CatsCast 23 Preview: The Best Way to Procure Breakfast
This month’s CatsCast episode is The Best Way to Procure Breakfast by Dana Vickerson. It’s available on the Escape Artists Premium Content feed on Patreon for patrons at the Premium Content level or above; it’s also in our premium content repository for those who donate five dollars a month by any means. We’ll be back here in the free feed next month. In the meantime, here’s a sample of what’s playing over on Patreon.
This story [originally appeared in Zooscape.
A content note: this story deals with themes of grief and loss.
The Best Way to Procure Breakfast
by Dana Vickerson.
If Mama doesn’t get up soon, we’re going to miss our chance to get off Mars.
Mama is a human, but I call her “Mama” because she says I am her baby kitty and her special boy. She is sleeping, but I am hungry.
It’s a delicate art, waking up your human. If you’re too eager, they’ll likely get cross with you, and while Mama is a sweet and kind soul, I do not like to see her cross. If you are too gentle, though, your human is likely to continue their blissful sleep while you sit on the floor with a rumble in your belly.
So, like most mornings, I start today by walking back and forth across my human’s pillow. This is less startling than just going right for patting her face. The soft rhythm of my paws around her head signals to Mama that it’s time to start the process of bringing her consciousness to the here and now, where my kibble lives.
Read (or listen to) the rest on Patreon.
About the Author
Dana Vickerson
Dana Vickerson can be found in the concrete confines of Dallas, though she’s most comfortable deep in the woods. When not designing buildings, writing stories, or painting weird 3D-printed sculptures, Dana can be found analyzing horror movies with her husband or making elaborate paper dolls for her daughters. She’s an active member of HWA and SFWA, and her short fiction appears in Haven Speculative, Reckoning, Etherea, and many other places. More information about her stories and art can be found at dmvickerson.com.
Bluesky: @dmvickerson.bsky.social
About the Narrator
Peter Adrian Behravesh
Peter Adrian Behravesh is an Iranian-American musician, writer, editor, audio producer, and narrator. For these endeavors, he has won the Miller and British Fantasy Awards, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Ignyte, and Aurora Awards. His interactive novel, Heavens’ Revolution: A Lion Among the Cypress, is forthcoming from Choice of Games, and his essay, “Pearls from a Dark Cloud: Monsters in Persian Myth,” is forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth. You can read his sporadic ramblings at peteradrianbehravesh.com, or on Bluesky @behravesh.
