Cats are good at hiding. This is probably why, in our human stories, we like to anthropomorphise cats and imagine they are in disguise. This probably accounts partly for why cats are the number one suspect when it comes to witches’ familiars. Humans have the ability to ‘know’ something is there, even if there is zero evidence, e.g. witches. We also have the ability to attribute intent where none is there; a bug in our comparatively advanced cognitive empathy.
Anton Seder Die Pflanze Naturalistischer Teil pl 138 (1886-87) catKagayama Hakuho, Byobu with Cat Lazing in a Summer garden,1920 – 1930A Cat Named Swan, Holly HobbieBernard KlibanBruno Liljefors (1860 – 1939)Various cats minding their own business in natureCarol Barker, 1964 catRonald Searle’s Cats, 1967 Cat of a thousand disguises concealing itself as a rugThe New Yorker Cover – January 15, 1979 – Ronald Searle, this time disguised as a cushion (sort of)Bernard Kliban (American, 1935-1990), Halloween Cats in masksBernard Kliban (American, 1935-1990) Halloween CatsSatoko WatanabeRemedios Varo – The Fern Cat (El Gato Helecho), 1957
Header image: Created with Midjourney using the prompt: cats in disguise, bauhaus style
CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)
On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.
Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:
