A question I’m frequently asked is “Why is your username ‘autographedcat?”  Since I was asked again recently, I thought I’d repost the answer I’ve given in the past.

I was at a Flash Girls concert several years ago,1 and during a re-tuning break, Lorraine Garland mentioned that they were going to pass a hat around after the show, because if they couldn’t raise enough money to pay for their trip home, they’d have to sell their cats.

Everyone dutifully said “Awwwww.”

Emma Bull looked up sharply from her retuning and said “Oh, stop. It’s not like anyone would WANT them.”

I replied “Well, maybe if you autographed them.”, which provoked much laughter.

Later, while exchanging e-mail with Lorraine, I mentioned this conversation, and she said, “Oh, I remember you! You’re the autographed cat guy!” It seemed as good a nickname as any, and it’s always available when I need a screen name. 🙂

And that’s why I’m called autographedcat.

At this point, I’ll open the floor to further questions.  Leave them in a comment, and I’ll answer them over the next couple of days.  Ask me anything.

  1. It was, I’m almost certain, at Dragon*Con in the mid-late 1990s.  Neil Gaiman was there, with early rushes of the TV series Neverwhere, which was then in development. ↩