Monday, June 10, 2013

The Cats in My Life and Writing by Guest Author Marilyn Levinson

Adopt-a-Cat Month continues with my guest, author Marilyn Levinson, who tells us about the cats in her life and in her Twin Lakes adult mystery series and YA novel. Welcome, Marilyn! ~ Sheila

The Cats in My Life

 

by Marilyn Levinson

 
I hate to call myself a “cat person” since I love dogs, too. Ever since my Miniature Schnauzer died all those years ago, I’ve considered getting another dog. Considered, but resisted. Which probably makes me a cat person because I can’t imagine living without a furry feline at my side. 

Harold came to us when my older son, now forty-two, was almost five years old. David had ridden his tricycle around our block. When I chased after him, I happened upon an adorable gray kitten frolicking about on someone’s lawn. I scooped him up and brought him home. Later that day, I checked with the homeowners in the area where I’d found him, and nobody claimed him. As I’d thought, he was feral but friendly. Harold quickly adapted to our household as an outdoor-indoor cat. It amused my friends to hear me calling Harold when he was nowhere in sight, and watch him dash across the lawn to the house. He was no fool. He knew a good meal was waiting. 

When Harold was fifteen and in poor health, I asked friends who fed many outdoor cats to bring me a red kitten for my birthday. Teddy arrived meowing loudly. Harold greeted him with hisses. He wasn’t the only unwelcoming Levinson. My son Michael thought I’d done a terrible thing, bringing a new cat into the house. Teddy stood up for himself from Day One. He was a beauty, with a soft red coat and big green eyes. How he loved to climb trees! Once he was hit by a car but escaped with nothing more than a bruise and a fright. He took to climbing into Michael’s window at three in the morning, though I still don’t understand how he climbed up the brick. Of course Mike grew to love Teddy, though he claimed Harold was his favorite (until he got his own cat, Eddie.)  Years later after our sons were grown, my husband and I brought Teddy with us to our new home in a gated community where he died shortly after. 

I got Sammy from a shelter eight years ago. He’s red, gorgeous, hyper, and very smart. He understands what I tell him. Really. Sammy was a biter as a kitten. Thank goodness he pretty much has outgrown the biting habit, though he still likes to take a nip occasionally, as you can see by my ankles. Though he’s an indoor cat, the warm weather beckons to him, and he’s managed to slip out the door several times over the years and return soon after. However, three years ago Sammy snuck out and didn’t come home. I called to him again and again to no avail.  Days passed. I began to think I’d never see him again, when he appeared on our deck twelve days later. He was emaciated, which led us to believe he’d got locked in somewhere. Nowadays Sammy’s not as eager to go outside, but with the warm weather here I still have to watch him every time I open the door. 

As you might expect, cats often feature in my novels. In the Twin Lakes Mystery series, Lydia Krause has a red cat named Reggie. Newly widowed, Lydia appreciates his companionship, especially when he helps her escape from a murderer. In Murder a la Christie, my sleuth Lexie Driscoll adopts her friend’s Russian Blue named Puss after her friend is murdered. (My husband and I always believed Harold had Russian Blue lineage in him.)

I always wanted a Maine Coon cat, but the closest I’ve gotten to having one is Theodore the feral half-Maine Coon cat that who appears in my new YA Getting Back to Normal. Sammy, who can be a brat, was the inspiration for my children’s book Brat Cat. Red, a street cat, is badly wounded in a cat fight. A little girl named Janie Tarrick takes him home with her so he can heal. Here, Red wreaks havoc and forges an unusual friendship. After he avenges his father’s death, Red has to decide if he’ll return to the Tarricks’ home or live in the wild.





Marilyn Levinson was born in Brooklyn, New York. She writes, "When  I was fourteen, my family moved to Long Island where I’ve lived ever since, except for the four years I spent at Syracuse University studying to become a Spanish teacher. When my two sons were very young, I wrote YA and children’s books. Rufus and Magic Run Amok was an International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council “Children’s Choice.” Now I also write mysteries and romantic suspense. A Murderer Among Us, the first in my Twin Lakes mysteries was awarded a Best Indie of 2011 by Suspense Magazine. I’ve two new books coming out in the next few months: Murder a la Christie, a mystery, with L&L Dreamspell, and a young YA novel, Getting Back to Normal, with Untreed Reads. 

"I am co-founder and past-president of the Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime.

"Please visit my website: www.marilynlevinson.com or my Amazon page: http://amzn.to/K6Md1O  for a list of all my titles. You can also find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10?ref=ts&fref=ts  and Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson "



 >^..^<

Please come back Thursday - well-known pet and thriller writer Amy Shojai will be back to talk about she reinvented her career & a lot more! (Psst....she knows what she's talking about and she's very funny.)



20 comments:

  1. I loved Marilyn's post about cats and writing. I've been a cat person from when I was young and my mom refused to let me have one. (I had a pet duck instead.) I know exactly what she means when she says Sammy is smart and understands her. I found a gray/black tiger cat when she was 10 days old and nursed her up. "Story" (because I was writing a story when I heard her pitiful mews) is now 12 and can definitely understand words and commands, my looks and even my moods. This post makes me want to investigate ALL of Marilyn's books, even the YA and children's. PS: I also have 3 "orange boys" including a 23# Maine Coon mix.

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    1. Jackie,
      I loved hearing about Story and your other cats. Thanks for sharing. You can check out my books on my website and Amazon page.

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  2. What a great subject! When my son was growing up, we had many, many cats. The first was one in Puerto Rico that he named Chimney. I have no idea why since we lived in a basement apartment at the time and no one had chimneys there anyway. Years later when we lived in Texas, he named a kitten Darth Vader but Darth turned out to be female and quite promiscuous. We had one dog who, surrounded by cats, must have thought he was one. Looking forward to reading Getting Back to Normal.

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    1. It is a great subject - and throughout June, many of the posts here are about cats and writers, cants in books... You might want to scroll down through some previous posts and come back for new ones on Thursdays and Mondays! Can't have too many cats & writers!

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    2. That's cats, not cants! Typing on iPad :-)

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  3. Dear Pat,
    I love this subject, too. We could do a coffee table book on cats in literature. Or cats owned by famous people.

    I love hearing how people name their cats. I give mine people names.

    Enjoy Getting Back to Normal.

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  4. Cats are often characters in mystery fiction. They seem to fit the genre purrfectly.

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  5. Love your cat stories and their names. I'm a dog person, mostly because I'm terribly allergic to cats. Terrific books.
    Marja McGraw

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    1. Thanks, Marja. I understand about your being allergic to cats. So many people are. I love dogs, too. Wish I had a little one. But I don't think Sammy would be very nice to a dog.

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  6. Don't they, Jacqueline? They know the meaning of stealth, sneaky, and sly.

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  7. Nice Post, Marilyn. Our cat, Domino, a black and white American short hair with a white face that sported a black mustache and a black goatee, pretty much walked all over our dog, Harley, literally. But then, he was a pretty laid-back Black Lab.

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    1. The few times Sammy got out, he terrorized the dogs on both sides of me. And they're such sweet doggies, both of them.

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  8. My older daughter did not want a cat. We have two now and she is trying to convince us to get two more (our younger rescue has two brothers who are still looking for homes). Cats really work their way into your hearts.

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    1. Sahmy, I posted on my "Cats and Writers" post last week but am not sure you saw it - you won the give-away copy of my book, The Multiple Cat Family! I will need you mailing address to get it to you - please email me at sheilaboneham at gmail.com. >^..^<

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    2. Cats do work their way into our hearts--but not into everyone's heart. There are people who simply don't like cats.

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    3. Sheila, Thank you! I'm so sorry I missed your first post; I think summer break has been busier than the school year! I sent you an email.

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  9. I loved meeting your cats. They are all so unique, aren't they. (a statement, not a question, LOL)

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    1. Thanks, Maryann. I agree with you--each cat is so very different.

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  10. I'm a cat and dog person, too. Right now I have Maggie, a gorgeous, adorable tri-color collie, two tabby house cats, Moggie and Brat Cat, who are sisters and two barn cats, Barney and Little Kitty, who is not so little anymore. I have both dogs and cats in my mysteries, also, but then I write cozies and cozies are known for cats and/or dogs.

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  11. Gloria,
    Your collie must be beautiful!! I wrote a book called Brat Cat!! it's not out yet. My Sammy was the inspiration.

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