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Cats in Command and Other Stories
The author of the series, A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, which includes The Dragon Who Didn't Fly, Dance with Clouds, House of the Moon, and Book of Sorrows, presents a collection of short stories whose themes are satirical, occasionally serious, and never sentimental. Cats in The situation is more serious than you may suspect. Villains The villains attempt to rewrite the story. The Language of He decides to teach a stone how to speak. Good luck. Gargoyle in He's not just an ugly face. After she's orphaned by murderous humans, not even a saint can convince this dragon that she's a sinner. Big Dragons Don't Cry, Chapter 1: A royal cat, looking for a suitable mate, doesn't expect to fall in love with a feisty alley cat.
64 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 9, 2011
12 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
C.M. Barrett
16 books16 followersAs a child, C. M. (Connie) Barrett was enchanted by her grandmother's stories about life in Ireland: the challenges of rural life, the dangers of civil war, and the wee folk who were often invisible but capable of causing much trouble if not treated well. As a result, reality and fantasy merged for her, and it's probably her grandmother's fault that she became a fantasy writer.
Her first book was an illustrated volume of retold Greek and Roman myths that she wrote for her brother. Her first public recognition for writing came in eighth grade, when she was an award for a Good Posture Awareness Day slogan.
Since then, she had many articles, short stories, and reviews published. Sometimes she even got paid.
Because Connie was busy doing other things (working as a typographer, counselor, running a metaphysical store in Greenwich Village) writing took a back seat until early 2011 when self-publishing movement began to take off. Over the next 18 months, she published the first three volumes of A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, a literary novel, and two holistic books.
Most of her books have cats in them. Because she has to spend so much time thinking like one in order to write A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, and to survive in a home run by feline overlords (currently ladies), she sometimes forgets that she's human. The cats encourage this until it's time for a run to the pet store.
Because she continues to be comfortable merging reality and fantasy, she didn't mind the fictional cat, Tara (a main character in the Dragon's Guide Series) dictating a book of advice to cats. Cats in Charge: A Guide to the Training and Education of Humans should be published in April 2013, if the cat stops making corrections.
Connie is also working on the fourth book of A Dragon's Guide to Destiny and a new series, Dystopia in Drag.
Series: A Dragon's Guide to Destiny
Big Dragons Don't Cry
Dance with Clouds
House of the Moon
Literary Fiction
Gone to Flowers (Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll)
Nonfiction
Animals Have Feelings, Too: Bach Flower Remedies for Cats and Dogs
Renew Your Life the Natural Way: Balance Your Chakras with Crystals and Essences
Her first book was an illustrated volume of retold Greek and Roman myths that she wrote for her brother. Her first public recognition for writing came in eighth grade, when she was an award for a Good Posture Awareness Day slogan.
Since then, she had many articles, short stories, and reviews published. Sometimes she even got paid.
Because Connie was busy doing other things (working as a typographer, counselor, running a metaphysical store in Greenwich Village) writing took a back seat until early 2011 when self-publishing movement began to take off. Over the next 18 months, she published the first three volumes of A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, a literary novel, and two holistic books.
Most of her books have cats in them. Because she has to spend so much time thinking like one in order to write A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, and to survive in a home run by feline overlords (currently ladies), she sometimes forgets that she's human. The cats encourage this until it's time for a run to the pet store.
Because she continues to be comfortable merging reality and fantasy, she didn't mind the fictional cat, Tara (a main character in the Dragon's Guide Series) dictating a book of advice to cats. Cats in Charge: A Guide to the Training and Education of Humans should be published in April 2013, if the cat stops making corrections.
Connie is also working on the fourth book of A Dragon's Guide to Destiny and a new series, Dystopia in Drag.
Series: A Dragon's Guide to Destiny
Big Dragons Don't Cry
Dance with Clouds
House of the Moon
Literary Fiction
Gone to Flowers (Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll)
Nonfiction
Animals Have Feelings, Too: Bach Flower Remedies for Cats and Dogs
Renew Your Life the Natural Way: Balance Your Chakras with Crystals and Essences
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 19, 2018
The author of the series, A Dragon's Guide to Destiny, which includes Big Dragons Don't Cry, Dance with Clouds, House of the Moon, and Book of Sorrows, presents a collection of short stories whose themes are satirical, occasionally serious, and never sentimental. Read the prequel and the one about the dragon who didn't fly, and this one was also in my freebie list of books had.
Cats in Command: The situation is more serious than you may suspect.
Villains Victorious: The villains attempt to rewrite the story.
The Language of Stones: He decides to teach a stone how to speak. Good luck.
Gargoyle in Love: He's not just an ugly face.
Tarasque: After she's orphaned by murderous humans, not even a saint can convince this dragon that she's a sinner.
Big Dragons Don't Cry, Chapter 1: A royal cat, looking for a suitable mate, doesn't expect to fall in love with a feisty alley cat.
Cats in Command: The situation is more serious than you may suspect.
Villains Victorious: The villains attempt to rewrite the story.
The Language of Stones: He decides to teach a stone how to speak. Good luck.
Gargoyle in Love: He's not just an ugly face.
Tarasque: After she's orphaned by murderous humans, not even a saint can convince this dragon that she's a sinner.
Big Dragons Don't Cry, Chapter 1: A royal cat, looking for a suitable mate, doesn't expect to fall in love with a feisty alley cat.
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August 23, 2019Fun short reads
The author did a great job evoking different emotions with each story. Anxiety, friendship, love, hatred, and even despair were reflected. But, the teaser for The Dragon Who Didn't Fly was the most heartbreaking. I could feel the pain that comes with a crisis of faith. I guess I know what is short-listed in my TBR pile!
The author did a great job evoking different emotions with each story. Anxiety, friendship, love, hatred, and even despair were reflected. But, the teaser for The Dragon Who Didn't Fly was the most heartbreaking. I could feel the pain that comes with a crisis of faith. I guess I know what is short-listed in my TBR pile!
June 7, 2017
got for free from Amazon and I absolutely love reading this book
August 30, 2019
Short and fun. A little melodramatic anthromorphization of animals, but maybe someone else will appreciate that more.
March 11, 2023
An interesting mix of humorous story.
Some of the stories were very amusing. Cats are a favorite topic, and the author found a many ways to create new story ideas.
Some of the stories were very amusing. Cats are a favorite topic, and the author found a many ways to create new story ideas.
February 14, 2025
They are not bad, but in some cases they weren't as tight as they could have been. Too wordy and too much telling, not showing in some places.
January 2, 2016
I'm giving this collection of short stories at 3.5 rating.
Some thoughts on each of the stories:
1 - Cats In Command: The idea here is that cats will not let humans be withough a cat for more than a year. If they are, the cats kidnap the human and put them on display for cats to view and (possibly) adopt as their new slave.
I like this one, having just lost my cat to bone cancer this past September. It was my favorite of the 6 stories presented here.
2 - Villains Victorious: A big convention of fairy tale and folklore villains. Many of them talk to the crowd of getting the short end of the good/evil scale.
My least favorite of the stories. It read more like a newspaper article than a story for much of the time.
3 - Gargoyle In Love: A bored and lonely gargoyle falls in love with the cat that comes to visit him.
A sweet story of inter-species friendship and love. It kinda reminded me the Oscar Wilde story about the little bird (I forget the name right now).
4 - The Language Of Stones: A man dissatisfied with his life goes on a journey to find his true calling.
This was okay. After just finishing Aesop's Fables, I felt that this would've gone perfectly in that collection.
5 - Tarasque: A young dragon loses her parents to villainous humans.
I felt bad for Tarasque, cause, you know, humans suck.
6 - Big Dragons Don't Cry, Chapter 1: A cat and his two sisters seek out a royal female cat to mate with her.
This is all cats, not a single dragon in sight! As it's just a preview, I'm kinda interested in seeing where it goes from here.
Some thoughts on each of the stories:
1 - Cats In Command: The idea here is that cats will not let humans be withough a cat for more than a year. If they are, the cats kidnap the human and put them on display for cats to view and (possibly) adopt as their new slave.
I like this one, having just lost my cat to bone cancer this past September. It was my favorite of the 6 stories presented here.
2 - Villains Victorious: A big convention of fairy tale and folklore villains. Many of them talk to the crowd of getting the short end of the good/evil scale.
My least favorite of the stories. It read more like a newspaper article than a story for much of the time.
3 - Gargoyle In Love: A bored and lonely gargoyle falls in love with the cat that comes to visit him.
A sweet story of inter-species friendship and love. It kinda reminded me the Oscar Wilde story about the little bird (I forget the name right now).
4 - The Language Of Stones: A man dissatisfied with his life goes on a journey to find his true calling.
This was okay. After just finishing Aesop's Fables, I felt that this would've gone perfectly in that collection.
5 - Tarasque: A young dragon loses her parents to villainous humans.
I felt bad for Tarasque, cause, you know, humans suck.
6 - Big Dragons Don't Cry, Chapter 1: A cat and his two sisters seek out a royal female cat to mate with her.
This is all cats, not a single dragon in sight! As it's just a preview, I'm kinda interested in seeing where it goes from here.
February 22, 2015
Imagine this...
Great imagination at work in all these stories.I expected cute cat stories but got so much more. Enjoyed this collection.
Great imagination at work in all these stories.I expected cute cat stories but got so much more. Enjoyed this collection.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews