Welcome, friend! Today I am chatting with author Refe Tuma about his book, Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest. If you are interested in a Middle Grade historical fiction adventure with horror and scifi elements, here is a book to check out! Let’s welcome Refe and learn more about the book.
Get to know the author: Refe Tuma
Welcome Refe! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Hello and thank you for having me on your blog!
My name is Refe (pronounced ‘reef’) and I live an hour outside Chicago with my wife (and frequent co-author) Susan, a surprisingly large number of kids, and our Great Pyrenees mix, Boris. Is Boris named after Boris Karloff, the actor behind the classic Frankenstein monster in the classic 1931 film? Depends on who you ask. (He definitely is).
I’m also the author of six books for kids, including the What the Dinosaurs Did picture book series—which feature a troublemaking band of 9” plastic dinosaurs—and my middle grade debut Frances and the Monster—which stars an ambitious, if slightly spooky young scientist. In a bit I’ll share an excerpt from my latest novel Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest which hits shelves on August 22 and features terrifying monsters, found families, and a high-stakes heist. So, keep reading.
Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest is the second book in the series. Where does Frances’s journey first begin?
When readers first meet Frances Victoria Stenzel, she’s desperate to prove she’s ready leave the safety of her home and join her scientist parents on their latest tour of lectures after spending years recuperating from a traumatic automobile accident. Instead, they leave her in the care of an insufferable tutor who doesn’t even have the decency to be human. As far as Frances is concerned, this is the last straw. She decides to do something about this new tutor and searches her parents’ underground laboratory for a way to get rid of him. What she finds is far more than she bargained for…
Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest picks up a few months after the events of the first book, when Frances suddenly finds herself getting exactly what she had wanted all along. It almost seems too good to be true…
What inspired you to write this book?
If you think about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it essentially kicked off an entire new genre of literature. More than one hundred years later, Frankenstein the motion picture did the same for an era of classic monster movies. There’s something about that story that makes it the perfect onramp into a world of monsters and mad science.
In Frances and the Monster, Frances opens a serious can of worms when she completes her great-grandfather’s forbidden experiment and awakens a creature of her own making. The ramifications of her actions can’t simply be tied in a neat bow at the end of a single book.
I was so excited to dip back into Frances’s world and explore the different ways her choices reverberated beyond the walls of Grimme-Stenzel Manor and the boundaries of her city in the center of Switzerland, and to force her to confront some of the moral and ethical implications of her science.
What makes your story unique?
Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest is a unique blend of different genres, with elements of horror, adventure, fantasy, and even a high-stakes heist, all set against a tense backdrop of the threat of WWII.
I felt I had a license to really have fun with this story, because I wanted it to dramatically expand Frances’s world. At the start of the first book in the series, Frances and the Monster, her world is so small. She has spent the past seven years cooped up in her family’s home recovering from a traumatic automobile accident, and even the smallest events—like making her very first new friend—feel enormous and often overwhelming. Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest takes that world and blows it wide open with new settings, perilous situations, and a large ensemble of colorful new characters.
Another thing that makes this book unique is that it doesn’t pull its punches. I’ve really tried to craft this story in a way that respects my young readers, trusting them with some complex emotions and intense situations without “writing down” to them. That’s all I ever wanted in a book as a young reader myself.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
I like to think of the Frances books as equal parts adventure, horror, humor, and heart, perfect for readers who enjoyed Serafina and the Black Cloak, Greenglass House, Midnight Children, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, or The Ogress and the Orphans.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
When I visit schools I give a presentation about heroes, villains, and storytelling, and I like to end it with a conversation about defeating the “villains” we encounter in our own lives. Things like self-doubt, difficult family situations, or chronic illness to name just a few. One of the key strategies we talk about is building a team. With a team at our side, we can overcome larger, more powerful adversaries than we could ever hope to best alone.
This is not an easy lesson for Frances to learn. But I hope that after reading Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest, readers will be inspired to think about the value of family and friendship, and the ways open ourselves up to their support—things like honestly, generosity, and cooperation—even when that openness makes us feel vulnerable.
That balance of vulnerability and strength, openness and self-protection, agency and cooperation is really what this book is all about.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
There are several moments like that in this book! I can’t tell you about my absolute favorite without spoiling a key development toward the end of the story, (you’ll find it in Chapter 31, and it may be my favorite scene out of any I’ve written so far in my career, period) but there is one moment I can share.
Frances and her friend Luca are lost in the largest expanse of wilderness in Europe and have just narrowly escaped a dangerous situation with the help of a mysterious stranger. This stranger, a new character named Hilde, asks if anyone will be looking for them. Frances shocks Luca by claiming her parents are dead (this is not exactly a lie, but not exactly true, either). But he doesn’t contradict her. Instead, he just looks sideways at her and tells Hilde no one will be coming to rescue them, if that’s what she means. I love her reply:
“In that case,” Hilde said, “welcome to the Black Forest.” She slipped the machete from its leather holster and snapped her fingers to bring the dogs to heel. “Here, we rescue ourselves.”
My editor and I fell in love with that last line—so much so it ended up in big shiny letters on the back cover of the book.
I have heard that the second book is harder to write. Do you agree? What has your experience been with writing follow ups in a series?
Frances and the Monster was such an evolution. The plot emerged as I wrote, and the themes, structure, and voice took shape in revision. The process took years, and I was learning as I went along.
Writing Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest was a very different experience. I was working under deadline, for one thing. I couldn’t spend as much time exploring and experimenting without a clear path to completion. Thankfully, I had a strong sense of the story I wanted to tell with Frances’s second adventure, and the emotional journey I wanted to take her on. The major beats and turning points were there before I had even completed book one.
Part of the fun of a sequel is the opportunity to expand the world you created in the book one. One of the most significant ways I did this in Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest was the addition of a much larger ensemble of characters. I kept the cast of Frances and the Monster tight because even the handful of people Frances meets along her journey represent a massive shift in her life, which is so isolated until her search for the monster begins. Writing for so many characters in the sequel added a new layer of complexity—ensuring each new character had a voice that was engaging and distinct, and that every member of the cast was both interesting and irreplaceable. I love writing dialogue, so having so many voices and personalities to play with was a dream come true. The biggest challenge was determining what to cut!
The new characters also gave me the opportunity to write in more of one thing that is very important to me: sign language. Several members of my extended family are hard of hearing or deaf, and I had an appreciation for signing instilled in me from a young age. I remember visiting my grandparents and sitting up with my grandfather, learning signs well past my bedtime. I worked with authenticity readers to help make sure that my depiction of the sign languages in the book and of a deaf character were as accurate as possible. I learned a ton, and I sincerely hope reading Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest will be a great experience for kids who sign.
Writing a first novel is like climbing a mountain where you can’t see the top. It can feel so impossible, the path so often undefined—right up to the moment you type ‘The End.’ Then you’re there, at the summit, and the clouds have cleared and the path you climbed doesn’t seem quite so long anymore.
That view from ‘The End’ was an incredible benefit when I started book two. I had done it once, so I knew I could do it again. More than that, I knew so much more about myself as a writer. I knew what I did and did not need to achieve in my first draft, and my second. I could trust myself a little more and trust the process.
I’m thrilled with the way Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest came out, and I can’t wait to share it with my readers.
Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest
Action & Adventure, Published 2023
Child genius and budding inventor Frances is in trouble. Her dreams of scientific glory were dashed when her first big experiment nearly destroyed her whole town. So when a prestigious society invites her to their symposium, Frances sees it as a chance to redeem herself.
On the way there, her train is hijacked, and she and her friend Luca flee into the Black Forest. Seeking shelter with a group of orphans, Frances learns the rules of the woods: Never travel alone. Never make a sound. Because something hunts in the shadows, something with glowing eyes and sharp teeth.
Frances is no stranger to monsters, but she quickly learns there are forces more terrifying than she ever imagined…and that the key to defeating them might lie in her own scientific discoveries. With Luca and the orphans at her side, Frances must again face the horrifying, this time determined to stop evil and make a name for herself, once and for all.
Content notes: Scars, children in peril, animals in peril, use of a firearm, grief, death of a parent.
Book Excerpt from
Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest
Two pale, sneering faces hovered over them like phantoms in the forest dark. In one, Frances recognized the cruel eyes of the man who had impersonated a conductor on the train. He had donned a green coat like the others, but the blue of the stolen uniform still peeked out from underneath.
The second man was all elbows and knees. His coat was too big for him, and he wore a bulky steel radio on his back. In his hands, he held a rifle with a rusty bayonet affixed to the barrel.
“We’ve been looking for you,” said the false conductor.
Frances recognized his voice. Winkler.
Before she could speak, he grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, looping a length of rope around her wrists. Cinching it tight, he shoved her onto the log and bound Luca the same way. He motioned to the other man. “Get over here, Jürgen. I need to radio base.”
Jürgen kept his rifle trained on their prisoners and twisted so Winkler could reach the box strapped to his back. Winkler turned a crank, roughly enough for Jürgen to glare back at him, then held the mouthpiece to his lips.
“Winkler here. The cat has the mouse. I repeat. The cat has the mouse.” He released the button on the transceiver and waited. Static crackled on the other end.
“Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of here,” Luca moaned while the two men were distracted.
Frances looked at him sideways. “Why would we do that? Didn’t you hear him? They’re about to take us exactly where we need to go.”
“Their base?”
She nodded. “These men have my journal, and we need to get it back. That base is where we’ll find it.”
“And a lot more bad guys with guns . . .”
Frances would deal with that when they arrived. Right now, these two men with their rumpled green coats were her best chance at making it to the journal without getting lost in the largest wilderness in Europe. That didn’t mean she planned to be helpless. She ran her fingers along the log behind her back until she found a broken branch. Quietly, she began rubbing the rope against the splintered edge.
Jürgen glanced nervously at the trees while Winkler fiddled with the radio. “We shouldn’t be out here.”
Winkler shot him a disgusted look. “Stop your knee-knocking. It’s only just gotten dark. Täuschen was clear: don’t return without the girl.” He grinned down at Frances. “I don’t know why you’re so important, but we’re gonna get something nice for bringing you in. Coin, maybe. Or all the rations we can eat. No more empty bellies for us, Jürgen.”
“But Karl—”
Winkler—Karl Winkler, apparently—smacked the back of Jürgen’s head so hard he retreated like a turtle into his radiobox shell. When he was sure Winkler wouldn’t hit him again, he lifted the rifle back to his shoulder and began another slow sweep of the clearing. His eyes darted from tree to tree, scanning every shadow in the surrounding darkness. Even Winkler, for all his bravado, couldn’t seem to stop glancing at the perimeter.
“Something’s got them spooked,” Frances whispered.
“The hijackers are scared?” Luca hissed. “They’re the ones with the guns!”
Luca was right—something didn’t add up. They were in danger, and not just from the squabbling thugs. She worked the ropes harder against the splintered branch.
“It’s Winkler,” Karl repeated into the receiver. “The cat is in possession of the mouse. Fanggarten, do you read me?”
More static. Then, somewhere in the distance, a whistle cut through the trees.
“Did you hear that?” Jürgen’s weapon rattled in his quaking hands. “That was Täuschen’s whistle. You said he’d wait for us!”
Fear crossed Winkler’s face for a moment as he cocked his head to listen. But the only sound was the faint rustling of leaves and Jürgen’s panicked breathing. “I say when we move,” he snapped. “Now stop acting the coward and hold still.”
Winkler extended the antenna from the radio box and adjusted the angle while Jürgen continued scanning the trees, forcing Frances and Luca to duck each time his rifle swept over their heads.
“I said hold still,” Winkler said, raising the mouthpiece to his lips once more. But, before he could radio again, a dark shape like a sovereign shadow shot from the trees. It lifted Jürgen up into the air and pulled him into the forest without a sound.
Winkler stood, dumbfounded, still holding the mouthpiece, a short length of cord dangling frayed and useless from one end. Jürgen’s rifle lay unfired in the dirt.
“F-Frances,” Luca stammered. “What just happened?”
“Quiet, boy!” Winkler snapped.
Frances ignored them both, sawing at her ropes until she felt them loosen. A little farther . . .
Winkler dropped the transceiver and pulled a pistol from his belt, gripping it with both hands out in front of him. He spun in a frantic circle, trying to cover every angle at once.
“Jürgen,” he whispered. “You out there?” Silence. “Jürgen, stop playing around!”
Frances pushed with all her strength against the edge of the branch, biting the inside of her cheek as the rope dug into her skin. When it finally snapped, she waited until Winkler turned his back and shook her hands free, rubbing the dark red grooves in her wrists.
They had to get out of there. Knowing Täuschen might have her journal wouldn’t do her much good if she were eaten before she could retrieve it. Whatever had taken Jürgen picked off a full-grown man without so much as a grunt. As long as Luca was still bound, they were easy targets.
Frances eyed Jürgen’s fallen rifle. She might be able to reach it before Winkler spied her, but did she have the nerve to use it on him?
She wouldn’t get to find out. Before she could decide, Winkler grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away.
“You’re coming with me, little mousey,” he said, leaning his face close to hers. A drop of sweat dripped from his nose. Fear burned in his eyes.
“Frances!” Luca cried.
Winkler looked up at Luca like he’d just remembered he was there. For a moment, he chewed at his bottom lip, looking conflicted. Then he set his jaw and shook his head. “Sorry, boy, but it’s not you we need. You’re staying right where you are. The trees are hungry tonight—best I leave them a snack.”
“I’m not going without my friend,” Frances said, gritting her teeth and pulling against his grip. Something moved at the edge of her vision before she lost it among the trees.
“The mouse thinks she gives orders to the cat,” Winkler said, struggling to hold her while his fingers slipped on her dress’s shoulder poofs.
Leaves rustled on her right. Frances kicked Winkler in the shin, and he cried out in surprise, letting go of her shoulder. She dived to the ground and covered her head with her hands as a whoosh of cold air passed over her. When she looked back, only a single boot remained. It wobbled in the dirt before falling with a quiet thump as a cloud of fine black fur and a long string of saliva floated to the ground.
Frances scrambled across the dirt and grabbed the rifle. She used the bayonet to cut Luca free while he stared at the empty boot.
“He’s . . . He’s gone,” Luca stammered. “Both of them. What could take them like that?”
A terrible howl pierced the darkness. That was answer enough for Frances. She found her mother’s case and pulled Luca toward the trees.
(From Chapter 8: Feeding the Trees, Frances and the Werewolves of the Black Forest by Refe Tuma, Harper 2023)
Interested?
Find this book on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon and Bookshop.org.
Thank you for hanging out with us today. Connect with Refe on Twitter, Instagram, his website, Goodreads, Amazon, and Facebook.
If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details. Check out other book excerpts here.
Be First to Comment