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Speaker 1: Live.

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Speaker 2: This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.

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Speaker 3: Hello, Fela and friends. Welcome to Catatude. I'm your show

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host Michelle Burn and today I have a really cool

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show for you. If you like books and you like cats.

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Of course you like cats, right you're listening to Cavitude,

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then you're gonna love my show with this author, So

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stay tuned. Will be right back.

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Speaker 4: Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business

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large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than

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pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet

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Speaker 1: Let's Talk Pets on Petlifradio dot com.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome David Sterling. He

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is the author of The Cat That Chased Cadillacs and

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the cat that followed phantoms.

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Speaker 5: Welcome David, Thank you, Michelle. It's great to be here.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. I'm very excited to have you on. So

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before we get started in talking about your bucks, you

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must love cats.

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Speaker 5: I do love cats. Yeah, I've ever since. Honestly, when

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I was a baby, even before I was born, we

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had a cat.

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Speaker 3: There you go, it's darting nose. So there you are.

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And did you now you're a protagonist in both books.

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It's a black cat.

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Speaker 5: Yes, his name is Buck. He's a black cat detective

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and he lives in a little mountain town in northwestern

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North Carolina.

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Speaker 3: Okay, does it follow you a little bit?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I guess you could say that I rescued a cat,

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a black cat named Panther, and gosh, since he was

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two weeks old. I mean, his eyes were barely open

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and I can hold him in the palm of my hand.

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And you know, over the years, I've come to realize

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that how black cats are so mischievous and curious, more

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than any other cat I've had. I think people say

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that orange cats are kind of the same way. But yeah,

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I based Buck on my cat Panther.

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Speaker 3: I love that you're showing a cat in a way

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that it's not just stereotypical black cat, you know, because

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sterry stereotype of black cat is always scary and stay

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away in this. And your cat is intelligent and insightful

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and is curious and all of that. And you know,

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I don't have a solid black cat. I have a

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tuxedo Mollie, and she is not that curious. So maybe

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it's all black. I don't know. Dennis is a partner

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and coon, he's pretty curious. Wow.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, nin koons are fantastic.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about your books. What inspired you to

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create a series? Because you have two books so and

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you're I'm sure there's more coming. So a series about

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a cat that chases cadillacs or you know, follows phantoms.

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The cat actually has a detective business. He does.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, he owns his own detective agency. His owner is

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the town's detective. And it's a very small town, so

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there's only one detective. There's only a handful of police,

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and he has no idea what his cat, Buck is

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up to. Buck is an indoor outdoor cat. He has

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his own detective agency underneath of the shed in the backyard.

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So his human detective Shaw has no idea of this

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secret life of Buck. He has no idea. He doesn't

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know that he talks, that he helps him solve crime,

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that he places clues on his desk every once in

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a while for in order for him, Detective Shaw to

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figure out, you know, the solution to whatever crime they're

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involved in. And I don't think that's ever going to change.

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He's probably going to remain, you know, a secret hero.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I love it. It borders on let's see if

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I can say this, sorry anthropomorphism.

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Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, you're right.

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Speaker 3: You know, before I knew what the word what meant

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many years ago, I wrote a paper and use this

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in know this type of style and learned about it.

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And it's interesting. So did you always have an affinity

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and they're moreph I say it a few times and

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once or twice it'll sound right. So did you have

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a piper anthropomorphism or did you it just kind of

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just worked out that way.

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Speaker 5: No. I think I've always been of a mind, even

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as a kid, that animals were, you know, intelligent enough

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to gosh, I don't know, have their own lives, right,

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Like when I was little, I remember watching the Doctor

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Doolittle movie not the Eddie Murphy one, but the Rex

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Harrison one based on the original novels. And after I

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saw that movie, and I was only like, I don't know, Michelle.

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I started to read early, so I was young, and

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I remember my mom had gotten me the like a collection,

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so they were like, I don't know, five or six

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paperbacks in this collection. I just devoured them. And then

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when I was a little bit older, I saw the

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Watershipped Down movie, and wow, Honestly, as a kid, that

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was a little bit traumatizing, but I wanted to know

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more about that world because, like you're saying, the anthropomorphism

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in it is just so intriguing, especially when you have pets,

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because you, as their caretaker, their owner, you know that

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they have their own lives and their own thoughts, and

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these books and these movies give you an opportunity to

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dive deeper into all of that. So I read the

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Richard Adams books, and just as a kid loving animals

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and wanting to be a vet or a marine biologist

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or something, I would just eat this stuff up. So

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when it came time for me to actually write a book,

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I've had short stories done before, but I've never done

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a book. It's just a larger endeavor. I thought, you

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know what, I'm going to go back to my first love,

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which is animals, and in this specific case, a cat.

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Speaker 3: Okay, let's talk more about Buck. Sure, how did you

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decide to define him? I mean as a detective and

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so you know that shapes his characteristics somewhat. But did

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you base him a little bit on your cat while

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you did, because he's black cat, same black cat, right,

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how did you go about giving him these other distinct

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personality features.

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Speaker 5: That's a great question. Well, yes, Buck is based on

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my cat, Panther, but he's also based on what I like.

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I love crime fiction. So he's a little bit of

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James Bond. He's a little bit of you know, all

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these noir detectives. He loves Miles Davis, he likes a

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good cup of tea. He has all these qualities to

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him that you can see from these noir films or

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old dime store detective novels. That's Buck. So he's a

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little bit of Panther. He's a little bit of me,

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I guess you could say. Okay, by the way, Panther

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is sitting here right next to me. Whenever I have

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a zoom call or a meeting or something. He's got

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to be a part of it.

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Speaker 3: Of course. Funny if you have so. My cats are

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very independent. However, anytime it's you know, chill time, day

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in the night, there's Molly. And if you have your place,

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you know, on the couch where you want to sit, nope,

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if Molly's there, that's her spot. You just have to

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it because she's not cuddling and she will not move

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unless you will.

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Speaker 5: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of attitude. I think she was born

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in front of my doorsteps, so I think she should

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have probably been picked up a little bit. But she's

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always dependent spirit. So I have a question for you.

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So Buck obviously talks in the book, but if he

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were to talk, you know, how would it What would

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he sound like? I know, ja, what would boy sound like?

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Speaker 5: That's great, It's just if you were to hear him,

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it would just be a meal like him and his

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He has a girlfriend. Her name is Tabitha and she

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actually is the police station cat, and they talk in

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the police station. But as far as the other you know,

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policemen or detectives that work there, all they hear is mews.

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They have no idea that their cats can talk. But

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there's also birds and foxes and dogs and goats and

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beavers and they all talk there. They all have their

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own way of talking as well.

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Speaker 3: And so each species can understand what species is. But

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let's just play if they're on this, I know it'll

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sound like a meal, but it would be like a

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I don't know. In North Carolina they have a little

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Southern accent. You know, they're not Southern. Would it be

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mew like meow? I mean, I'm in the South, but

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it's I'm in further south. I'm in Fort Lauderdale, but

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not the South. It always cracks me up that, you know,

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places further north, like North Carolina Tennessee, are that considered

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the South and that people have the Southern accents. You

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come down here and it's you don't have any Southern accents, right.

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Speaker 5: I can guarantee you that Buck does not have a

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Southern accent British. It's not British either. And this is

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so funny, Michelle, because I have had people ask for

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the audio version of these books, and I have not

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found a voiceover artist that I'm happy with as Buck's voice.

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Because all these stories are told in first person as

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Buck is relating it to the reader. So I have

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yet to find the perfect voice for Buck. But it

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would be, say, a younger, twenty eight year old, maybe

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from without a definable accent. I would say, because I'm

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originally from Philadelphia, right that Philadelphia area, and when I

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came down here, oh my gosh, the accent, especially on

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people who are who were born here. Sometimes I could

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only understand maybe fifty percent of what someone was saying.

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Speaker 3: And it's not that much of a difference either as

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far as physical.

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Speaker 5: Difference, right, Yeah, but I definitely didn't want Buck to

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have a Southern accent, but he has more of a

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I don't want to say Northern accent because then you

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think New York and it's not like that. There is

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a crow Crack in the books that has a New

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York accent. But Buck is more middle of the road,

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non denominational.

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Speaker 3: You could say, I think he sounds like he's polished

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in the British. That gives me a little British, you know.

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Speaker 5: Well, he does like tea, so he's got that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Okay, let's talk about the chasing Cadillacs. What does

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the Cadillac represent.

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Speaker 5: Well, that's a good question. In the first book, there

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is a car dealership, and without giving too much away,

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the person who runs the dealership is an antique car collector,

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so he has a few vehicles that are vintage, and

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one of them happens to be an old Cadillactaville, which

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is really a beautiful car, and that car kind of

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plays a crucial role in that story.

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Speaker 3: Okay, and yes, you're right, the older cars were. They're gorgeous.

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Speaker 5: Yes, their works of art.

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Speaker 3: You're right. The colors and everything. Now everything's like white

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or gray or silver or black. Sometimes you see a red,

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not like what it used to be.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, this one's a This is a cream de Ville. Right, Yeah,

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it's pretty pretty sweet. I wish I had it.

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Speaker 3: Okay, we're gonna take a short break.

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Speaker 6: We'll be right back.

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Speaker 4: Real people, real stories.

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Speaker 6: Our little dog developed this lymph problem at the chemotherapy

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lasted for six months, started developing more lymph nose. So

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I thought I'd just tried Carnival or the lymph nose

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started to go down. Then I took him into the

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vet to him checked out, and then there was no

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signs at all inside I had issues. That development is

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a height, and three months later my ven Airings said

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let's go ahead and remove the eye. I heard the

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carnivor on advertising, so I said, you know what, I'm

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going to order this product. They did the procedure, they

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did all the death. Nature said, I don't know where

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you did this product they had. I I've got a labrador.

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You could hardly lift yourself up off the floor. The

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treatment was chemotherapy. That's when I said this could be

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the ticket. About three weeks you could tell she was

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very alert. She was going on buy my walk and

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she is just like crime again.

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Speaker 3: Well eight six six eight three six eight seven three five.

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That's eight six six eight three six eight seven three five.

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Speaker 2: Or visit carnivore dot com.

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Speaker 3: That's c A r N I v O r A

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dot com. Use promo code pet Life at checkout for

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fifteen percent off your order at carnivora dot com.

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Speaker 7: Let's talk past, Let's done Petty Radio Headline Radio atline

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radio dot com.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back everyone. We're talking to David Sterling. He is

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the author of this series, the Cat Detective book series,

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and the first is the Cat that Chased Cadillacs. The

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second is the Cat that followed phantoms. Now, let's talk

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about before we talk about your second book briefly, what

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do you like best about writing books?

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Speaker 5: Oh? Wow, that is a great question. I don't know.

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As an author. I think that it's something that has

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to It has to come out, like I couldn't hold

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it in, you know what I mean. It just has

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to come out one way or the other. And I

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certainly have great days writing and I have poor days writing.

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I think my favorite part of writing is probably the

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world building, So coming up with Buck's office and his

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tea collection and the way that he interacts with other animals.

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The crime, whatever crime he's solving, is basically the plot

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of the story, and that's a whole other issue. But

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I love creating the world that Buck lives in.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like fun and it's on my bucket list

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to write a book one day. Okay, let's talk about

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the phantoms. What do the phantoms symbolize in the second story.

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Speaker 5: Well, the town that Buck lives in, it's called Copper Summit.

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It has a storied history and it's not it's not

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all pleasant. And Buck comes to find out about this history,

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and I think that's where the phantoms come in. I

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think if your listeners love a spooky, somewhat supernatural story

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with black cats and crime and those types of things,

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I think they would really enjoy phantoms.

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Speaker 3: Okay, And I want to just put it out there

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that were not stereotyping black cats like holl of Cats,

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because I've done a lot of shows on that and

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a lot of cat levers don't really like that stereotype,

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because it's sure one. I'd like that you made Buck

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a black cat because and I knew this from way back,

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because my cats all adopted me. I found that, all

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of them, but my dogs I adopted at rescue and

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they're they're all gone and doggy heaven. But I always

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liked black dogs, yeah, and mutts. And I didn't know

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until I saw a poster once at one of the

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shelters that you know, most people don't adopt black dogs,

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and I thought, well why, And then that goes on too,

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the same with black cats. And there's even during did

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you know, even during Halloween they put you know, like

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the kabash on adoption speak with cats because people will

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get them for just oh, something cute for my costume

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or decorating my house for in a party and then

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bring them back or just abandon them.

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Speaker 5: It's the worst. You're right. I have heard about that.

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There's a scene in The Cat that followed Phantoms where

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Buck is on the sidewalk walking with Tabitha and an

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interaction occurs with a human being and Buck predicts it.

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He's like, look, I'm a black cat. It's around Halloween.

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This is gonna happen. And Tabitha says, no, no way,

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and it does, and she's shocked. Because you're right, people,

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and not everyone, of course, but those who don't have

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an affinity for animals. I think, you know, look at

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black cats and black dogs as unlucky, and that's a

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horrible way to look at a beautiful, intelligent animal. So

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that is something that I wanted to bring to the

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forefront with Phantoms because it's just it's honestly, it's a prejudice.

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I don't know why people feel that way, but it is.

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Speaker 3: It is a prejudice. Do you ever did when you

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were creating your book? Did you read parts of it

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to Panther? I'm just wondering, because all the time he's

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a cat. I know that I understand every word.

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Speaker 5: Probably that's a great question. Michelle and I now.

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Speaker 3: You talk to yourself when you're working, all right, I

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gotta do this. I do that all the time, and

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my partner will go, what'd you say? I go, oh,

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I'm just talking to myself. I'm not talking to you,

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but I don't listening, right, so, you know, but I

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would probably talk to my cat if my cat was

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nice enough to hang around my key office.

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Speaker 5: I absolutely talk to panther. We have conversations. He's a

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very vocal cat, but I can't say that I've actually

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read passages to him. However, when I'm writing, he is

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on my arms. He's in front of me on my desk,

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laying in front of me. So I've got to position

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my arms in a way that I can reach the

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keyboard with both hands and write, and that's not always easy,

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but that's where he wants to be, and I don't

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complain about it.

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Speaker 3: Isn't that funny? I think more so with cats than

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with dogs. Were hated to you, but some people have both.

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Cat will position themselves in a spot and you can't

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only get them to move, so it's like, all right,

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how can I work around this? You know, because we

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don't want to disturb them.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that's so true. There's that old Japanese print of

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a cat on a Japanese woman's very long kimono, and

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she has a pair of scissors in her hand, and

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she's actually cutting her kimono so she doesn't disturb the

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cat as she moves. That's great, Yeah, that's funny.

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Speaker 3: How do you think our cat loving audience will love

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your book? How do you think your books will appeal

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to them?

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Speaker 5: Okay, good question. They are their first and foremost crime novels,

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cozy mysteries, you could say. But at the same time,

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there's a lot of cat behavior in them, so to speak. Like,

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for instance, you know Buck will he's black, right, so

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he knows that he can hide in the shadows. He

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knows that he can be very secretive and furtive, just

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like Panther, Like I'll trip over him in the daytime.

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It's crazy. But like Buck understands that he's got that

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special ability. He calculates his jumps, you know, in other words,

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he thinks about it for a couple seconds before so

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he jumps from one rooftop to another. And you can

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see that in his back legs and his eyes. He

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has a special messenger that delivers messages around town who

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is a bird. But the bird is a little bit

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scared of Buck, and Buck is just a little bit

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you know, he wants to taste that bird so bad,

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So there's this tension between the two of them. Pretty

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much in every chapter, there's some type of cat behavior

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that is brought up because I just you know, I

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love cats and panther in particular, But seeing his behavior

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over the years and growing up with cats and working

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at an animal hospital, you kind of understand the way

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that hats to look at the world, and so I

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wanted to bring that into a book.

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Speaker 3: What lessons do you hope readers take away from the

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cat's adventures? So when Buck's crime solving.

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Speaker 5: I think, more than anything else, probably an appreciation of

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the animal world. Like I said, I love crime novels

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and movies and that whole genre. But it's being told

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through a cat's eyes and through other animals points of view.

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So I could have done this with a human, but

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I chose to do it with an animal because I

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believe that animals lives are important and the more people

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that I can make understand, well, you know what, maybe

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my cat or my dog knows a little bit more

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than I think I think that's a good place to be.

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We as the human race, I think, should appreciate animals

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intelligence more than we do. I think that's what I

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would hope that readers take away from these books. There's

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a third book coming out by the end of the year.

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It takes place in a theme park that has an

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animal section, So more than the other two books, I

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think this book, it's called The Cat That Tracked Trains.

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That book will I don't know zero win on that

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aspect of what I'd like to convey to readers.

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Speaker 3: Okay, thanks, Do you think that your book might help

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cat adoption?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 5: Gosh, I hope so that would be so great. That

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would be so great. You know what, I'm very pleased

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to see that there's really not very many pet stores

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left that sell animals. I mean, when I was a kid,

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you'd go to the mall and or you drive past

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pet stores and you know, they're just coming from mills.

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And even when I was younger, we never got our

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animals or pets from pet stores. We would always adopt

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or like you said, they would choose you, they'd find you,

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and you know, yeah, I'm yours. Now, there's nothing you

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can do about it. So I'm really glad that puppy

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mills and things like that are pretty much a thing

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of the past.

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Speaker 3: Pretty much. I mean, and I don't knock breeders. I

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know that people that want a certain breed or show

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dogs and they want to go to a breeder, and

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this is nothing against them, But I have an affinity

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for shelters and rescues. Yes, with my cat crew, my

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dogs were from rescues. And one more point about rescues

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is that there's so many rescue specific you know, rescue

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breed specific types, more so probably for dogs than for cats,

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but for cats as well. I mean, if you live

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in a warm climate, cats are everywhere. Dennis was abandoned.

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Molly was born on my front step. Charlotte's her sister

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from another mister that stayed my doorstep for four months

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until my partner wanted her to invite her in. And

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she's misunderstood, which means she doesn't like to use the

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letterbox nine. Okay, this is good karma for me nine

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years of her not using I've tried everything, and I

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know the cat behavior is out there saying no, you

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haven't tried this, but she's special. Okay, I have another

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question for you. If Buck had one piece of advice

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for all the readers, just like a general piece of advice,

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what would he tell them.

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Speaker 5: He does say, and I believe it's in the first book.

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He says, never assume. And that might be a written

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in stone detective rule. I don't know, but it seems

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like it would be right. Keep an open mind about things,

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and I try to do that. I think Buck certainly

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does that. Panther probably does that as well. I don't

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think that.

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 5: I would just say that never assume. When it comes

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to solving crime. You've got to keep an open mind

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for everything.

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Speaker 3: Yes, in general, even when life drives you crazy and

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throw you curveballs, keep an open mind. It'll wait. Okay,

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you have our listening audience of Catitude. Why should they

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get your book?

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Speaker 5: All the books are so much fun, Michelle, And I mean,

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I say that, of course I'm biased, but they are.

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I struggle to come up with the genre for it,

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Like when I was submitting through Amazon and everything. They're

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certainly mysteries, they're probably cozy mysteries, but there's a bit

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of fantasy in there, and it's just a unique read.

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If you love animals, you'll like these books. If you

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love crime novels, you'll like these books. There's something I

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think for everyone each in each one of these books,

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but especially if you love animals and if you love cats,

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then you've got to read them.

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Speaker 3: I agree, and I like the tone of the voice

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of the book as well. I'm an avid reader and

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I thought they were very well done. Where can people

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find the books? Right now?

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Speaker 5: They're on Amazon, So if you look for The Cat

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to Chase Cadillacs or The Cat That Followed Phantoms where

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you can book under my name G. David Sterling, you'll

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find them. I'll probably go wide before the end of

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the year, which means they'll be available at Barnes and

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Noble or Apple Books or those types of outlets, but

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right now they're on Amazon.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 3: I wish you amazing success and thank you so much

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for coming on Catitude.

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Speaker 5: Thank you so much, Michelle, it was great to be here.

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Speaker 3: I hope you all enjoyed this show. I want to

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thank my guest David Sterling for coming on Catitude and

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00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,720
sharing all of this great information about his books, The

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00:26:33,759 --> 00:26:37,200
Cat That Chase Cadillacs and The Cat That Followed Phantoms

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00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,599
David Sterling, available on Amazon. Thank you to my cat

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crew that teaches me about cats that make me really

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appreciate Buck the stories, So thank you, Dennis, Charlotte and Mollie,

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and of course thank you to everyone listening attitude. I

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greatly appreciate your loyalty and your listenership, and of course

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the show would not be the same about the magic

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of my producer, Mark Winter. Thank you so much, Mark,

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and hey, remember, lose the attitude, have the gratitude.

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Speaker 1: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlight

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radio dot com.