Revenge of the Gamer

Ironically enough I’ve just invented answers to most of these questions.  One of my New Years resolutions was to write twelve short stories, and after reading your thread I started one about werewolves. 

I wanted to go more of a modern scientific explanation, so mine is about a scientist who stumbles on to the existence of werewolves.  His rational mind has a difficult time accepting their existence, so he begins investigating how its possible for them to exist from a scientific standpoint.

The take I’m using is that much of what science teaches us is like religion.  Things we take on faith.  Do you understand how a refigerator works?  How about a computer or a television?  Radio waves? 

Most people don’t have a clue about them.  We accept that they work, because they do.  We don’t verify the principles behind them, which means we have little chance of discovering new types of energy or new scientific principles that ancient cultures might have considered to be magic.

Take the moon for example.  We know that it effects tides by exerting a measurable gravitational effect on the world.  Who knows what other effects it might have that we simply can’t measure because they haven’t been discovered?  Maybe it amplifies a type of energy that werewolves draw from to use their shifting. 

In regards to silver, we know that various metals are conductive to electricity.  We also know that the human nervous system relies on neurons firing electrical pulses, and that any change to this very delicate system can cause massive problems in the human body.

What if there’s a similar form of energy that we don’t currently understand?  To ancient cultures it might seem like magic, especially if it allowed a being to morph its form into something else.  That could explain how werewolves do what they do.

What if Silver inhibits this energy, basically acting like a sort of magnet that sucks it out of a living creature and into the silver?  If ancient cultures discovered this they’d create myths about silver killing werewolves.

That’s the basic premise of the story.  It will probably be another week before I post it on the Critique Circle, but I intend to submit it to Fantasy & Science Fiction, and possibly a couple of horror mags if F&SF doesn’t pick it up.  If it comes out strong enough I might even turn it into a novel.

What do you think of the idea?

Oh and I’m considering naming my scientist Sira DeRouge unless there are any objections