Not to let the cat out of the bag either literally or metaphorically: it is no secret that I am among the "cat-owned" and have been for most of the last 30 years. Elements of each of the unique feline personalities I have had the pleasure of sharing my life with are in my 2013 collection A Trio of Cat Tales.
In The Blackberry & Other Tales That Creep three of the four stories have cats in them: "Sprinkles" from The Blackberry; "Miss Kitty" from Her Own Words; and "Spot" in Gorak the Gobbler. That last one is a tribute to Commander Data's "Spot" from Star Trek Next Generation. My cat friend at the time used to love Spot. She would always come up to the TV when Spot was in an episode and pat the screen.
The character of "Sprinkles" from The Blackberry is definitely taken from Miss Sadie, my current cat-panion. This is not the first time Rick has drawn Sadie (though he has no idea of this cat-nection). Back in 2002, when Miss Sadie was the resident cat at Tacoma Little Theatre, we commissioned an image of her as she had become the mascot of one of our Education programs. So here is the Sadie art from 2002, the sketch of Sprinkles, and Miss Sadie in her current capacity as resident art and literature critic.
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| Sadie as depicted by Rick Geary for Tacoma Little Theatre in 2002 (I own the original!) |
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| Rick's sketch of "Sprinkles" from "The Blackberry" |
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| Miss Sadie, in all her "felinious" glory: cat-panion extraordinaire |
Also, check out this great video of Rick talking about his art and process. I think it is way cool that he loves his pencils as much as I do, and still uses Rapidograph Pens. Mine are still around here somewhere, and probably need a good soaking.
STILL TIME TO BECOME A PART OF The Blackberry & Other Tales That Creep. 15 days to go and even though we have made goal, more money means more books in libraries, wider distribution, and just possibly more art!
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