How my books are like my cats: a study in surprising similarities.
I’ve raised six cats so far in my life. I’ve written & published six books. There are some entertaining parallels. Let's take a look at them all, shall we?
(12/2/23 Editing to add a housekeeping point not made clear in the original links: all my books are available in paperback as well as multiple ebook formats. Some are also in audio, with more coming soon.)
First cat, first novel.
How is Controlled Descent like Jake the Cat, the first pet who was mine & mine alone? They're both:
A rectangular dark blue background decorated with a pattern of tiny, pale blue evergreens. On this background are images of a book and a cat. Left: the book titled "Controlled Descent" by K. M. Herkes, text in black on an image of two men slogging through a snowfield toward a distant city nestled against mountains. At the top of the cover are a round logo and the words "Stories Of The Restoration" against a cold blue sky with a plane descending in the background.On the right, a old-looking photo of a smug breadloaf of a sealpoint Siamese cat sitting on blue carpet in front of an electric baseboard heater.
a bit rough around the edges and not to everyone's taste
took a long time to mature
hold unique and special places in my heart
Purchase links for Controlled Descent at books2read.com (amazon, kobo, nook, and many more)
Or click here for the series page here on my site with more book information and links.
Second novel, Second cat.
A green rectangle decorated with pale green snowflakes frames a book cover and a photo of a cat. Book on the left. The words Flight Plan, K. M. Herkes, and Stories of the Restoration, overlay the sillhouette of a futuristic San Francisco Skyline against an orange-red sky with smoke spiraling up. On the right, a large colorpoint siamese cat with striking blue eyes stares out at the viewer with a look of patient resignation. A small gray cat foot rests against his chin, intruding from out of frame on the right side.
Oh, Banshee. The first cat I brought home as a rescue. That big, sweet cinnamon roll of a cat lived far too short a life--but that's not how he's like my second book, which is still in print and doing just fine, thanks.
Here's how Flight Plan resembles Banshee.
bigger than the first one
slightly goofy
lots of running around & tail-chasing
never got/gets as much respect as I think they deserve
Purchase link collection for Flight Plan via books2read.com
That series page here on my website again.
Third book, third cat
A dark blue rectangle with bpale blue snowflakes frames the image of a book cover and a photo of a fluffy gray kitten. Book cover on the left: text reads Weaving In the Ends by K. M. Herkes, Stories of the Restoration, above the image of hands knitting blue yarn on two wooden needles. On the right, a photo of a fluffy gray kitten licking his outstretched hind leg with his little pink tongue. At the extreme left of frame, a larger pale cats face and part of one ear are barely visible.
Cat three, Alexander Batwing Spook, got stuck with "Kitten" as his call-name. He was a sweetie. Weaving In the Ends shares that sweetness along with the following traits:
sleek, dark, & handsome
full of attitude
in love with yarn
more popular with my friends than the one who came before him.
Purchase link collection for Weaving In the Ends via books2read.com
That series page here on my website again.
If you look closely at the images of cat 2 & 3, you get an idea of their relationship. That's Kitten's foot kicking Banshee in the chin up above. This perfectly illustrates the relationship between the two books as well.
Onward to the Fourth book
Brght blue rectangle framing a book cover and a cat photo. Left side: thebook cover for Novices, showing the sillhouettes of two boys gazing acros a sunrise meadow at a dystopian ruined city. On the right, a huge longhaired orange cat with green eyes glares grumpily out of frame from the middle perch of a cat tree carpeted in beige.
Like Novices, Bruce, my fourth cat, started off short & got longer (The story began as a throwaway scene and ended as a novella. Bruce was a tiny shorthair kitten who grew into a big, flamboyant plume-tailed longhaired ball of fluff.)
More traits in common:
did not plan on getting another cat, did not plan on writing this book
sometimes cuddly, sometimes prickly
straightforward and undemanding.
just wants to be loved
Novices purchase links via books2read.com
That series page here on my website again.
Book 5.
Graded blue rectangle with the cover of Rough Passages on the left and a phot of a very black cat with very bright green eyes on the right.
Rough Passages was a big change in direction for my writing & ended up being unlike any book before it. Scooter was the first cat we brought home after owning our own house, and his arrival marked the beginning of a whole new adventure in cat ownership. More things Rough Passages and Scooter have in common:
uncanny ability to convince total strangers into picking them up and loving them.
thought-provoking at unexpected moments
sometimes dark
sometimes silly & humorous
made me cry more than once
Buy links for Rough Passages via books2read.com
Website page here with more infomation about my Rollover series
And finally, this!
A rectangle of alternating green stripes framing a book image and a cat photo. On the left, the cover of Sharp Edge of Yesterday. Text includes title, author name, and "A Rollover Novel" On the right, a brown Maine Coon cat with golden eyes gazes directly at the viewer from his sun-drenched nap spot beside a lighted evergreen tree.
Pippin is he newest and current cat. He is big, bold, gorgeous, fluffy, & complicated. He's also full of goodness, sticks with you, & rarely does what you expect.
In short, he's just like my latest novel in the Rollover universe, The Sharp Edge of Yesterday.
Oh--one last thing they have in common: long tails.
Books2read.com purchase link collection for The Sharp Edge Of Yesterday
My Rollover series webpage with more information
That's all for now. I expect there will eventually be another new cat, and there will definitely be more novels. It's gonna be fun to see how (or if) the trend of traits in common continues.
Until later.