KALEIDOSCOPE: THE POETRY OF CAT RUSSELL
(POETRY COLLECTION VIA VENETIAN SPIDER PRESS/2022)
(FROM THE BACK COVER)
…Today I discovered/what a group of butterflies is called./ Their name is Kaleidoscope,/”
begins the final nine-line stanza of Cat Russell’s “Kaleidoscope,” a poem sharing her book’s title. Its final three lines read, “…the everchanging pattern/ a perfect fusion of shifting compliments:/ the envy of artists, flowers, and clear-blue skies./” Russell’s delightfully accessible homage to butterflies is an ideal invitation into her poignant collection of 86 poems. They entice readers to savor every sip of them in a single sitting.
There is something for every palate: from the humor in “Cheapskate Mid Life Crisis” and “F Bombs,” to the understated predatory horror in “Servings,” to the anticipatory excitement of a thunderstorm in “Foretaste.”
Kaleidoscope showcases a writer whose talent is boundless! Cat Russell’s poetry is both beguiling and intellectually intoxicating. You’ll undoubtedly mark her collection a favorite.
Sandra Feen,
State of Ohio Beat Poet Laureate
(2022-2024)
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PINHOLES: TRAVELING THROUGH THE CURTAIN OF THE NIGHT
(HUMOROUS SCIFI NOVEL VIA WRITING KNIGHTS PRESS/2021)
(FROM THE BACK COVER)
The brilliant scientist Portage McPeeve does not want to take over the world.
He’s discovered a way to travel the stars, using them as gateways into other realities. With his Gateway Manipulator, he hopes to rule all the worlds of the multi-verse with an iron fist. However, when his beloved kitten becomes lost through the machine, he does not hesitate to cast plans for multi-world domination aside; instead, he follows her through the cosmos – encountering zombies, higher education for Supers, Greek gods, and killer ninjas along the way.
Will Portage find Mrs. Bumblefrost before it’s too late?
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AN OPTIMIST’S JOURNAL OF THE END OF DAYS AND OTHER STORIES
(SHORT STORY COLLECTION VIA VENETIAN SPIDER PRESS/2020)
(FROM AMAZON PAGE DESCRIPTION)
A collection of short fiction by fantasist Cat Russell, containing a broad collection of parody and darkly humorous pieces, inspired by everything from Shakespeare to modern events and themes in fantasy and science fiction.
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(POETRY COLLECTION VIA CRISIS CHRONICLES PRESS/2019)
(FROM BACK COVER/PUBLISHER WEBSITE)
“In Soul Picked Clean Cat Russell provides a thoughtful and hopeful collection of sharp-edged, personal poems that balance themes of “cosmic coincidence” (“Dice”) with close observations of daily life and family. Knitting together comfort and struggle, Russell’s poems build a sense of alienation filled with tense urgency. In poems like “Serial Killer at the Laundromat” she brings to focus measured risks, remaining “acutely conscious of / how alone I am” and “Balloon,” which imagines the growth and deflation of memory and life through “the events / that would shape and fill me.” If “Children see the things adults turn away from” (“2 a.m.”), they are also evident in the honest insights of Russell’s debut collection.”
—EF Schraeder, author of Chapter Eleven
Cat Russell 