Bored Gay Werewolf

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Brian is bored and kind of in a rut as far as his life is concerned. Leaving the comforts of home meant some sort of liberation from his parents’ rules, but making it on one’s own is always going to be challenging and problematic, even more so when you transform into a werewolf once every full moon. Brian swears that coming out as gay has been way easier for him, even though his parents seem to be okay with him being a werewolf, or at least that’s the message they try to convey despite the obvious fear deep inside. Brian finds a new family in his co-workers Nik and Darby, his colleagues at a restaurant, but they will never understand his struggles. Enter Tyler, a millennial werewolf himself who has a vision and a mission: that of establishing a pack and maximizing their werewolf potential, and he believes Brian can and will be the one to help him in his endeavor.

What’s with these millennial authors and this weird obsession with transforming into canines? Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch is still the weirder of the two, considering how it leaned really heavily on the turning-into-a-dog gimmick as a metaphor for motherhood. The thing is, relating to the craziness of bearing children and then raising them will only get empathy from half the human population who can actually experience it firsthand. Bored Gay Werewolf somehow avoids this by coming across not as a millennial werewolf ranting about being a werewolf, but more on being a millennial werewolf ranting about being a millennial. Oh wait, that’s Tyler.

Yeah, I got them mixed up. Brian, the protagonist, is more Gen-Z, and he is the one doing all the ranting. I guess this really depends on which character you focus on. Tyler is the Millennial werewolf in the story. You can always focus on him and his midlife crisis accentuated by what he wants to accomplish through the privilege of having daddy’s trust fund. In short, Tyler can be a mirror for the privileged millennial who had it easy growing up because all the support systems he required were served to him on a silver platter. All the sudden pivot to fitness and networking is also so very millennial if you ask me. We can all relate. LOL.

Brian, on the other hand, is more Gen-Z as already mentioned but his struggles are relatable if you do not belong to the privileged crowd. Did you have to hustle to survive as you waded through the murky waters of adolescence before finally reaching the shores of maturity? Brian gives you a good flashback of those hard days. He also reminds us that as human beings, it is normal for us to look for mentors who can guide us, as well as how many of them are just capitalizing on such a necessity but not really concerned about your well-being, often just showing up to take advantage of you when you are at your most vulnerable.

The rest of the support characters are there for exactly just that. Support. Their backstories are never fully explored, most of which are just hinted at in single blink-and-you’ll-miss paragraphs that are too lazy to tell you more. It is hard to empathize with characters you know close to nothing about. The only other interesting character is Abe, but he doesn’t really get that interesting until the last few pages. If anything, the ending feels like contrived catharsis, a possibility of an easy way out for the trio instead of making them face the consequences of their actions.

Santorella has another novel in the works to be published in 2025 entitled Shy Trans Banshee. It looks like he has found a niche for himself and he is doing the community a huge favor by sharing their stories, with a supernatural twist. Bored Gay Werewolf is okay but anticlimactic. You flip through the pages waiting for something big to happen, except nothing does. The ending hints at a larger shared universe and it looks like the author is already angling for the possibility of big/small screen adaptations. Personally, this novel strikes me as streaming-ready, and I can already imagine it as a comedy TV series.