Hi, guys.
Last week when I emailed you, I was pretty low. The reason was that Taro had disappeared and seemed likely to have been a coyote's lunch. I am ecstatically happy to report that this was not the case. You can see him in the picture above, telling you all about it. I will translate for him, but first, some book news.
Cormorant Pre-Order is Up!
I got my new ebook covers, guys! Which means I can finally put up pre-orders!
Don't let the Dec 15 launch date fool you. Amazon has big penalties for missing a pre-order date, but none at all for moving it forward. Consequently, when an author is not 100% sure when a book will be ready, it's makes more sense to create a pre-order that's farther out than expected and then just move it up when the time comes. I expect Cormorant will be out before Dec 15.
And if you were waiting for the whole series to relaunch, all the rest are up, too! I've set an Oct 15 pre-order for them. Again, I'll probably pull the trigger sooner. Here's the series page.
Paper versions will be up by the time the ebooks go live. Audio is a bit trickier. Cormorant audio will not be ready before next year. All the rest have audio versions, but I need to reformat them to match the new arrangement of the novels. It will take a minute.
Related: Blockade Runner is up on my website for one more week and then it comes down. It's an airship adventure from the height of Silas's career sailing The Scarlet Albatross. Guaranteed to leave you in a good mood.
Stories that are not Panamindorah
There's nearly 60,000 words of new Hunters Unlucky-related content at the $5 level on Patreon. It's 2 novellas, and they are tagged to make them easy to find. The first novella, Lullaby, is appropriate for all ages like the original novel. The second one, Monthly Distraction, is for grown-ups only. I wrote these because I wanted to write them, not because I thought anyone wanted to read them. But a few of you will love them. ;)
So, Taro...
Taro disappeared on Thursday 9/9 about 4 PM. My mom was home and began looking for him about 5:30. She looked until 10 PM. She got my brother and sister-in-law involved. No Taro.
He and Mochi get backyard privileges during the day when someone is around. My yard is fenced and also has a dense hedge. The neighborhood is quiet and has no throughway, no busy roads, dogs always leashed. There are other cats about.
Taro and Mochi are capable of going over the fence, but I'd never seen them more than a few feet from my yard. They are always put up at night, and they look forward to bedtime, because that's when I play with them. Taro was particularly fond of bedtime. The fact that he didn't come home implied some disaster had befallen him.
None of this was my mom's fault. She didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Taro has been a bit overconfident lately. He is the equivalent of 21, with adult capabilities and a teenaged brain. I should have told her to keep them locked up.
I was on a 3-week anesthesia assignment in AZ when this happened. My family waited until Friday afternoon to tell me, hoping he would come home. By the time I found out, he'd been missing for 24 hours. Taro has never been outside at night in his life. There are always coyotes around in this part of the country, no matter how urban the setting.
So I spent the week-end in my hotel room in Yuma, losing my mind. I posted on all the lost pet groups, reported his chip missing, reported him to the humane society, called vet clinics, posted on Nextdoor (reviewed all of the horribly close coyotes sightings), cried a lot, etc. My Mom looked and called, made posters, talked to neighbors. No Taro.
Mochi and Taro are very smart and very bonded. They are twins, never separated in their lives. It's a small miracle that Mochi wasn't with him when he disappeared. I have a motion sensor camera on the cat door. There is video of Mochi coming in and out repeatedly right after Taro disappeared, before my mom even realized he was gone. Mochi had obviously started searching for him. He got locked up the second she realized Taro was gone.
The next day, Mochi stopped eating. He didn't eat very well during the following days. My mom said he would purr as she called for Taro. He would look around every time you said Taro's name. He went from room to room, searching. Of course, he lost his backyard privileges at the same time as he lost his brother, so he had fewer distractions.
I had to put babies (human babies) to sleep on Monday. I got through it, but by the end of the day, with night #5 approaching, I realized I couldn't continue doing my job. I called the agency and the hospital, told them I had a family emergency, and canceled the week's assignment. I have never done that in 10 years of locums. I canceled operating room days (they did find coverage; I don't think anyone's surgery got canceled). I bought a last-minute ticket out of pocket, and flew home to help look for Taro.
I knew he had probably already entered the food-chain via coyote, but I just wasn't going to ever have peace with this horrible thing if I didn't try while there was still a chance. I also thought I might be able to get Mochi to eat. I am Mochi's second favorite person. His brother is his favorite. I really cannot lose both of them.
I flew 1200 miles home, including a 20 minute connection, so that I could get there by 2:30 PM of day #5. I went all over the neighborhood calling him.
And guys...two hours later, he was at my front door, balling his head off.
*lots of happy crying*
The little monster has figured out how to make me come home from states away. His brother took about 12 hours to forgive him. Taro wanted to cuddle immediately and Mochi was like I HAVE BEEN MOURNING YOU, A*HOLE!
Taro has lost a pound or two, but otherwise unharmed. He is a poorly camouflaged cat, who somehow survived 5 nights in coyote country, having never spent a night outdoors in his life.
Someone may have taken him into their house and tried to keep him. He is beautiful and unusual looking. But, folks...he is NOT easy. If that is what happened, I hope he drove them bonkers. This is a cat who dismantles disposals, steals jewelry and electronics, checks inside purses for interesting objects, takes keys, chews through plastic packaging, opens doors, breaks remote controls by shoving them off countertops, and is quite vocal.
If someone took him, I hope he made their life a living hell for 5 days. And I'm so glad, because I would have done almost anything to get him back.
He's very chatty now. He's telling the story of his exploits to anyone who will listen. He wants to do all his favorite things at the same time. Mochi is giving him kisses again.
These guys are now indoor-only cats. That's a dice I'll never roll again. I'm screening in my back porch.
I wrote a poem for Taro when he went missing and a poem when he came home. I am not a poet, but sometimes it helps to package my feelings in the little box that is a poem.
From 9/12. He'd been missing 3 days -
I've swallowed something, and it's you. Too big and too bright.
I'm choking. You won't go down. This won't go down. I keep swallowing.
My little lead cat, my little boy,
dirty feet and water and teaching your brother bad habits.
You loved countertops and plastic and my bed and your grandmother.
You loved your brother like he was part of you, two brains, one mind.
Here's hoping you're somewhere else, turning on faucets and opening doors.
He's looking for you, purring every time we say your name.
I'm swallowing. It just keeps coming back up. You keep coming back up.
You knew when the credits rolled, and yours rolled much too soon.
I'm not there yet, baby boy. I can't accept it. I'm choking. I'm drowning.
There are no words. I miss you.
______________
From 9/15 -
You were out past your bedtime, little boy, when Death came walking.
You chased his trailing robes, because of course you did.
He turned and smiled at you with coyote teeth.
He looked at you with eyes made of cars and dogs and lawnmowers.
"What a pretty little cat. What a perfect short story."
Death loves short stories. Death loves micro-fiction.
He offered you dice and he offered you bones, and you played, baby boy, because you can't resist a game.
Death loves games. "Heads I win, tails you lose."
You amused him, so he plucked you up and took you home, gone without a trace.
While we called your name, he dumped you among his collections and went off to work.
While your brother looked for you and mourned, you roamed among the bones.
You found his watch. Death has so many watches, but you found his favorite.
When you'd lost it under the refrigerator, you dismantled his garbage disposal.
(Oh, the things that have gone down that drain.)
You hid his socks and broke all of his remote controls.
You turned on every faucet and sampled the Styx.
You opened every door. (Death has so many doors.)
You found his jewelry--all of it made from gold coins--and you danced and sent them flying.
You found his messenger bag, and you stole the keys to Hell.
You became bored at last and sang the song of your people outside his office.
When he saw what you'd done, he was angry.
He swung his scythe, but you danced across his kitchen table. (He thought you knew better; he was right.)
You knocked over your own hourglass (tails, you win).
And as the sand ran backwards, he opened the front door, screamed, "Get out!"
and you came home.
You can see lots of pics of Taro and Mochi on instagram.
Yours, an author who still has two Japanese Bobtail cats,
Abbie