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Psycho Cat
Book by Hansen, Derek
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
327 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 1996
3 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Derek Hansen
31 books45 followersDerek was born in London in June 1944 about the same time Hitler thought London was a great place to send his V1 flying bombs.
At the age of four he convinced his parents to emigrate and spent the next sixteen years in Auckland being called a Pommy and a wimp for playing soccer and not rugby.
His first published short story appeared in his grammar school yearbook.
Equipped with a million ideas for novels he approached the leading national newspaper for a traineeship and was told he was too undisciplined; approached publishers and was told he was too young; approached an advertising agency and was welcomed into their embrace – they knew a fast, facile, fashionably glib mind when they saw one.
His talent took him London in the sixties where his quirky style and commercial instincts brought a rapid rise through the ranks to the country’s top advertising agency, accumulating many international awards along the way.
Derek was lured to Australia by the usual inducements – money, sunshine, money, lifestyle, money, etc – and spent the next twenty-five years doing ads and wishing he was writing novels instead.
About the time Bryce Courtenay wrote The Power of One and Peter Carey wrote Bliss, Derek and his partners sold their advertising agency and three years later he was free to pursue his true writing ambitions.
Having spent a lifetime reducing masses of information to less than 100 words or thirty seconds of TV time, working in exactly the opposite direction did not come easy.
An idea for a novel can be written on a folded napkin. What follows takes thousands of tablecloths.
One day over lunch Derek had the bright idea of breaking his novel down into more easily managed bite-sized pieces and so the idea for the Lunch series was born.
Lunch with the Generals became an instant bestseller in Australasia and was sold into Britain, Scandinavia, France and Germany. Lunch with Mussolini followed but it was Sole Survivor that piqued American interest.
Simon and Schuster decided to publish an American edition and Kennedy-Marshall (Sixth Sense, Snow Falling on Cedars) bought the rights to the movie on behalf of Disney in a $US750,000 deal.
Three weeks before the movie was due to go into production, shooting began on Castaway with Tom Hanks. Two movies about a man on an island surrounded by salt water was deemed one too many, and Sole Survivor the movie bit the dust. How typical of Hollywood to choose to make the wrong movie.
Derek has subsequently published a further five novels and three collections of short stories, but nothing quite as quirky or funny as his latest novel, A Man You Can Bank On.
Derek is married, has two grown-up children and lives most of the time in Avalon on Pittwater, and some of the time in Doonan on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Kingfish, salmon, bonito, bream and flathead live just outside his back door and the surf rises a short walk from the front door.
Someone had to have this life and Derek is just so glad that someone is him.
At the age of four he convinced his parents to emigrate and spent the next sixteen years in Auckland being called a Pommy and a wimp for playing soccer and not rugby.
His first published short story appeared in his grammar school yearbook.
Equipped with a million ideas for novels he approached the leading national newspaper for a traineeship and was told he was too undisciplined; approached publishers and was told he was too young; approached an advertising agency and was welcomed into their embrace – they knew a fast, facile, fashionably glib mind when they saw one.
His talent took him London in the sixties where his quirky style and commercial instincts brought a rapid rise through the ranks to the country’s top advertising agency, accumulating many international awards along the way.
Derek was lured to Australia by the usual inducements – money, sunshine, money, lifestyle, money, etc – and spent the next twenty-five years doing ads and wishing he was writing novels instead.
About the time Bryce Courtenay wrote The Power of One and Peter Carey wrote Bliss, Derek and his partners sold their advertising agency and three years later he was free to pursue his true writing ambitions.
Having spent a lifetime reducing masses of information to less than 100 words or thirty seconds of TV time, working in exactly the opposite direction did not come easy.
An idea for a novel can be written on a folded napkin. What follows takes thousands of tablecloths.
One day over lunch Derek had the bright idea of breaking his novel down into more easily managed bite-sized pieces and so the idea for the Lunch series was born.
Lunch with the Generals became an instant bestseller in Australasia and was sold into Britain, Scandinavia, France and Germany. Lunch with Mussolini followed but it was Sole Survivor that piqued American interest.
Simon and Schuster decided to publish an American edition and Kennedy-Marshall (Sixth Sense, Snow Falling on Cedars) bought the rights to the movie on behalf of Disney in a $US750,000 deal.
Three weeks before the movie was due to go into production, shooting began on Castaway with Tom Hanks. Two movies about a man on an island surrounded by salt water was deemed one too many, and Sole Survivor the movie bit the dust. How typical of Hollywood to choose to make the wrong movie.
Derek has subsequently published a further five novels and three collections of short stories, but nothing quite as quirky or funny as his latest novel, A Man You Can Bank On.
Derek is married, has two grown-up children and lives most of the time in Avalon on Pittwater, and some of the time in Doonan on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Kingfish, salmon, bonito, bream and flathead live just outside his back door and the surf rises a short walk from the front door.
Someone had to have this life and Derek is just so glad that someone is him.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 13, 2024
3/13 of the stories were okay. Another 3 of them were basically about animal abuse - meant to be funny? And one had nothing at all to do with cats. Definitely not a book that belongs on my bookshelf.
October 10, 2017
A book of short stories about cats, I had some laugh out loud moments. A light hearted book which was fun to read, although I'm not entirely sure the author likes cats. ;-D
August 29, 2018
Probably more like 2.5. I’m not a big fan of short stories anyhow. A couple of good ones, but they weren’t really stories about cats - which is how it is described as.
April 26, 2021
Some of them were really entertaining!
August 16, 2015
A collection of colourfully written short stories about cats -- or more accurately, the people whose lives interact with various cats. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, and overall enjoyed the book more than I might have if I weren't an American expat living in New Zealand, so I appreciate the language and dialogue in and of itself. Very good reading for long flights when my jet-lagged brain couldn't handle long and complicated story arcs, plus the exhaustion heightened my sense of humour. Certainly not for everyone -- in some cases, it helped to be one of those people who enjoys Cards Against Humanity, for example (though nothing in the book was actually quite that extreme!)
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June 29, 2010For "cat lovers and haters alike"? I don't think so. I tried, I really did, hoping to find something which wasn't highly offensive to a cat lover, but failed. Wavers between being offensive and just simply not worth expending good reading time on. Thrown to one side in disgust.
January 16, 2010
A little disappointing that the cats were not main characters in each story...but otherwise an enjoyable read.
May 4, 2012
Great book of short stories about cats, psychotic cats and psychos and their cats.
Probably not as funy if you actually like cats.
Probably not as funy if you actually like cats.
February 16, 2016
Fun set of short with a darkly comic feel.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews