I Heart Grump Cat (Part II)
by Heather Doherty
Okay, I swear, last grumpy cat meme I’ll ever pass along on this blog (this week, cough cough).
But how better to introduce some more very cool cat superstitions than with a picture of a cat smacking a superhero? Pffft… right. Rhetorical question. There is no better way.
These are kind of fun:
- One Indian wedding superstition is that it’s good luck if a cat eats from the bride’s or groom’s left shoe one week before the wedding.
- Cats draw lightning.
- It is good luck to hear a cat sneezing.
- Cats will steal the breath of a sleeping person, particularly babies.
- In Japan the Maneki Neko or beckoning cat is common figurine in businesses and homes, sure to bring good fortune and money to the owner.
- If a cat is cleaning its face by the door, company is coming.
And my personal favorite:
- The girl who finds a strange cat in her bedroom at night will be lucky (biting tongue very sharply right now).
See, told you superstitions were awesome! I really love and respect these bits of wisdom, whimsy, brilliant old wives tales. There is so much more to the world than what’s right before our eyes. Do I believe in every superstition I come across? No. Do I have superstitions of my own (asks the woman wearing green – always wearing green – as I write)? Absolutely!
More on wisdom, whimsy and brilliant old wives tales next week.
In the meantime, want to share some of your superstitions?
I heart Grumpy Cat
By Heather Doherty
I’m a dog person (shout out to Chloe!) but I have fallen in love with the grumpy cat meme that’s been all over Facebook lately. Best cat EVER. Seriously, if I owned a cat (not happening people, don’t send me your cats) this would be my kind of feline. Screw chasing mice, I plan your untimely demise!
Okay, some of the grumpy cat captions are (cough cough) inappropriate for all audiences. But most are snort-worthy funny. Like this one…
So, in honour of grumpy cat and its uncanny, mind-bending ability to make me click share, here’s a few cat-meeting superstitions to start this SUPERSTITION SUNDAY weekly blog post. (Did I just write weekly? Oh yes, I did … see you next week).
- Black cat about to cross your path? Change your path. At least in North American cultures, this is an advisable course of action. Yet, in Scottish superstition, a black cat on the porch is a sign of good luck to come.
- White cats? They come with a little better rep. Dreaming of one is a foretelling of good luck, as is seeing a white cat on the road before you (um, unless the cat has met its untimely end on said road; that couldn’t be a good thing). However in England, seeing a white cat on the way to school was a sign of trouble to come.
- Cats by the water? Sailors are notoriously superstitious, which isn’t surprising considering how precarious the profession was decades ago. If a cat scooted in front of a sailor on a pier, good luck was his. But if a cat cut across his path, the reverse fortune was in store.
- One-eyed cat? If you see a one-eyed cat, spit on your thumb, press it to the middle of your palm, then make a wish. Oh oh oh, the wish is sure to come true.
More on cat superstitions next Superstition Sunday. In the meantime, here’s Ruckus, Norah’s cat along with the lovely and powerful Labradorite sphere we are giving away IN JUST TWO DAYS!
Enter here!
Protected: A Special Giveaway for Newsletter Subscribers
Tada! Our new book trailer is here!
It may be Christmas eve, but it feels like Christmas day for us! Because today is the day we debut our new book trailer for the Casters Series.
We’d love to have your comments. In fact, we’ll give away a $10 gift certificate from the online bookstore of your choice (Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Book Depository, etc.) to one winner whose name we will draw randomly from amongst the comments.
And while you’re here, consider entering our launch contest, the prize for which is a humongous Labradorite gemstone. We’re talking big-as-a-baseball humongous. Click here to enter that contest.
Castermania!
We thought about putting book club questions into Comes the Night for people who wanted to organize book clubs or discussion groups to talk about their experience of the book. But then we decided, why not give readers a forum to post comments? Your question/comment could be directed to us as the authors, or maybe to other readers to get their impressions of something.
So … here you go! This thread is for you. We’ll respond to your comments if it seems you’re looking for our input (in which case, it might be helpful to start it with, “Yo, authors!”). Otherwise, we’ll leave it for other readers to respond to.
But if you’re interested in official book club questions written by us, you can download a PDF copy of them here.
Okay, it’s all yours. And don’t make us assume fake identifies and post our own questions, ‘kay? We’d really hate that.
NOTE: Comments are moderated due to high volumes of spam, so don’t be alarmed if your comment doesn’t show up right away. One of the admins (i.e., Heather or Norah) will approve your comment in due time.
Comes the Night – with a really cool contest!
This series has been a long time in the making — three years, to be precise. That’s how long we’ve been living in this dark and thrilling Caster world. Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Book 1 – Comes the Night.
Right now, it’s available only in ebook form from Amazon (Kindle) and Smashwords (all formats), but we couldn’t wait to tell you! We are very close to launching the paperback version, and are waiting for distribution of the ebook to Barnes & Noble, the Apple iBookstore, Kobo, etc. We’ll really make some noise then!
In the meantime, we’re having a contest to celebrate the launch. Because stones will play a significant role in this series, we’re giving away an enormous, softball-sized Labradorite crystal sphere (approx. value $200). Labradorite is a stone of “spiritual awakening”. It’s found in the Labrador Peninsula in Canada (duh), but it can also be found in Norway and the former USSR. According to GemstoneGifts.com, it “promotes intellectual, intuitive, and mystical wisdom, calmness, intuition”.
To enter this contest, just read this back cover blurb and comment below, giving us a one-word reaction. See? Easy!
How far would you go to escape your own personal teenage hell? Would you run away, break away from everything you know—even your own body?
Alex Robbins, Brooke Saunders and Maryanne Hemlock could not be more different, yet they all have something in common—deep and soul-searing pain. They are also all students atStreepAcademy, a boarding school just one step away from juvie, where they’ve come to complete high school. The three have been relegated to Harvell House, the residence reserved for the hardest cases, the so-called Rejects from Reject Row.
In the forbidden attic of the old Victorian house-turned-residence, the girls discover the diary of Connie Harvell, a young woman who was confined and abused there some 50 years ago. In the end, Connie’s attic prison couldn’t hold her—not completely. She found a way out. At least a dark part of her did. And after reading her diary, the girls discover they can escape at will too. A terrifying, thrilling flight from their bodies and their troubles.
But God help them, their pain isn’t all they leave behind when they join with the night.
And God help anyone who’s wronged them…
We will draw a random winner from the entries on January 15, 2013.
NOTE: By entering this contest, you give us permission to add your email address to our newsletter mailing list. We promise not to spam you. Newsletters will only be sent out when there is actual news to report. This could include more giveaways and prizes!
ALSO NOTE: Comments are moderated due to high volumes of spam, so don’t be alarmed if your comment doesn’t show up right away. One of the admins (i.e., Heather or Norah) will approve your comment in due time.
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