My Rating
“Death Waits For Moonrise…”
Inside a university laboratory somewhere in the Balkan states, two scientists work feverishly to identify a newly discovered virus. The specimen came from a strange wolf-like creature recently captured near the remote mountain village of Tvisklisk. The frightened locals claim the beast was once a man named Korbutskik. Others whisper a much older word.
Lycanthropy.
But this is 1907, and scientists like Gregor and Anya have little patience for ancient superstitions. There must be a rational explanation for the creature’s transformation, and the two researchers intend to find it.
One evening, Gregor and Anya finally make a breakthrough while studying the virus and its proteins. Their research allows them to develop an experimental vaccine. If their theory proves correct, science may have finally discovered a cure for the werewolf curse!
Before they can inject their captive test subject, however, a hulking figure crashes through the laboratory skylight. Glass rains down as a second werewolf drops into the room. The creature has come to rescue its mate!
Gregor gets caught in the middle.
In a flash of claws, teeth, and blood, the scientist suffers multiple bites before the two beasts leap from a second-story window into the courtyard below. Gregor survives the attack, but the clock is now ticking toward the next moonrise.
Is Gregor doomed to spend the rest of his existence as a bloodthirsty lycanthrope? Can Anya track her infected lover through the city streets and administer the vaccine before his transformation becomes complete? Most importantly, how many other residents of Tvisklisk have already been exposed to the werewolf virus?
“Twilight Tears”
In 19th-century France, a grieving young widow is about to discover which force is stronger: true love, fate, or a pact made between two cousins many years ago.
Mary Beauchard spends her days mourning the death of her beloved husband, Phillip. He was her entire world, and she was his. Without him, Mary sees little reason to continue living. Her grief consumes nearly every waking moment as she dreams of the day when death might finally reunite them.
Then another man enters her life.
Raoul is Phillip Beauchard’s second cousin, and he refuses to stand by while Mary slowly wastes away. He wants the young widow to move beyond her grief and rediscover a reason to live. Unfortunately, Raoul’s interest in Mary may extend well beyond simple concern for his cousin’s widow.
Will Mary spend the rest of her life wishing for death so she can reunite with Phillip? Can Raoul convince his cousin’s widow to move on? Does a childhood pact possess the power to reach beyond the grave, or will fate make the final decision?
“George’s Little Pigeon” — Text Story
What would a grifting vagabond risk for the chance to become wealthy?
In the case of George Kintner, the answer is marriage.
George has set his sights on Teresa Ostrow, a beautiful and wealthy widow who appears to offer everything a professional con man could desire. Everything about Teresa screams extravagance, but the bank accounts left behind by her deceased husband scream even louder.
George believes he has found the perfect pigeon.
Unfortunately for him, Teresa Ostrow has a few secrets of her own.
Will George discover the source of Teresa’s remarkable youth and beauty? How did the widow survive a crushing blow to the head from a blunt object? Why are Teresa’s teeth so unusually long? Perhaps George should have taken a closer look at his beautiful little pigeon before trying to pluck her feathers.
“The Night On Fog Island”
Off the coast of Kennebunkport sits a small, rocky island shrouded in local legend. On the high ground overlooking its northwestern beach stands an old house built more than a century ago by Captain Joshua Talcott for his new bride.
For a time, the couple lived happily together.
Then the fog came.
According to legend, Captain Talcott’s wife would light a whale-oil lamp each evening to help guide her husband home from the sea. One night, however, she fell asleep on the beach. No lamp burned through the darkness. No light guided Joshua through the thickening fog.
Captain Talcott never returned.
At least, not until 1975…
Now another member of the Talcott family has arrived on Fog Island, where the past refuses to remain buried beneath the waves.
Can Isabella Talcott’s granddaughter find peace inside the old house on Fog Island? What waits beyond the shoreline when the nightly fog rolls in? Can a love lost at sea survive for a hundred years? Is love really thicker than water? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
This issue starts out strong with “Death Waits For Moonrise,” an interesting twist on traditional werewolf mythology. Instead of treating lycanthropy as some ancient supernatural curse, the story approaches it as a virus that scientists can isolate, study, and potentially cure with a genetically engineered vaccine. Can you say COVID? What, too soon?
Joking aside, I really liked the concept. We have seen a thousand stories involving werewolves, silver bullets, full moons, and ancient curses, so having two scientists in 1907 approach lycanthropy as an infectious disease gives the old monster a slightly different spin. The race to administer the vaccine before Gregor completely transforms also gives the story some urgency. Science versus superstition is hardly a new idea in horror, but it works well here.
Then we get “Twilight Tears,” and this one lost me somewhere in the weeds. Is it really a horror story? Maybe gothic romance with a supernatural twist, but even by Haunted Love standards, this one felt strange. Most of the story involves a creepy second cousin macking on a recent widow. You know what they say: once you go cousin, there’s bound to be some dysfunction. Okay, maybe nobody says that, but they should.
My bigger problem is the ending. I simply didn’t get it. There is an interesting idea buried somewhere in the childhood pact between Phillip and Raoul, but the payoff feels unnecessarily confusing. After nine issues of Haunted Love, I’m beginning to recognize the warning signs. Whenever one of these stories starts running low on pages, buckle up because Charlton may be preparing to launch another ending straight through the windshield.
“George’s Little Pigeon” brings us back into more familiar territory with a vampire story wrapped around a modern-day confidence game. I liked the idea of a professional grifter believing he has found the perfect wealthy widow, only to discover that he may actually be the pigeon. Teresa is clearly hiding something far more sinister than money. I still have questions, though. What exactly was going on with the boardroom mummy fest? That visual comes almost out of nowhere, and a little more explanation from the writer would have helped tremendously.
“The Night On Fog Island” was another highlight. Give me an isolated house, a century-old maritime tragedy, a missing sea captain, and supernatural fog, and you already have my attention. The story feels like something that could have appeared in one of the old horror anthology television shows. I also like how the romance actually matters to the supernatural element. This is Haunted Love, after all. Sometimes the series seems to forget the title printed on the cover.
Overall, Haunted Love #9 offers one of the more interesting collections of ideas I’ve encountered during my trip through the series. We get scientific werewolves, doomed lovers, a vampire con artist, and a ghost story wrapped in the fog of an old New England maritime legend. There is a lot to like here.
I’m giving Haunted Love #9 four out of five stars. This easily could have earned five stars, but “Twilight Tears” dragged the overall package down for me. Maybe somebody else can explain that ending, because it sucked blue whale. Fortunately, the other stories provide more than enough monsters, ghosts, fog, and supernatural weirdness to keep this issue firmly in the four-star category.