Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for October 21, 2017

cuddly elvis saves the day :-)

Love this one!

especially if anyone touches his tail.

The last two panels are just the sweetest! Elvis the Brave on duty.

Elvis will end up biting The Man!

my clayton can follow those orders. unfortunately, the possible targets include myself.

Wow, Elvis is #1 Good Boy tonight!

I used to read Alfred Hitchcock stories when I was a teenager. I’d read late, scare myself silly, then not be able to get up and turn off the light till it was dawn. I was afraid to move back across the room in the dark.

This is why paranoia is a virtue.

And, following on from yesterday, what is pumpkin spice latte?

I love the boys late night reporting in their pj’s and dressing gowns :). I will admit to using my cats as protection against things that go bump in the night when I was young, they were always willing to snuggle too

I love Elvis even more. And I didn’t think that was possible.

I want that book and I want it now!

OK, I’ve calmed down a little, so, ahem…

Yesterday some cited fun Halloween reading. Every October I re-read what I believe is the best haunted house story in the English language, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. It’s exquisitely creepy: Jackson sets the mood with the first paragraph….

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

And that third sentence is later echoed in a way that shows that it is the house that persists in power while generations of mortals enter and exit. There was an excellent movie of this in 1963. and a wretched remake in 1999, both just called “The Haunting.” (Not to be confused with the very good “House on Haunted Hill” from 1959, or its own wretched remake in, coincidentally, 1999. )  So there’s a book recommendation and two movie recommendations. I hope someone who reads this will give them a look.

And, the Halloween friend of my childhood, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Everyone knows that.

The 1963 “The Haunting” is one of my all time favorite movies, and I’m a huge horror buff :). Cannot recommend it enough.

Shirley’s got another creepy-tastic book called “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” which is pretty great, too :). A great, eerie slow burner.

Love the bat bookmark.

darn googled is not a real book would so love to have read it if it was

Anyone else remember “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”? The stories were kinda lame, but good lord, which pit of hell did those illustrations crawl out of?!

The original “The Thing”. Never had nightmares until then, but was 9 and snuck into the movie even though parents would not give permission. The older kids were going and I just had to. Learned, whatever the older kids did, I didn’t have have to do.

When I wanted to dwell in the macabre I turned to Poe. Never again!

love the bat bookmark, and Elvis’ empathy and “m’lady” – another instant Georgia classic!!

This one might be tbe best strip ever. Love it.

Cats (as well as dogs) are great at recognizing emotions. They know when you’re happy, sad, nervous and, in this case, scared. They also know when you are physically hurting. I had total hip replacement surgery in July and when I would be on the couch, or when I’d go to bed at night, the male cat would give me some feline medicine. The female would do her best as well.

Oh how i wish that i could still post photos.

The cats’ jammies are purr-fect!

I don’t know about Halloween specific reading, but sit down with some H.P. Lovecraft for a little unbridled pessimism and inexorable fate.

I love Elvis in the last two panels. I wish Yum Yum would snuggle like that.

This entire strip, sheer perfection!

we always told our boys that our Gator (maine coon cat) was so fat and fluffy because she ate monsters. It saved everybody a lot of sleepless nights. She was their hero. She passed away eight years ago at 17. I still miss her.

I love the name of the book!

I can’t get enough of the boys in their pajamas. I especially like the little white patch peeking out from under Pucky’s pajamas.

For me, it’s ingrown hair and pimple popping videos that keep me up all night.

…And in five minutes when The Man comes to bed, he’s going to wonder what happened to get Elvis to bite him so hard. “I am following The Woman’s commands, Man!”

For those wondering about Is The Book Real, the title looks to be a take on Scary Stories To Read In The Dark. It’s officially a series of books for kids, but there are more than a few people who grew up in the ’80’s who will say we were messed up forever reading those dang books.

Well, dogs are better in guarding, lady. Get a dog!

While I know this is a comic about someone having trouble sleeping after a book of horror stories, not actual mental illness, I’m also finding it a lovely metaphor for the way partners (and friends) who both have mental illness support each other.

“The news isn’t good, Lupin” has made me snort laugh three times.

Oh, Georgia…

I used to read a lot of books about ghosts and alleged hauntings, and they would end up scaring me so badly. Even as a kid I was freaking out for a while over fictional monsters, like the Headless Horseman coming to get me. Even as an adult I can get freaked out over these things, though I still love them. But luckily, just like you, I have a wonderful guard kitty to keep me safe! Keep up the good job, Elvis. :D

The thing that kept Sis & me on the straight and narrow was when Mom read “Little Orphant Annie” by James Whitcomb Riley. That is the correct spelling of the title. JWR wrote in the Hoosier slang. Sounds like a sweet story about a little redhead & her dog — NOT! The real “orphant” could make a snotty little kid like me sleep with the lights full on!

It was Mom’s favorite.

I think the scariest story I ever read was one called Remembering Melody. Can’t remember who wrote it, but it was about a bunch of yuppies who keep getting visited by the one old college friend who didn’t do very well. Turns out she actually died many years before…

Scariest movies: Pan’s Labyrinth and the original Woman In Black. No, not the Daniel Radcliffe version, but the made-for-t.v. british film from 1989.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/woman_in_black/

That lovely tasseled bookmark wouldn’t last five minutes in my house. My Ranger would think it was his newest toy.

This is so delightful—and I missed it yesterday.

Shortest horror story (wish I could give credit): “The last man on Earth was alone in his room. There was a lock on the door.”

OMG so funny