Edo van Belkom
Author of Lord Soth
About the Author
Image credit: Photo posted with permission by Edo van Belkom, courtesy of Tundra Books.
Series
Works by Edo van Belkom
Tesseracts Ten: A Celebration of New Canadian Speculative Fiction (2006) — Editor — 25 copies, 2 reviews
Northern Dreamers: Interviews With Famous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writers (1998) 10 copies
Baseball Memories [short fiction] 2 copies
The Great Escape 1 copy
The Rug 1 copy
End Of The Road 1 copy
Do You See What I Fear? 1 copy
Associated Works
Field of Fantasies: Baseball Stories of the Strange and Supernatural (2014) — Contributor — 46 copies
Tesseracts Thirteen: Chilling Tales of the Great White North (2009) — Contributor — 27 copies, 1 review
Selling Venus: Futuristic Tales of the Age Old Tradition of Exchanging Sex for Money (2015) — Contributor — 18 copies
Northern Frights 1: Chilling tales by Robert Bloch, Charles De Lint, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tanya Huff, Garfield Reeves-Steve (1992) — Contributor — 13 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- van Belkom, Edo
- Legal name
- van Belkom, Edo
- Other names
- Axler, James (house name ∙ used by a number of authors)
Hollander, Evan - Birthdate
- 1962
- Gender
- male
- Education
- York University
- Occupations
- horror fiction writer
newspaper reporter
writing teacher - Awards and honors
- Bram Stoker Award
Aurora Award
Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch award - Relationships
- Axler, James (house name he has been a part of)
- Short biography
- Silver Birch, Bram Stoker, and Aurora Award-winner Edo van Belkom is the author of more than thirty books, including the thrilling young adult novels in the Wolf Pack series: Wolf Pack, Lone Wolf, and Cry Wolf. He is also the editor of several anthologies, including two created especially for younger readers, Be Afraid!, a Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year finalist, and its sequel, Be Very Afraid! In addition, van Belkom has published more than 200 short stories of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery. He lives in Brampton, Ontario, with his wife and son.
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Places of residence
- Brampton, Ontario, Canada
- Associated Place (for map)
- Ontario, Canada
Members
Reviews
As an adult reader, I found the book too simple, but I think it would be a great read for the 8-12 range. It's a good, solid introduction to werewolf stories, focussing on pack dynamics, the importance of family, and the sanctity of nature. I really didn't like the way Tora's character was handled, though. Why is it always the female who's in danger? And why does she "need" a love interest? I think the story would have been more compelling if Noble, the alpha, had been taken, because it show more would have made the other three rally their strengths (and leadership skills) to save him. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
When one looks at a book of this nature, especially as a fan of the game its background is based upon, expectations run high in the reader's mind. Concepts and other requirements must be met for the reader to grant the book even a shred of plausibility in its realm.
This book didn't fulfill those requirements.
As a story, the flow is decent. It has a decent feel to the writing. I can take tips from its writing technique to improve my own writing.
That being said, the story didn't work. Within show more the role playing construct it chose to be a part of, the writer obviously didn't understand the nature of wolves, or how the game works. To be a lone werewolf in middle of a poor portion of the city, the primary character didn't fit the proper profile. It wasn't an outcast trying to rebuild it's honor and rejoin a pack. In fact, for said werewolf, to be working without a pack in this framework was horribly out of canon. These creatures are not like vampires where they can run solo until summoned.
Add to that the breach of numerous werewolf rules - a non-werewolf within a caern for any reason other than a culling or a wedding to a werewolf, the release of a wyrm tainted werewolf on the world without an attempt to cleanse it - and the book continues to lose all hope. I fear this book doesn't belong within the world of darkness framework and isn't worth recommending to others. show less
This book didn't fulfill those requirements.
As a story, the flow is decent. It has a decent feel to the writing. I can take tips from its writing technique to improve my own writing.
That being said, the story didn't work. Within show more the role playing construct it chose to be a part of, the writer obviously didn't understand the nature of wolves, or how the game works. To be a lone werewolf in middle of a poor portion of the city, the primary character didn't fit the proper profile. It wasn't an outcast trying to rebuild it's honor and rejoin a pack. In fact, for said werewolf, to be working without a pack in this framework was horribly out of canon. These creatures are not like vampires where they can run solo until summoned.
Add to that the breach of numerous werewolf rules - a non-werewolf within a caern for any reason other than a culling or a wedding to a werewolf, the release of a wyrm tainted werewolf on the world without an attempt to cleanse it - and the book continues to lose all hope. I fear this book doesn't belong within the world of darkness framework and isn't worth recommending to others. show less
I received Wolf Pack for review through the LibraryThing Member Giveaway program.
If it hadn't been published in 2004, I would say Wolf Pack was a response to the resurgence of werewolves in fiction sparked by the Twilight and Southern Vampire Mysteries series. This YA novel introduces a series featuring four teenage werewolf siblings who are being raised by a Canadian park ranger and his wife after their mother's death in a forest fire. The writing style is engaging and not overly show more simplistic, even for an adult reader. Most detailed and descriptive attention is given to the transformations undergone by the central characters, their runs through the woods and their battles in werewolf form, all of which are nicely evocative. The characterizations and plot leave something to be desired, however.
In this installment, one of the siblings is captured by a scientist who plans to study her and film the results in order to expose the pack's secrets to the world. Her brothers must rescue her and get the existing tapes back in order to maintain their anonymity. The narrative continually reinforces the themes of wildlife conservation and giving the human world a chance to do the right thing before using the weapons at the werewolves' disposal, however even with this tenets in place, several obvious and simple means of rescue are ignored (admittedly some that occurred to me may not be appropriate for young audiences). The moralizing also has a tendency to be a bit heavy-handed and preachy.
The characters are clear-cut "good" or "bad" with no nuance to add interest. The main villain comes off as evil to an unbelievable degree, especially for someone with no prior record of nefarious deeds. Most bothersome to this reader was the role of the female characters. Only two appear in more than one chapter: Tora, the kidnapped female werewolf, and Phyllis, the pack's adopted mother. (The only additional females are the soon-dead nameless wolf mother and a tabloid reporter, leaving all the government authorities and villains played by men.) Although lip service is given to Tora's strength and resilience, for the vast majority of the book she is reduced to lying in a cage while her brothers and human love interest come to her rescue. Phyllis stays at home and bakes cookies while waiting for the men of the family to report back. In future installments (of which there are already three, none of which I have read), I hope we can look forward to seeing the female characters do more than wait and worry. show less
If it hadn't been published in 2004, I would say Wolf Pack was a response to the resurgence of werewolves in fiction sparked by the Twilight and Southern Vampire Mysteries series. This YA novel introduces a series featuring four teenage werewolf siblings who are being raised by a Canadian park ranger and his wife after their mother's death in a forest fire. The writing style is engaging and not overly show more simplistic, even for an adult reader. Most detailed and descriptive attention is given to the transformations undergone by the central characters, their runs through the woods and their battles in werewolf form, all of which are nicely evocative. The characterizations and plot leave something to be desired, however.
In this installment, one of the siblings is captured by a scientist who plans to study her and film the results in order to expose the pack's secrets to the world. Her brothers must rescue her and get the existing tapes back in order to maintain their anonymity. The narrative continually reinforces the themes of wildlife conservation and giving the human world a chance to do the right thing before using the weapons at the werewolves' disposal, however even with this tenets in place, several obvious and simple means of rescue are ignored (admittedly some that occurred to me may not be appropriate for young audiences). The moralizing also has a tendency to be a bit heavy-handed and preachy.
The characters are clear-cut "good" or "bad" with no nuance to add interest. The main villain comes off as evil to an unbelievable degree, especially for someone with no prior record of nefarious deeds. Most bothersome to this reader was the role of the female characters. Only two appear in more than one chapter: Tora, the kidnapped female werewolf, and Phyllis, the pack's adopted mother. (The only additional females are the soon-dead nameless wolf mother and a tabloid reporter, leaving all the government authorities and villains played by men.) Although lip service is given to Tora's strength and resilience, for the vast majority of the book she is reduced to lying in a cage while her brothers and human love interest come to her rescue. Phyllis stays at home and bakes cookies while waiting for the men of the family to report back. In future installments (of which there are already three, none of which I have read), I hope we can look forward to seeing the female characters do more than wait and worry. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
This book sufficiently describes Lord Loren Soth's decline from famed Knight of the Rose, to wife-murdering psychopath.
He is a genuinely disturbed person, and it is a haunting story to read.
I've always been a fan of Lord Soth, and this book does not disappoint.
He is a genuinely disturbed person, and it is a haunting story to read.
I've always been a fan of Lord Soth, and this book does not disappoint.
Awards
NORTHERN HORROR: Writhe Damn You; Above It All; The Party Over There; Vermiculture; Rideau; Wavelength; Mrs Thurston's Instrument of Justice; Comes a Cool Rain; Sitters; Skin; Sewage Treatment; Shadow of My Father; Advertising Hell; Warmth; Transaction (Finalist – Other Work - English – 2001)
Tesseracts Ten: A Celebration of New Canadian Speculative Fiction (Finalist – Other Work - English – 2007)
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 31
- Also by
- 41
- Members
- 730
- Popularity
- #34,782
- Rating
- 3.3
- Reviews
- 19
- ISBNs
- 55
- Languages
- 3