I'm tempted to say "Well, Debbie, I guess you've never had
two female
cats, then," but that would be unkind. Cats are individuals
and vary
as much as we do. *I* have two female cats (aunt and niece)
who
can't stand each other and between whom I must mediate
frequently.
They are quite aggressive; neither are capable (now) of
bearing
young. I feed them in separate shifts, and one lives mostly
out of
doors, while the other is (especially in the winter) mostly
an indoors
cat. These are, again, their choices, not mine.
As for why feline=female, well, feline moves are more likely
to be
interpreted as feminine in humans of either gender. Cats have
a
female softness, while dogs have a male muscular compactness.
No
doubt other comparisons can be found.
Mark Sullivan's query about John D.'s best non-Travis McGee
books has
already elicited a number of recommendations, to which I can
add: try
any of them. In my opinion MacDonald never wrote a bad
book
(although I'd skip I COULD GO ON SINGING). In addition to
his
mysteries he wrote two SF novels (BALLROOM OF THE SKIES and
WINE OF
THE DREAMERS) and one delightful SF/fantasy/mystery, THE
GIRL, THE
GOLD WATCH, AND EVERYTHING. One of his books I'm fond of for
the
writing style used is THE BEACH GIRLS (Gold Medal) in which
each
chapter has a different narrator (out of a rotating group),
each
chapter ending in mid sentence.... ...And each new chapter
beginning
in mid-sentence -- like a segued voice-over narration. I have
a
complete collection of both DOC SAVAGE and THE SHADOW
magazines;
MacDonald had a story -- often a long novella -- on most
issues of
those magazines from around 1946 on, many of them not under
his own
name. There is a vast wealth of unrepublished material by
MacDonald
(and many others, of course) in the mystery pulps of the late
forties
and early fifties.
Finally, I'd like to join the chorus of Ed Gorman's
defenders. I've
read relatively little by him, but he has recently solicited
new
stories from me for both SF and mystery anthologies and I
find him
admirable to work with as an editor. Of course we know each
other
from our days in SF fandom.
--Ted White
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