Writer Spotlight: Anhedral
- 36 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Welcome to a new type of post I'm calling a Writer Spotlight! There are so many writers online whose work has absolutely captured me, but who I don't get to talk about much since they don't have a novel out. Not to mention most of the stuff I talk about on here has a financial barrier that not everyone can afford. So, I want to talk about the often-overlooked category of writers who have posted a wealth of amazing (and free!) stories online. Enjoy!
I first came across Anhedral's work a few years ago when I participated in the Thursday Prompt weekly writing exercises on Fur Affinity (which by the way, is a great community of furry writers who actually read each other's work. You can check it out and participate here. Anhedral participated in a few of these prompts, which made me interested in the longer story universe those prompts referenced. It didn't take long for me to get completely pulled in to his deeply affecting stories and beautiful prose.
Anhedral primarily writes werewolf stories based in his original story universe of Spontaneous Adolescent Lycanthropy (SAL). In this present day and near-future universe, 5% of teenagers start turning into werewolves who permanently maintain wolfen forms. Even though these werewolves are completely sentient, it sparks a worldwide crisis that manifests in a lot of interesting ways and has a lot to say about topics like war, bigotry, "greater good" mentalities, human rights, sexuality, religion--it really is amazing how much ground Anhedral manages to cover with werewolves here.
It's also fun to see characters from one story show up in others. Oftentimes the characters are introduced in shorter Thursday Prompts and then expanded on in longer stories later, which is why devouring Anhedral's full story catalogue feels so rewarding.
But my personal favorite part of Anhedral's stories is the persistent feeling of hope that permeates nearly all of them. Anhedral's werewolves are a slightly more enlightened being, tweaked to have a more peaceful and collaborative nature than typical human beings. The implication (and fear, in the human's case) that these werewolves will one day replace the human race is often framed as a hope-filled eventuality--one that will eventually subsume war, violence, and prejudice amongst humans and make for a better world. That implication carries a lot of thematic weight for me. I think it will appeal to most readers, in fact, because it's a sort of wish fulfillment for greater empathy in the face of the crazy world events we're all watching unfold.
If you're looking for a place to start reading, here are some recommendations:
I recommend reading Schism first, which is about a doctor who travels to a werewolf compound in Canada. The compound was put together to isolate (imprison, really) those infected with SAL from the rest of the world. It gives you a great perspective of what SAL is all about, and shows you what the werewolves in this universe are made of.
This story is about a werewolf who puts their SAL infection to work sniffing out mines for the military. It also features an incestuous werewolf couple introduced in an earlier story called Automatic.
For gay readers looking for something a bit sexier, give Unchained a try. It explores SAL infecting one partner in a relationship but not the other, and the decisions made as a result of that. I like how it takes into consideration different subspecies of wolves. You can also listen to this one on The Voice of Dog podcast here.
You can follow that up with Flawless, which features the same gay couple, and also introduces you to the Primals. Primals are people for whom the SAL infection went wrong, disfiguring them mentally and physically, turning them a feral... which I guess means you can adopt them like pets? The ethics there are questionable.
Meanwhile Tremble acts as a sort of romance prequel to SAL. It's a nine-chapter romance that's a bit older and rougher, but is still very touching and introduces you to some characters that recur or are referenced throughout Anhedral's stories.
Jaeger isn't a part of the SAL universe, but nonetheless carries many of the same themes. It's about a werewolf pilot in World War I. As it turns out, werewolves make great pilots. Who would have thought? You can also read this one on The Voice of Dog podcast here.
Another story that isn't part of the SAL universe, featuring a hunt for humans in a future dystopia ruled by werewolves who are a bit less aligned to peace than those in Anhedral's other stories.
I hope you enjoy Anhedral's writing as much as I did! I'd love to hear your thoughts on his stories. You can find all of Anhedral's writing here, as well: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/anhedral/
Happy reading!