Cat-Tales Inside an Enigma - Ebooks now ready for download

"I said I was a patient cat; I am.  I said I would wait, I did. 
And now Fate, friend of cats, has laid the key to his happiness at my feet.

He betrayed my friendship, betrayed my trust. 
And now… he is going… to pay."

Cat-Tales: Inside an Enigma now complete, downloadable as an ebook for Kindle, Mobi and universal epub for other mobile readers, and print-quality pdf is available for download on the Cat-Tales website.

 "It's a labyrinth of cunning and puzzles and riddle-mania… but never hard to follow. That's what makes it riveting…"

"Selina is a lot smarter and a lot scarier than a lot of people realise."

"Simply brilliant

"Inspired

"THAT…was AWESOME, and so very, *very* Kitty!"

Cat-Tales.mobi

Announcing Cat-Tales.mobi a mobile-friendly website offering all Cat-Tales, from A Girl's Gotta Protect Her Reputation through A Bon Chat, Bon Rat.  Selected spinoffs coming soon!  Epub links are also available for iPhone users with the Stanza reader to launch the app and read the ebook directly from the website without intermediary steps.

All other ebook formats - for Kindle, Nook, Sony, iPad, and all other reading devices - are available for download on the main Cat-Tales website.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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Capes, Bats, Cats, Covers... Not so much with The Closet

I certainly hoped to get in a quick comment on all the stuff that has been going on this summer which certainly warranted a purr or a scratch, but for which I didn't have time.  A metaphorical closet-cleaning to match the physical one.  Unfortunately for my mental closet but fortunately for Cat-Tales, there has been - yet again - too much going on to bother with the knucklhead stuff.

1.  The new Cat-Tale: Electron 29 hit the cyberstands last week,  and as anyone who has written Edward Nigma will tell you, he doesn't sit quietly in the back of your head waiting for you to finish other things before you start on his next chapter.  If you don't start writing, he'll start without you.  Meh. 

2. Wanders Nowhere has released a new installment of his Dracula in Gotham fic Capes and Bats.  Much as I want to gush, you simply will not believe me.  Believe the forum: "This little tale created an imagery and gravitas in the first chapter that the graphic novel storytellers of Gotham have been trying to do for decades" "Gorgeous prose" "Masterful".  'Nuff said.  Read it, just read it... in time for Halloween because we're not done yet and... Whew... *fans self*  just read, trust me.

3. We're getting ready to welcome a new artist into the fan art gallery, and that requires a little more work backstage than a busy girl could want in the midst of #1, 2, and 4.

4. EBOOKS!  Yes, the new ePub format is going to make mobile readers very happy and it's also given me an opening to redo the printable pdfs and kindle documents so we have some consistency.  Win-win, but it's the sort of thing where the first few will take a while, but taking the time to do them RIGHT will make everything go much smoother down the line.  In that spirit of doing it right, I want to give the individual story pdfs their own covers.  Right now, they use the square ones from the website and it's okay but the images are not made for the medium and it shows.  Now, I don't plan to do this for all the tales, but Cat-Tale #1 is, of course, a special case. So I have 4 possible covers up, and I am opening it up for a vote.  Please don't worry about the words of the title "A Girl's Gotta Protect Her Reputation."  They will be placed better on the final image, whichever it is to be.  Just vote for your favorite image. 

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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The Long Hot Summer

The conclusion of Don’t Fear the Joker is finally out, and at first, I was amazed at just how long this tale has taken to complete.  Then I factored in how much has been going on besides writing the main story.  Earlier in the year we had the flashy stuff like the Second Life Visitor Center opening, video wallpaper and other website upgrades, and of course those delicious Cat-Tales Cocktails in the making.  The last few weeks it’s been more low-key but still quite vital:

First, proofing edits complete on Demon’s in the Details, which means a spiff new 6.625 x 10.25 (comic size) pdf for anyone who likes reading hardcopy, as well as Kindle and Mobi versions for the growing numbers that want to read on the go.  All of that is standard for each completed Cat-Tale.  What’s new for Demon is an ePub format.  This is the only file currently available in this format, so we can work out the kinks before rolling it out for all 60+ tales and compilations.  Anyone using Stanza and/or Safari on their iPhone or iPod should try it out here.   Users of the Droid Kindle app and other mobile readers should also give it a try and let me know what methods work best for you.

Speaking of proofing, we’re coming up on the end of Book 5, so that means a new compilation and a logical time to make the jump to providing the complete books available for Kindle.  Now, remember the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Yoda maintains that size shouldn’t make any difference?  If you can Force-float a pebble you can levitate the X-wing?  Well, it’s a theory, but it sure is intimidating.  Luke-like, I am going to try, but Kindle folks, please be kind on the off chance that I can’t get work out a proper table of contents/bookmark menu.

And finally—you didn’t think we were done yet, did you?—Finally, the social networking world has changed since I installed the “Add this” buttons, and it’s definitely time for some new options there so the tales can be easily shared on Facebook, tweeted, and otherwise passed around.  Expect these upgrades to roll out slowly and quietly in the next few weeks.  

As for what else I’ve done with my summer vacation, this season’s recipient of the DC Comics Shoe Fund is Kenneth Cole. 

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com 
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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This Week in Cat-Tales

It’s been a while since I logged a general catch-up entry.  I’m reasonably sure I mentioned when Armchair Detective and Not My Kink were released for kindle and mobile readers, but so much was happening in that window, putting the finishing touches on the Second Life Visitor Center and working on the pictures for the Cat-Tales Cocktails, they may have gotten missed.  In any case, edits are well underway for CT 58: Demon’s in the Details, so that should be released in just a few weeks. 

Better still, I got myself a new phone, an Android platform.  There’s a Kindle app, so I should be able to test the phone features much better now.  For example, visiting the Cat-Tales homepage, I see that not all smartphones will direct to the mobile-friendly menu page, only the iPhone does.  The rest of you (who are now the rest of US) can continue to use the iPhone button on the bottom menu until I get an automatic redirect in the works.

Also, the new chapter of Don’t Fear the Joker is out today. I know many readers were expecting this next chapter to be the final one, and I actually did consider it since CH9 is quite short.  But not only is it a complete chapter/installment on its own, there is one other non-Gotham, non-story consideration.  As forum followers are aware, my A/C gave up the ghost on August 1st, timing that IMO shows a truly Jokeresque sense of humor, and since the coming and going of repairmen is apt to slow down the progress of Chapter 10, I figured it was better to get this out there.  All of you can cackle with Mistah J while I keep Cashmere from hogging the sweet spot in front of the fan.

‘Til next time, Ciaomeow as we say in the real neighborhood.  And stay cool.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com  
cattales.yuku.com 
cattales.wikispaces.com

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No Love Letters Today

Okay, first, Windows Vista sucks. I can’t think of many things that get a week off to a more aggravating start than having to do that new profile copy/paste dance with 4+ gig of files just to get around that corrupted profile glitch. I had enough computer issues last year that I’ve been putting off Windows 7 for the obvious reasons: give them time to work out the kinks that sneak through every MS release, and giving me time to get other stuff done before embarking on the thrilling adventure of earning another @#($U@(* operating system.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is today’s blog may be a little late, since the start of Monday morning was postponed by 3 hours. Woof. On the upside, not only were last week’s forum/yuku problems resolved very nicely, we now have the fantastic ability to open up to non-yuku participants. You can now log into the Cat-Tales forums and this blog with a Facebook, Twitter or Google UserID, as well as LinkedIn, WindowsLive, Yahoo, MySpace, AOL, WordPress and OpenID.

The temporary outage did zonk out the caption contest, but I have it on good authority that the All-Seeing Oracle is scouring the net for a good panel to make up for lost time.

In other news, I made some good headway on Chapter 6, as well as finishing the proofing edits for Cat-Tales #56 Armchair Detective – which of course means there is a new pdf, kindle and mobi version available for download.

And of course, more backstage stuff for the website. Kitty needs a nap – if only somebody told Vista. Again I say “woof,” but we’ll get’em.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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This Week in Cat-Tales

Gave the first tour of the TBA. That was beyond exciting. I was hoping to actually ANNOUNCE said TBA at the end of the month, but it’s already the 28th (how the hell did that happen?!). Right now, it’s looking like some technical issues may delay it another week or so, but still, it’s exciting to have it in sight. And speaking of technical issues, I’ve about had it with this laptop acting up. I was planning to put off a new ‘puter as long as possible, since it will probably necessitate a move to Windows 7 and experience has shown it’s best to give any new MS operating system a loooong time to work out the kinks. But now I’m having second thoughts. I’m looking at traveling a lot more again in the future, like I used to, and a RELIABLE laptop is a necessity. Apologies to Eddie, but any computer where start-up is a GREAT BIG QUESTION MARK is not desirable.

Anyway, back to CT. Finished the pre-conversion edits on Cat-Tales #55: I Believe in Harvey Dent, which means it is now available for Kindle and Mobi Readers, as well as the ever-popular printable PDFs. I also finished work on Chapter 5 of Don’t Fear the Joker, which is now out for beta. The first reader got back to me already, the other… eh, might be a few days yet. But it will be ready soon.

And that concludes the catch-up on Cat-Tales. We just have time for one quick catch-up from the mailbag backlog. Check out this Original Comic Art Marketplace at Thrillist.com

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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The Week in Cat-Tales

Whew. Two major projects coming to a head at the same time. Let’s try not to do that again for a while.

First things first: Congratulations to Loren Weisman on the epoch-making launch of The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business. Huzzah! Apparently the after party at Seattle’s famous Tini Bigs was quite the event, complete with – be still my heart – a new signature martini made for the event by one of the country’s great mixologists, Shane Sahr.

As for the book, you know, most creative fields are beset by an Echo Boomer problem: kids coming out of a system where they have been rewarded for participation and not achievement. The result is they hit the real world with no clue what they are actually good at and where their talents are barely adequate. They come in expecting the real world to be set up the way their previous environments have been: designed to help them achieve and to advance them as quickly as possible – or preferably faster. This in the industry of “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” Surprise, kids! No theatre, no movie studio, no nightclub, no record label, no publisher, no agent, no manager, no anybody anywhere is going to do that, even if you actually have the once in a decade talent you believe you do. Loren’s book is a milestone in actually letting aspiring artists IN on those realities. Instead of talking about them behind closed doors, he talks to them, explaining the facts of life frankly but honestly. IMO, at least half will react like Talia: hysterical scream fits, angry assertions that her deluded fantasy Is, Was, and Always Will Be. You’re a big fat meanie for even suggesting otherwise, all her Facebook friends say so too and so does her mom and so does the Easter Bunny. Elvis lives! In all probably, innocent crockery will die… But the other half, that’s who this book is for. They can and will step up, grow up, and become real artists.

Anyway, book release. Despite that excitement and the next phase – testing – on the infamous TBA that ate Tokyo, I did manage to complete edits and roll out the kindle and mobi for Cat-Tales #54: War of the Poses. Even got a few chapters done of CT55. Speaking of CT#55, it appears that Christopher Nolan appeared at something called WonderCon not too long ago and surreptitiously waved the checkered flag on a viral for his upcoming flick: Inception. That set off a slew of new visits to our Dark Knight viral sites. So CT-readers, if you missed out on the alternate reality game the first time, just a heads up that those websites are still out there for your vicarious Gotham-living pleasure.

And finally, yes, writing is ready to resume on Don’t Fear the Joker. It was a good weekend for Laughing Boy, which is to say, a crappy weekend for Gotham, but what can you do. That’s the way the clattering teeth clatter, HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!

And, since I am several weeks behind sharing goodies from the mailbag, check this out: a “Kodak Moment” doesn’t begin to cover it.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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Previously on Cat-Tales

Finished the book cover (MEOW!) and as promised, a normal Cat-Tales schedule has resumed. 

First, it’s quite true that a good editor is above rubies, and mine kept quietly working while I was running around calling down the wrath of the righteous on photoshop filters.  The result is that the proofing edits on Short Tales were ready just as soon as I came up for air.  And that means Cat-Tales #53, the shiny newly proofed trio of short tales which introduced The Z and Selina’s Lamborghini, is now available for kindle & mobi as well as the printable pdfs.   Again, I meow.

After that, work resumed on Don’t Fear the Joker, natch.  No ETA on Chapter 4 at the moment, but only because Joker and Harley are… well, you can probably guess. 

Twitterfeed HarlQuinn13
HarlQuinn13: Helping Puddin' test the Easy Bake Oven trap
HarlQuinn13: Test flopped.  Giving porcupine a decent burial
HarlQuinn13: Going out to White Castle

Work on the TBA is still on hold.  I want to get the next chapter in the can before I worry about any outside projects.  Happily the fan gallery artists and other extras folks are patient.  The folks I owe emails to, eh… well, I’ll get there.
So that’s it for now.  First major hurdle of the year, CLEARED!

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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Happy Anniversary Cat-Tales

9 years ago today, Reputation hit the cyber stands.  So Happy Anniversary to our favorite feline, and long may she purr.

As followers of this blog know, there is no big rollout of a new feature to mark the day.  Something is in the pipe, but it won’t be ready for another month or two.  Real life rearing its ugly, which is why this wasn’t the most productive week for CT.  However, I did finish the proofing edits on Vault, which means CT 52 is now available for Kindle & mobi. 

(Incidentally, Kindle folks who still want to test the compilation docs, that project will resume in a few months also.  PM or email me to get on the list, but be aware that nothing is happening until May – same real life/real work reason as above.)

Corporate Sugardaddy Watch:  DC, it’s official: Spiderman’s dad can beat up your dad, big time.  New York viewers missed the red carpet and 13 minutes of the Oscars telecast last night because ABC didn’t blink in the negotiations with Cablevision as the 8 o’clock deadline came and went.  One of the great advantages to being a sentient lifeform with higher reasoning skills, you have the capacity to learn from other people’s mistakes.  There’s a lesson here:  do not get into a pissing contest with the alpha mouse. Seriously.  Just don’t.  
Have a good week, everybody.

Chris Dee
www.catwoman-cattales.com 
cattales.yuku.com
cattales.wikispaces.com

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