Friday 12 March 2021

the curiosity of the black cat

 


My new book which as a matter of fact I've been working on for years is finally published! Available as a paperback and kindle you can get it at Amazon.

It is a modern day nature fable about life and death, friendship and love.

"People don't usually see me until the last moments. In that time I reckon I bring comfort. They often smile and stroke me and I feel good about that."

This blog post is about nothing else - no amusing photographs of the cats and dogs, no witty anecdotes from Pocket or images of him playing cards, no poems and pictures of beautiful flowers. But ...below is the first chapter to make up for it - 

 also a glossary of  terms used in book reviews. I can spot several potential ones for my book and have put little stars by them. If you get the book yourselves you can work through the others.

Enchanting                                                there's a dog in it    *

Heart-warming                                          a dog and a child     *

Moving                                                       child dies

Heart-rending                                              dog dies

Thoughtful                                                  mind-numbingly tedious

Haunting                                                      set in the past

Exotic                                                           set abroad

Audacious                                                     set in the future    *

Award winning                                              set in India

Perceptive                                                      set in North London

Provocative                                                    infuriating

Epic                                                                editor cowed by author's reputation

From the pen of a master                                same old same old

In the tradition of                                            shamelessly derivative

Spare and taught                                              under researched

Richly detailed                                                over- researched

Disturbing                                                       author's bonkers             *

Stellar                                                               author young and photogenic

Classic                                                               author hanging in there

Vintage                                                              author past it


Chapter 1

Five days before what was later to be referred to as The Fall, the toads all abandoned their breeding ground.

The day before, a herd of cattle, which were grazing peacefully at the edge of the town, bunched together at the far end of their enclosure.

That morning a black Cat and his Master were visiting an old lady in the house next to the fish and chip shop.

And fifteen minutes before - the birds stopped singing.

Only Stella Feather notices. She sits on the beach in the dusk and talks to herself.

“The birds are quiet but the land is talking to us,” she says. “And no one listens do they?”

She stares out across the ocean and wonders at its stillness.

She feels a rumble and a shifting under the land. She stands, her eyes scanning the horizon for the boat.

Far beneath her feet the earth coils like a gigantic spring.

It splits and tears apart. It tips people out of their beds.

It causes roofs to cave in. It traps people in their homes and on the roads. The lights go out. All communications go down.

Car alarms are set off which pierce through the sound of crashing, tumbling buildings and the trees shake as they bend from side to side. The wailing sirens from broken shop fronts sound like a fairground ride announcing the start of its terrifying journey around the helter skelter. All the sounds splinter and crack and crash through the air.

When she feels the first tremble Stella Feather throws herself onto the ground and grabs hold of tussocks of marram grass. She feels it course through her body and digs her hands and feet deep into the sand. She covers her head with her hands and shuts her eyes.

Amongst the chaos that results the Cat loses his Master. There were so many dead, so much work to be done. He’d been in disasters many times – The Great Plague, The Great War – The Great ...oh

something or other.... now his head hurts and he can’t think anymore. How could he have been so careless as to lose him?

When the explosions happen the Cat leaps into the air. The earthquake severs the gas pipes and causes a fire which feeds on the timber houses like a ravenous tiger, it’s orange and black stripes leaping from house to house. At Hastings Rd and the Folsom Junction fifty panic-stricken cattle, their fence destroyed, stampede down the street as they see the flames, knocking over anyone left standing in their path.

The Cat knows his Master must be there but the dust stings his eyes and when he looks back it’s too late.

The quake lasts for only two minutes but the destruction is incredible. Rising out of the rubble stands the remains of the magnificent City Hall, its picturesque dome standing loftily above the structure like a skeleton stripped of its skin. An old woman with a green parrot in a cage hurries along the street followed by a man dragging a hastily packed suitcase, its contents spilling along the pavement as he goes. Some young lads run into the liquor store and carry out bottles of beer and spirits. Then seeing the jeweller’s shop torn from its foundations, drop the bottles and pick up necklaces and bracelets that twinkle through the dust.

People flee towards the ferry only to find that there is a lack of boats to carry them across toVernditch. The big ferry building is ruined. When the quake stops a man with a loud hailer summons whoever is still alive.“Evacuate! Evacuate! Move along quick we all need to get away from here.”

People crawl from collapsed buildings and others wander in a daze and those that can, make their way towards the man with the loud hailer.

“Someone grab that girl,” the man orders, “there’ll be a tsunami – get her away from the beach.”

But when she sees people coming towards her Stella Feather runs away, crossing over the sand dunes and sliding down onto a further beach until she is a fair distance from the town.

As the tremor returns, the second shock wave splits the earth, a huge crack zigzagging through the land. The buildings still standing, collapse. The fire fanned by the falling, continues to roar along the streets. Fire fighters try to put out the fires but the water pipes have been damaged so there is no pressure and then no water. There is talk of trying to pump water up from the sea but the fire fighters’ vehicles are mostly destroyed too. Some who are left secretly hope that a tsunami will put out the fire. But now the flames light up the sky in shades of red and pink and orange and will not be put out until the whole town disappears under the waves.