Veronica sez: About a year ago Pauline and I were tossing around the fun idea of creating an anthology combining stories of science fiction romance and pets. We invited seven of our author friends to ‘play’ with the writing prompt with us and the Pets In Space anthology was born. It’s been so exciting this week to have the book go live and see the reviews and hear from people enjoying the adventures! We’d like to thank everyone for their support and hope even more readers discover the book, especially since we’re donating 10% of the first month’s royalties to a charity, as Pauline discusses below. 

Pauline: The Super Power of Pets (Or Cats & Dogs)

According to family legend, we used to have a dog. My mom says I was so little that I’d walk beside this dog with my hand on it’s back and it growled whenever anyone approached me. Sometimes it growled at her, which is why it quit being a town dog and became a farm dog. And this is also why I don’t remember a dog.

All I remember are cats. A positive procession of cats—one even had kittens in the closet of my bedroom. These cats were ushered into our family by my mom (who is currently ruled over by a cat).

So it was quite the shock to watch old family videos of my mom growing up and see…

Dogs.

There is a cat in there, but it was owned by the neighbors. Otherwise, just dogs. My mom claims that her mom was the dog person (when I knew her she was a bird person, i.e. she had a budgie bird) and that she (my mom) was always a cat person in a dog house.

These discoveries mess with my very scientific theory that we imprint on “our” pet or pets early in life. (It was a really great theory with lots of scientific sounding words. Most of them were made up, which I feel fine about because scientists make up words all the time. I mean, science terms had to start somewhere. We didn’t arrive in this life speaking science. And seriously, don’t science words sound made up?)

According to my own theory, I should be a dog person. But I’m a cat person. Mostly. Right now my yard is overrun with bunnies, so I might be a bunny person. A friend was visiting and said, “You need to do something about your rabbit problem.”

I told him, “I don’t have a rabbit problem. I have bunnies and they aren’t a problem. So don’t mess with my bunnies.”

Okay, there are forces out of my control that are probably messing with my bunnies, but I try not to think about that. [Repeats to self, “Circle of Life. Circle of Life.]

I guess if I have to reframe my theory, it would be [important science stuff incoming] that pets are an important part of our lives. Like Emma in “The Real Dragon,” I used to tell our various cats things that I couldn’t tell anyone else.

Pets keep our secrets.

Pets also provide comfort in troubled times.

Even cats, who can be notoriously distant, seem to know when to snuggle up and purr. Our Felix used to curl up on Our Son’s chest after his chemo treatments. This same Felix—who gave me guilt-inducing looks of disdain when I came back from a weekend away (during which he was coddled by a cat sitter)—would crawl up in my lap and lick away my tears.

This healing super power of pets is one reason we chose HeroDogs.org as our charity for Pets in Space. Hero-Dogs.org trains dogs to become service and therapy dogs for our Veterans.

When we first conceived the idea for this anthology, the first item on our list, even before compiling our awesome line-up of authors, was our desire to contribute a portion of our profits to a worthy charity. And we were thrilled to discover Hero-Dogs.org and that they were happy to work with us.

The good news is, you can benefit Hero-Dogs.org two ways: first by buying Pets in Space and, second, by direct contribution.

If you are looking for a fun-filled, exciting and romantic read—and you want to help our veterans—then I hope you’ll check out Pets in Space. 

In almost slow motion, the secretary in the front pew glanced down and saw Peddrenth’s snout sticking out between her ankles. Her shriek rose, traveling up and up, increasing in intensity and coming back in waves as echo met echo. She jumped up and then up onto the pew. I couldn’t see Peddrenth anymore, but I could track his movement as person after person leapt up on the pews.  

One guy, a physicist, added fuel to the panic by yelling, “That’s not a mouse! It’s too big!” From “The Real Dragon,” Pets in Space

The Author: 

Pauline never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. You can find out more about her books (and get a free story for subscribing to her newsletter) at:  http://www.paulinebjones.com