THE HYDE EFFECT (Leisure, 1986) sort of completed the transition. THE HYBRID (Leisure, 1981) was my first “all-out” horror novel. The horror field called to me more and more in my personal interests, and I began to lean in that direction in short fiction.

My first published novel (PLANET OF THE GAWFS, Leisure, 1978) was a trans-planetary space opera, as were the following pair of THE REALITY WEAVERS (Laura Books, 1979) and ALL THE SHATTERED WORLDS (Manor Books, 1979), though these latter two strayed significantly into the realm of science fantasy. Steve Vance: Actually, my initial forays into writing were in the science fiction genre. Random Pop Culture: Why horror, and have you considered other genres?

One of the most magical moments of my early life was when I was introduced to the public library and informed that plenty of other people were just as interested in making up stories as I had always been. I was always a teller of tall tales and can even remember sitting in my Granddaddy’s lap and reciting to him my adventures as a cowboy who had once had his head chopped off by “bad guys” before it was sewn back on again.

I suppose I’ve actually been a “writer” since before I could write. I now live outside of Dalton, in the northwestern corner, some thirty miles south of Chattanooga, Tenn. Steve Vance: I was born and raised in the state of Georgia (7/13/52). Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer. In turn I inquired as to whether he would like to do an interview, and here we are folks! So for all of you horror junkies, aspiring authors/bloggers/creative types please strap yourself in for an exclusive conversation with the down to earth but informative Mr. I was thrilled to hear from one of my favorite horror writers. From there he reached out to offer his modest thanks. Vance will be the first to admit he isn’t into blogging or social media, but somebody read my review and sent it on to him. But then I got an email from the author of The Hyde Effect, the one and only Steve Vance. It narrowly edged out The Wolfen, with The Howling coming in third. For those of you not interested in reading the reviews I ended up picking The Hyde Effect as my champion. From there I ended up reviewing and ranking my three all-time favorite werewolf books: The Howling, The Wolfen, and The Hyde Effect. That led me to pick up the book of the same name for a pre-Halloween revisit of an old favorite. That got me thinking about the film backing one of those scenes: The Howling. Hello horror fans and aspiring authors – do I have an unexpected treat for you! In honor of last year’s Halloween I posted what I regard as the two greatest werewolf transformation scenes of all time.

Planet of the Gawfs by Steve Vance