I am delighted to announce that my next book, All the Furs and Feathers: Book 1 in the Cat Tales series will be released by BWL Publishing on April 1, 2023. Unlike my first two books, Kelegeen and Erin's Children, All the Furs and Feathers is not historical fiction. Instead it is humorous animal fantasy.
If you wonder what brought on such a deviation from my normal writing fare, it was occasioned by an illness and two cats.
About five years ago as I was recovering from major surgery after a long bout of chronic diverticulitis, I was watching my two cats, Smokey and Autumn Amelia, interact with each other - always an entertaining show. I started wondering what they would be like if they were human. Before long, a story began to form in my mind. As with most stories, I couldn't let it linger there for very long and started writing it. I made Smokey, my sleek Russian Blue, an architect at Fluffington ArCATecture and Autumn Amelia, my food-loving calico Maine Coon, a chef and baker savant.
When Smokey lands the account of her dreams, her boss, Abigail Fluffington, says that if she's successful, she'll become a partner and inherit the business when Abigail retires. This may seem like a dream come true, but there's a problem. The land for the proposed park is adjacent to Rodent Way. Activist Jerome J. Rately quickly organizes R.A.T. (Rodent Action Task Force) and stages a protest.
Meanwhile, quirky, but loveable, Autumn Amelia is busy dishing up meals too delicious for any fur or feather to resist and wandering into the kitchens of local restaurants to improve their recipes.
Together with their furred and feathered friends, Smokey and Autumn Amelia must find a way to make the proposed park a reality if only they can figure out how to abolish the long-standing animosity between felines and rodents.
When I began, I was only writing this story to amuse myself and pass the time while I was stuck at home recuperating. Before long, I had several chapters and it was flowing in a way that nothing I've ever written before or since has ever done. Even after I was fully recovered and back to work, I kept returning to it. By then I was completely hooked. I was working on Erin's Children at the same time so I didn't give it my full attention, but once that manuscript was completed, I returned to it until I could finally write "The End."
But that's when I realized it wasn't really the end. So many more ideas for the characters filled my head, I knew it would have to be a series.
If you're wondering how I picture the cats, here's my Smokey and Autumn Amelia as they might look in All the Furs and Feathers:
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Smokey Autumn Amelia
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