Episode Details

The SFFaudio Podcast #479 – Jesse, Paul, Marissa, Mr Jim Moon, and Maissa Bessada discuss The Wolf-Leader by Alexandre Dumas

Talked about on today’s show:
1857, 1904, 1950, August 1931 – March 1932, The Eyrie letters column, June 1932, a thrilling and fascinating story, weird novels, serials, a Weird Tales story, technically weird, the religious and technical werewolf, more folktale and fairytale, the Devil, The Devil And Daniel Webster, Mr Jim Moon’s werewolfery podcast series, a Faust story, it has wolves in it, lip service to the werewolfery, the frame, folk horror, a big black wolf, deal with the Devil, romantic farce, backfiring wishes, a solid ending, a folk story about an incel, in six weeks, blaming the world, Dumas and his lineage, prolific Dumas men, The Count Of Monte Cristo, the full unexpurgated version, not your typical French aristocrat, The Black Count by Tom Reiss, Dumas’ father was the General, married to his Haitian slave, general -> novelist -> playwright, the woman Dumas can’t remember very well is Marie, his black slave Haitian grandmother, Marie-Cessette Dumas, Dumas’ whole career is writing about his father, the background in history, before and after the French Revolution, a falling-out with Napoleon, wanting the lucky generals, a battle in Egypt, 20,000 Mamaluks killed, 26 French troops killed, a shitty bark, Malta, imprisoned Count Of Monte Cristo style, jealous friends, a false imprisonment, a revenge story, so cool, tarps and wily beasts, a good translation?, flowing beautifully, the unabridged version, Fritz Leiber, the introduction, a fictionalized account of a folktale, that weird little moment, this particular person as the hero, meta-commentary, the framing device, playing storyteller, did he shoot the werewolf?, the ending, dogs are fighting over a wolf-skin (not a wolf corpse), three ways to become a werewolf, cursed by god or the devil, an Arthurian knight, magic and witchcraft, donning a wolfskin, a werewolf possesses two skins (turned inside out), the An American Werewolf In London way (being bitten by a wolf or a rabid wolf), the Saga of the Volsungs, becoming an outlaw, turning on your fellow man, huddling under a wolfskin turns you against your fellow man, Thibault, quasi-redemption, did he escape death at the end?, being buried alive forever awake, swapping his life for hers, her soul was saved, a voice of thunder, a fresh and bleeding wolfskin, the skin of a werewolf, what had become of the body?, the former sabot maker, by reason of sacrifice and saved, a translation error?, how fair is that?, very Catholic, seen to come and pray beside her grave, he became a monk instead of a sex hound, that final sacrifice, incel sex hound becomes a monk, the horrors, people are so mean to him, his precious cup, rooting for Thibault, farce, cringing, Benny Hill with Werewolves, Restoration plays are all sex-farces, wrong place wrong time, hiding behind curtains, people of different classes trying to get it on, a math prob