Peculiar Pet Tales Podcasts

Episodes One thru Five of Ryan's Dog, Serious are now available on Peculiar Pet Tales podcast. Ryan comes eye to eye with the Giant Scorpion and must find a way to escape the inescapable. The Final Episode will be up shortly.

Episodes One, Two and Three of RYAN'S DOG, SERIOUS are back up on my podcast PECULIAR PET TALES!

I am (slowly) re-launching Peculiar Pet Tales so that the original stories from 2 years ago can be accessed. So far, I've put up.....COMPASS (45 mins.)...the story of a war dog who reconciles an estranged father and son.....DEAD CAT BOUNCE (45 mins)...a funny spooky story about a cat who reveals the name of a killer at a seance.....PENTIMENTO (33 mins)...an unhappy artist finally finds redemption via her late beloved dog...
and.....RYAN'S DOG, SERIOUS. AUTHOR'S NOTE (5 mins.) introducing the five episodes of a middle grade fantasy about a boy afflicted with OCD, his friend Melinda, a goddess, and the Dog Star, Sirius.

I'd put the podcast on hiatus while I wrote my novel A KNIGHT OF CADIZ--a full-length historical novel (it only took 2 years!) but now it's finished (Hooray!).

The novel is very different from the short story version of CADIZ which appeared in my podcast. If I decide to podcast the full novel or publish it or put it in a drawer somewhere, you will be the first to know!

I had some tech problems re-launching but you should be able to listen wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for hanging in there, Everyone!

The Final episode of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is available wherever you get your podcasts! Enjoy! Thanks for listening!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10977456

A Knight of Cadiz: Final - Peculiar Pet Tales Someone is beheaded and someone else lives.

You know you’ve crossed a line when your characters start talking back to you. “Don’t put that in! I would never say that!” “Well he’s about to behead you—doesn’t that make you a little angry?” “Yes but I would never use curse words—that’s just not me!” (Erase, revise, rewrite!)

Honestly, the cat thinks I run a boarding house—and the boarders change with every story I write! The Final Part of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ should be out by next Tuesday. My thanks to all of you following my podcast—especially now that it’s summer when everyone is outside enjoying all the joys of nature!
Photo: Suzy Hazelwood

This is Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, also Queen of France up to 1561. She was arguably the greatest threat to Queen Elizabeth’s throne up to her beheading in 1587 when she was discovered to have ordered Elizabeth’s assassination in the infamous Babington Plot.
Elizabeth was famous for saying yes to a beheading, and minutes later, refusing to sign the order. In Mary’s case, Elizabeth delayed her cousin’s death by 15 years! She believed that killing a God-anointed monarch was a sin against God himself, and had nightmares that, one day, she might share Mary’s fate.
Killing her royal cousin would haunt Elizabeth to the end of her days.
Photo: www.historic-uk.com

In Part Four of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ, Raleigh recognizes Clara and tricks Essex into revealing more about his treachery against the Queen.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10880473

A Knight of Cadiz: Four - Peculiar Pet Tales Raleigh discovers Clara’s true identity and tricks Essex into revealing more about his treachery against the Queen.

This is the portrait that inspired the character of the arrogant Eustace Fryer in A KNIGHT OF CADIZ. Looks like a man used to getting what he wants, when he wants it...even the dog thinks he's arrogant!
Credit: Portrait of Sir Anthony Mildmay, Knight of Apethorpe, Northants, c. 1590–93. Nicholas Hilliard (British, c. 1547-1619). Watercolor on vellum mounted on card, mounted on wood; unframed: 23.3 x 17.4 cm (9 3/16 x 6 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1926.554

Now this is more like it! On the right is the famous "Armada Portrait" of Elizabeth I circa 1588. Look at that face! There's a woman you don't want to mess with! On the right is one of her councillors, Sir Christopher Hatton. While I love the layers and layers of fabulously ornate clothing, I certainly wouldn't want to have to dress that way! A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is set 8 years after that portrait was painted.
Credits: Armada portrait, Woburn Abbey. Hatton, National Portrait Gallery. Both featured on fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu posted by Sarah Bochicchio

Part Three of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is now published! Enjoy and please share!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10812706

Okay this pic is totally the wrong era for A KNIGHT OF CADIZ which is set in the 1500s. But what I like about this photo (by Antonio Friedemann) is the sheer kinkiness of it. I mean, she’s strong, she’s arrogant, she’s got cool hair and face paint, and she carries a big stick! The photographer may have gotten the costume of the Middle Ages wrong but he captured an attitude. With a scary attitude like that, who needs a gun?
Stay Close! Part Three of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is up next!

It’s fair to say that entertainment in the Elizabethan era was pretty, um, repellent. Bear-baiting—where a tied-up bear was set upon by dogs—was enjoyed even by the Queen. In Spain, horses, not dogs, were used to bait bulls, a tradition that evolved into today’s bullfighting with matadors.
Spanish horses generally were highly prized all over Europe, including the Spanish Jennet and the Lusitano—the Jennet being one of Henry VIII’s favourites. The Andalusian breed was also highly favoured by the nobility, often given by King Philip of Spain as bribes to keep foreign nobles on his side. The Andalusian was known for its “forceful advance and speedy retreat” and so made an excellent war horse, known as a “courser.” But the breed was also known for its intelligence and tractability.
In A KNIGHT OF CADIZ, “Corazon,” an Andalusian stallion, sails with our heroine Clara to England. Docile or not, Corazon is still a stallion...and, as an old Arab saying goes, “I’d rather face an angry lion than face an angry stallion.” Stay close for Part Three of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ.

Photo by Missi Kopf (I think this is an Andalusian. All other pix I found were copyrighted and I never breach copyright laws! If you own a pic of an Andalusian, feel free to post it here!)

Part Two of A Knight of Cadiz is published. I'm having such fun with this one! Dark family secrets, betrayal, murder and mayhem at the court of Elizabeth the First! Enjoy and please share!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10737289

A Knight of Cadiz: Two - Peculiar Pet Tales Now incognito in England, Clara’s skill with horses brings her to the Queen’s attention.

Part One of A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is published! I had to learn a few Spanish phrases for this one! I used the wrong mic, though, so you might find the sound quality a bit off!

And my thanks to Bob D'Errico Bob N Chris D'Errico for making JJ Jordan's photo look even more intriguing! It's just the look I needed for a heroine who has a past she doesn't even know about--a past that involves the Queen of England herself!

Enjoy and thanks for sharing!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10695144

A Knight of Cadiz: One - Peculiar Pet Tales In 1596, Clara Mendoza, a young farm girl, flees Spain and certain death after killing an Elizabethan knight.

What do you think he’s trying to say?
I think he’s telling me, ‘Keep it simple, stupid!’ while I write A KNIGHT OF CADIZ. He’s reminding me that 400 years ago, there were no toilets, no toothpaste, and clothing was so cumbersome, it took at least two servants to get the nobility dressed and undressed!

A KNIGHT OF CADIZ is “historical” fiction so I have to be careful not to include a text message from a soldier saying, ‘the enemy is approaching...watch your back! Cya there. BFF.’

And the language! I’ve had to brush up on my Shakespeare—and it’s taking a very big brush, let me tell you! Phrases like “an answer answerless” are giving me headaches!

Am I having fun with all this research? You betcha! More to come on the “Royal Horses of Europe”, the Spanish Andalusians!

In the meantime, what do YOU think this rather educated-looking dog is trying to tell me?
Photo by Milica Popovic.

I thought I’d share some of the research I’m doing for the upcoming A KNIGHT OF CADIZ:

Hunting dogs in Elizabethan England lived better than servants. And the different types of hounds were valued for different reasons: the Mastiff (from Spain), and later, the Bullmastiff were used in bull-baiting and bear-baiting, and the Wolfhound and Italian Greyhound were “running hounds.” Portraits of monarchs and lords and ladies often feature a hound at their side, a symbol of wealth and power. Noble ladies kept smaller breeds, like Spaniels (also from Spain).

(When Mary Queen of Scots was executed (1587), it was said that one of her little dogs crept to where her beheaded body lay and mourned her on the very spot.)

Their kennels were not only clean but had a loft and chimney built in to keep out the cold. A young lad would rub down the dogs each morning with straw, water and feed them, and ensure they got plenty of exercise when not hunting. Their food was bran bread, game meat killed especially for them, and some were fed goat’s milk or buttered eggs and other delicacies.

The young dog-keeper, often under 10 years old, was enjoined to love the hounds and keep them well...on threat of a beating if he failed to do so.

I’m also researching the fashions of the era so I can describe how a Spanish serving-girl disguises herself as an English Knight so she can appear at Queen Elizabeth’s court. So...more to come!

From the short story COMPASS:

“He’d never seen his son so upset. He knew what the dog had done...exactly what he’d been trained to do: protect...and defend.
‘Don’t worry, son...if he’s alive, and he can creep or crawl, he’ll come back.’”

From the short story COMPASS:
“In a flash, he knew...he knew Vernon was dead. And in that same moment, he knew Compass was his now.”

Photo by Bekka Mongeau.

Please enjoy and share COMPASS, a short story about how a war dog restores a young man's broken relationship with his father.
Thank you for listening!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10487557

Compass - Peculiar Pet Tales A homeless war veteran and his war dog restore a young man’s broken relationship with his father.

All readers have different tastes: some love mysteries, others biography, still others romance. I love all those, and history—true or fictionalized. British history is part of my DNA—starting long before I became a language teacher, probably when I first heard “Off with his head!”

As I prepare COMPASS, my next short story podcast, for you, I thought I’d tell you about another, slightly longer piece I’m working on called A KNIGHT OF CADIZ. Set in 1596 (the latter part of Elisabeth the First’s reign), it’s based on the conflicted love affair between the Queen and the Earl of Essex—an ambitious daredevil if ever there was one. Elizabeth, it was said, “praised and raged” against Essex when he successfully captured Cadiz, Spain under her orders, because Essex dared to dub his soldiers “knights”—something only a monarch can do—it was an invitation to treason!

Now what if...and that’s always a good starting point in fiction...what if one of those knights, unaware that he was not a “real” knight, returned to England confident that he could join Elizabeth’s court? And further, what if that knight was a young woman (unheard of!).

I’ll just see where that story line takes me. In the meantime, let me know what you like—mysteries, romance, intrigue, history, bios—and why! Stay close for more!

Photo by JJ Jordan

As Fate would have it, just after mentioning my blog and book website groundmannersnovel.com on my last podcast DEAD CAT BOUNCE, I discovered such an unwieldy wealth of spam that I had to take both sites down, down down! It made me sad.
End-of-an-era kind of sadness.

Oh well. The book GROUND MANNERS. A NOVEL (2011) is still for sale on Amazon but I think my blogging days are done. Anyway, podcasting is more fun, thanks to you, my listeners, all so willing to share this creative ride with me. Thank you!

The hackers did a pretty good job so if you see something bizarre under my name on google, I’m tellin’ ya now, that wasn’t me!

Photo by Firkenfdemir

You never know where life's highway might lead you. Is it a Boulevard of Broken Dreams or a Highway to Heaven? In COMPASS, our next short story, a young man desperately in need of a compass to find his way in life meets a homeless veteran who gives him one...a dog named Compass. Coming in two weeks from now!

Dead Cat Bounce...a spooky, funny short story--complete with creepy music and a ghost cat who identifies a killer...so...a happy ending.

Offered for your listening pleasure, with a heartfelt Thank You for following my podcast!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10314473

Dead Cat Bounce - Peculiar Pet Tales A ghost cat interrupts a seance and names a killer so...a happy ending.

Women and cats have been linked in many cultures—but the exalted and protective qualities first attributed to cats have been displaced by inscrutable and even, hyper-sexualized, tagging. And that tagging is embedded in our language. “Kittenish,” “purring,” “catty,” “sex kitten,” “cat-like eyes”—an older woman is called a “cougar” if she’s on the prowl, or “an old cat” if she’s single, independent and uppity—an ageist trope matched only by criticism of motherhood with “a cat would make a better mother than her.”

Scary how deep sexism lies in our self-described enlightened culture, and modern iconic figures like Batman’s feline nemesis, Catwoman, drive that nail even deeper into our psyches. (Although, I admit I love the do******ix costume Michele Pfeiffer wore when she played Catwoman...but that’s another story.)

I’ve had some comments about the title of DEAD CAT BOUNCE. I know, it makes you wince. And yet it’s an expression used in stock-brokering: a stock that falls, has a short upward rally (bounces back), and then finally dies. Seems innocent enough.

While I prepare to tape DEAD CAT BOUNCE for your listening pleasure (I hope!), here’s a classy photo by Jonathan Borba that seems to evoke all of the above.

In the meantime, stay close, everyone!

Another easy peasey way to access Peculiar Pet Tales...now on 16 podcast apps and platforms. Please like, comment and share. Thank you😊

@d1257 (Cynthia D'Errico) The most comprehensive podcast database online. Discover best podcasts. Search podcast show notes and audio transcripts by people, places, or topics.

DEAD CAT BOUNCE, our next Peculiar Pet Tale, is about a ghost cat who gives a clairvoyant information about a murder...so the Tarot card for this short story is definitely Justice...and yes, the cat’s name is Bounce!
Look for it here by the end of this month or better yet, subscribe to your podcast app. Thanks for listening and sharing! 🥰
Photo by Alina Vilchenko.

An uplifting ending to Ryan's stellar battle with his inner demons!
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1851514/10133871

Ryan's Dog, Serious: Final Episode - Peculiar Pet Tales An uplifting ending to Ryan's stellar battle with his inner demons!

The FINAL episode of Ryan's Dog, Serious, is a little late due to a sound editing issue. Thanks for your patience...it should be out by late Wednesday.
This photo by Ken Cheung is a cool re-imagining of Ryan's theme pic, showing an uplifting ending to Ryan's struggles with OCD...not over yet...but brightened by the promise of better days ahead...thanks to Sirius, the Dog Star, and the goddess of the rainbow, Iris.

I won’t apologize for the writer smoking in this photo...though we all know that smoking can kill. Fact is, history shows artists of all genres as heavy smokers, drinkers or drug users. Corrective or cautionary tale in this, our, age of personal and political purity? I don’t know.

Did it help or hinder their art? Did absinthe drive the syphilitic Van Gogh to a slow, agonizing su***de, and, at the same time, enhance his artistic genius? Was Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” a statement about the horrors of living AND embedding those horrors in art? If it was...he nailed it...and, tragically, it nailed him.
Photo by KoolShooters from pexels.com

Sometimes you like a photo ‘just because.’ This one by Roberto Shumski pits an existential vastness against a lone human—frail and insignificant—but determined to move ahead...like our hero, Ryan, defying his OCD as he masters the terrors of his own mind.

The FINAL episode of Ryan’s Dog, Serious, is up next.
Stay close, Everyone!