Title: Gotham Kitty
Author: Ann Greyson
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Science Fiction
Book Blurb:
For many years the curse of the Evil Shadowy Figure is plaguing the Chagga. Prophecy has it that the day an extraterrestrial falls from the sky, the tribe will have a chance to perform a ritual to end the curse.
DECEMBER 2010. In a far-off galaxy, a Brozian cargo ship, with a female Catusapien aboard, slips into a wormhole and spits out into the Milky Way Galaxy. The Catusapien escapes her cell and flees the ship in an escape pod. Allison Banes, who is in Tanzania working on a PhD in zoology, is in Arusha National Park and sees the Brozian spaceship explode and crash land. She finds the Catusapien sleeping by the escape pod and takes the alien to her house for observation.
When Allison Banes falls victim to the Evil Shadowy Figure, the alien retreats to the forest surrounding Lake Duluti. After spearfishing on Christmas Eve, Cassidy Mkama, an 11-year-old African girl, sees the alien and tells her friend Laila Diwani, a Chagga member who tells the tribe’s Paramount Chief, Anton Naruma.
The chance to end the supernatural curse on the Chagga is at hand. And a lifelong friendship between Cassidy and the alien, whom she soon will name Gotham Kitty, is just beginning.
Excerpt:
IN THE FAR reaches beyond the Earth’s solar system, in another galaxyfar far away, incomprehensible to Earthlings is where you’ll find the Brozians,the Catusapiens and many other species. Not quite four weeks since Gotham Kitty’s capture by the Brozians,somewhere in her galaxy a Brozian deep-range exploratory vesselis soaring throughspace. The Captainof the ship is on a search-and rescue-mission to find themissing cargo spaceship.
The lights are dim, as they are all over the Brozian vessel. The Captain at the helm turns his attention to the forward viewscreen and sees the planet Malterra. He steps to a console, taps carefully, and glances the monitor where the tracking information, coordinates and systemsstatus are on display.
“These are the correct coordinates. Take us down there!”the Captain says, not taking his eyes off the monitor.
The two long antennae atop his second-in-command’s head wriggles as he nods, “Yes, Captain.”
The Brozian vessel, in a position at the dark rim of the planet,begins a sharp arc aroundthe planet. The vessel is a massive silhouette descending through the atmosphere of the warm, moss-green planet. The second-in-command has to strain to see through the white clouds churning through the atmosphere.
“There is no trace of the cargo spaceship, or debris, but scanners are picking up an object near the ship’s last coordinates,” the Captain’s second-in-command says in a neutral voice.
The Captain checkshis sensors and jerks his head up at the information. His eyes observe the wreckage of another ship throughthe viewscreen.
The landing struts deploy automatically. The Brozian ship settles onto its steel legs, with a hard thump, kicking up dust and powderystones, wobbling slightly. Not the best landing.
The landing party analyze the weapons residue on the remains of the ship. It is clear that a Brozian spaceship is responsible. Furthermore, preliminary readingssuggest that the little spaceship is a Catusapienreconnaissance vessel, approximately two years old, and with a crew complement of roughly one to three.
The Brozian vesselrises from the planet’s surface,flies up through the atmosphere and into space. The vessel moves along the same trajectory as before, continuing at standardorbit speed. The big questionthe Captain isn’table to answer remains — where is the missing crew, and the cargo spaceship? The Captain strides purposefully across the room from the communications system to the helm, stoopingto watch the piloting monitor.
“Now that I think about it, the Catusapien may be to blame for this. Don’t underestimate their capabilities,” the Captain states.
“I agree, Captain.Where to now?” his second-in- command asks.
After thinking for a minute, the Captain says, “Set a course for the Vlar Station trading port, warp speed now. We’ll stop there for maintenance and begin a thorough search for the crew members of the cargo spaceship. See if we can find some answers there.”
“Yes, Sir,” his second-in-command responds.
As the Brozianvessel continues searchingfor the missing crew of the cargo spaceship what about Gotham Kitty’s family? Are they searching for her? Naturally, they already have. And they’ve come up dry in all directions. There’s nothingmore they can do. There are no clues to her whereabouts. There isn’t going to be. Gotham Kitty’s arrivalon Earth is all by chance and no one in her galaxy is awareof the Milky Way Galaxy or of any planets there.
Somewhere in this sector of the galaxy lies the planet Corsettiathat has a sufficiently complexbiological system. From space, the planet looks like a jewel. When you come out of the reddish-orange layer of clouds, you look up and see a beautiful rose-gold hue sky.
On the outskirts of the city Vanitis,the oldest settlement on the planet’s northern continent, are dome huts, one of them belonging to the familyof Gotham Kitty.Her name is actually Merlee. Weeks later, Merlee’s parents have come to suspect the worst. Lying in their bed, there’s a look ofdistress creasing their brows. They’restarting to grudgingly accept the possibility of never seeing their daughter again. She may be dead by now or worse, in captivity by some alien race. The possibilities run through their minds, as they have difficulty falling asleep. They will heal in time. But that is a long time from now.
A young female Catusapien walks by her parents’ room, heading down a corridortoward a small bedroom. She’s the spitting image of her older sister, Merlee. No question, though she’s shorter and not as vibrant.
When she entersthe room, she first goes to the window. It’s another melancholy evening for her as she stares up at the three small moons hovering in the dark sky, wondering about her sibling’s disappearance.
Whiskers twitching, she lets out a piercing long meow, which translates as: “Good night, my sister, wherever you are.”
The little Catusapien tries to maintainhope. In her mind she tries to convince herself that there is a slight chance Merlee will return.
Turning away from the window, she crawls into bed, lookingat the moons’ light comingin through the window. She pulls the dark charcoal blanket up over her shoulders and curls her legs against her chest. Just as she closes her green glowing eyes to sleep, a tear meanders down her cheek.
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Author Biography:
ANN GREYSON is the author of the novels Gotham Kitty; The Lonely Vampire, a Recommended Read in the 2021 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards and First Place Paranormal in the 2021 Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Book Awards, and Never-DEAD which has the Third Place General Fiction in the 2020 TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards.
In 2017, Ann portrayed Allison Banes in puRR, the story of Gotham Kitty, short television program broadcast on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's Culture Channel 4 in 2018. In 2014, the Gotham Kitty short TV program was a nominee for a VOLLIE Award for Best Arts/Entertainment Program from Community Media Center TV of Westminster, Maryland. Among the short TV programs, music videos and commercials Ann acts in include the SpaceWoman and Super CRAZY Fan series for which she is the creator.
With many dancing credits on stage, she also sings and acts in the music videos: Shine, O Christmas Tree, House of the Rising Sun, Motherless Child, and Buffalo Gals. Associate of Arts degree in English from Howard Community College, she is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA and the Alpha Alpha Sigma chapter of Phi Theta Kappa.
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