Hayter) has been using the armour to fight crime. Unfortunately he feels the violent urges trying to take over and is still looking for explanations.

The Guyver is a very powerful weapon and when Sean becomes the Guyver he is extrememly dangerous. In Dark Hero he goes to an archeological dig where he hopes to find answers.

There is no CGI in these movies, it's all martial arts and rubber suits. They are a lot of fun and Mark Hamill is in the first one, so what's not to like?

Werewolf of the Day

Michael Gallatin (The Wolf's Hour)

Today's werewolf comes from the pages of one of my favourite books: The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. MacCammon. What I was delighted to discover when researching images for this post is that there is also a collection of novellas for the series as well called The Hunter From the Woods.

Michael Gallatin is the lead in the novel, which is set in World War II and flashes back to the Russian of Gallatin's childhood.

Gallatin is a spy for the allies having become a naturalised British citizen and is retired due to his outstanding service. However he is reactivated because the Allies have word that the Nazis are up to something that might affect Operation Overlord.

Gallatin was infected by a werewolf in the forrests near his home after having witnessed his parents and sister brutally murdered by forces in Russia. For a while he lives with them in the forest, but eventually returns to civilisation and into service as a spy.

He transforms fully into a wolf at will, but when in wolf form ages as a wolf. He is hardy, but not invulnerable.

I have read this book at least five times now and would have read it more often if it wasn't so long :). It's very exciting and the flashback is dealt with in a way that does not interupt the main story. I was so happy when I realised there were more stories.

I very much hope the posts are keeping everyone entertained, thank you so much for dropping by.

• Do you like CGI movies, or do you prefer the purity of a guy/gal in a suit?
• If you were a werewolf behind enemy lines during WWII, would you travel as a human or a wolf? Which do you think would be the most dangerous?

See you on Monday! Happy AtoZ.

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - F is for Face-Dancer & Fenrir Greyback #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 6 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter F. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

F is for 

Face-Dancer

Today we go scifi with a serious dose of fantasy in Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah, or as it was made by SciFi Channel, Children of Dune, since they put both books together.

A Face-Dancer is a Tleilaxian who has the ability to mimic any human they chose. In Dune Messiah (or the first episode of the SciFi production) Scytale (Martin McDougall) uses his abilities to become the daughter of one of Paul Atreides' old friends. Paul is the Emperor of the known universe and Scytale is one of the plots against him by Wensicia, daughter of the previous Emperor.

Paul knows Scytale is a spy, but also knows he must allow certain events to play out. In the end Scytale offers Paul something that is almost possible to refuse, in a twist even Paul has not seen.

Children of Dune is a 3 part mini-series and is well worth a watch. It is beautifully made and well adapted from the books. The original mini-series of Dune is also very well done.

Werewolf of the Day

Fenrir Greyback (Harry Potter)

Fenrir Greyback is a nasty piece of work and a werewolf. Not that he doesn't have a point abou the way the Wizarding world treats werewolves. However, his mission in life is to infect as many people with lycanthropy as possible to build his own personal army.

He is the reason Remus is a werewolf.

He fights with Voldemort and during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower left Bill Weasley with bad scars, although he did not bite him. He also wanted to bite as many children at Hogwarts as possible, which, thankfully he was unable to do.

It is assumed he was captured with the other allies of Voldemort after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Some werewolves are sympathetic character, Greyback is definitely not one of them. His life experiences have made him bad to the bone.

Thank you for joining me today, I hoped you enjoyed my shapeshifting choices.

• Have you read any of the Dune book? Which is your favourite?
• If you were a Harry Potter werewolf do you think you would side with the light like Remus, or would the injustice force you towards Greyback?

Happy AtoZing!

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - E is for Evil-Lyn & Captain Etienne of Navarre #AtoZChallenge,

Welcome to Day 5 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter E. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

E is for 

Evil-lyn

So you might have noticed that I have a liking for 80s movies. What can I say, I am a child of the 80s. Today we have another shapeshifter from one of the decade's glorious films: Masters of the Universe.

Evil-Lyn, played wonderfully by the stunning Meg Foster is one of the hench-persons of the terrible Skeletor, who has used the Cosmic Key to invade Castle Greyskull and imprison the Sorceress.

He-man and friends escape to Earth, only to be pursued by forces led by Evil-Lyn. She is clearly the brains among the hence-persons. She is a sorcess with the power to transform into anything or anyone, which she uses to trick Julie into helping her.

If you like your action loud, your plots obvious and your dialog a little corny, this is the movie for you. It is unadulterated fun without remorse. If nothing else you get to see Dolph Lundgren flexing his muscles as He-Man ;).

Werewolf of the Day

Captian Etienne of Navarre (Ladyhawke)

Yep, still in the 80s for today's werewolf as well. If you haven't seen Ladyhawke you are missing out, if for nothing else than the wonderful performance of Matthew Broderick as Mouse.

However, I am not talking about Mouse, since he is a clever, but average mortal. Today's werewolf if Captain Etienne of Navarre, mostly know as Navarre as played by Rutger Hauer. Cursed by the rogue Bishop of Aquila he becomes a wolf every night, driven by his instincts with no human mind.

To make it worse, the love of his life, Isabeau, if cursed to become a hawk by day and only turns back into a woman at night. They meet for a fleeting moment each dawn and each evening and that is all.

Navarre has had enough and plans to kill the Bishop in revenge, but there may be the tiniest hope of a cure. He reluctantly teams up with Mouse, the only man to ever have escaped from the dungeons of Aquila.

This is a great film, everyone should watch it.

Thank you for reading and for any comments, I will visit back.

• Have you seen Masters of the Universe? Aren't the costumes just awesomely over the top!
• Do you think it would be worse to be the hawk or the wolf if under a curse?

See you tomorrow :)

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - D is for Thulsa Doom & Draugluin #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 4 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter D. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

D is for 

Thulsa Doom

Okay, I admit it, I'm back to Conan, but this time Conan the Barbarian, and how could I not mention Thulsa Doom, as played by the great James Earl Jones.

Thulsa Doom is basically responsible for creating Conan. By massacring Conan's people, the Cimmerians, when Conan was a child, and sending him to the Wheel of Pain to be a slave, Doom set Conan on the path that made him the great warrior he became.

When we first meet him, Doom is a raiding wardlord with his eyes on world domination. When we meet him again after Conan is grown, he is a charismatic cult leader who demands total loyalty from his followers until death.

His cult is that of the snake and Thulsa Doom has the ultimate power to turn himself into a huge serpent. Of course he never expected Conan to come looking for revenge.

Werewolf of the Day

Draugluin (Legendarium J.R.R. Tolkien)

I bring you a classic werewolf today, the lord and sire of his kind. Draugluin is a werewolf created by J.R.R. Tolkein in his epic, the Silmarillion. Draugluin means blue wolf in Sindarin, and unlike the werewolves of other universes, the werewolves of middle earth do not transform into men, they are always wolves, but they have the intelligence of mortal men.

Draugluin was created by Sauron himself with the aid of Morgoth. Bred from the wolves of the first age he was inhabited with an evil spirit and became an abomination. He is the sire to all werewolves, which may also have mutated into the wargs of the third age.

He lived in Tol-in-Gaurhoth with Sauron, his master, and was killed by Huan during the Quest for the Silmaril. He was the greatest of all werewolves.

Thank you for visiting.

• IMHO James Earl Jones has one of the two best voices in cinema history, the other being Morgan Freeman, do you agree?
• Are you a Tolkein fan? Have you read the Silmarillion?

I hope you drop by again. Happy AtoZing.

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

AtoZ2017 - C is for Charlie Waterman & Michael Corvin #AtoZChallenge

Welcome to Day 3 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter C. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

C is for 

Charlie Waterman

So this is where I get in a little self promotion :). My shapeshifter of the day is Charlie Waterman, the main protagonist of my series The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman.

Charlie is pretty much your ordinary eighteen year old, just getting ready to go off to university, until he decides to visit the old Magic Shop where he almost worked when he was sixteen. It's not what he was expecting. Rather than tricks and costumes he finds crystals and incense and things other people might thing were actually magical.

Charlie doesn't believe in magic.

When he is attacked by a cat figurine, he thinks he's hallucinating. Unfortunately for him, the next day he wakes up with a tail. Thus start Charlie's adventures as a shapeshifter.

The figurine was the embodiment of the Cat Spirit, one of the seven great spirits that help maintain the balance of existence. It chose Charlie to be its Questor, landing him with magic and the ability to turn into any kind of cat he wants to. Of course he needs to learn to control his new powers, which is easier said than done, example one, the tail, He doesn't really have any other choice than to travel to the magical dimension of Between, where all Questors are trained, and accept the help of his new mentor, Akari.

Along with the other six Questors it is Charlie destiny to travel between worlds, times and universes, in a bid to prevent the forces of Chaos from destroying the Balance.

So far there are three books in the series, all available in eBook form and coming soon in paperback:

• Cat's Call - Charlie learns about magic and faces his first Task as a Questor.
• Cat's Creation - Charlie and the other Questors travel to a world run Mafia style where magic is known, sorcerers tend to be very nasty and vampires are just another element in the society.
• Cat's Confidence - On a world where dragons drive the ecconomy and there is a royal wedding being planned to end centuries of division, the Questors have to figure out what is about to go wrong and stop it before it is too late.

Werewolf of the Day

Michael Corvin (Underworld)

My werewolf today is from the Underworld series of films. I love this series because it has not only werewolves, but vampires as well.

Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) is a doctor in Budapest when the supernatural barges into his life. He is pursued by Lycans (werewolves) because they want to experimant on him, and is rescued by Selene, a vampire and Death Dealer (werewolf hunter). The Lycans and vampires have been at war for centuries.

Selene is more interested in keeping him away from the Lycans than in him to begin with, but begins to have feelings for him as the first film goes on.

Michael is a descendent of Alexander Corvinus, the ancestor of both the vampire and Lycan races. The Lycans want him for a rare genetic trait that may allow them to create a hybrid to give then an advantage in their war against the vampires. Vampires and werewolves are usually fundamentally incompatible and a human infected with by both just dies.

Lucian, the leader of the Lycans bites Michael, thus making him a werewolf, however, he is then infected with enough silver nitrate to kill him in a Death Dealer raid. To save him, Selene bits him, this making him the promised hybrid.

The first and second Underworld films press every button I have as far as werewolf/vampire interactions go, and Selene is definitely the kick ass character, no Michael, which I love. The rest of the franchise is entertaining, but the first two movies are definitely my favourite.

Many thanks for reading.

• If you could become a cat, which would you choose? A big cat like a leopard? A house cat? A pedigree?
• Would you rather be a werewolf or a vampire? Why?

Happy AtoZing - see you tomorrow :)

Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.