MSI Press Blog

  With rescued street cats (we have 6 of them, mostly older ones), the things inside them that are always unknown in the beginning start to show up as they grow older. Jack is the simplest and healthiest—and youngest. Just missing an eye. Happy Cat has recurring skin cancer. Wooper has IBS and asthma. Bobolink (Boulder) has feline AIDS. Simone si reacting positively to a new medicine, injected once a month, for arthritis; after 16 years she is now jumping up on the bed and snuggling in with me for the night, which she was unable to do with just cosequin. She also has two cysts that cannot be removed without surgery, and the vet considers the surgery at her age too risky so we do at-home management of the cysts. And then there is Snyezhka. Snyezhka survived breast cancer—discovered four years ago and in remission for the past two. We thought she was in good shape until four months ago when lung cancer struck. The immunotherapy did not work, and she has been just on Metacam, an NSAIDS. L

  Father's day is coming up -- yikes, tomorrow already!  Now, there are kid dads, and that is a long tradition of honoring them.  But, what about cat dads? Should they not be honored, too? This link provides a wide range of ideas for gifts for Father's Day. And here is another idea -- find the best picture of "Dad" with "Cat(s)" and make a wall hanging or at least a picture for the picture wall, to honor cat dads every day. See more Caturday posts   HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written requ

  This is just a plea, on Caturday, for pet owners who are in smoky areas caused by the recent Canadian firestorms to remember that pets, too, need protection from smoke. So, keep them inside and breathing easy with the air that you have managed to arrange for yourself to breathe safely. Here is a fact sheet that explains the effects of smoky air on your cats and dogs. It only takes a minute or two to read. Check it out HERE . See more Caturday posts   HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.co

After the mighty rainstorms that swept the West recently, our neighbor's cat, an indoor/outdoor sweetie who comes to visit our indoor cats through the screens on our catio, found a perfect sanctuary, protected from our blustery, late-afternoon winds, yet having a 360-degree view: in the flower box on our deck -- bereft of flowers, washed away by the rains and blown away by the winds. For more Caturday posts, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

   Christmas at the Mission came after other Sula books were written, the first being Surviving Cancer, Healing People, which won a Literary Titan gold award. The first Sula story was told in Guideposts Magazine  (and repeated two years later as the lead Christmas story in All God's Creatures Magazine ) as the lead story in the Christmas 2015 issue. So, it seemed a natural that one of the books in what become a 7-book series should be a book about Christmas. Not only did Sula photogenically place herself in just the right Christmas spots (the local newspaper got some of those shots, too), but it became clear that not all parishioners were familiar with all the concepts associated with the Catholic observation of Christmas. Sula's books have always tried to strike a balance between informing and entertaining. For more posts about Sula and her books, click HERE . For more book back stories, click HERE . (And yes, we know the timing is a bit odd -- Christmas as four months ago an

   Excerpt from Thoughts without a Title (Henderson, editor) --  The Tale of Fuzz  Betty Lou Leaver Once upon a time in the wooded mountains of California, not all that far from the ocean but far enough not to know that it existed, there was born a little kitten. He had beautiful markings but never knew because he had no family to admire him. His hair was long and curly, and he had a very bushy tail. He looked like a ball of fuzz, but he did not know because he had no family to tell him.  One day, when he was only a few weeks old and alone except for the remains of his mother, who had become a meal for a hungry coyote, he ventured forth in search of safer lands and in search of food and water for he was, indeed, hungry and thirsty.  Before very long, he reached a river in the woods, a deep, cool river, and he drank from it thirstily. Near the river, he saw a quaint little cabin, and through the window he saw two children looking at a box that showed stories. The girl was

    Just in, on Palm Sunday...a trailer for Sula's book, Easter at the Mission . 'Nuff said, just listen! HERE . For more posts about Sula and her books, click HERE . Fir other posts about Easter, click HERE . For other book trailers, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  Yes, we have quite a collection of short videos of Sula, parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, thanks to Stacey Gentry, Sula's official photographer. For some Caturday/Saturday fun, just click HERE and select the videos you like -- or all of them! For more posts about Sula, her life well lived, and her books, click HERE , including Surviving Cancer, Healing People , which won a Literary Titan gold medal. And, with Easter coming up, don't forget about Sula's Easter book! Sula, the now-famous church cat, tackles a mysterious topic for her fifth book: What is Easter, what is its meaning, what are the beliefs behind Catholic behaviors associated with the Lenten season and Easter, why is it called the Paschal mystery? Sula answers these questions with history, dogma, humor, and charm. And, of course, with pictures, lots and lots of people-cat pictures. The sections of the book--Ash Wednesday, Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and East Mornin

  Excerpt from Tale of a Mission Catt (Sula)  The Mass The Mass is where the community of believers gather to worship in obedience to Jesus’s words at the Last Supper, “Do this in remembrance of me.” The Mass has several parts, and, depending on my assignment for the day, I may be expected to take part in one or more of them. The introductory rites include the entrance of the priest and the ministers, who join the already gathered people of God. I may walk down the aisle at the end of the line. I rarely do that, but sometimes I need to. If not, I may watch from the altar, seeking out the special parishioner, who is my mission for the Mass. Sometimes, I can just wait patiently in a pew or on the lap of a parishioner. After the procession, the priest leads the people in the sign of the cross. This reminds all of us of how Jesus conquered death. Then the priest reminds us that the Jesus is present among us, and all the people are led to think about their sins, asking God and Jesus to have

  Jeremy does wonderful videos, and the blog post video chosen for today's Caturday post explains How to Take Care of a Cat -- worth a few enjoyable minutes to watch it! Jeremy's book, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man , was a finalist in the Foreword Reviews/Indiefab Book of the Year Award competition , as well as winning the Kops-Fetherling Legacy Award for Humor . Read more posts, including excerpts, about Jeremy's book HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  Excerpt from Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story (Sula)   Greetings, World! My name is Sula. I am told that I am a very attractive cat. A bit rotund, I am a domestic shorthair with a very luxuriant and fanciful white coat, accented by greyish-black bangs and a greyish black tail. I am almost ten years old, a big girl now. I live by choice at Old Mission San Juan Bautista, the latest in a long line of mission cats, and I am a cancer survivor. Supposedly, I am a Turkish Van cat by breed, but I doubt that I came here from Turkey. On the other hand, I don’t know where I came from. I don’t think it really matters. I am here, and I like being here. Moreover, I have a mission and a Mission. What more could any cat want? As a cancer-surviving Mission cat, my chore is to heal people who, like me, must overcome burdens in their lives. (I am so very glad that I do not have the same mission that previous Mission cats had: ridding the Mission of mice and rats. I think they must

  Recently, Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story  by Sula Parish Cat at Old Mission was awarded a gold in the Literary Titan February book competition. For more posts about Sula and her books, click HERE . For more MSI Press Literary Titan award winners, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  Excerpt from Sula and the Franciscan Sisters - The Sisters, Their Convent Home and Work, and Our Mission A long time ago, the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement, as an order, were not Catholic; they were Anglican. Then, they became Catholic. As Franciscans, they found their way to Old Mission San Juan Bautista, a Franciscan Mission established by St. Junipero Serra and Franciscan friars from Mexico in 1797. The Franciscan sisters came later. Once here, they helped the parishioners, other people, the cats who came to visit them at the convent, like my friend Julius, and, of course, me. The Franciscans are a mendicant order. That means that they work. Some orders are cloistered—they spend their time inside all the time, praying. Some orders teach; the Jesuits like to teach. The Franciscans teach, too. The Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement at San Juan Bautista have taught at the St. Benedict School in nearby Hollister. They also have taught catechism, Rite of Christian Initiation