ellen_datlow

the coming kitty apocalypse
via jezebel

I especially like the West Side Story homage.

Cat Safety Propaganda

via Jezebel

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

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!

..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.

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