Call of the Wild (Harry Potter story)
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Call of the Wild |
| Author(s): | Moon & CLS, a.k.a. WolfieTwins |
| Date(s): | c. June 2000 - ? |
| Length: | 14 chapters / 148,225 words |
| Genre: | action |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| External Links: | Call of the Wild fansite (archived version) partially archived version at geocities.ws |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Call of the Wild was an early Harry Potter story by WolfieTwins. It was started before the publication of Goblet of Fire.
It was chosen as one of the top four "must-read" Harry Potter stories for Time Magazine's "The Boy Who Lived Forever" in 2011.
The story is no longer online. It was removed from FictionAlley sometime after October 2008.[1] It was also archived at FanFiction.Net, Diagon Alley (through Chapter 13), Wolf's Bane (through Chapter 8), and Sparkle's Call of the Wild fansite (through Chapter 10).
Summary: "After Lockhart, Dumbledore searches for a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. He finds Remus Lupin in an unexpected place. Can he persuade him to take the job?"
Translations
- Spanish translation by Ariel B.Black (2004) (through Chapter 9)
- Czech translation by Hedera (2005)
Fansite
In 2000 or 2001, Sparkle created a GeoCities fansite for the story. It hosted the text of the story (up to Chapter 10), as well as fanart for the story by various artists. It also had pages for "Sighting" of things from the story in real life, and pages about "Mythological Werewolfism" and "Modern Lycanthropy". Sparkle also planned to add other fiction by WolfieTwins to the site, including Following Darkness.
The site was last updated in late 2001 or 2002. Much of the site has been archived by the Wayback Machine.
Recs & Reviews
Okay, this is spectacular fiction, well-written, well-plotted, kept me completely engrossed in the story of what happened to Remus Lupin during the 12 years between the Potters’ deaths and his coming to teach at Hogwarts. How much do I love Remus struggling with the burdens of leadership, becoming a famed monster-hunter, falling in love not once but *twice* (whee! Go Remus! Get laid!) (though it must be said, this is in no way a romance so don't go into it expecting that), and generally doing lots of cool stuff instead of being homeless and pining for Sirius. This was Remus the Vampire Slayer (minus the quick quips), and it *works*. My one reservation is about his view (and the whole story’s view, really) of lycanthropy. It doesn’t jibe with what he says about it in PoA, to me, and I was vastly uncomfortable with the idea that *he* would be comfortable with bringing more werewolves into the world (whether by biting *or* by birth, the latter of which I’m not sure I buy, but I don’t know much HP canon on werewolves), though I totally love his determination for the humans and the werewolves to at least get along without violence.[2]
Intro to fandom Remus.
A gothic novel, and one of the first full-length Harry Potter fanfiction stories. It answers the question: Where was Remus in the twelve years after James and Lily Potter were murdered? Set in Romania, the story is well-researched, layered and complex, dark but shot through with humour, insight, and bark-with-laughter one-liners. Most compelling is the authors' description of werewolf society based on their research in wolf pack behaviour (which is now fandom cliché, but completely new at the time). It teases you, jumping back and forth in time, a mesmerizing read. I only regret that it's Harry Potter fanfiction, because the concept is original enough to deserve to be sitting on bookshelves.[3]
June 2000 recs:
WolfieTwins: Two authors in one alter-ego, who have only written one fic together. The best fic in the Harry Potter section, bar none, period. It's named 'Call of the Wild', and if you have any rudiments of intelligence you will get off your rear and go read the fic now! The best characterization, the best description, the most emotionally touching, it's brilliant, it's angsty, it's funny, and...::cuts off before she continues rhapsodising::.[4]
I just had to jump in here at Firebolt's recommendation of Call of The Wild, and add my two cents.If you're looking for something to read in the interim, READ THAT STORY. Read it anyway. Beyond a shadow of a doubt it's the best fanfiction I've ever read.
It's so good that I sent 2000 words worth of reviews to the authors but couldn't find a single constructive thing to say. It's so good that I wanted to invent a new language just to review it in, as superlatives do not do it justice.
It has to be the best werewolf story ever written. Even the "escapist" criticism that can be applied to practically every single piece of fantasy literature ever doesn't apply here as it's psychologically sophisticated and insightful as well as wonderfully plotted and fun to read. It's not fantasy, it's heightened reality... :-)[5]
And as for 'Call of the Wild' by WolfieTwins, well, all I can say is that I agree wholeheartedly with everything Firebolt said. That story knocks me for six every time I read a new part of it. No other writer has ever made me cry with the first two lines of a scene, and then made me laugh a page later. It evokes emotions so amazingly well I'm struggling for words to praise it with.[6]
References
- ^ "Stories for WolfieTwins". Archived from the original on 2008-10-04.
- ^ Victoria P a.k.a. unfitforsociety. Have I got recs for you! 02 June 2003. (Accessed 20 January 2014.)
- ^ Icarus. Harry Potter Starter Kit. c. 2005. (Accessed 20 January 2014.)
- ^ Firebolt at ParadigmOfUncertainty. While You Wait - Things to Read In the Weeks Before Chapter 11 (444). 11 June 2000. (Accessed 20 January 2014; WebCite.)
- ^ morrigan at ParadigmOfUncertainty. Re: Digest Number 53 (448). 12 June 2000. (Accessed 20 January 2014; WebCite.)
- ^ Blaise at ParadigmOfUncertainty. Re: While You Wait - Things to Read In the Weeks Before Chapter 11 (449). 12 June 2000. (Accessed 20 January 2014; WebCite.)