Inspiration for Predator
By Janice Gable Bashman
Several things happened around the same time that inspired my novel Predator. While researching werewolves for Wanted Undead or Alive (a non-fiction book I wrote with Jonathan Maberry), I discovered there was a race of werewolves called the Benandanti. Unlike other werewolves who murdered animals and humans, the Benandanti fought against evil. I had never heard of the Benandanti before then and found the mythology fascinating.
Around the same time or shortly thereafter, author Carla Neggers posted photos from her research trips to Ireland on her Facebook page. I became interested in Ireland—mainly the landscape and the bogs found in Connemara on the western coast. I started researching bogs and discovered bog bodies—bodies found in the bogs (many murdered). What’s fascinating about bog bodies is that the properties of the bog preserve the flesh so the body, other than being stained from the peat, looks almost like it did when the person died. The skin is dried out and you can see bones through the flesh—it’s pretty amazing.
I’ve always been interested in science. So I tapped into the Benandanti mythology, gave it a new twist, and combined it with a modern scientific approach to mutation and the science of transgenics. I set the beginning of the book in and around the bogs in Ireland and then continued the story in the United States. It all came together naturally, with a lot of hard work of course.
Blurb for Predator:
The hunt is on! Sixteen-year-old Bree Sunderland must inject herself with an untested version of her father’s gene therapy to become a werewolf in order to stop a corrupt group of mercenaries from creating a team of unstoppable lycanthrope soldiers.
When Bree went with her scientist father to Ireland, she thought it would be a vacation to study bog bodies. She never expected to fall in love with a mysterious young Irishman and certainly never expected to become the kind of monster her father said only existed in nightmares.
Dr. Sunderland discovers that lycanthropy was not a supernatural curse but rather a genetic mutation. When they return home, her dad continues his research, but the military wants to turn that research into a bio weapons program and rogue soldiers want to steal the research to turn themselves into unstoppable killing machines. Bree’s boyfriend Liam surprises her with a visit to the United States, but there are darker surprises in store for both of them.
As evil forces hunt those she loves, Bree must become an even more dangerous hunter to save them all. Predator gives the werewolf legend a couple of new spins by introducing the Benandanti (an actual folkloric belief that certain families of Italy and Livonia were werewolves who fought against evil), as well as a modern scientific approach to mutation and the science of transgenics.
She will become the thing she hates, to protect those she loves!
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Janice Gable Bashman is the Bram Stoker nominated author of PREDATOR (Month9Books 2014) and WANTED UNDEAD OR ALIVE (w/NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Jonathan Maberry) (Citadel Press 2010). She is editor of THE BIG THRILL (International Thriller Writers’ magazine). Her short fiction has been published in various anthologies and magazines. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Mystery Writers of America, Horror Writers Association, and the International Thriller Writers, where she serves on the board of directors as Vice President, Technology.
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