I took some photos since I got my new camera on Labor Day and finally loaded the software into my computer and uploaded the best photos tonight. The Nikon photo editing program is more sophisticated than the one I've been using for several years, but I'm not comfortable with it so for now I just used the old one. I may try to research the various functions of the Nikon one when I have time. But I needed to make sure I could do everything I need to for the KGB reading tomorrow night.

Sophie and Bella and doll heads
ellen_datlow: (Default)
( Mar. 3rd, 2011 04:09 pm)
the coming kitty apocalypse
via jezebel

I especially like the West Side Story homage.
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A couple of new photos of Bella and a lot of Sophie taken in early June

and also some photos pre-and post The Beastly Bride reading at McNally Jackson. Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten to take pix of the actual event, or of all the readers with the book showing. Ugh.

The photos of me, Jeff, Greg, and Rick were taken at a cafe on Sullivan Street a block from Rick's apartment. We had time to kill before the reading so enjoyed the lovely weather by having a few drinks.

The other photos were either taken in the cafe of McNally Jackson or at a restaurant some of us went to after the readings.

The one person missing from these photos is Nan Fry, who was sitting with friends when I took these photos in the shop's cafe and didn't join us for dinner afterward. But she did a lovely job reading her poem.

It has come to our attention that some reviewers have asserted that, in Ellen Datlow’s anthology Tails of Wonder and Imagination, "you'll find cats being burned alive, skinned, tortured by evil scientists, strangled by psychos, and murdered in at least a dozen horrific ways." We at Night Shade wanted to assure our readers that relatively very few cats were harmed in the making of this anthology.

In order to reassure cat lovers who are fearful of accidentally coming across a tale of a cat being harmed, we have created this handy little guide:



Two caveats: (and this is totally my fault):
"Catch" by Ray Vukcevich was given two happy cats but probably should only have been given one. I personally have always found the story quite funny but that one seems to have drawn the most upset from cat lovers

"Puma" by Theodora Goss was given only one happy cat, which implies that terrible things happen to the cat in the story. Well, they did, but wayyy before the story begins. In the story itself, the cat is fine.

When you've read each story you can always come back here and complain about my rating or please tell me if you agree that they're accurate.

The Happy Cat Rating System
Tails of Wonder and Imagination has been reviewed in
Publishers Weekly: "This is that rarity of rarities: an anthology of cat stories worth reading."

Booklist: "Datlow brings horror, sf, and fantasy all into the volume on equal footing, making it likely that even genre readers who aren’t cat people will find something very much worth their while in it."— Regina Schroeder

Library Journal: "This broad sampling of cat tales from authors including Tanith Lee, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and Michael Bishop is a good overall anthology that should appeal to short story fans and cat lovers."
Apparently, my author's copies have been sitting at my po box for about a week. I went in today and was asked...did you know you had a box? Ummm no....and when the box was brought out, lo and behold, it had Tails of Wonder...typed on it. And I see the book is available at
Tails of Wonder and Imagination amazon now!
Ok. I'm working on my introduction to Tails of Wonder and Imagination and have hit a brick wall. Obviously, there are many more stories written about cats than any other animal (including dogs). The big question is why? What is it about the feline (domestic and wild) that lends itself to story form? Inquiring minds (well, this one) want to know.

I don't believe it's just because so many writers have cats. Any ideas out there?

Just fyi, I'd like to use some of the responses (adapted) in my intro, so if that's not ok, please let me know.
ellen_datlow: (Default)
( Aug. 17th, 2009 12:11 pm)
..not to mention, about to do errands. After unpacking I discovered that the luggage I use --a big garment bag--has zipper problems so I need to buy a new one before my next trip (which isn't for awhile).

Had a great time with (very) old friends and now busily back to reading for Best Horror and Tails of Wonder and the Imagination. Bought some more stories yesterday evening and am awaiting responses on some others I want to buy. The most recent reprint acquisitions are by Graham Joyce, Elizabeth Hand, Sharyn McCrumb, and Catherynne M. Valente.

It's another hot day so I'm not eager to go out but must...
Later.
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I'd particularly like to find something about the great cats: lions, tigers, etc...something dark...I've got this strong feeling there have to be some great, recent (written within the past 30 years) horror stories taking place in Africa that I've missed--anyone know of any?
My reprint anthology is going well, but I'd like some more suggestions of GREAT cat stories--from after 1980. So forget the obvious ones like "Spacetime for Springers."

I am looking for stories in which cats--domestic or wild, large and small felines are important to the story. I've looked in the obvious places-the various cat anthologies-and am more interested in finding terrific under-reprinted stories from out of the way places: mainstream, mystery, horror, fantasy, and sf. No cat detectives (I've got em), no cutesy cat stories. PLEASE ONLY RECOMMEND STORIES YOU LOVE AND THINK ARE TERRIFIC. (not your own)

If you want to see what's been recommended already I believe you can see them here:


cat stories already recommended



Here's the list of what I've already bought or hoping to buy:
The Price by Neil Gaiman
Guardians by George R. R. Martin
Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion by Charles de Lint
No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be… by A. R. Morlan
Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats by Michael Bishop
Not Waving by Michael Marshall Smith
Bean Bag Cats® by Edward Bryant
Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality by Michaela Roessner
The White Cat by Joyce Carol Oates
Returns by Jack Ketchum
Healing Benjamin by Dennis Danvers
Cat in Glass by Nancy Etchemendy
Catskin by Kelly Link
Coyote Peyote by Carole Nelson Douglas
Pride by Mary A. Turzillo
Arthur’s Lion by Tanith Lee

And stories on my short list (I'm awaiting permissions)
are by Nancy Springer and Lilian Jackson Braun

I haven't finished going through all the cat anthos or all the stories people have sent me. You can make the suggestions in the comments here.

Please do not recommend your own stories.

Thanks for everyone who has already recommended stories they love
I'm editing an ALL REPRINT anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror cat stories from the past 20 or so years for Night Shade and would love suggestions. John Joseph Adams has graciously set up a spreadsheet for me to use ala what he's been using for his massive reprint anthologies.

Here is the list of the stories I'm thinking of using.

Also, I already have in-hand several cat anthologies so please don't rec anything from them--if you click Cat story spreadsheet you'll see which I've got and a rec form.
The spread sheet is fixed now.

But if you have a problem, let me know here.
Thanks everyone in advance.

Edited to add: NO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS unless requested.


Another edit December 21st: And no replies unless I take something, in which case I will let you know.
I'm not even going to start reading for this until February or March so for now, I'm just putting the incoming stories in a folder.

and happy winter solstice :-)
My cat horror antho, which is coming out from Wildside in a new, trade paperback edition this summer will look like this:
.

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