Colin Barrett: Blog

Well, not all is going smoothly, but, then again, would you really expect it to, in this kind of really weird situation? Camilla seems to have a bit more of a conventional take on things than does Nick, who's more trusting of his own judgment. Can they still continue to share the secret of Asmedogh? Lots more to come.

About the movie references. I've always been astonished-and dismayed-at how much Hollywood's fictional presentations influence many people's perceptions of the real world. There's Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and the more recent Independence Day, of course. I never could bring myself to watch the whole of Psycho, I figured out what was going on in the movie the first time I saw it in a theater and walked out for a few minutes; the "squick" factor was just too much for me. And the "guy in New York" was, of course, the serial killer whom the media dubbed the "son of Sam"-he called his cat Sam, and said after he was caught that the cat had told him to shoot all those folks. (At that, it strikes me as a more sensible reason than most of these mass murderers have had for their rampages.)
But Camilla gets past this rather squirrelly way of looking at the world rather quickly. Hell, she's my heroine; I'm not going to make her an idiot. And, as Nick recognizes, she's a lady with a lot of guts. Consider how you might react to something as off-the-beaten-track as Asmedogh. Even Nick had a hell of a time with him after he found that his surgical dream had been real.
I don't always portray humans very favorably as a species in my stories, but I try not to tar every individual with the same brush. In this one it's Asmedogh's good fortune that his initial encounter was with two people whose minds were sufficiently flexible to accept something beyond human experience.

Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I gotta stop on that one today. The next two chapters go together so strongly I have to keep them that way.
You didn't really think Asmedogh was going to be able to continue his masquerade for a full week, did you? With someone a lot more familiar with cats than Nick? His diet alone would give him away, although Nick isn't up to speed with that. But you had to get to know Camilla a little better before the charade could fall apart.
Hang in there. It's starting to get really interesting.
Once again, if the three-times-a-week schedule is getting annoying, Castaway is available on Amazon for $3, as are all my other novels (including a couple I haven't yet posted on SOL).

Anyone who's had a houseguest show up for a stay of several days ought to be able to get behind this couple of chapters. Even opera singers and people with alien housecats have to deal with the mundane issues of daily living. So there's nothing terribly surprising today. There will be, of course; just not today.

I don't have much to add to my story today. If you've been wondering how I planned to blend the operatic and science fiction themes, now you know. It took me a while to work this out myself when I was writing it, but I finally was satisfied with the direction the story was going. It'll get a bit more complicated as we go along, though. Camilla and Asmedogh still have to meet and reconcile.
Thanks to those whose votes keep moving my score steadily up.