This is a free gift novella written in February 2026 for my newsletter subscribers at a time when the outside world is terrible and sometimes you really need some fluff to soothe the soul. (Want a copy? Sign up for my newsletter here!)
Kitty Game! is going out in the March 2026 newsletter as part of a free “feel better” collection, along with Christy Matheson’s Magical Libraries, C. A. Moss’s How I Became a Therapist in Another World, and Kate Valent’s recipe for “Betta’s Longberry Rolls” aka cinnamon date rolls from her book The Driftcap Inn.
Because when you want a care package for the bookish soul, a dose of therapy, a magical library, a delicious treat, and frolicking puppy fluff seems like a pretty nice combination to me.
The working title for Kitty Game! was “No Plot, Just Fluff.”
It has a very small and fluffy bit of plot: What happens when Priye the shy and silent kitten meets Euli the loud and rambunctious puppy? Well, the adults around them need to gently introduce Euli to the concept of boundaries, or “bound-thingies” as Euli calls them. But along the way we revisit Ranveer and his now-verdantly-flourishing love-craft, which is attempting to seduce all the gardenias in a Catsprowl courtyard garden while I’m writing this web page. And we also spend some time in Master Asharan’s luxuriant baths talking about how everyone needs to find the magic that works with their own heart. And there is brushing and grooming and so, so much fluff. (As Euli says, brrrrrush brrrrrrush brrrrrush.)
Some of the characters may be more familiar if you’ve read Haroun and the Study of Mischief, because the cast expanded after Chai and Cat-tales, but honestly it’s all about the fluff.
It’s not a story that wants to shake the literary world. It just wants to shake the water off soggy puppy ears and wag a hopeful tail and ask if you feel better for having read it.
I hope you might.
Lynn Strong 