MSI Press Blog

  Jeremy Feig, MSI Press author of the award-winning book, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man , inspired by his silky black and highly pragmatic late cat, Shelly, wrote recently that he and his family (wife and young daughter) had moved from Santa Monica, California to Cascais, Portugal in December. Say what? That is what I imagine Shelly would say. They pulled up roots and moved half a world away. Now, for a cat, that is a bit distressing. They don't like to change their habitats, and Shelly certainly was complete owner of her habitat in Santa Monica. However, Santa Monica is on the coast, and so is Cascais. Just perhaps Shelly could have found some way to feel at home in the new location. "We were looking to shake up our lives up a bit," Jeremy wrote. Very likely, Shelly would have agreed that he had succeeded. Nothing like moving to another geographic location, where everything looks different, the language is different, and you are now the minority. Still, Shelly would h...

  I Am Not Wearing That Leash  Cat Tale : Shelly was an indoor cat so I thought she might benefit from going outside. She could breathe the fresh air and smell exciting new things. But since my apartment was on a busy street, I didn’t have the nerve to let her go out untethered. I was afraid she might run away or get eaten by a pack of coyotes. So, I decided I’d walk her on a leash. The idea made sense at the time. After all, why would a pet store sell cat leashes if it weren’t at least theoretically possible to put one on a cat?  The leash was really more of a harness, where you slip each of the cat’s front paws through a loop, then tighten the cord so the whole thing fits snugly. I’ve seen them on dogs before, mostly bulldog types with portly bodies and stumpy little legs.  I brought the leash home and put it on the floor, letting Shelly check it out. She was suspicious but also curious. As she started to sniff it, I made my move. I took her paw and slip...

This excerpt comes from   How My Cat Made Me a Better Man  by Jeremy Feig RELATIONSHIPS Like a Cat in Heat Cat Tale: A few months after adopting Shelly, I learned about her kinky little habit. It began one night when she started sniffing a fluffy blanket in the living room. She dug her claws into the fabric, grasping it tightly. Growing aroused, she then bit the blanket and made prolonged rawrr noises that were infused with sexual energy. For the next few minutes, she just kept kneading, biting, and rawrring. It totally freaked me out. I soon realized that Shelly was just getting her rocks off. She'd been fixed, but some desires can be tough to shake. So I had to accept the fact that my cat liked to pleasure herself. Constantly. It wasn't just with blankets either. She'd hump pillows, towels, even the occasional Nerf football. If an object was soft and pliable, you can bet she'd try to hump it. One day, I received a stuffed turtle as a gift. A bit smaller than She...

  In honor of Caturday, here is an excerpt for the award-winning book, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man by Jeremy Feig. Overcoming Roadblocks  I’d grown tired of the hard laminate floor in my living room. So, I bought a thick shag rug and laid it in front of the couch. While my feet loved the cushy, retro carpeting, Shelly did not. In fact, she was intimidated by it. She would cautiously walk around it, fearful it might come alive and devour her. She even stayed off the couch to avoid getting too close.  This went on for a few days until Shelly’s desire to lay on the couch overcame her hatred of the rug. I watched as she put a tentative paw on the carpeted edge. Noticing that it didn’t try to swallow her, she put another paw on it. Pretty soon, all four paws were on the rug, and Shelly was still in one piece. Success!  After that, Shelly and the shag rug became pals. She’d scamper across it with ease and slumber in its soft tendrils. While she was nervous during...

Fear  You Can’t Always Hide behind the Toilet  Cat Tale: Shelly lived in a lot of different places: upstate New York, Manhattan, Los Angeles, and even a brief stint in New Mexico. Every time she moved someplace new, she’d be utterly terrified. I signed a lease for a great new apartment in Santa Monica, California. The place seemed ideal for a cat. It had a long layout she could race through, a few steps for jumping fun, and ample sunbeam access. I knew Shelly would love it.  As soon as I got the keys to the empty apartment, I took her over to check it out. I figured she’d enjoy exploring her new digs, especially since there was no pesky furniture to get in the way, but from the moment I turned her loose, she was scared to death, darting out of sight almost immediately.  Of course, it’s easy to find a cat in an apartment with no furniture. She was hiding in the bathroom, wedged behind the toilet. I tried to coax her out with some treats, but she wouldn’t bud...

How My Cat Made Me a Better Man by Jeremy Feig, would never have come into being with its heroine, Shelly. Here are some pictures of Shelly: And here are some drawings of Shelly by the late Zhenya Yanovich, up-and-coming Russian artist: Read more posts about Shelly, Jeremy, and this precious, award-winning book HERE .

  Confidence Dogs will perform silly little tricks to earn affection from their masters. Cats will never stoop to that level. So, while my childhood cocker spaniel would happily present his paw for me, Shelly would roll her eyes at what an idiot I was for even asking for it. We're not all born with an innate sense of confidence and self-worth. So, think like a cat, and don't do things that are beneath you. You're better than that. Just because someone tells you to dance doesn't mean you should bust out the Macarena.   There's no reason to kiss up to your boss, praising his genius for every pointless idea he suggests. Unless you're a ninja at brown-nosing, it'll be obvious what you're doing. It won't make you look good, either. You'll just seem like someone who lacks the confidence to say what he really believes. Think in the same terms for your relationships. If your girlfriend blames you for something that went wrong, that doesn't me...

Shelly is the subject of Jeremy's book, How My Cat Taught Me to Be a Better Man . Her antics are delightful and the book is beautifully illustrated by the late Russian artist, Zhenya Yanovich. (The book was selected as a Book of the Year finalist.) Read more about the book in which Shelly stars HERE . Read more about the cats of MSI Press, including Shelly, HERE .

SHELLY Shelly starred in the book, How My Cat Made Me a Better Man , by Jeremy Feig -- and that book placed as finalist in the Book of the Year award. For more posts about Shelly and the book she inspired, click HERE . INTREPID Intrepid is a memoir and love story written by grieving owners when he died at age 11, far too young, of cancer. For more posts about Intrepid, click HERE . SULA Sula is perhaps the most famous cat of MSI Press. She has written six books.        For evidence of Sula's Internet fame, click HERE . For more posts about Sula and her books, click HERE .

I moved to Los Angeles a year after graduating college. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot going for me. I worked intermittently at a series of terrible jobs. My studio apartment was the size of a large shoebox. Money was so tight that ramen noodles were a luxury. And I was completely alone. Who knew that being broke, underemployed, and living in a glorified closet wouldn’t appeal to the ladies? I felt pretty down. I was alone in the world and didn’t see a way to lift myself up into a better situation. So, I thought carefully about all my options. Should I empower myself with a self-help book? No, those are for chicks (or so I told myself). Could I talk things over with my friends? Doubtful. Sharing my feelings with a group of guys didn’t appeal to me because, well, I’m a guy. I briefly toyed with the idea of seeing a life coach. But that wouldn’t work because who in their right mind sees a life coach? I couldn’t come up with any other options. So, where could I go to get my life ...

  A Few Licks Go a Long Way  Cat Tale: It was starting to get dark on a Saturday night. As Shelly sat nearby licking herself, I was preparing to go out and hit the bars. I wanted to spend as little time as possible to get ready. The way I looked at it, if it took more than ten minutes to make myself presentable, I was doing it wrong. I put on my favorite collared shirt, hoping no one would notice the detergent stain on the back or the hole near the armpit. I dragged a brush through my hair a single time. I slipped on my pre-tied, 4-year-old sneakers, the ones with the bottoms of the soles coming off. That’s right, I was stylin’. As I headed for the door, I noticed that Shelly was still in the same spot, still licking herself. She hadn’t stopped grooming the entire time. She didn’t even have plans that night. Either she cared too much about personal appearances or I didn’t care enough. I looked in the mirror. The problem was me.  Cat Lesson: Grooming is imp...

  In honor of Caturday, we are posting another except from How My Cat Made Me a Better Man , a Book of the Year finalist. Fear of Failure You're not perfect. You'll fail at many things, sometimes in mind-blowingly spectacular fashion. Don't let that stop you from going after your goals because if you don't make an effort, you've already failed. On one of Shelly's exciting trips down the hallway of my apartment building, she got confused. She'd gone up a flight of stairs, then walked to the apartment directly above mine, which looked exactly the same. She sat patiently in front of the door and waited for me to let her in. Of course, I didn't since it wasn't my apartment. Thankfully, my upstairs neighbor didn't open his door since it would've been awkward explaining why my cat and I were hanging out on his welcome mat. Shelly's sense of direction had failed her, but even though she couldn't successfully find her way home, she still enjo...

  This week's book back story features How My Cat Made Me a Better Man by Jeremy Feig. from the author -- Books always seemed long to me. To be clear, their length was fine for reading, but the idea of actually sitting down and writing one was daunting. There are just so many words to write! Not to mention sentences, paragraphs, pages, and (gasp) chapters. And most challenging of all, everything has to work together in some cohesive way. Despite my trepidation, the idea of writing a book intrigued me. Partly it was the challenge of it, to see if I could pull it off. And partly it was because I’d grown bored of the shorter writing bits I’d done for so long. Maybe it was time for a change. But what could I write about? I took a walk with my wife down Santa Monica’s California incline to explore ideas. We talked about different book genres that might be fun to try. I didn’t feel like writing fiction (too many characters), anything historical (research is the worst) or poetry (because...