Wolfy winners

"At last!" I hear you say, the Wolfy Tales winners announcement. Firstly, with my humblest apologies for the time it has taken to respond to the challenge entries. Other stuff just got in the way and so I can only beg indulgence for this. Thanks to all for your patience.

The Wolfy Tales challenge

Needless to say, the entries were brilliant and moving. I really enjoyed reading them and have linked them all here with the strongest exhortation to likewise indulge yourselves in some truly inspiring wolfy reads. What's more, out of six entries, two were awarded Top Story, which demonstrates how well these entries were received. This challenge really did produce some wonderful entries and all are winners in my book.

And so, without further ado, here are...

All the winners

Overall $10 prize winner announced at the end

Listed in no particular order

John Cox

A warm and dreamy, appetising read. John really captured the spirit of the wolfpack, out hunting in the snowy night, in this beautifully crafted poem. Excellent choice of featured image too, with this evocative painting.

hollow eyes stare out of the gloom, but no move does the lean hunter make

the fire crackling beneath venison on the spit

a lone meal for me and mine own cub, we are hungry too...

Continue to read: the flames dance in thy bright eyes

O ~ o ~

Ian Read

This wonderful tale of a winter's night in the wild, fuses legend and myth with a life-and-death struggle for survival.

The wolf ran hard and fast through the woods. She was a large beast, larger than most, a proud and mighty wolf. She had subdued many a quarry in her day and seen many a summer. She had been frolicking with her pack this summer's day, her mate aside her as they lead their pack along....

Continue to read: The Legacy of Gévaudan

O ~ o ~

Paul Stewart

Paul's tender and evocative poem takes us back to Roman times with its references to the legend of Romulus and Remus. Paul also linked in this fabulous She-Wolf painting by Jackson Pollock which, as Paul explains, may or may not have been inspired by the legend of the founders of Rome.

babes she found in the wilderness

lying abandoned, harsh the elements

deep in unforgiving woodland...

Continue to read: Lupa Capitolina

O ~ o ~

Calvin London

This wonderful wilderness adventure enthrals with its lucid and atmospheric descriptive of a mother nurturing her cubs in the unforgiving winter forest. Beautifully illustrated with an excellent use of generative AI.

Wayayanno was getting concerned. It was nearly morning and her cubs had been alone all night, assuming they were still alive!

She howled out across the prairie, her cries echoing against the stillness. She hoped that the wind would carry her call to her children.

“Ahh-wooooooo.”

Continue to read: Wayayanno, Wolf Mother - Where Are My Lost Cubs?

O ~ o ~

Diane Foster

Diane's entry certainly captured the atmosphere of Jonna Jinton's snowy song. A beautiful and startlingly authentic creature POV story. A tender connection between a girl and the wolf, a trust and a deep understanding. And with a carefully commissioned illustration that captures the emotion of both the song, and the story.

The first time he saw her, she was singing.

The sound drifted through the pines, light and uncertain, like birdsong after a long silence. It wasn’t a melody he knew, but the way it curled around the air made him stop in the snow, ears pricked forward, breath visible in the cold. She was sitting on the edge of a frozen stream, her hands cupped around something small—perhaps a stone, perhaps just warmth. He had never seen a human up close. He knew what they were, what they did, what they could do. But he had never seen one sit so still, singing softly to no one at all.

She did not smell of fear.

Continue to read: Where the Wild Things Wait

O ~ o ~

Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred

Mikeydred's The Wolf Goddess is a sublime interpretation of the villanelle form that captivates, charms and bewitches. Beautifully written and with a fabulous and even more bewitching choice of illustration.

Wolf Goddess, Magical Mistress

With Familiar Owl, Under Stars

Queen Of Her Pack The Wolf Goddess

Continue to read: The Wolf Goddess

O ~ o ~

Adding a special mention:

L.C. Schäfer's

As the title suggests, a story of hope for the winter's end. Beautifully evocative. Delighted that Hope was able to join the pack.

O ~ o ~

And the overall winner is.....

Though I read through all of the entries several times, each time saying to myself "yes, this is the winning entry" and then "no, this is the winning entry" until I had awarded the prize to each of the entries in turn. After reading again, considering all of the points raised in the challenge, I was able to make a definitive decision on who should be the winner among the winners.

The overall winning entry was not only beautifully written, incredibly well crafted, it was also engaging, evocative, and so touching in the way it handled what was a growing and intimate understanding between two creatures: one human, one canid. It spoke a language that was more wolf than girl, of a narrowing space between the two, in which scent and sound formed an almost visible rendition of this silent conversation between the two. The feeling of knowing each other was shared by the reader and was instrumental in making this such an engaging and powerful read.

Add to this the way the story used a well-commissioned illustration, and direct connection to the Jonna Jinton song mentioned in the challenge, and knitted all three elements together. I think it was such a combination of words, sound, scent, song and image that left me with the feeling that this was the winning story. Having reached this conclusion, there is no doubt in my mind that the overall winner of the Wolfy Tales challenge is

Where the Wild Things Wait by Diane Foster

Please join with me in congratulating Diane.

Thanks to all for supporting this challenge and congratulations to all six authors for their wonderful compositions.

And, again...

CONGRATULATIONS DIANE FOSTER

Thanks for reading