Gary Brandner Books In Order

Publication Order of The Big Brain Books

Publication Order of The Howling Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Gary Brandner was an American bestselling horror fiction author who was best known for the “Howling Trilogy” series of novels.

The first book in the series titled “The Howling” would become a very popular work that in 1981 was adapted into a motion picture.

His second and third novels have no connection to the film series, even though the author was heavily involved in the penning of the script for “Howling II,” the second film in the “Howling” series.
Following the success of the debut novel and “The Howling” series, Gary Brandner would become prolific with more than 30 works of fiction to his name.

Among these two series, more than a dozen single-standing novels, and at least half a dozen short stories some of which were published in notable anthologies.
“Walkers” otherwise known as “Death Walkers,” which he published in 1980 was made into the “From The Dead Of Night” film.

Brandner was born in the American Midwest and in his formative years, he traveled a lot. He went to the University of Washington for his bachelor’s degree and while there, he was a notable member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
Following his graduation in 1955, he worked as a technical writer, amateur boxer, advertising copywriter, bartender, loan company investigator, and surveyor, before he turned to writing fiction.

For much of his later years, he lived in Reno, Nevada alongside his wife Martine Wood Brandner and several of their cats. He died in 2013 after battling esophageal cancer for several years.

Gary Brandner’s novel “The Howling” is the story of Karyn Beatty who has been married to Roy for about five years. They make their home in Los Angeles in a quiet and safe condominium community and both have jobs they love and a dog they adore.
She intends to tell him the good news of her pregnancy on their anniversary just to make it extra special.

Her adult life had been heaven on Earth until she gets raped by the maintenance man and her dreams of a future go bleak. Karyn’s therapist recommends that she leave the city and find rest and solitude in the country.
Roy finds a home they can lease two miles from Drago, a dying town out in the shadow of the Tehachapi Mountains. It is an isolated area that if you wanted to make a phone call you would have to go into town.

But her nightmare is only about to get worse as she begins hearing howling each night. Roy remains unperturbed while no one in Drago will offer any explanation, even as the howls come closer with each passing night.
Alone and more vulnerable than ever, will she figure out the identity of the strange creature that is closing in on her?

“The Howling II” by Gary Brandner begins a few years following the events of the debut. Karyn is now remarried and trying to leave the past behind even though she cannot get over what happened in Drago.
It has been three years since Drago burned to the ground and Christopher Halloran and Karyn Beatty, who were the only known survivors according to the UPI have split from each other.

They split following a mutual destructive binge after the burning down of the town. They could never forget Drago and what had happened, and even worse the dreadful howling which they still hear most nights.
Karyn will do anything to escape her past and besides getting remarried and bringing up a stepson, she is also undergoing professional counseling.

Recently, she has been feeling uneasy and thinks someone is watching her in addition to hearing soft noises while she sleeps. Even more telling, her house plants have been dying while the howling seems to have ramped up.

Gary Brandner’s “The Howling III” is the last of the series but it has nothing to do with the previous two titles. Nonetheless, the work begins from a key event in the debut before it goes in a very different direction.
The lead is a young wolf named Malcolm who had been saved from the fire in Drago. Unlike, Michael J. Fox of Teen Wolf, he found the revelation of his animal nature very disturbing.

He finds himself torn between the world of the furries and humans and is aware that his furry guardian angel, who is also the shadow villain is on his trail.

In the first half of the work, the somewhat unethical but ambitious doctor tries to turn him into a guinea pig to make some money off of him and to prove that lycanthropy exists.
In the second part, Malcolm is the main attraction in a group of carnies that he joins.