As part of our effort to profile more authors within the LGBT community, we present Catherine Lundoff.
As part of our effort to profile more authors within the LGBT community, we present Catherine Lundoff.
Catherine is the two-time Goldie Award-winning author of Night’s Kiss (Lethe Press, 2009) and Crave (Lethe Press, 2007) as well as A Day at the Inn, A Night at the Palace and Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2011) and Silver Moon: A Women of Wolf’s Point Novel (Lethe Press, 2012). She is the editor of Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008) and the co-editor, with JoSelle Vanderhooft, of Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic (Lethe Press, 2011). Get more information on Catherine from her website.
Catherine’s most recent work, Silver Moon: A Women of Wolf’s Point Novel is a coming out novel, with werewolves and other adventures involving the women at Wolf’s Point. Here is the summary:
Becca Thornton, divorced, middle-aged, and barely out of the closet, discovers that life can still hold some strange surprises, when she discovers that her body is changing; menopause turns her into a werewolf. Apparently she is not the only one, as a number of women in her town of Wolf's Point seem to have had the same experience. As the newest member of the pack, Becca learns her nights are not spent only protecting the town and running through the woods howling at the moon. There are werewolf hunters in town and they've got Becca in their sights.
Silver Moon: A Women of Wolf’s Point Novel was released in May 2012, published by Lethe Press and available for purchase from Amazon here.
Read an excerpt below:
Sherriff Henderson said all the right things when Becca told him about the strangers down by the creek. “Sure thing, Miz Thornton. I’ll have Lizzie stop by and check it out.” He jerked his head at the deputy sitting behind him.
Deputy Lizzie Blackhawk was typing on a computer, her expression impassive. She glanced up at the sheriff’s comment and gave Becca a long unreadable stare. Then she raised one dark eyebrow and nodded before returning to the computer.
Oh well, Becca thought. I’ve done what I can. That didn’t make it any less disappointing. But since Lizzie was Shelly’s cousin, maybe Shelly could encourage her to follow up a bit sooner rather than later.
She kept telling herself that during her shift at the hardware store, but her nerves were on edge, fraying her concentration. She would have talked to Shelly about the strangers but Pete said her mom wasn’t doing well and Shelly was off helping out. Whatever it was, his tone made it sound serious and Becca was ashamed of her own petty fears. She fretted until her whole body felt like it was strummed to the breaking point, accompanied by the occasional hot flash.
By the time she left work, she was a wreck. She dashed home and took a shower and inhaled dinner. Then she stared into her closet for what felt like an hour. What did you wear to a mystery event attended by a woman you wanted to impress, even though you knew there was no good reason for you to feel that way? Her thoughts whirled and she wished she was out in the woods, running in the moonlight, letting the wind whistle through her hair. Now where had that come from?
Finally, she grabbed a matching dark blue top and slacks instead of her usual jeans. Nothing too fancy, but loose enough that she would be reasonably comfortable in it, hot flashes, nerves and all. She put her hair up in a clip and studied herself in the mirror, wondering if makeup would help. Her skin was breaking out again. Damn. It was like being a teenager all over again, and that hadn’t been that much fun the first time.
The doorbell interrupted her and she ran to let Erin in. “You ready?” Erin grinned down at her, a disturbing light in her gold-tinted eyes. “My, you look good enough to eat.”
Becca shivered all over and fumbled for a response. “Um...thanks. Guess we’d better get going,” was all that came to mind. She grabbed her purse and pushed past Erin in her rush to avoid making eye contact. Erin led the way to her car without further comment.
The whole drive out to the Wolf’s Point Women’s Club was like that, from Becca’s point of view. Erin chatted away about town gossip and projects she was doing around her house like nothing was wrong. Becca stared silently out the window.
It was as if something huge and important was hanging over them. Whatever it was felt like it was inside her too, running with her heartbeat until her skin felt like it was all that stood between her and some monstrous transformation. She rolled down the passenger window to get some air on her overheated face.
It didn’t help. Becca almost bolted from the car when they got there. The woods on either side of the little red brick building beckoned, the inviting darkness under the trees called and the moon—when had she become such a nature freak? Sure, walks in the woods were fine in their place but in the dark? Though, come to think of it, it wasn’t that dark even though the sun was down. She could see every twig in the darkness under the trees. Her fingers tightened on the car door as she struggled to keep herself from running into the woods.
“Later.” Erin’s voice came from way too close and Becca shuddered at the promise in it even as she turned and reluctantly followed her neighbor into the building.
She tried to analyze her feelings as she walked into the Women’s Club. Mostly, she just thought that she wasn’t ready to talk about menopause with a bunch of women she clearly didn’t know that well. That must be it. Night had just come on and she wanted its darkness to hide all these alien emotions. It was too weird to share and the words to ask Erin if it had been like this for her wouldn’t come, leaving her mute and quivering.
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