The Literary CatCast

The Cats of Ulthar, written in 1920 by H. P. Lovecraft, tells the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be. A young traveller boy named Menes reacts to the murder of his kitten with a meditation that gives way to prayer. Meditation and Prayer so strong it reshapes the clouds in the sky, and changes the cats, the people, and the town of Ulthar forever.

Cleveland Amory rescues a starving, hurt, stray white cat from a New York City alley on a snowy Christmas Eve night in 1977. This cat became known as his much loved cat, Polar Bear, featured in three of his best selling novels. In this episode Phebe reads chapter one, The Rescue from The Cat Who Came for Christmas.

In this episode Phebe chats about the history of cats on ships, even as far back as the Egyptians, and Vikings. Did you know black cats were lucky? A tea kettle whistles her listeners into a legend about Noah’s Ark, and how the cat first appeared. The reading is taken from The First Ship’s Cat, from Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, on page 49 inside the book The Well-Read Cat by Browntrout Publishers in San Francisco.

As always, a photo and purchase link to the book is located in the Episode and Show Notes section of The Literary CatCast (dot) com. A photo of the cat who voices the meows is also on the website. The Literary CatCast Podcast exists to help literature lovers, who also love cats, build their personal libraries with old and new books featuring cats as main characters.

The Paradise of Cats, written in 1864, by Emile Zola is the story of a fat, comfortable cat who longs to leave his luxurious life, and run wild on Paris rooftops. Told in the cat's own words, the cat soon discovers that life on the street is not as free and beautiful as expected.

The Galloping Cat is an entertaining, funny poem about a quirky, martyr cat that gallops about doing good. He encounters an invisible angel on a garden path and a fight ensues.

Phebe Phillips discusses and reads the poem, The Galloping Cat by the late British poet, Stevie Smith (1902-1971). This poem is an excerpt from the book, All the Poems by Stevie Smith, edited by Will May.

Phebe feels an obligation to keep books with well-developed cat characters, alive and in-focus. The Literary CatCast Podcast is not monetized, nor are there affiliate links. It is a work of love designed to match cat-lovers with books they may like to read.