1. Cat Check

Since this is Adorable Cat Week here at Eat Our Brains, I thought I’d post a few pics of Casa Ramrod’s new feline resident, Dirty Rotten Kitty.

Here’s a shot of DRK napping with Lucy the Queen, which would be a better photo if Lucy would only hold still:

Despite the blurring, though, you can see that they’re the best of friends:

Uhh, okay, Lucy, play nice with Dirty Rotten Kitty, now:

Seriously, Lucy, I think you’d better take it — OH MY GOD!!:

Lucy! No! What did Dirty Rotten Kitty ever do to you?:

Ahem.  Yes, well.  As I was saying . . .  They are the very best of friends:

This pictorial has been presented to illustrate two bits of wisdom:

A) Love is all around, no need to fake it.

B) Do not f*** with Lucy the Queen.

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P.S.  Just in case someone with irony-poor blood takes the above as evidence that I train my dogs to be vicious kitty-killers, here’s how Lucy and Linus deal with REAL cats:

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2. Czech Cat

When Barb and I visited Prague in October 2005, I was greeted one morning by this handsome tabby on the window ledge next door.  We were four stories up, by the way.

I think he may have gone out to investigate one of the savory dishes that his people often set on the ledge to season overnight.

I said “Good morning.”  He said “Měoúw.”  And then he půřřéd.

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3. Czech? Check!

Early this week, editor Martin Šust emailed to inform me that my novella “Sergeant Chip” will be translated into Czech and published in the Czech edition of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

I was deliriously happy about this (and still am).  Martin has since informed me that at least three of my stories have already been published in Czech, and I’m delighted to know that as well . . . but I’ll always remember his email about “Sergeant Chip” as the first time I knew I would be read in Bohemia.

Why am I so excited about this?  (I mean, aside from the thrill that any of us should feel when we know our words will be read Elsewhere?)

I explain in this short piece that Martin may publish as an Afterword to my story:

My great-great grandfather František (Frank) Kočí was born in Bohemia in 1832. He was a tailor, and the family story is that he operated his own tailoring shop in Prague or in a village nearby.

But in 1865, he packed up and moved his entire family — lock, stock, and tailoring iron — to America.  In the United States, he continued his trade as a tailor, but his sons became farmers.  Then the generations of sons and daughters that followed became farmers, mechanics, clerks, engineers, nurses, teachers . . . and science fiction writers.

In October 2005, 140 years after Great-Great Grandfather Kočí emigrated from Bohemia, my wife Barbara and I spent ten days visiting Prague and the Czech Republic.  We knew that our visit would have special meaning for both of us, because Barbara has Czech ancestors as well – but even so, we were amazed at how much we loved the Czech Republic and how much it felt like home to us.  Now I know that if I could live anywhere on earth (other than my current home near Austin, Texas), I would live in Bohemia.

Needless to say, Barbara and I hope to visit the Czech Republic again someday soon.

In the meantime, I’m very happy that one of my best stories, “Sergeant Chip,” is now being published in the land and language of my great-great grandfather.

I believe he would be proud.