Tag: Lucifer T. Cat

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 7-7-24

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

As many Reading Reality regulars may already be aware, on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, our beloved Lucifer T. Cat left us to climb the Rainbow Bridge. My post from Wednesday, Bitter to Receive, celebrates a bit of his life with us and pours out the smallest measure of my grief – but I still feel as if I’m on the verge of tears most of the time.

The remaining members of the clowder, Hecate (now eldest as well as grumpiest), George, Luna and Tuna, all circled around and sniffed his carrier after we came home without him, but seem to be settling into their new normal. Their humans are still utterly unsettled.

I’ve been reading ahead a lot these last couple of days, as well as re-reading a whole bunch of comfort reads. It’s one of the ways that I deal with things. Galen’s been playing a good but kind of creepy game, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, and now I’m playing it too. It’s a game about dealing with ghosts, and isn’t that a bit on-target right now – at least for this household?

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Early Summer Giveaway Event
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Christmas in July Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the SUMMER 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

Sparkle Time Giveaway Hop
B+ #BookReview: Better Living Through Algorithms by Naomi Kritzer
A- #BookReview: Guard the East Flank by M.L. Buchman
Bitter to Receive
#GuestPost: July 4th 2024
Christmas in July Giveaway Hop
Stacking the Shelves (608)

Coming This Week:

The Mummy of Mayfair by Jeri Westerson (#BookReview)
Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold (#BookReview)
This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour (#BookReview)
Daughters of Olympus by Hannah M. Lynn (#BookReview)
The Price of Redemption by Shawn Carpenter (#BookReview)

Bitter to Receive

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | About> cats

On the morning of July 3, 2024, our dearly beloved Lucifer, the cuddliest demon cat in the world, lost his battle with age, arthritis and as we discovered at the end, cancer. We knew he was getting older by the day, we knew his arthritis was slowing him down, but the cancer was a surprise – and a terrible one.

He just wasn’t himself when we got back from ALA late Monday night. It seemed like he perked up seeing us home, but that perk was brief and by the next evening it was clear that he wasn’t comfortable and couldn’t really get around under his own power.

Today he’s gone. I want to believe to the Rainbow Bridge, playing – or more likely sitting on the sidelines looking dignified as he always did – riding herd on the beloveds who went before him; Freddie, Mellie, LaZorra, Sophie, Erasmus, Zade, Jennyfur and my dearest Licorice.

Lucifer was the first cat I’ve had since Licorice who chose me – and not my husband – as his person. I’ve loved every single cat in between, but Lucifer was special, a heartfelt and now heartbreaking memory of just how marvelous it is to be loved so much by a cat who could – and once upon a time did – do fine on his own but choose to give his heart to a human instead of remaining a solitary soul.

More than one vet has told me that cats with demonic or evil-seeming names are generally sweethearts, while cats who have sweetheart names tend to be, well, less than sweet. Lucifer certainly wasn’t named for his demonic nature – but rather for his ability to deceive. The friend who rescued him from his feral life believed that Lucifer was a)female and b)in need of neutering when in fact he was the opposite in both cases.

When Erasmus lost his battle with cancer twelve years ago, the post about his passing was titled Not All Tears Are Evil, a reference to the parting at the Grey Havens at the end of The Lord of the Rings.

The title of this post also refers to The Lord of the Rings, specifically to the appendices regarding the death of Aragorn, when Arwen proclaims that “if this (death) is the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive.”

When it comes to cats, the tragedy is always that our lives are so long, and theirs are so short. And it is bitter to receive. Lucifer will never sleep on my heart again. But he will sleep in it forever.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 6-23-24

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This week’s books turned out to be good to excellent! And Galen did one of his guest posts and a blog hop started this week so it was a bit of an easy week – also good!

Speaking of good, I’ve been going through this year’s Hugo nominations and picking one nominee per week that I hadn’t already read to read and review. Between Library Journal and Reading Reality it turned out that I’d read a fair number of the novels and novellas during the year, but I don’t read a lot of short fiction unless it’s in a collection – and that usually happens well after the fact.  So far, the short stories and novelettes have ranged from OK to great, so I’m just making my final selections more difficult even if they will be better informed!

The above picture is a combination of “if I fits I sits” – writ rather large – and “possession is 9/10ths of the cat”. There are three cat beds on top of my dresser – as shown above. Lucifer has firm possession of the heated bed on the right as he glares at anyone who even thinks about ousting him from it. The middle cushion is only used when Lucifer doesn’t have possession of HIS bed, so he has a comfy place from which to glare at the interloper. That’s Tuna on the left, the biggest cat in the house in the smallest bed. Because he wants to be Lucifer’s buddy and Lucifer is barely tolerant of that fact. And because Tuna seems to enjoy overflowing his sleeping spots – as his other favorite bed is equally under proportioned to his generous purrson.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book PLUS EVENT-WIDE AMAZON/PAYPAL PRIZE in the Early Summer Giveaway Event
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the SUMMER 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Spring 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop is Lisa

Blog Recap:

Grade A #BookReview: The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer
A- #BookReview: The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
Guest Post by Galen: Juneteenth 2024: Ron’s Piece
Summer 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
B #AudioBookReview: The Most Human by Adam Nimoy
Stacking the Shelves (606)

Coming This Week:

A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas (#BookReview)
Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher (#BookReview)
Pets and the City by Amy Attas (#BookReview)
Ivy, Angelica, Bay by C.L. Polk (#BookReview, #HugoReview)
Requiem for a Mouse by Miranda James (#BookReview)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 4-28-24

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

There are two cats in this picture. Luna is obvious. Luna is seldom anything BUT obvious. However, do you see that shine among the black of the chair cushions? That’s a cat, specifically that’s a Lucifer cat. I have to be very careful about sitting in my own office chair as it is frequently occupied by a stealth Lucifer. A Lucifer who usually refuses to move his fuzzy butt so that I can have my chair back.

Because this was a week where I visited Overcommitment City, and was NEVER in the village of Running-on-Time. I spent a lot of the week in “kitten jail” with my door closed and barred by an unopened box of cat litter that has been sacrificed to this cause. (My office door pushes inward and doesn’t latch. All the cats are more than heavy enough to push it open one way or another – although Lucifer would rather sit outside the door and pout where I can see him through the glass than impinge upon his dignity that way.) Of course the minute I opened that door – the hordes rushed in. If you’re wondering whether only two cats constitutes a horde, the answer is yes, they can. And they are.

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Rain Drops on Roses Giveaway Hop (ENDS TUESDAY!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Spring 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

B+ #AudioBookReview: Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
B #BookReview: Judge Dee and the Limits of the Law by Lavie Tidhar
A- #BookReview: Chaotic Aperitifs by Tao Wong
B #AudioBookReview: Lovers at the Museum by Isabel Allende
A+ #BookReview: A Murder Most French by Colleen Cambridge
Stacking the Shelves (598)

Coming This Week:

Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman (#BookReview)
People in Glass Houses by Jayne Castle (#BookReview)
Come What May Giveaway Hop
Knightqueen by Anna Hackett (#BookReview)
My Dearest Mackenzie by Rachel Blaufeld (#BlogTour #BookReview)

Cover Reveal: Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> Cover Reveal> Spotlight
Cover Reveal: Shoestring Theory by Mariana CostaShoestring Theory by Mariana Costa
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: fantasy
Pages: 400
Published by Angry Robot on October 1, 2024
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads

A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance with the future of the world at stake, this charming fantasy tale is sure to satisfy fans of Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree.
The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former Grand-Mage of the High Court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea, trying to catch any remaining fish for his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For he played his part – for as the King, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, his Grand-Mage – and husband – Cyril didn’t do a thing to stop him.
When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history – a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes King, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring – and most dangerous – feat of magic to date…
Featuring a formidable Great Aunt, a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, an awkward love quadrangle and a crow familiar called Ganache, this charming story is imminently easy to read and sure to satisfy fans of fanfiction who like their fantasy lite.

This is Luna’s SHOUTY face, because she can’t resist talking about it. After all, there’s a CAT in it – or there was and there will be. A cat named Shoestring and his person Cyril. Mustn’t forget Cyril, because he’s the one who catches Shoestring’s fish. When there ARE any fish, which is part of the problem.

Since George eats shoestrings (and sometimes even the shoes they’re attached to), so we’re ALL hoping he sleeps through this COVER REVEAL for Mariana Costa’s upcoming book Shoestring Theory. It’s about a mad king, a guilt-ridden mage, and a cat familiar who gives his life so his person gets off his duff and fixes things. Even if that fix needs to take them all back in time to a time before things went so horribly wrong that there are no fish left for Shoestring.

So here are Lucifer and Tuna, proudly displaying the complete, utterly gorgeous cover for Mariana Costa’s Shoestring Theory, coming on October 8, 2024 from Angry Robot Books. Preorder links are available HERE: https://angryrobotbooks.my.canva.site/shoestring-theory.

Just in case Lucifer’s implacable stare overwhelms the picture above, here’s a better picture – of the book cover at least!

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to meet Shoestring!

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-21-24

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This week started with a bang and ended with an actual, literal, whimper. Seriously, a whole lot of whimpering going on. I was just SO caught up with everything and so thrilled about that fact that something had to go wrong. And it did. I fell, badly, on my way to Pilates, pulled my right hamstring and threw my left shoulder totally out of whack, spent the evening in Urgent Care, Galen had to cancel his business trip this weekend and the cats aren’t sure what to think because their humans are being very weird. So it’s been a couple of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.

Which explains why Friday’s post didn’t post until dinner time, because that’s the point where I finally managed to gather my wits and get it together. It’s going to be a VERY quiet weekend.

This picture of Lucifer sums things up perfectly. He’s hiding under the coffee table, looking a bit ragged at the edges and very much like the old man he really is. And this weekend I’m feeling it right along with him!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the New Year New You Giveaway Hop is Laura T.

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
Grade A #AudioBookReview: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
Grade A #BookReview: Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold
B #BookReview: Random in Death by J.D. Robb
Stacking the Shelves (584)

Coming This Week:

The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan (blog tour review)
Port in a Storm by Rhys Ford (blog tour review)
Gryphon by M.L. Buchman (review)
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (review)
The Hero She Wants by Anna Hackett (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 1-14-24

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

We are almost two weeks into 2024 and it feels like it’s already zipping by at a breakneck pace. I’m not sure I’ve buckled up nearly good enough for this year – and it’s barely begun!

This week was quite the surprise, reading wise. I did not go into Holmes, Marple & Poe with high hopes. I’d tried Patterson before and DNF’d early on. But this was a delight! Whether that’s due to the co-author or that the mystery played with not just one but three of the towering figures of the genre, I’m not entirely sure. But I’m certain I’ll be back if this turns out to be first in a series!

And here’s this week’s cat picture, featuring ‘Old Man’ Lucifer and his faithful guard cat Tuna. Lucifer seems to have mastered both the art of perspective AND the ability to look over the tops of eyeglasses that he isn’t even wearing. It’s all just a part of his many, many charms.

 

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the New Year New You Giveaway Hop (ENDS TOMORROW!!!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Winter 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop

Blog Recap:

A- #BookReview: Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson
Grade A #BookReview: Holmes, Marple & Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
A- #AudioBookReview: A Body on the Doorstep by Marty Wingate
#BookReview: Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts
#BookReview: That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Stacking the Shelves (583)

Coming This Week:

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (review)
Winter Wishes Giveaway Hop
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire (audio review)
Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold (review)
Random in Death by J.D. Robb (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 12-17-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

Let me start with this picture, because it explains everything a bit too well.

On the one hand, it’s adorable. Lucifer and Luna are sharing space, even if it’s not exactly a cuddle. (We miss seeing cuddle puddles, as this bunch just doesn’t cuddle with each other at all.) On the other hand, it’s kind of a metaphor for my schedule this week, with Lucifer serving as the immovable object, and Luna peeking over his ear with the somewhat semi-planned interruptions to that object. I’m about 3/5ths sure of the week ahead. The other 2/5ths, well, we’ll see…

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall 2023 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop (ENDS WEDNESDAY!!!)
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Let It Snow Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Holly Jolly Giveaway Hop is Carl

Blog Recap:

B+ Review: We Are the Crisis by Cadwell Turnbull
B Review: The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny edited by Jonathan Maberry
A Review: Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
A- Review: Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard
A+ Review: To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas
Stacking the Shelves (579)

Coming This Week:

Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan (review)
Fall by Tracy Clark (review)
Like Thunder by Nnedi Okorafor (audio review)
Winter 2024 Seasons of Books Giveaway Hop
Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 11-19-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

This was one of those weeks where what I thought I was going to post was what I actually posted. Admittedly, that’s mostly because it was already mostly done at the beginning of the week. It was just that kind of week. This coming week has a bit more uncertainty in it, but I’ve already finished Monday’s book and DAMN that was good. You’ll see.

On the subject of seeing and not seeing, I realized that you’d all been seeing a lot of pictures of Luna and Tuna because they’re willing to pose – or at least sit still – for the human in ‘camera position’. But I caught Lucifer dozing on top of my gaming pillow, and he was too comfy to run off as Galen and I fiddled with lights and camera phones in order to get a shot where it at least looked like he had eyes. Without extra lights his handsome face was just a void. Which, may be a perfect description but not nearly as photogenic as what I had in mind!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop is Heather

Blog Recap:

A- Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells
A- Review: The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers
A+ Review: Calamity by Constance Fay
In All Things Give Thanks Giveaway Hop
B+ Review: The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman
Stacking the Shelves (575)

Coming This Week:

Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas (review)
Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty (review)
Stephen Leeds: Death and Faxes by Brandon Sanderson (audio review)
Thanksgiving 2023 (Guest Post by Galen)
Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black (review)

The Sunday Post AKA What’s on my (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-29-23

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand> Winner announcement

It turned out to be a FANTASTIC reading week. Everything I picked up was really, really, good, and an excellent reading time was definitely had by moi. That they all turned out to be “A-” reads makes it seem like they all fell short in one way or another, but I think that was mostly because all but one of the books was a continuation in a series that may not have risen above its predecessors but didn’t fall below them either. They were each just what I expected, no more but no less, either.

The problem, however, is that I usually chose which book cover to feature next to the recap based on which book got the highest grade – and that’s a bit of a conundrum this time around!

Howloween is the day after tomorrow, and after that we’ll all be falling towards the holidays at breakneck speed. And it’s going to start getting dark too damn early next Sunday – not that it hasn’t already been trending in that direction.

But there’s been a bit of a theme going on here at Reading Reality. I’ve been reviewing horror or at least horror-adjacent books for the last few days, and that trend will continue through Halloween. Then we’ll have a blog hop to get the month started right.

Of course, I have a cat picture for this spooky season. If you’ve ever seen the meme of the little black bat as the darkness who gives cuddles, at left (or above left) there’s a picture of Lucifer proudly sitting in front with Hecate hiding below. That little bat may be the darkness that GIVES cuddles, but Lucifer and Hecate are the darkness that DEMANDS cuddles.

Happy Halloween!

Current Giveaways:

$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Silly Pumpkins Giveaway Hop  
$10 Gift Card or $10 Book in the Fall Seasons of Books 2023 Giveaway Hop

Winner Announcements:

The winner of the Howl-O-Ween Giveaway Hop is Alisa

Blog Recap:

A- Review: Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker
A- Review: A Duke’s Lesson in Charm by Sophie Barnes
A- Review: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Four edited by Paula Guran
A- Review: Phantom Pond by Juneau Black
A- Review: Night Train to Murder by Simon R. Green
Stacking the Shelves (572)

Coming This Week:

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather (review)
The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw (audiobook review)
Thanks a Latte Giveaway Hop
Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher (review)
The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe (review)