International bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov's Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.
Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award.
Rusch writes in many genres, from science fiction to mystery, from western to romance. She has written under a pile of pen names, but most of her work appears as Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Her Kris Nelscott pen name has won or been nominated for most of the awards in the mystery genre, and her Kristine Grayson pen name became a bestseller in romance. Her science fiction novels set in the bestselling Diving Universe have won dozens of awards and are in development for a major TV show. She also writes the Retrieval Artist sf series and several major series that mostly appear as short fiction.
Rusch broke a number of barriers in the sf/f field, including being the first female editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She has owned two different publishing companies, and she is an in-demand speaker about business and craft. She also writes a highly regarded weekly publishing industry blog. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com, thefeyseries.com).
Five of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's most popular cat stories. They run the gamut from the award-winning "The Secret Lives of Cats" to the whimsical "The Poop Thief." Other stories in the collection include reader favorite "What Fluffy Knew," the short mystery "Scrawny Pete," and the Fey prequel "Destiny."
I not only edit a lot of cat stories, I write a lot of cat stories. Most of the stories in this collection were inspired by my own cats, although a few of the cats in the stories take on a life of their own. For example, if you like Winston (who has a small magic), you'll can see more his adventures with cats in Unfamiliarity, another collection of cat stories. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
"Only a true cat lover could have written the crisply written and witty mystery, What Fluffy Knew from a cat's perspective. All the writing is as good as it gets making this cat lover purring with delight."
– Catwisdom101.comIntroduction
Maybe I write about cats because I live with them. I have had as many as 12 and as few as one. Much as I love them, I do feel as if I'm living with alien creatures. I understand what they do, but the understanding is shallow. I can predict their behavior, but never truly know why they do what they do.
The only cats in this collection who are pure cats are the cats in "The Secret Lives of Cats." Inspired by a German photographer who really did rig up cameras on his outdoor cats, I thought as I read about him what if his cats brought home pictures of an unexpected subject?
Sometimes I think Solanda, the Fey Shapeshifter whose chosen form is feline, is also a true cat. She's loyal, but surprised by it. Her story spreads through the first few novels of the Fey. "Destiny" happens before those dark days.
I wrote "What Fluffy Knew" and "The Poop Thief" for invitation anthologies on particular subjects. I wrote "Fluffy" for Alien Pets. Since I already thought cats were alien, I decided to explore something else. That thought, along with the recent death of my very pampered cat Ashley, inspired "Fluffy."
I wrote "The Poop Thief" for an anthology called Enchantment Place, a loosely collected group of magic-shop stories. I had no idea at all for the anthology until I heard an ad for a local clean-up company that promised to "steal the poop from your backyard." Suddenly, in the rather magical ways that stories come about, I had "The Poop Thief."
As for "Scrawny Pete," I have no idea where that story came from. It just happened one day. Rather like Scrawny Pete himself, I think.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this small group of stories. I will publish other five story collections. They'll unify around genre or topic. So enjoy this first offering. I had fun putting it together.
—Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lincoln City, Oregon
July 1, 2010
