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Fantasy: September 22, 2021 Issue [#10989]




 This week: Cats
  Edited by: Robert Waltz
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.
         ― Garrison Keillor

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
         ― Christopher Hitchens

“Meow” means “woof” in cat.
         ― George Carlin


Word from our sponsor

ASIN: B07K6Z2ZBF
Amazon's Price: $ 4.99


Letter from the editor

From wizards' familiars to anthropomorphic cat-people, cats can be found throughout Fantasy.

As most of us are familiar with the common domestic cat (felis catus), fantasy felines often share traits with our whiskered household companions, though of course larger cats such as lions and tigers are often represented as well.

What is it about cats that make them so suited for Fantasy writing? Well, anyone who serves as staff to a cat could probably tell you: they're by turns inscrutable and communicative, mysterious and playful, relaxed and hyperactive. In short, there's plenty of opportunity to make them interesting, multi-leveled characters, and that's not even counting the ones that, in Fantasy stories, speak or act human-like.

While their canine counterparts have been companions to humans since before civilization, it's thought that the rise of civilization contributed to the partnership between human and feline. From a purely utilitarian perspective, they provided effective pest control: civilization required grain stores, rodents really liked stored grain, cats really liked eating rodents.

But not everything has to have a utilitarian purpose. What, after all, is the purpose of La Gioconda? Of Michelangelo's David? Of poetry? No, cats are more than just mouse-murderers (mine aren't particularly good at that, for example); living with cats is like living with art.

For most of history, people understood cats' connection to the mystical. Sure, from time to time, some cultures turned them into demons (and, to be fair, sometimes they sure act like them), but there's far more evidence of cat appreciation than of ailurophobia.

Any story can be improved by the addition of a cat, but they're especially suited to fantasy.

But if you're looking for an editorial about dogs, someone else will have to write that one.


Editor's Picks

Some fantasy, with or without cats:

An Evening With Oedipus  [13+]
A cat gets into trouble when he starts thinking
by Barefoot Bob


 
Sound Determination  [E]
Inter-dimensional sound quest.
by Teargen


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor


 In Dreams  [E]
A musing on mortality. For mum.
by L.V. van Efveren


The Nøkkensong  [18+]
A talented young girl begins catching more than fish.
by As Luck Would Have It


 cat's secret* tenative  [ASR]
a cat travels back in time to unravel a girls memories. uncompleted
by Ey Stargazer


 Back to School for Heroes   [ASR]
12 Years after The Great War, Invaders from another Universe Terrorize the Young Utopia
by Twiga


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor

 
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Word from Writing.Com

Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Don't forget to support our sponsor!

ASIN: 1945043032
Amazon's Price: $ 5.99


Ask & Answer

Last time, in "Weather, I discussed the weather.

Beholden : Thanks very much for including my short story, Talking Heads, in your Editor's Picks.

         You're most welcome!

And that's it for me for September! See you next month. Until then,

DREAM ON!!!



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