Canadian Werewolf – The Story So Far
Please note that there are SPOILERS to the series included below.
Don’t say you weren’t warned that if you keep reading, there’ll be spoilers.
About the Canadian Werewolf Series
The “Canadian Werewolf” series follows Michael Andrews, an ex-pat Canadian trying to make his way in the Big Apple while living with the side-effects of turning into a wolf after sunset during the cycle of the full moon.
Michael converts into a grey wolf during these times and has no conscious awareness of his time in wolf form except for fleeting memory snippets.
When he is in his human form he has enhanced wolf-related senses (smell, sound, taste) and strength. His immune system and ability to heal are also greatly advanced.
Each book in the series could be read as a stand-alone novel. But the books do follow a sequential timeline.
If you are starting anywhere in the series but Book One (A Canadian Werewolf in New York) you might find this helpful so you don’t feel that you absolutely HAVE TO read all the books.
Please note (again) that the details below contain spoilers.
BOOK ZERO – THIS TIME AROUND
(A 10,000 word short story)
This is the original story that was eventually adapted into the novel A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK. It explores the early morning of Michael Andrews (un-named in this story) when he wakes up naked in Battery Park with a bullet in his leg, the taste of human blood in his mouth, and no memory of the night before. His challenge is to find some clothes and get back to mid-town Manhattan for an important meeting with his literary agent.
BOOK ONE – A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK
August 14, 2014
This novel documents a single day in the life of Michael Andrews. The first six chapters of this novel align very closely with the details of the short story “This Time Around.”
After waking up naked with a bullet hole in his leg, the taste of blood in his mouth, and a suspicion he was fighting with another wolf the night before.
As he is preparing to be a guest later that afternoon on the David Letterman show, his ex-girlfriend Gail Sommers shows up out of the blue announcing she knows he’s a werewolf. She needs his help to find her finance, whom she believe is kidnapped.
Michael helps her, realizes he never got over her and is still in love with her. He also uncovers the fact her fiance has been cheating on her.
In the middle of a tough situation, a traveling salesman friend, Buddy J. Samuels, bumbles onto the scene, creating a distraction that helps Michael defeat a group of thugs. Michael appreciates Buddy, remembering how the appeared in the nick of time during a deserted highway wolf attack that led to his affliction.
Gail is with Michael when, during the live taping of the Letterman show, the other werewolf, Knell (a shock rock musician, who is another guest on the show), fight to the death.
It ends with Michael hoping that perhaps he and Gail can, one day, be back together.
BOOK TWO – STOWE AWAY (novella length)
July 31 to Aug 1, 2015
A year later Michael is still pining for Gail, but they’re friends. She’s not ready for a relationship after the fiasco with her fiance and the fact Michael had lied to her years earlier about being a werewolf.
After Gail has to leave for Stowe, Vermont for a family emergency, Michael decides to head up north to be with her. On the train ride north from Manhattan, he encounters a teenager (Bridget – nicknamed Bridge) on the run from a human predator. The two team up and he mentors her and protects her, but she also mentors him and advises him on having an honest talk with Gail about how he feels.
BOOK THREE – FEAR AND LONGING IN LOS ANGELES
June 13, 2017 thru July 4, 2017
Michael and Gail are still friends, and, no matter how much he has tried, she is still not interested in having a relationship. Even though he can sense that she loves him, he also knows that she’s not ready to trust again.
His agent arranges for him to head to Hollywood to work on the set of one of his books being turned into a movie. He feels this is the change to “get over” Gail. He ends up coming to term with the fact they’ll only ever be friends and shortly after meets someone in LA.
The someone he meets, Lex, (Alexandria) is a woman he falls in love with. But she also has supernatural abilities – as an ex member of the PFA (Proud Fighters for America) her artificially induced abilities mean that her proximity reduces supernatural abilities of those in her vicinity. She nullifies magic.
During an encounter where a gang gets the better of Michael, his traveling salesman friend Buddy Samuels appears, like he has in the past, seemingly out of nowhere, to rescue Michael.
Lex and Michael fight the PFA and the PFA seeks revenge on Lex for her betrayal of them. Michael realizes that when he’s with Lex his werewolf nature, powers, and abilities disappears. This could allow them to be a “normal” couple. But LA is too dangerous, as the PFA is still after Lex. The novel ends as they decide to escape the growing concerns of the PFA and head back to New York together to try to live a normal life.
BOOK FOUR – FRIGHT NIGHTS, BIG CITY
July 4, 2017 through July 15, 2017
Michael and Lex return to NYC to begin their “normal” life.
Only Gail meets them at the airport, to surprise Michael, having no idea he was bringing his new girlfriend back with him. Gail is now ready to love Michael. Michael founds himself torn between these two women he loves. At the same time, they discover the PFA has a branch operating in NYC, and the leader, Marco, has followed them from LA to the Big Apple.
Lex and Gail and Michael team up with another werewolf and a secret division of the FBI to fight the PFA and put a stop to their attempt to infect the inhabitants of New York City with a “Berserker” powder that would drive normal people to commit extremely violent acts.
Michael’s friend Buddy appears, again, at what seems the right time for his rambling trivial blathering to help plant clues that helps Michael and his friends determine the secret location of the PFA’s nefarious plans.
During the climax where they end up defeating the PFA, Lex ends up sacrificing herself so that Michael can save Gail’s life. At the very end she admits she knew he never stopped loving Gail the whole time they were together.
BOOK FIVE – LOVER’S MOON
(July 28 & July 29, 2017 – Prologue and Epilogue) / (Main Content: May through Nov 2011)
This is a flashback story to Michael and Gail when they FIRST met several years earlier and fell in love.
The memory is kicked off when, after weeks of Michael moping around about Lex’s death, and Gail being there to comfort him, they end up sleeping together, and re-igniting the love they both thought they’d lost.
The story-within-the novel is a “romantic comedy” about them first falling in love.
When, at the Epilogue, the story returns back to present-day, Michael is surprised by Gail’s brother Ben and her ex best-friend Isabeau at his door. Both characters, who are introduced in the flashback story arrive to announce that they need to talk – something really serious just happened involving Michael and Gail.