Author Interview & Giveaway: A Werewolf in Riverdale by Caleb Roehrig

Crushed on by Christy Jane, on April 3, 2020, in Author Interview, Giveaways / 1 Comment

Author Interview & Giveaway: A Werewolf in Riverdale by Caleb Roehrig

Happy Friday, friends! We’ve survived another week inside so we thought we would celebrate with one of our favorite authors and a HUGE giveaway! Caleb, author of (soon to be) 3 horror novels and 1 drag queen heist, is back with A Werewolf in Riverdale, an Archie Horror novel. I’m a big Archie fan and I love the horror side of the Archie verse (stay tuned…we have more coming soon) so I’m here chatting with Caleb! A Werewolf in Riverdale is out Tuesday and we have a giveaway for a copy plus other Riverdale essentials!

A Werewolf in Riverdale (Archie Horror #1)

by Caleb Roehrig
Published by: Scholastic Inc.
on April 7, 2020
Pages: 304
IndieBound
Goodreads

Who is the Riverdale Ripper? And why is Jughead waking up covered in blood?
Based on the original Archie Comics characters!Everyone knows the characters from Riverdale: popular Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper, angsty Jughead Jones, and the sophisticated Veronica Lodge. But this is not the Riverdale you know and love. Something twisted has awoken in the town with pep. Inspired by the iconic Archie Horror comics, this reimagined universe takes the grittiness of the TV show and adds a paranormal twist.
Someone is killing the citizens of Riverdale. And after a bloody full moon, Jughead realizes he is the killer! Jughead is a werewolf. Can he keep this secret from his friends -- including werewolf-hunting Betty Cooper? Jughead has to get his dark side under control -- before it is controlling him.
The Archie Horror series contains all-new, original stories that fans of horror AND fans of Riverdale will eat up!

Interview with Caleb Roehrig

Archie has gone dark! What was your entrance to the world of Archie and Riverdale?

In a lot of ways, it’s still entirely surreal to me that this book is even happening, because I’ve been a fan of Archie Comics for as long as I can remember! When I learned that they had formed a licensing agreement with Scholastic a few years ago, I sent a frantic email to my agent, telling her I would do anything to get involved with them. The TL;DR version of how I got to write A WEREWOLF IN RIVERDALE is that we reached out, and they reached back, asking if I’d be interested in working on a novel that tied in with an Archie Horror concept. I probably don’t need to say that the answer was YES, squealed at a decibel only bats can hear.

Why this story? What made you excited to write Jughead and werewolves?

My dad grew up reading Archie Comics, and when my siblings and I were little, he introduced them to us; so as a result, I grew up with these characters and stories as well. I still have a massive pile of old comic books that have miraculously survived through the years, and I cannot express how much it means to me to be part of this current wave of Archie’s evolution! As for A WEREWOLF IN RIVERDALE itself, what readers should know is that it’s a tie-in with the Archie Horror series Jughead: The Hunger. Essentially, it’s an AU where monsters stalk the streets of Riverdale—and as a lifelong fan of the horror genre, how could I not flip out over the chance to combine two of my great loves?

What are fans of Archie going to love about your story? What are fans of Caleb going to love about your take on Riverdale?

Here is where I should clarify what I mean when I say this novel is a tie-in with Jughead: The Hunger! Fans of Archie Horror undoubtedly already know this series—about Jughead Jones and his battle against the beast within—but while A WEREWOLF IN RIVERDALE draws from the same concept, it is an original story. Inspired by some exposition from the series’ first issue, I wrote a prequel…but with the understanding that as the comics continue to develop, the backstory they flesh out won’t be the same as mine. So this is different than what readers will have seen in J:TH, but set in the same Archie AU, and told in the same spirit; and I think Archie fans will love the chance to reenter this world in a new medium, and with a fresh spin! As for my own readers (who may or may not be familiar with the Archie Comics universe,) they’ll find my voice coming through loud and clear. I brought not just my love of Archie to this novel, but also my love of sarcasm, plot twists, action scenes, humor, horror, and feeding beloved characters to monsters!

If you were to wake up as a werewolf, what is the first thing you’d do?

Okay, well, first first, I would go looking for clothes. In the old black-and-white monster movies, werewolves would just sort of sprout full-face beards, and then go attack people while still wearing their pants; but in most of the currently popular stories, werewolves suffer from an advanced case of naked when they wake back up in their human form. So I would find pants or a pants substitute. Then I would brush my teeth. OH WAIT, unless this question was supposed to be about what I’d do in wolf form, in which case the answer is…you know, eat someone. And then try to get tummy rubs.

Be sure to add A Werewolf in Riverdale to your TBR and pick it up Tuesday!