After Chris died, I read the book I wrote about him for the first time since I published it over eleven years ago. I’m embarrassed to say I found a lot of errors, most of which were commas. I feel I am a much better writer today, but commas are still my kryptonite. Either I don’t put them where they belong, or I put them where they don’t belong.
I went through the book and corrected the mistakes I found without changing the story. I also updated the backmatter with information about my current books. In addition, I changed the cover. I was never entirely happy with the cover. I don’t know why I didn’t change it years ago.
I decided to offer the corrected version for free today through Saturday. Unfortunately, it is only available on Kindle, so you can’t get it as a physical book. Maybe someday I’ll look into doing that. To get your free Kindle book, click here.
As always, writing a review of any of my books would be very helpful and I would appreciate it.
I saw something I don’t see too often the other night. Frankie was washing Chris. The photo below was taken at 9:19:20
Four seconds later, I snapped this photo at 9:19:24.
Between the two photos Frankie whacked Chris three or four times on the head. Why this happens, I will never understand.
On another note, My last two books, Identity Crisis and The Last Healer are 75% off on Smashwords until the end of the year. That’s less than two dollars each. If you like eBooks and are not wedded to Amazon, Smashwords may be a good option. Click here for my author page.
I’m happy to report that my new book is available now. I wrote this one much faster than the first one, which took five years. I finished the first draft in less than six weeks. It is a little shorter than my first book, but I believe it will appeal to a broader audience. It is part mystery, part romance, and it has a little science fiction sprinkled in. It is called The Last Healer.
Like last time, I could use some help. I need people to review the book. I chose not to enroll this book into KDP Select this time so, unfortunately, I will not be able to offer it for free. Because it is shorter, it is cheaper than my last book, and because it is not in KDP Select, I was able to publish it on other platforms. So far those other platforms only have the e-book version, but I’m thinking of offering the paperback version elsewhere besides Amazon, even though my cut would be half. Click here to see some of the places the book is available. I’m still waiting for Google Play Books to approve it.
It has been thirteen years since Chris came to live with us and I don’t think it is a stretch to say that he changed our lives. I imagine things would be very different if I didn’t need to fill in for someone that day at the Petsmart adoption center where I first saw Chris. For one thing, I probably would not be blogging today and would have missed out on knowing so many great people . . . and pets.
I think this is a good time to walk down memory lane.
I believe this is the first photo I have of Chris. It was taken with the low-quality camera that was on my non-smartphone at the time. I had met Chris a few times before while volunteering at the shelter and thought he would make a good candidate for adoption. I even spoke to my wife about him. Another volunteer snapped this photo with my phone and I texted it to my wife, who was out of town on a business trip. I wrote, “Can we keep him?”
When Rose first came to see him he did not disappoint.
After we got him home he continued his affection.
But first, there was a home to explore. Here he is moments after we arrived home and I opened his carrier.
He basically took over the house and our other cats just let him. In return, Chris was very affectionate to the other cats, weather they liked it or not.
He even influenced others to misbehave.
But he has always been the glue that holds the group together.
I will leave you with a “Best of Bad Cat Chris” video that I put together about seven years ago.
Many of you know I wrote an ebook about Chris over nine years ago. Much of it was taken from this blog and tells the story of our early struggles with raising a bad cat. I have made the book free until the end of the day Wednesday. To get your free kindle ebook, click here.
Frankie, Chris, and Floki want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas.
As my gift to you, my Kindle book, Bad Cat Chris: The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love, will be free all day on Christmas. It is five years old now but if you haven’t read it and are interested in what we went through after adopting Chris, I encourage you to pick up a copy while it is free. The special is from midnight to midnight Pacific time.
On November 14, 2009, we brought home a cat that would be both the best and worst adoption decision we ever made. Of course, I’m talking about Chris. He turned our house upside down for years but he also has been the most loving and affectionate pet we ever had. The funny thing is, we took more time deciding to adopt Chris than some people take to decide to adopt a human child.
I first encountered Chris on September 24th or 25th of that year when I was a volunteer for a local cat rescue organization. He was up for adoption at Petsmart and I was cleaning the cages there that morning. I let out every cat on the top row and as I was cleaning the cages Chris jumped on my back and proceeded to climb onto my shoulders. Once there, he started licking and biting my ear and my nose.
We already had four cats at the time (Abbey, Alex, Tigger and Flash) and didn’t need another one. There was also another cat at the shelter, Kinsey, who was also a shoulder climber and one my wife and I both liked, but we had a belief at the time that gold cats made exceptionally good pets.
The organization that had Chris was called Sav-R-Cats and they rotated with two other shelters at the Myrtle Beach Petsmart. I think each organization got two weeks there. Chris was back at their shelter on October 3rd when I brought my wife, Rose, to see him.
Chris at adoption center with Rose.
They hit it off very well but we were not ready to adopt another cat at that time, especially since we had to go back to Tampa for a week-long cruise that I booked when we lived there. I picked a Tampa cruise so we wouldn’t have to drive far.
Another six weeks would pass before we would decide to take Chris home. At one point, either before or after my first encounter with him, someone adopted Chris and returned him the next day because he annoyed them all night by biting them. If they hadn’t brought him back, I would probably not be blogging today.
To celebrate Chris’s Gotcha Day, I made his ebook, “Bad Cat Chris; The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love” free for three days, starting today. This book is a condensed version of this blog with some added material. It chronicles the ups and downs of our life with Chris from the beginning until the middle of 2013. It was a very difficult and rewarding time for us. Thankfully, or not, Chris has mellowed some since then but we still can’t let him sleep with us because he is still a biter.
If you do read his book, I would love it if you would write a review on Amazon.
Chris’s book, Bad Cat Chris: The Baddest Cat you’ll Ever Love, will be free on kindle today and tomorrow only. Amazon allows only five free days per 90 day enrollment in their KDP Select program. I already used three of those days, and since I don’t plan to re-enroll in the program, this may be the last chance to get it free. If you haven’t already picked up a copy, you can get it by clicking here.
I just want to ask everyone a big favor. Please, please, please, if you have read the book or plan on reading it, I would really appreciate a review on Amazon.
A good part of the book is taken from this blog and there is some added material as well. It is less than 30,000 words and can be read in one good sitting. Best of all, you don’t need a Kindle to read it. You can get an app for just about any device you have.
I just finished the second draft of my Bad Cat Chris book for Kindle. Much of the content is from this blog but there is also a lot of added material. I would like a few volunteers to read what I have and advise me of any corrections needed as well as any advice on any improvements that can be made. I am not a professional author so any help would be appreciated.
The book is a little over 23,000 words so it is not too long of a read. If you can help, please email me at: “me at charleshuss.com.” Please forgive the cryptic email but I get enough spam.
What do you think of the cover? I think I need to make the title more visible so it can be seen as a thumbnail.
Bad Cat Chris 