Arnie Westrum

Cycle of the Werewolf

First edition cover
Author	Stephen King
Illustrator	Bernie Wrightson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Gothic, horror
Publisher	Land of Enchantment
Publication date	November 1983
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	127 pp.
ISBN

Cycle of the Werewolf is a short horror novel by Stephen King, featuring illustrations by comic-book artist Bernie Wrightson. Each chapter is a short story unto itself. It tells the story of a werewolf haunting a small town as the moon turns full once every month. It was published as a limited-edition hardcover in 1983 by Land of Enchantment, and in 1985 as a mass-market trade paperback by Signet.

The book is dedicated to the author Davis Grubb: "In memory of Davis Grubb, and all the voices of Glory."

Lowe has not been a werewolf his entire life, nor has he been a werewolf since he first arrived in Tarker’s Mills. In fact, he has no idea about how he became a werewolf, but he suspects that it has something to do with some flowers he picked at a cemetery on Sunshine Hill months prior to his first transformation. He went to put them in vases at the church vestry, but they turned black and died before he could finish the relatively quick job. He has no reason to pinpoint this event as the beginning of his curse, but he believes that this was the beginning of the events. As the werewolf, he serves as the primary antagonist of the novella.

Lowe comes to realize that he is the werewolf after having awakened with fresh blood on his fingernails and (to his horror) mouth. He also discovers clothes are missing and sometimes finds scratches and bruises which appear to have come from running through the woods. The dream in May serves as a further omen to his curse, but he does not fully realize his curse until July 5, when he awakens with his left eye blasted out. After Halloween, he began getting anonymous letters from someone who knows his secret, suspecting that it is the person whom he attacked in July and failed to kill, the person who blasted his left eye out. In November, he acknowledges that he is the werewolf and decides that he cannot risk going out in the woods, as he could be killed by the group of vigilantes who had taken to the woods that month.

To avoid the vigilantes, he travels to Portland, where he kills Tarker’s Mills resident Milt Sturmfuller outside a cheap motel. After returning home, he decides to find out whom he attacked in July, and kill that person. Marty eventually signs his name to the last letter he sends in December, shortly before the next full moon. Lowe is killed by Marty on New Year’s Eve.