Emily Pohl-Weary

Also read for research for Apollo Quartet 4 All That Outer Space Allows. This is sort of Merril’s autobiography – it was compiled by Pohl-Weary from an aborted attempt by Merril to write an autobiography, her letters to various well-known sf names, and the introductions to some of her books (her collections and the anthologies she edited). Merril started out in the Futurians, an influential New-York-based group of fans in the 1940s, writing pulp fiction for hire, chiefly crime and westerns. They weren’t a very pleasant bunch in those days – at one point, they reformed the Futurians specifically to exclude one person they felt wasn’t much fun – but they were very close-knit, often kipping over for months at a time at friends’ houses. Merril was certainly outspoken, and these days she’d probably be described as “poly” – neither of which in those days endeared her much to her fellow fans and writers. Some of the gossip Merril drops in is horribly fascinating – such as, for example, when Frederik Pohl was an editor early in his career he’d buy his friends’ stories and keep 60% of the fee; or that, later, when Merril was an influential editor, writers would approach her and beg to be included in her next anthology, and they’d tell her they wouldn’t even accept a fee. Merril moved to Canada in the 1960s, and eventually took Canadian citizenship. She comes across as one of those opinionated but interesting people you’d probably dislike on meeting. Worth reading.… (meer)

Did you enjoy the Twilight saga? Well, this book is nothing like those stories. In Emily Pohl-Weary’s Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl, you will meet Sam, who lives the life of a rock star on stage but whose life off stage is decidedly less exciting. Until she unwittingly gets bitten while biking home one night after a concert, of course.

That’s when everything changes.

This seems to be the season of strong female characters as this is the third book in a row I’ve read whose protagonists are far from the doe-eyed, maiden-in-distress archetype. Or maybe I’m only now discovering more and more fiction replete with confident, determined women thanks to the plethora of wonderful female authors out there. Whatever it is, I really enjoyed Pohl-Weary’s take on the werewolf subgenre because the love story isn’t really the meat of this novel.

What can you expect from the story then? I love that Pohl-Weary tackles the challenge that stems from change and that Sam has to learn how to accept her circumstances while she makes the most of them. She’s not whiny or needy despite the fact that she could use all the help she can get to deal with her new life. I like that there’s a conflict between conforming to societal norms (super hirsute faces scream “wolf girl”, don’t they?) and letting the true self come out. For much of the story, Sam is unsure which of the two boys in the novel she can trust, and I like that she waddles back and forth in her decision because boy is trust always a tough issue.

If you’re looking for an adventure-packed read full of twists, turns, and a strong female protagonist, give Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl a whirl.

And while you’re at it, try your hand at these questions: Why did Pohl-Weary set her story in NYC? Why is the heart of the conflict about becoming a wolf girl? Why is it important to the story that Sam is part of a rock band rather than just, say, a school band? Why might there be different factions of werewolves introduced in this story? Why does romance not factor as much in this story as in other novels in this genre?… (meer)