Dean Wesley Smith

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published over two hundred novels and over seven hundred books, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories. He has over thirty million copies of his books in print.

At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the cold case mystery series, Cold Poker Gang series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch sold more than 35 million books worldwide. She publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance.

Her novels made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction appeared in more than twenty best-of-the-year collections. She 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.

The Year of the Cat: A Cat of Fantastic Whims by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

Most cats pursue the business of their lives in ways both fantastic and whimsical.

In this entertaining volume of stories, cats perform as muses, inhabit fairy tales, consort with ghosts and zombies, and one cat even reigns as fantasy queen.

Enter the fantastic world of whimsical cats and enjoy!

Includes:

"Searching for the Familiar" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
"Speechless in Seattle" by Lisa Silverthorne
"Queen of the Mouse Riders" by Annie Reed
"The Kingdom of Cats and Birds" by Geoffrey Landis
"Cat Leading the Way" by Dean Wesley Smith
"A Powerful Friend" by E. Nesbit
"Clyde and the Ghost Cat" by Jamie Ferguson
"Dead Fred" by Liz Pierce
"Un-Familiar" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Introduction

A CAT OF FANTASTIC WHIMS

Dean Wesley Smith

One of the most natural mixes in fiction is cats and fantasy. It seems that stories through the centuries about cats tend to lean toward the side of fantasy more than any other genre. In fact, I don't even think it's close.

So, of course, we had to have one of the twelve volumes of cat books with that theme.

Here are titles of the twelve volumes of cat stories we are putting together.

-— Book One

A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

-— Book Two

A CAT OF PERFECT TASTE

-— Book Three

A CAT OF DISDAINFUL LOOKS

-— Book Four

A CAT OF STRANGE LANDS

-— Book Five

A CAT OF COZY SITUATIONS

-— Book Six

A CAT OF SPACE AND TIME

-— Book Seven

A CAT OF HEROIC HEART

-— Book Eight

A CAT OF ROVING NATURE

-— Book Nine

A CAT OF ARTISTIC SENSIBILITIES

-— Book Ten

A CAT OF FANTASTIC WHIMS

-— Book Eleven

A CAT OF FERAL INSTINCTS

-— Book Twelve

A CAT OF ROMANTIC SOUL

In this fantastic group of stories, we have cats being muses, in fact three stories of that role that cats play. And we have cats in fairy tales, cats with ghosts, psychic cat with a zombie, and maybe even a cat as a fantasy queen.

And, of course, with these stories we didn't even scratch the surface of how cats play a part in fantasy in literature. Not even close.

Why is that? My guess is that every fantasy writer on the planet is owned by a cat. And cats must play a part, usually a leading part. Just the nature of cats.

Dean Wesley Smith
Las Vegas, Nevada