Kenneth Hite ([info]princeofcairo) wrote,
@ 2005-01-18 16:03:00
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Entry tags:the writing life

We've Traced The Call, It's Coming From Inside The Cat
Last week, I was pretty sure that my upcoming "Suppressed Transmission" column was going to be about the London Monster, because I've finally gotten around to reading Jan Bondeson's book on the topic.

But while I was reading it, Nancy kept wanting to be played with, or crawling up on the couch, or racing around the room like a spaz, and now I keep thinking "Hey, Dick Whittington and his cat. I'll bet there's an ST in there. Or maybe that weird 'king of the cats' thing with Yeats and Swinburne. Or Puss-in-Boots."

So now I don't know what it's going to be about, but the odds are apparently 3 to 1 that it will involve a cat.


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[info]gridlore
2005-01-18 09:47 pm UTC (link)
Ypu'll include the Cheshire Cat, of course.. and Bast's role in the Egyptian mythos.

I once ran a GURPS game where the characters were Jellicle Cats in Edwardian London. They had to use their magical powers to repair the damage that all those silly societies like the Golden Dawn were doing with their half-formed rituals. Game didn't last long, but we had fun.

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[info]princeofcairo
2005-01-18 10:05 pm UTC (link)
Well, whatever it is, it won't involve all the cat-related stuff it might, because there's too much of it.

But that Jellicle Cat game sounds pretty grand. I'm not sure I'd have run it in GURPS, myself, but still...

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[info]elissa_carey
2005-01-18 09:54 pm UTC (link)
That would be a great ST article. Maybe there is something to cats being able to steal a person's breath, or soothing women in labor. (Hah. If the latter were true, you might see a lot more cats in hospitals...)

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[info]irishspy
2005-01-18 10:33 pm UTC (link)
Or talk about what interests cats may have in the London Monster.

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[info]walsfeo
2005-01-18 10:35 pm UTC (link)
For cat gods you should include Meerclaw from the Young Kingdoms.

When did you get a cat? I must have missed that memo.

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[info]princeofcairo
2005-01-19 06:20 am UTC (link)
The lovely and talented [info]mollpeartree describes the Origin Of The Cat here, for the interested.

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[info]ratmmjess
2005-01-18 10:44 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps what, exactly, it is that cats are reacting to when they seem to hear and see things that we don't?

(I mean, besides the Rats in the Walls)

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[info]pyat
2005-01-18 10:48 pm UTC (link)
You could discuss the sexy, gun-toting, space-faring cats of Albedo!

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[info]timgray
2005-01-18 10:53 pm UTC (link)
Is the "king of cats" thing the rather horrible taghairm ceremony?

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[info]princeofcairo
2005-01-18 11:20 pm UTC (link)
No, it's a reference to the folktale. Both Yeats and Swinburne were odd ducks, but I'm fairly sure they both drew the line at roasting kitties.

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[info]chadu
2005-01-19 12:10 am UTC (link)
You could always go back to the ABC/Beast of Exmoor/Swamp Ghost sort of well.

CU

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Cats, cats, cats
(Anonymous)
2005-01-19 03:11 am UTC (link)
DOn't forget Gaiman's "Dream of a Thousand Cats" and its reference to a previous cat-dominated reality. Don't forget the Loewenmensch! (And mix them together for a feline Madness Dossier twist -- Project Sandbox, maybe?)

Do you have the "History of the Wimsey Family" by, uh, some English heraldry expert, which traces Lord Peter's family back to the Norman Conquest and manages to link their arms (sable, three mice argent) and crest (a cat couchant) to just about every nursery rhyme, folk tale, and place name involving cats or mice in England.

Nor neglect Cordwainer Smith...

Cambias

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[info]mytholder
2005-01-19 03:28 am UTC (link)
Drag in Black Shuck, and you've got the Secret History of Cats and Dogs.

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(Anonymous)
2005-01-19 03:35 am UTC (link)
Hurm. There's also the Lovecraftian side, with the Ulthar story, the Cats of Saturn, and his own obvious servitude to our cat overlords (fearful as he was to stir from his chair lest he wake a kitten). Don't know if the Gaiman cats dreaming story warrants a mention, but the Lovecraft connection, definitely.

Scott Michael Harris

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[info]former_pirate
2005-01-19 09:38 am UTC (link)
And of course, there's the Bard. Tybalt being the "Prince of Cats".

Macbeth: Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,”
Like the poor cat i' the adage.


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[info]robotnik
2005-01-19 12:59 pm UTC (link)
Gamers and cats, man. What is it about them? I'll hold out for the column about dogs. Or parakeets.

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[info]madmoses
2005-01-19 09:30 pm UTC (link)
It's not just the gamers. All the intelligent races in the universe are keeping cats as pets.

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[info]walsfeo
2005-01-20 04:27 am UTC (link)
You mean being kept by cats AS pets.

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[info]drlucky
2005-01-19 03:18 pm UTC (link)
"You with the article writing job! Return home and tell Gloria that the Chancellor has died!"

>B

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[info]aberranteyes
2005-01-22 03:19 pm UTC (link)
My dad suspects that Tommy was a ginger tom and was sold in Beirut (or just maybe Antioch), because there's apparently a population of ginger cats there (whichever "there" actually applies) that's pretty much the only significant one in Asia minor, major or even minimus.

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