First Howl: A Simple Life

I've always maintained it's better to be a happy person than a rich person or a clever person -- although, some would tear holes in this saying by suggesting it's possible to be all three -- that philosophy was in full-sway while I wrote First Howl and the values the book conveyed. Whereas Sylvia longs for wealth and riches, she finds that her village with its simple, rural life is much better than the cutthroat world of the court she once longed for so much. This isn't a new or original message. Coelho's The Alchemist sold millions by espousing this theory in the form of a fairytale. First Howl was, of course, a horror fairytale, and it was about much more than its simple, rural life, but I like to think this was the epitome of its message.