From a Foggy Super Bowl Drive to a Full-Blown Franchise: Rick London and The Dancing Wolfeman

By Bubba Startz | REEL BIZ with Bubba Startz

Some of the greatest creative ideas don't arrive on cue. They don't emerge from a formal pitch meeting or a structured brainstorming session. They arrive quietly in the dark — sometimes literally. For author Rick London, the seed of what has become The Dancing Wolfman was planted on a fog-drenched country road on the night of January 25, 1998, driving home after watching the Super Bowl. Rolling hills, scattered light posts, low cloud cover, and the kind of eerie silence that makes your imagination run wild. That memory sat dormant inside of Rick London for over two decades — and then it became a book, a screenplay, and the foundation of an entire creative universe.

On a recent episode of REEL BIZ with Bubba Startz, Rick London joined us to talk about his debut novel, the creative process behind it, and where this story is headed next. If you're a fan of paranormal fiction, monster lore, or just a great story about a creator betting on himself, this conversation is for you.

A Memory Two Decades in the Making

Rick London is not your typical author. He has no formal writing training, no creative writing degree, and no MFA collecting dust on a shelf. What he has is a lifelong love of reading — hard-boiled detective stories, spy thrillers, adventure novels, and the occasional romance — and a memory that refused to let go of one very specific night.

"It looked like a perfect setting for a werewolf ambush," Rick told us on the show. That image, burned into his brain in 1998, resurfaced nearly twenty-five years later during a casual Friday night conversation with friends. When he mentioned his old buddy from that Super Bowl trip, the memory came flooding back. And this time, it didn't let go.

Rick first tried to develop the idea into videos. That didn't pan out the way he envisioned. So he pivoted — and decided to write a book. "I love reading. I'm an avid reader. I read every night," he said. "I said, you know what, let me give writing a shot. I believe from all the reading I've done that I could do something like this."

That instinct turned out to be exactly right.

The Music That Transforms a Monster

What sets The Dancing Wolfman apart from your typical werewolf tale isn't just the storytelling — it's the central concept at the heart of it. Rick's protagonist, Titus Wolf, doesn't follow the traditional werewolf arc of becoming a vicious, uncontrollable killer. Instead, it's the power of music that tethers Titus to his humanity while in wolf form, allowing him to become something the genre rarely sees: a savior rather than a monster.

The inspiration? Rick's son was learning to play the trombone. The case was propped up against the wall behind him every day as he wrote. One day, it clicked. "The light went on," Rick told us. "Music. Let's do it."

It's a beautiful metaphor woven into the fabric of the story — one that Rick says wasn't entirely intentional at first. "At the end when I kept reading, I'm like, hey, I got an interesting angle here." Titus is morally grounded. When the primal instincts of the wolf pull at him, music pulls back. It becomes a story about what any of us would do when we're pushed to our limits — would we hold onto who we are, or would we give in?

"Sort of like us," Rick said. "When presented with an intense situation, do we act like the person that we are? We keep our cool, our composure, and we stick to who we are." That's the real story of The Dancing Wolfman. The werewolf is the vehicle. The humanity is the destination.

Writing Without a Rulebook

One of the most fascinating threads of our conversation was Rick's approach to the craft itself. Because he came to writing without formal training, he also came without limitations. No rules about chapter length. No prescribed word counts. No techniques drilled into him by a professor insisting on a certain structure.

"It just came out naturally," Rick reflected. "I don't have any experience in writing, and then all of a sudden it just comes out from all the ideas I've gotten from reading all these great books over the years."

His method was simple and self-taught: write a chapter, then go back and read the entire manuscript from the beginning. Every time. "I've read my book at least 30 times," he told us, laughing. But it worked. The story flowed. The characters developed. The narrative built momentum on its own.

As I said to Rick on the show — it's hard to put a book into a box when you don't know the parameters of the box in the first place. That creative freedom is something I relate to deeply as a songwriter who's never had formal musical training. When no one has taught you the "right" way to do something, you often stumble into your own way — and sometimes that's the most authentic version of all.

The Long Game: Marketing, Community, and Patience

Rick published The Dancing Wolfman on December 9, and he's been doing the work ever since — getting on podcasts, building his online presence, and spreading the word about Titus Wolf and the world he's created. He's learned quickly that writing the book is only half the battle.

"The book's not gonna sell itself," Rick said plainly. "Make your own luck. Gotta go out there and do everything you can to get people to recognize it."

He's also learning to embrace patience — something every creator building from the ground up has to master. He's been told it takes anywhere from a year to a year and a half for a debut novel to gain real traction. Early on, the silence was discouraging. But research, community-building, and shows like REEL BIZ have helped him stay the course.

"This is a marathon," he said. "It's not a one-time, 'oh, it didn't work, nothing happened the first six months, what's the point?' No. It takes a while."

For aspiring authors listening, Rick's advice is gold: write it, release it, and then put in the work. Don't get paralyzed trying to make it perfect. "You have to put yourself in the eyes of the reader," he said. "Does the story flow? Do you have character development? Did you leave a cliffhanger? Your book doesn't have to be perfect — it just has to be good."

A Franchise Is Born

Here's where things get really exciting. The Dancing Wolfman is just Volume One. Rick has already mapped out at least four books in the series — and that's before accounting for the graphic novels he envisions, the screenplay he's already sent out, and the potential feature film that could bring Titus Wolf to the big screen.

The planned universe includes:

• Volume Two — a direct continuation of Titus Wolf's story

• An Origins book — diving deep into werewolf lore and how it connects to Titus's world

• Two prequels — one following Titus's love interest, one following Everett Kane, who begins as an apparent antagonist before becoming an unlikely ally

• Graphic novels — bringing the visual, kinetic action of the wolfman to life through illustrations and panels

"I love how a singular moment driving home from a Super Bowl has become an entire franchise," I told him near the end of our conversation. And I meant every word of it.

Where to Find The Dancing Wolfman

The book is available now across 16 retail platforms including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books. You can also purchase it directly from Rick's website at dancingwolfeman.com — look for the "Buy" button right at the top of the home page.

And after you read it? Please leave a review. As Rick emphasized before signing off: reviews aren't just for the author — they help other readers discover something new. They help the book surface in search results. They help the community grow.

Watch the Full Episode

Don't miss the full conversation with Rick London on REEL BIZ with Bubba Startz. Subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@REELBIZWithBubbaStartz so you never miss an episode as we continue to bring you conversations with creators, business owners, and visionaries from every corner of the industry.

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