In case you missed the header at the index, welcome to the Ronald Frobnitz and Family website! This page was born out of what I thought was a necessity to recognize Lilian Jackson Braun's work in cyberspace. Braun is an long-established author with a wide audience - her books climb higher and higher on the New York Times bestseller list each year - and, thus, when I first logged on to the Internet, I expected to find a wealth of Cat Who... information proportionate to her ever-growing popularity. To my surprise, however, I found virtually nothing - just a few scattered mentions in generic mystery and cat-lovers' pages and a discussion board on America Online (which I soon was forced to leave due to AOL's horrid connection service in Montana). That just wouldn't do! To attempt to fill the void of Qwilleran-related Net material, I decided to set up a Cat Who... page of my own. This website has been a over-looooooooong time in coming (right, Patricia? ;) ), but I hope that it'll turn into something worthwhile.
I thought I'd devote this first "column", so to speak, to busywork concerning Ronald Frobnitz's inauguration. Of course, since I've just set up, the site's bound to have a few snags - a couple of crucial letters transposed in the hypertext links when I was typing in the HTML late at night - so please report any broken links to me. What I'd really appreciate, though, are creative submissions. First among these are...
...book reviews! I only ask that you abide by the following guidelines -
- Since the Cat Who... series attracts fans of all ages, please don't use any expletives or vulgarities. Be civil, y'all.
- Write a substantial review - 250 words or more, say.
- Keep your audience in mind. You don't have to extoll the virtues of the Cat Who... series in general; we're all Braun fans here, so you don't have to preach to the converted. Instead, focus on the individual book - how it holds up as an installment of the series and as a mystery novel in general, etc...
- And, finally, to add a personal prejudice - please refrain from using cutesy, cloying feline puns in your reviews (anything along the lines of "purr-fect"). There's no well-reasoned basis for setting this guideline, but...just don't. It annoys me.
I'm especially interested in hearing opinions on the audiotape versions of the books. How was the reading job? Was the text edited carefully to fit the time and tape constraints, or was it a hack-and-slash job?
As you can see, we also have a pics section, so art is also greatly appreciated! If you've drawn/painted/macramed a pic of Qwilleran, Koko, Yum Yum, Moose County, or what-have-you, please scan it and send it in! You'll receive full credit for your work, of course (and the gratitude of myself and all the site's visitors).
I've also attempted to put together two Cat Who... resource materials, an encyclopedia and an FAQ. If you think that I've omitted any info that should be included in either, please tell me. All in all, if you have any material that you feel should be included in the site, please e-mail me.
And, lastly, two guidelines - please don't take anything without my permission; e-mail me first. (The pics that I've scanned I'll most probably let you have; anything I've written, probably not; anything anyone else has created and submitted, you'll have to take it up with them (I'll give you contact info).) And (to be a bit presumptuous for a moment), if you'd like to link to here, again, please contact me first. Not that I'm going to say "no"; it's just that I like to keep track. ^_^
Of course, comments of any kind are always welcome - let me know how I'm doing! Anyhow, I hope that, in some small measure, I'll succeed in creating a website worthy of its subject. Enjoy!
Back to the Ronald Frobnitz and Family index.