Mystery Cats

[Vicki]

We all know how mysterious cats can be. How about thinking up some kitty mystery titles just for fun like:

"Siamese Spy." Or maybe "Meezer She Wrote" or "Double-O-Somali" or "Hercule PURRRoit" or "Dial 'M' for Meezer."

[Ann]

Why is my mind always goes a complete blank when I read a post like this?! I'll see if anything comes into my head when I'm pottering around. Silk is the member we need for this post. He has an incredibly fertile imagination and his own website is built around  a Feline Detective Agency.

Ann

[IggyAndBowie]

I love "Hercule PURRRoit"!  That is a great one.   ;D

I think this is very hard and I will take some consideration!

I have a wonderful book from Barnes and Noble bookstores that is a big compilation of feline mysteries.  I will look in that book and see what the best titles are.

Christina

[Maria]

When the de-flea treatment comes out, Bella could certainly have the title:  'The Lady Vanishes'

[Silk]

Thanks for the compliment Ann, I know I can always rely on you for a quick ego bosst to an exprireing writer


Mystery Titles eh? Well this is just tooo easy all I have to do is start listing the ones I'm working on, most of which are semi parodies of the title they are spoofing.

Lets see: If I cheat and take my main Tom,  Ben Gun (my Hard Boiled Feline Private Investigator) To date he's starred in:
The First Meow, The Kitten on the Lake, The Smoky City, Cattablanca and The Lapis Scarab. Whilst the works still in progress include: Farewell Mr Fluffy, The White Kit Miss, Death on the Mile and Vengeance is Feline.
I was working on The Big Snooze and  The Fly on the Window, but at present these plots were too hard to convert, (blackmail not being an easy crime to convert into the feline world) so instead have ended up using parts to fill in others.

Then my other leading feline is Marley, and so far working plot titles include: Vengeance is a Dish & My Claw is Quick, I did also think of 'I the Purry'

(sorry but you realy have to know your Pulp Fiction to know half of these, guess you can tell I have a decent collection of Hammitt, Chandler and Spillane)

Actualy most Hard Boiled titles (of the old school) just seem perfect for tough toms in dark alleys, gorgeous queens on well lit windowsills and a life of seedy underworld crime. Titles like The Black Alley, The Big Kill, The Snake, Trouble is my Business, Payback, The High Window... sorry but they just sound like normal feline day to day business to me.
 
But know it looks like I'm just showing off, so I'll go back and lurk in the corner  8)

[Ann]

Silk,

I knew this thread would be right up your street! I especially liked "Vengeance is Feline" and "The Big Snooze". And of course "Catablanca".

Ann

[Vicki]

Silk, how about the ever popular "Hiss Me Deadly?"

[Silk]

Wonderful Vicky,

Mind if I nick that?  It'll get you a dedication if I ever get as far as publishing. (was a godawfull film though)

Ann

Yes I was quite upset about not being able to realy turn The Big Sleep into a good Snooze, which is why a lot of it ended up in the Lapis   But one day I may find a way to utilise some of the elements I didn't. (well I can hope)

Vengeance is Feline, has to be one of my favorite titles to date, in fact I may even hold it back for a more worthy tale than just another Ben Gun story, (at present it was being held for the return of Sol... sorry to the others who have not read Catablanca...)

Just been thinking though... how about a mediaeval Chartreux called Cat-Fael  ;D ;D

It would have to be a Chartreux, for although not welsh, they do of course originally come from the Carthusian French monastaries in the  Chartreuse region around the 11thC and reckoned to be why they rarely bare a claw, (holier than thou or what ? )  

[Ann]

Hiss Me Deadly and Cat Fael are both inspired!

Silk, I wonder if any of the members would be interested in reading Catablanca? (For those who don't know, all the characters are cats and it's a great read.)

Ann

[Silk]

I would be happy to put it up Ann, or rather post a link for it to be downloaded from, (remember it is around 24.000 words or so), but at present it does need a little bit of an edit.
The problem being, that as after it I went back and wrote 2 (and am writing 1) story(s) based before it and I naturaly made some blunders in the continuity department that need correcting.

But if people are interested, I could see about getting the first ones up at some point,
(methinks a mail link to me, or a link to a file point on one of my ISP's servers would be best)
Reason being at least it could be downloaded/even printed so people (and cats...sorry) could read them at their leasure.
Only condition would be that they aren't to be posted anywhere else.

The First Meow, could be re-checked and ready in a relativly short time, as could The Kitten on the Lake, although I would like a chance to try and expand on The Smoky City a little more (after its severe editing)

But if people do want to read them, just let me know and I'll see what I can do,

(Warning, these are often a kind of parody of well known PI stories, just that I have turned the whole situations into a real cat one, one that could possibly work. These are not humanised cats that try to solve human crimes, rather they are about a cat who solves cat problems)

[Ann]

Good idea Silk.

Ann

[Vicki]

Silk

***Mind if I nick that?  It'll get you a dedication if I ever get as far as publishing. (was a godawfull film though)***

Oh feel free to use it. It was an awful film, I agree. I'd love to read your version of these stories.

[Xinzerella]

How about "The Cats of King Arthur and His Noble Nights"?

Sorry :-) It was the first book that caught my eye just now.

Xinzerella

[Silk]

To Xinzerella

Funnily enough I have a good friend in North Carolina who is writing a book along those lines (Or so I believe) which in itself is rather strange, as the main novel I have planned plotted out (once the Ben Gun stories are finished) is based in the states. (I'm in London)


I do also have a working plotline for a pair of time travelling cats called 'Time Tracks' which basically revolves around cats involvement in pivotal points throughout history, (after all, we all know they are probably responsible for anything major that's happened throughout time.

I was also inspired to draft out a plot from an idea a PC game gave me. In this series of games there is a supernatural sleuth called a Shattenyeager (spelt wrong here) which translates roughly as shadow hunter, and I immediately thought that sounded just like a job a cat should be doing:)

[Silk]

Vicki

I will be posting something before too long... I promise,

The only problem is: Ann would be the first to tell you, how much my writing style and skill has come on in the last couple of years, and unfortunatley this means when I now look at something that was written then, it looks pretty dreadfull in some areas.

At present I'm heavily engrossed in the present story 'Farewell Mr Fluffy' which is looking pretty good -even if I do say so myself, (although it's getting quite long, ) but then the original probably contains one of the most convoluted plots Chandler ever concieved IMO, and in this one I am trying to keep as many similar elements as I possibly can

(just had to change them rather a lot to make it possible for it to fit into a cat world, )

to reitterate what I've said before (and bore you sensless  : These are not cats solving human problems , nor are they some fantastical cats that run around with feline guns and cars.
As near as is possible, I'm taking situations that could involve real cats in a real city, I've had to take a few liberties here and there, naturaly; but on the whole everything (except maybe the extent of the dialogue) is just about possible.
A lot of it is based on many years of study on cats and their social habits, including their theorised language capabilities, how they utalise their combined senses, cat-clubs and the extent that territory holds importance for them. I then just wrap the whole lot up in the form of fiction/parody and either try and twist it around the original plot as close as I can, (as I did with Catablanca) or make a new one up to fit the title (as with the Kitten on the Lake)


But I digress, (as usual)....

As soon as Mr Fluffy is finished (and while poor Ann suffers another unpaid editing session), I will scan through the first couple and get them up here as soon as I can.