Kit Cats & Scribes
Writers and cats, is it such an odd mix, probably not, but it is a common one. Heres a few examples: Natsume Soseki’s loved cats so much he wrote three volumes of I Am Cat, Angela Carter loved cats but some of her ancestors were witches, so she had to, T.S Elliot had his Book of Practical Cats (somebody should make a musical out of it) Hunter S. Thompson loved guns and cats, Bukowski loved cats better than he loved people, Iris Murdoch loved cats more than her husband, and Hemingway’s polydactyl cats still thrive in Key West… so why cats and scribes? I can’t believe cats are attracted to writers; unless it’s the scratching of quills and pens do it for them them, or perhaps typewriters and laptops are the most comfortable places on earth? No, it has to be the other way around, scribes and scribblers see something in the cats chilled independence and aloof cool that attracts, maybe it’s their arbitrary goofiness; their I’ll love you when I want to attitude we respect… or maybe it’s just tales for tails. Whatever the reason, they continue to be a great source of inspiration across cultures and genres, and that’s been the inspiration I’ve been tapping into for my new collection of short stories, a genre crossing collection of adventures with Giles Bastet, 9th Heavenly Cat, lord overseer of accidental death. Watch this space, more soon…
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in the writing shed 