Meet Smokey and Autumn Amelia by Eileen O'Finlan

 

                           

Click here for purchase information

All in the Furry Family, Book 2 in the Cat Tales series is scheduled for release in February. The main characters of the series are two sister cats, Smokey and Autumn Amelia. For those who have read the first book. All the Furs and Feathers, this is a refresher and for those who haven't read it, an introduction.

Smokerina "Smokey" Koshkyn:

Smokey is the elder of the two Koshkyn sisters. She is a Russian Blue cat, taking after her father's side of the family. Smokey is an architect employed by Fluffington ArCATechure, a highly successful business owned by Abigail Fluffington. Her best friend is Jasmine, also a Russian Blue and a web designer.

Coloration: Solid bluish gray

Strengths: Highly competent at her job and most other things, self-confident, formerly a superb mouser

Weakness: Terrified of coyotes
Quirks: She gets the zoomies about an hour before a storm and when excited. If it happens at work, she has to go to the basement to keep from zooming around the office.

Regrets: She feels responsible for making Autumn Amelia believe she's not a real cat.

Autumn Amelia Koshkyn:

Autumn Amelia is Smokey's younger sister. She's a calico Maine coon like their mother. Autumn is a baker and chef. In All the Furs and Feathers she works from home for Furry Confections, a bakery owned by Tabby Furry.

Coloration: Calico - white, burnt orange, and various shades of gray

Strengths: She is a culinary genius. Her lovable personality naturally brings furs and feather together.

Weaknesses: An overload of odd quirks and the fact that she's not sure she's a real cat because she's never caught a mouse.

Quirks: She snacks without realizing it while she's cooking because it gives her inspiration for new recipes. She can't go to restaurants because the aromas put her into a trance-like state that makes her take food from waiters' trays or other patrons' plates without knowing she's doing it. More than once, she's found herself in a restaurant's kitchen improving their recipes. She has a secret fantasy about being the Pirate Queen of the High Seas.

Regrets: She has never caught a mouse, not that she'd know what to do with it if she did catch one.

The characters Smokey and Autumn Amelia were inspired by my own cats of the same names. Sadly, the real Smokey went to the Rainbow Bridge a few years ago. Autumn Amelia, though getting on in years, still lives with me. She does not cook, but she does like to eat.

The real Smokey and Autumn Amelia

Coming in Early 2025: All in the Furry Family by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

I am delighted to announce that the second book in the Cat Tales series, All in the Furry Family, is scheduled for a February 2025 release. If you've read the first book, All the Furs and Feathers, you've met sister cats, Smokey and Autumn Amelia and their friends in Wild Whisker Ridge and Faunaburg. Now, join them for the wedding of the century when Abigail Fluffington marries their cousin, Greyson. That is if Abigail can stop being a bridezilla long enough to finalize the wedding plans.

On top of all the wedding chaos, Smokey is now Abigail's partner at Fluffington ArCATechture and Autumn Amelia is running Mama Cat's Kitchen in Oneness Park. It seems they've both achieved their dreams, but something odd is going on. Smokey is being stalked by two strange cats, and Autumn Amelia is running her paws off trying to juggle managing her own restaurant and bake two days a week for Furry's Confections. When Autumn meets her new neighbor, a handsome cat named Buster, and wants to spend more time with him, she knows something has to give. But what?

Join Smokey, Autumn Amelia, and all their furred and feathered friends as they try to navigate the many changes in their lives. Lots of new characters and loads of surprises await readers in All in the Furry Family Book 2 of the Cat Tales series.

Click here for purchase information

Break Out The Bubbly! by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

Time to celebrate! All the Furs and Feathers, the first book in the Cat Tales series just won First Place Best in Category for Humor & Satire. It was awarded by Chanticleer International Book Awards under their Mark Twain Award category.

To say I'm delighted is an understatement. As the book made it through each stage in the process, my excitement grew. First it had to clear the slush pile and make it to the Long List. Next came the Short List. After that was semi-finals. I had my fingers crossed each time an email arrived announcing the books that advanced to the next round. When All the Furs and Feathers finally made it to Finalist, I knew it had a good chance at winning one of the prizes.

The awards banquet was held on April 20th in Washington State. That's on the other side of the country from me, and I was unable to attend. None the less, I knew all the CIBA winners would be announced shortly afterwards. 

Day after day, emails trickled into my inbox announcing winners, usually two at a time. Every day I'd open an email only to find announcements of winners in categories other than Mark Twain. 

Finally, on May 1st the email announcing the winners in the Mark Twain Humor & Satire category landed in my inbox. I clicked on the icon holding my breath. It was a short but torturous scroll down the page to find the list.

And there it was. Right after the grand prize winner's name (Congratulations Mike Murphey!) I saw it: Eileen O'Finlan - All The Furs And Feathers

Okay, it was hardly the Nobel Prize for Literature, but it definitely made my day and then some!

The first thing I did was text or email my family, writing group, friends, and coworkers. Then I posted it on my Facebook page. Most importantly, I gave my cat, Autumn Amelia, a huge hug and thank you. After all, she's one of the main characters in the book. Without her and her sister, Smokey, (who is at the Rainbow Bridge), the book would never have been written. They inspired it.

Autumn Amelia assisting in the writing process.

As I write this post, I am more than halfway through the first draft of the next book in the Cat Tales series, All in the Furry Family. With an expected publication date of February 2025, readers won't have to wait too long for the further adventures of Smokey and Autumn Amelia. Expect a lot of surprises, silly antics, new characters, and even a wedding in Book 2.

Writing with Pets by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

As people who share their homes and lives with pets can attest, their furry companions are often involved in everything that goes on at home. For me, that includes writing. My two cats, Smokey (now a Rainbow Bridge Angel Kitty) and Autumn Amelia even inspired my latest book, All the Furs and Feathers. In some ways, they helped me write it since I often took my cues from their personalities.

It's one thing to pay attention to the pets, think about how they might respond given various fictional situations, and put it in a story. It's quite another to have them physically involved while trying to write that (or any other) story.

About a year ago, I became a Rover.com sitter and began boarding small dogs in my home for weekends while their pet parents were away. Two of them, Chewy and Bruce Lee have become regular clients. They are getting used to me spending time on my laptop while they are staying with me, though if a writing session runs too long in their estimation, they make their feelings known and cut it short. However, the last time they were at my house, Bruce Lee decided that rather than trying to drag me away from my writing, he'd help out. Here's how that went:

Does this mean he's now co-author on my next novel?

Not to be outdone by the dogs, Autumn Amelia has been spending more and more time huddle as close as she can get to my laptop whenever I'm working on it, inching ever closer to the keyboard. A strict editor, she keeps a close eye on my writing. I can tell when she thinks her editing skills are needed. Here, let me show you in pictures how that progresses:

Autumn settles in, ready to start assessing my current writing session.

Hmm...this could use some help.

Autumn thinks she can write it better so she takes over

It's well-known that pets bring us many joys and having them in our lives offer a number of benefits. Who knew writing help was one of them!

A Little Help From My Friend by Eileen O'Finlan

 

Click here for purchase information

Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

My cat, Autumn Amelia, has developed a new interest - my writing. Or more specifically, anything I'm doing on my laptop. Lately, whenever I'm working she insists on joining me. I'll be typing away, totally "in the zone" with my writing, oblivious to everything around me when suddenly an adorable furry face appears, obscuring part of my screen. She sidles up beside my laptop to take a peek at my work. If she approves, I get a head bonk. If not, a pair of white paws appear on the keyboard to help me out.

I must admit this can be rather bothersome at times. Helpful as she may think she is, the sudden emergence of a long string of random letters across my screen can be a bit disconcerting. Worse is when she hits backspace or delete and I lose what I've written. Once when I left my laptop unattended I came back to find that everything on the screen was upside down. I had to call a techy friend to walk me through putting it rightside up again. It took several steps so I've no idea how Autumn Amelia managed to get it into that condition in the first place. She's obviously very talented.

Lest you think I could ever get mad at her, check out this face. No one could get mad at this face!

Autumn Amelia behind my laptop plotting the right moment to "help" with my writing

She's been known to do a little proofreading, too.

Ghosts and Haunted Houses by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

 

As far as I know, I have never seen a ghost. However, I did live in a haunted house, although without my knowledge. When my husband and I and my brother and sister-in-law first moved to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island we bought a house that had been converted into a duplex. My sister-in-law told me that she was continually seeing a man coming and going from their side. I saw no one on our side.

I returned to Alberta to visit family and friends and was describing where our place was to a friend. She began asking questions about it and said that a friend of hers had lived in that house years earlier. She also asked me if I had seen the ghost who occasionally wandered through the house there. I said no, but my sister-in-law had.

She said that a man had died in that house and her friend had seen his ghost often while living there.

I’m not sure if the reason I did not encountered that ghost nor any others in my life is because I don’t believe in them or because I’ve been lucky. However, if a ghost is reading this, this is not an invitation to come to me and prove you are real.