The Guardian Cats of New York City: Shin-Nephura’s Neighborhood Now Available for Sale!

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Hey, all!

As I mentioned last week, I’m starting to put short stories back up for sale again, and I’m starting by republishing the ones that were published before.  As you can tell from the illustration, the first story to get this treatment is Shin-Nephura’s Neighborhood.  My apologies to the fans of the kittehs, but yes, this does mean that the free version of this story has been taken down from this site.

Take a look at the updated Books page, the brand-new Short Stories page, or Shin-Nephura’s own page.  Or if you’re impatient, just head straight to Amazon or Smashwords to pick yourself up a copy.

To whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt:

It was deep into the night. Even the most cat-spirited of two-legs had finished with eating their burned meats, drinking their mind-fogging poisoned waters, and inhaling their strange-flavored smokes. They had all returned to their dens to mate and to sleep. Only those with no den of their own remained out in the open airs, or those performing some strange human task or other. The great metal serpents still roared in their caves, but their bellies were nearly empty.

It was the time of the Cat.

The cat known to other cats as Shin-Nephura the Gentle, to herself by the secret name no other knew, and to the two-legs as Dodger, was out walking the streets of her domain.

She was known as “the Gentle” because she was affectionate and gracious to the two-legs of her domain, visiting them often and allowing them the liberty of scratching her head and stroking her back once she was sure they belonged. This familiarity had the benefit of teaching her much about the two-legs. For example, she knew that the name they’d given her came from one of those marvelous two-legs stories, and that it was the name of a clever thief. This pleased Shin-Nephura greatly; clever thieves are highly esteemed among cats. Also, many cats who were less in-tune with their two-legs were confused by such habits as putting on obvious mating displays and heat pheromones, but not mating. Shin-Nephura understood that the mating ritual of the two-legs was simply much longer and more complex than that of cats.

Perhaps most importantly, she had learned the names with which the two-legs marked her territory. Two streets marked the boundaries of her territory, and she lived where they came together. Their names were “Seaman Avenue” and “Dyckman Street”. For some reason, the two-legs seemed to find this funny.

She had a family of two-legs that she stayed with, who fed her and tended her hurts and stood as her companions. But unlike many cats that shared nearby dens with the two-legs, Shin-Nephura did not content herself with enjoying their companionship, playing and taking the food they gave her. She kept to the old Compact: “You will shelter us, feed us, and care for us in our illness and injury. You will honor us and give us good company. In exchange, we will protect you from the rodents that eat and foul your food, the insects that trouble you and bring disease, and the darker things that come out of the night.”

During the day, Shin-Nephura guarded the food place that her two-legs ran (in her clever listening, she had learned the words “corner bodega”).

By night, she walked a patrol.

She’d finished checking the courtyard and was just returning to the Corner Bodega when she stopped, ears pricked.

“Aaaaaalllleeeee”

Something was coming. Something that raised the fur along her spine and made her claws twitch involuntarily in their sheaths.

“AllEEEEE!”

Closer and louder now. Close and loud enough so that even a two-legs could have heard it. If any two-legs did hear, they would have been disturbed, even frightened, but they wouldn’t know why. Shin-Nephura knew. Whatever was coming was…wrong. It had come from the river – it squished and dripped and splashed with every step, and Shin-Nephura could smell the tidal muds – but it was no right part of the world of cats, birds, mice and two-legs.

It drew closer, and Shin-Nephura finally caught a whiff of something other than the muds.

Rotten meat.

Not like the food the two-legs so wastefully threw away, the meat just moldy or spoiled enough to be flavorful, but the smell of something long dead and decayed.

“aaAAallEEEeee!”

As the dead thing came around the corner and into view, Shin-Nephura’s hackles went all the way up and her claws scraped on the sidewalk.

A two-legs. The dead, lurching, half-rotten thing was a two-legs.

No wise cat wishes to face a two-legs in a straight fight. Slow, clumsy, half-deaf, night-blind, nose-numb, so often strange and silly in their behavior…it was easy to underestimate them. But yet, they were giants. Their strength was immense and their clever forepaws could create horrors. Once a cat was in a solid grip, there was little hope of wriggling free. The best one could hope for was to make the price too high.

“AAAaalleeee”

Still. She had a duty. The ancient compact.

The dead thing was shambling toward the iron gates that led into the courtyard. They were locked, but Shin-Nephura doubted that would be any obstacle. Locks and gates were little use against something like this.

“AAAA—”

“You are not welcome in my territory, dead thing.”

Spotlighted Link: Slacktivist

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I’ve been following Fred Clark’s blog, Slacktivist, for a very long time.  Back to the Typepad Days, as other long-running Slacktivites might say.  Nearly fourteen years now, almost since the very beginning of Fred’s famous deconstruction of the Left Behind books.

I chose Fred Clark to be my first Spotlighted Link, and the first link on my Links page, for three reasons:

  1. Fred’s Left Behind posts may be the best “What Not To Do” primer for writers on the Internet.  The Left Behind series is, as Fred himself says, “Instructively Bad”, and seeing their many flaws dissected (complete with suggestions as to how it could have been done better and even fix-fic in the comments) has aided the development of my own writing a great deal.
  2. Fred grew up in the White Christian Evangelical subculture, and remains a member to this day, though he is known in that subculture as “controversial” (which, if you were a reader of Fred’s work, you would know means “heretical”).  Reading Fred gives you an intimate view into this subculture, with all its traditions and shibboleths.  If you’re an American, you may think you know them.  You don’t.
  3. Last but not least, Fred has been a tremendous inspiration to me personally.  His compassion and hunger for justice, and his writings on those topics, have given me both desire and directions to be a better person.  His post LB: The Rise of the Anti-Huck (a post from his Left Behind critique) is probably the best example I can offer, as he analyzes the greatest moment of Salvation and triumph of love over The Rules in American fiction…and contrasts it with the “heroes” of Left Behind.

Check it out!  Before you go, check out my brand new Links page.

By the way, as we say in pretty much every thread on Slacktivist, Fred has a Patreon.  Support the artist.

And while you’re at it, consider picking up some of Fred’s books, which collect his blog posts.

There’s

Long March of the Koalas

…which discusses his opinions on Creationism (spoiler: not only bad science, but bad religion).

And of course, there’s what you really came for: the two-volume The Anti-Christ Handbook, which collects his columns on the first book of the Left Behind series.

Anti-Christ Handbook 1

Anti-Christ Handbook 2

 

 

 

A Slight Change of Direction

Hello, all.

A few months ago, I took down all of my short stories from Amazon.  It didn’t seem that people were interested in buying them individually (though there were always a few who were glad to take them when I gave them away…), and I figured that people weren’t willing to shell out a buck for such a short story, not least because they were short enough that the 10% sample viewable on Amazon was essentially the title page.  I took them down on the theory of putting them back up later in anthologies.

I’ve received some feedback recently, however, that tells me that there are people who are interested in buying my short stories after all.  Given that, and also keeping in mind that it’s better in terms of publicity to keep producing work regularly, I’m going to republish the short stories I have saved at Amazon and Smashwords, then start putting up new ones.

This isn’t going to happen right away.  I figure one story a week, starting next week, should be enough.  But beware: once I put a story up for sale, I’m going to take it down here.  The exception will be stories like Dreams of the Boardwalk, which were posted as drafts, and the version for sale will be at least somewhat different.

And there will still be anthologies, sooner or later.  Keep your eye out for those.  I’ll let you know when.

Coney Island Images – June 4, 2016

Hello, all.

My fiancee’ and I visited Coney Island this past weekend, and when she started taking pictures, it occurred to me that this might be a good way to start my long-planned media page.  Since I talk so much about Coney Island in Dreams of the Boardwalk and my other works (both fiction and non), I thought it might be a good idea to share the sights of Coney Island with all of you.  Just a few today, but I think they’re good ones – check ’em out here!

 

Another Good Step For A Friend

Dubiousbyhabit of Sartorially Smart Heroines (who I will be adding to my link page as soon as I create it) has commissioned another character study of characters from his upcoming novel First Empress.  This time, it’s Pella and Zahnia, two young girls who escape from the setting’s equivalent of mad scientists to join Queen Viarraluca in shaping history.

(I should warn you: as much as I’ve enjoyed the excerpts of First Empress that I’ve been privileged to read, it approaches A Song of Ice and Fire in terms of brutality.  Unlike ASOIAF, the most “moral” character is also the most competent, but even she comes right up to the edge of “Villain Protagonist” territory sometimes.)

(Also, I must say that I’m considering following Dubiousbyhabit’s advice and contacting MJ for some artwork myself.)

Coming This Week

Hey, all.

I know it’s been a while since I delivered any new fiction.  That’s not because I haven’t been working on any.  Quite the opposite!  This week, you get to see what I’ve been working on all this time.

So join me on Thursday for the first chapter of Dreams of the Boardwalk, a fantasy set in the strange and glittering wonderland that is Coney Island.

And yes, when this story is completed, it will be part of Shining Towers, Shadowed Tunnels.

A Good Step For A Friend

Dubiousbyhabit of Sartorially Smart Heroines (which I will be linking here soon, for all that it’s currently on hiatus) is writing a novel called First Empress, a fantasy set in an iron age world.  I’ve been reading and reviewing parts of it, and I highly recommend getting yourself a copy  when it comes out.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

In the meantime, Dubious has commissioned a picture of two of the main characters: Queen Viarraluca and her handmaiden and lover, Elissa.

Head on over to Sartorially Smart Heroines and check it out…and while you’re there, keep in mind that Queen Viarra is actually more awesome than she looks in that picture.

“It’s about believing in yourself.”

I saw the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line for the first time last night.  It was a powerful movie, but there was one scene in particular that stuck with me:

If I could, I’d put a recording of that speech in my alarm clock.

Every artist, in every medium, has a responsibility to tell their truth in their work.  Maybe it will sell, maybe it won’t.  In the end, we have no choice, because nothing else will work.  You can’t tell someone else’s truth and make anyone else believe it.

Found Stories: The Meat Loaf Album Covers

This story was originally published on my old blog on February 19, 2013.  I include it here partly because I think it’s an interesting meditation on creativity, inspiration and the process of writing…and partly because I really like it and want to share it with a new audience.

As I say on my About page, I’ve always loved the Stories. But here’s the thing about the Stories: they don’t stop. Call it a blessing, call it a curse – I can look at the most unlikely thing and build a story out of it. For example, I’ve built an entire mythos out of Meat Loaf album covers. It’s true. Let me show you what I mean:

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Continue reading “Found Stories: The Meat Loaf Album Covers”

For the Fans

I wasn’t originally planning to post tomorrow’s next story.  It was the last of the “Guardian Cats” stories to be completed, and I’m still not sure that it’s up to the same standard of quality as the others.

But I’ve received such a strong positive reaction to the Guardian Cats series – plus some straightforward requests – that I’ve decided to go ahead and publish that final story (though who knows?  If I keep getting a reaction like the one I’m getting, maybe it won’t be the final Guardian Cats story).  It’s a sad tale, but it honors a cat I knew personally.

Come back tomorrow for Kodama’s Courage.