Kristine Kathryn Rusch

New York Times 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.

She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own.

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).

Dean Wesley Smith

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith published far more than a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres.

At the moment he produces novels in several major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the Old West, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, a superhero series starring Poker Boy, a mystery series featuring the retired detectives of the Cold Poker Gang, and the Mary Jo Assassin series.

His monthly magazine, Smith's Monthly, which consists of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and offers readers more than 70,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.

During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, he wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.

He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.

Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing, where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as series editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series.

For more information about Dean's books and ongoing projects, please visit his website at www.deanwesleysmith.com.

The Year of the Cat - Book Four - A Cat of Strange Lands edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

Cats roam everywhere on the planet. Everywhere. Their breed names often betray their place of origin—or their strange origin story in some now-lost land.

This collection honors that feline diversity in odd ways as much as possible. And the strange lands that cats not only originate from, but find themselves in.

These cats prowl in a witch's hut, an enchanted shop, post-apocalyptic cities such as Las Vegas and Seattle, as well as across an ancient land where they once ruled as gods.

Come settle in for a journey through the kitty-cat cosmos.

Includes:
"Cat Web" by Meyari McFarland
"Burning Bright" by Leigh Saunders
"The Poop Thief" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
"Cat in a Different Place" by Dean Wesley Smith
"A Silly Question" by E. Nesbit
"The Witch's Cat" by Manly Wade Wellman
"Life, with Cats" by Annie Reed
"Night of the Hogtied Alien" by Stefon Mears
"Fur Tsunami" by Kent Patterson

CURATOR'S NOTE

In 2020, Dean Wesley Smith and I did a cat-oriented Kickstarter. We thought it would be great fun to publish one book per month for twelve months. A Cat of Strange Lands features cats from and in strange places. And I don't mean cats that forced themselves to the back of a cupboard. I mean post-apocalyptic cities or enchanted worlds. This anthology features some classic writers, like E. Nesbitt and Manley Wade Wellman, as well as stories by Stefon Mears and Dean Wesley Smith. If you like this Year of the Ccat book, go to https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/project/the-year-of-the-cat/ and pick up the volumes you've missed. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

Cats are everywhere on the planet. Everywhere: and their breed names often tell of the place they originated from in general. Or their strange origin story in some now-lost land.

For example, right now Kris and I have a cat named Cheeps. He is white with orange coloring, which makes him a red-point for his breed, which is Birman.

Birmans are rumored to have originated in Burma as temple cats, but their true history started in France in 1919. He is our second Birman and it is amazing how a breed's traits hold from cat to cat, even while their personalities are different.

So, with this collection, we wanted to honor that diversity of cats in odd ways as much as possible. And the diversity of locations that cats not only originate from, but find themselves in.

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

As with the previous volumes, it was not difficult to find stories to fit this title, especially since cats are strange just in general. In fact, the really hard job was to cut down the number of stories to nine.

We hope you'll enjoy the ones we did decide to go with.

Enjoy the ride.

Dean Wesley Smith
Las Vegas, Nevada