...for readers who love animals, and animal lovers who read!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Animals Having Their Say by Author Lois Winston


I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of animals to communicate with each other and even more so with humans. It seems logical that animals would have some way of communicating within their own species. We constantly see examples of them working together, and in order to do this, they must have some way of communicating with each other.



 
For example, all you have to do is observe a flock of birds flying in “V” formation. Watch as the leader slips back to allow another bird to take the lead. How do they designate the next bird to fly point? Instinct? I don’t think so. They must be communicating in some way. Otherwise chaos would ensue with birds constantly flying into one another.
We know that dolphins speak to each other. Whales, too. None of this is new. However, the other day I stumbled upon a news clip that claimed chimpanzees speak with accents. Not only that but these accents are learned.
Five years ago nine chimps were moved from The Netherlands to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. The chimps originally used a high-pitched noise to ask for apples. However, after living with the Scottish chimps for a while, the Dutch chimps began to use a low grunt to ask for apples, the same sound made by the Scottish chimps. If you’d like to hear the difference between a chimp with a Dutch accent and one with a Scottish accent, you can view the video at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/find-chimp-scottish-accent-sounds-28804416.
I often include animals in my mysteries and romances. In my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series Anastasia shares her home with a communist French bulldog, a Persian cat named for Russian nobility, and a Shakespeare-spouting African Grey parrot. They all communicate in their own unique ways.
In my romantic comedy Hooking Mr. Right, one of the secondary characters is a matchmaking alley cat named Cupid. He, too, has a very unique way of communicating with the humans in the story.
I’ve read mysteries and romances where the authors have assigned points of view to the pets in the books. I’ve never gone that far, probably because doing so would move me from writing reality-based fiction into the realm of fantasy. Even so, the animals in my books definitely have their say.

Hooking Mr. Right
Can a butt-ugly alley cat named Cupid bring together two people driven apart by secrets and lies?
After writing a doctoral thesis that exposed fraud in the pop-psychology genre, thirty-two year old professor Althea Chandler sacrifices her professional integrity to save her family from financial disaster. She secretly becomes best-selling romance guru Dr. Trulee Lovejoy, self-proclaimed expert on how to catch a man, even though Thea's a miserable failure when it comes to relationships -- especially those with the opposite sex.
Burned by a failed marriage, Luke Bennett finds himself pursued by Dr. Lovejoy toting women after a gossip columnist dubs him New York's most eligible bachelor. When he at first mistakes Thea for one of the women out to snare him, sparks fly, but the two soon find themselves battling sparks of a less hostile nature, thanks in part to that alley cat.
Luke believes he's finally found an honest woman. Unfortunately, Thea is anything but honest. She's got more secrets than the CIA and a desperate gossip columnist out to expose her. Cupid definitely has his work cut out for him.
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USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and non-fiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/anasleuth, and onTwitter @anasleuth.

23 comments:

  1. I enjoy stories where animals and kids bring people together. Thanks for the post, Lois!

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  2. I enjoyed your post today, Lois. Animal communication, whether between the same species or different, has always been of great interested to me. The few times I had the chance to watch a whooping crane pair dance was unforgettable. I'm sure Cupid will succeed in his match matching endeavor.

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  3. Thanks, Kathleen! Cupid isn't a cat to give up.

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  4. Good post, Lois. I always enjoy reading how animals can impact one's life. But I have to admit I'm disappointed that there isn't one horse among animals across the top of the blog. The most recent survey indicates there are 13Million adults in the US that consider themselves "horse people. Certainly horses play a big role in those people's lives. I don't think I could carry off a novel in a horse's point of view. But Jane Smiley did with her "Horse Heaven." But, of course, most of us don't enjoy Smiley's expertise and reputation.

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    1. Hi Patti! I'll chime in re. horses on the blog. You're right about the masthead - maybe it's time for a more includive image (although we can't show the entire animal world! :-) ) That said, Writers & Other Animals is open to all species, and we have had posts about horses - here are a couple:

      "Horse Crazy..." http://writersandotheranimals.blogspot.com/2014/05/horse-crazy-kid-horse-crazy-author.html

      "On Riding and Writing"
      http://writersandotheranimals.blogspot.com/2014/10/mp-barker-on-riding-and-writing.html

      BTW, another great novel told from the horse's POV is Traveller by Richard Adams, which portrays the Civil War through the eyes of Robert E. Lee's horse.

      Thanks for coming by - I hope you'll come back to the blog.

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  5. Hi Patti! You'll have to ask Sheila about the lack of horse representation in her masthead. I'm just a guest here. But on the subject of books with a horse's point of view, I could be mistaken, but wasn't Black Beauty written that way?

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  6. Great post, Lois! I used to own a small horse farm. The horses definitely communicated. They have different pitched neighs to warn of danger or to greet each other (or acceptable humans). They also use body language a lot. Ears back means, "Look out! I'm pissed!"

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    1. Kassandra, I just saw something similar with "ear" language and dogs on the news this morning.

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  7. Hi Lois, what a delicious post. I've written a batch of stories where dogs and cats play an important role. "Young at Heart" has a therapy dog as one of the three leading characters.Your book is definitely a TBR for me. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks so much, Charmaine! I hope you enjoy it.

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  9. Enjoyable post, Lois. I love animals, especially dogs. Almost all my novels have an animal.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Judy! How do you feel about Shakespeare-quoting parrots? I've got one of those in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series.

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  10. I love books with animals. I am a huge animal lover of all shapes and sizes :)

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    1. Crystal, if you love books with animals, you've definitely come to the right place! That's what this blog specializes in. :)

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    2. Thanks so much for stopping by, Crystal!

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  11. All of my books have animals. Of course animals communicate! How could they not?

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    1. Not all of my books have animals, D'Ann, but I do try to have them whenever it works for the characters and plot. Thanks for stopping by.

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  12. I loved this blog. Interesting about chimps talking in accents! There's so much we still have to learn about the animal world. As to books with animals as pov characters, I would argue (or suggest) that factor doesn't have to make a book a fantasy in the common sense of the word if the animal acts like an animal rather than a furry human. Think of Spencer Quinn's excellent Chet & Bernie series, which are fine mysteries and totally realistic other than being narrated by a dog. It IS an initial leap of faith, animal-narrated series don’t have to be totally anthropomorphic. But obviously I'm biased. :) :)

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    1. I'm not familiar with that series, Susan. I'll have to take a look at it. Thanks for stopping by.

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  13. What a fun post, Lois! I always include animals in the books I write and enjoy reading books with animals. I'm off to check your titles out now.

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  14. Thanks, Danita! I hope you enjoy the books, should you decide to buy any.

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