Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 23, 1990 TAG: 9004230056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: TAZEWELL LENGTH: Medium
Create a small town about the size of Tazewell, the county seat; call it Yokum Valley and populate it with a diverse cast of characters.
Then drop a werewolf in the middle and you have the basis of Princeton, W.Va., novelist Dave Pedneau's newest book, "Night, Winter, and Death."
The title, appropriately, is from Guy Endore's "The Werewolf of Paris," a book published in 1933 that set the trend for werewolves much as Bram Stoker's "Dracula" did for vampires in 1897. But literary and Hollywood-style werewolves pale in comparison with Pedneau's savage American Indian version.
Pedneau is best known as a mystery novelist, especially his "letter-perfect" series teaming a hard-boiled cop and a beautiful newspaper reporter: "A.P.B.," "D.O.A." and "B.O.L.O.," so far. "A.K.A." is due in June and "B&E" about a year from now.
That's why Ballantine Books keeps insisting that he use a pen name for his horror novels. The publisher thinks readers might be put off if they see his name and expect a straight action mystery.
So Pedneau's 1987 vampire novel, "So Dear the Dawn," came out as by Marc Eliot. "Night, Winter, and Death" is by Lee Hawks, although astute readers will spot Pedneau's name on the copyright inside.
Pedneau said he really wanted to write horror tales when he started, but his mysteries clicked first. In fact, the vampire novel was the first he wrote, but it was published later.
Still, he described his first published mystery, "Presumption of Innocence" (1985), as a werewolf novel in disguise, since its human villain was more of a monster than Lon Chaney ever thought of being in those old films. Having worked in the criminal justice system for 12 years, first as a magistrate and later with the Mercer County (W.Va.) Sheriff's Department, Pedneau said he saw enough monsters in human form to populate all the horror novels he cares to write.
"I don't know whether I can finally get to where I can do that instead of doing the mysteries," he said, but he does have another horror novel in the works. "I'm going to always try to get it under my name," he said, but it will likely end up as "by Lee Hawks."
"I've exorcised the typical horror writers' demons now," he said, having written about vampires and werewolves. He has no plans to go down the monster list and do stories about reincarnated mummies, a Frankenstein's monster or an invisible man, he said, although he is an unabashed fan of the old movies featuring those creatures.
Pedneau's cast is like that of a disaster movie; you never know who will die next and, when someone does, it is graphically conveyed. Decapitations and blood-lettings abound. But the characters have depth; they're not simply food for the beast. Heroism - and barbarism - arise from unexpected sources.
"Night, Winter, and Death" is due from Ballantine Books this month in paperback.
by CNB