I published a book in 2013 about my cat Chris called Bad Cat Chris: The Baddest Cat You’ll Ever Love. It was a short, hundred-page ebook That chronicled the first few years of his life. It was really a collection of short stories taken from my blog about him at BadCatChris.com.
Chris passed away on September 7, 2024. I thought it would be nice if I could rewrite the original book with added information and publish it for the second anniversary of his passing. Actually, the idea for publishing it on the anniversary of his passing didn’t come until later.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided I should do something different. Instead of rewriting Bad Cat Chris, I decided to start from scratch. Instead of me writing about Chris, I thought it would be fun to write it from Chris’s point of view. That presented a few challenges, namely I would not be able to explain why things happened the way they did. That meant I would have to simplify certain things and avoid stories that would be difficult for the reader to understand.
I also had to make up the beginning of the book. What Chris went through before I met him could only be speculation. I have some evidence. I know he was taken in by a home-based organization before being moved to a cat shelter. I also have vet records from that time that indicate he had siblings with him, or at least other kittens the same age. In addition, I volunteered at the shelter where Chris was up for adoption and learned he was adopted and returned because the people couldn’t handle him.
When I finished the first draft, I contacted the artist that I use for my book covers and sent her this photo as well as an AI rendering of a book cover based on the photo.
Unfortunately, the art was delayed because the Artist’s mother fell ill but I finally received the art two days ago and was able to publish the book two days after the anniversary of Chris’s death.
I added the text and formatted it for the paperback version. I started doing the formatting after realizing the art always needed to be adjusted after uploading it and checking the fit.
If interested, you can find the book on Amazon here. It will also be at other retailers but not as of this writing.