John Biscello

In my forthcoming novel, No One Dreams in Color, the protagonist, Andrew, has been deeply inspired by an experimental, nine-minute film called Wendigo. The spirit and mythical reonsance of the “wendigo,” an Algonquin legend that speaks to a ravenous creature associated with coldness, famine, and starvation, plays a significant role in the novel’s multi-layered narrative. Excerpt below:

“I recalled what Mack had said about New York having a wendigo spirit all its own. In extending that concept, or widening its umbrella, you might say that Wendigo-psychosis was the corrosive rot at the foundational base of American culture and society. That progress was nothing more than progressive illness and spiritual deterioration. The wendigo was not just some horrific, ice-hearted creature that stalked winter woods of the north, but a poison and virus that circulated freely beyond the parameters of its designated geography. And carried people into the dark inner sanctum of their own lonely winter woods.”