Beati Qui Inveniunt Feles Released

Friday, September 25, 2020 at 2:53am

One week ago, very quietly, I updated this site to include bibliographic material and a front page blurb for my novella Beati Qui Inveniunt Feles. On the same day, that story became purchasable for Amazon Kindle.

I came up with the idea for the story in May of this year. It was the first story idea I pursued after renewing my practice of writing a short story every Saturday. It was inspired by a poem Alex found, Pangur Bán, but also by two Umberto Eco novels: The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum.

This is my first published work to be set in the altered future timeline I invented for my upcoming novel Intersection Thirteen. The action for Beati Qui takes place in an abbey somewhere in the area we know as Eastern Washington State, but which, in this far future, is within the territory of the political entity known as the Hegemony. The Hegemony leadership will ensure its citizens learn to read, since it needs them capable of being manipulated by advertising, but possessing literature and philosophy of any kind is illegal. To enforce that prohibition, Hegemony territory swarms with AI-powered drones, which search out printed matter and destroy any contraband.

The monks of Beati Qui maintain a secret horde of books from the past—The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum among them. In order to keep their library safe, the monks have genetically engineered a menagerie of cyborg felines, which are capable of hunting and disabling the drones. The story follows one particular monk and his favorite cat.

I am proud to put this story out now as ebook. One day, when I have collected enough short stories to justify a new collection, I hope to make Beati Qui Inveniunt Feles available in print as well.

2020 edition release dates: