You know, the Czar got a bit creeped out this past summer when he was in a large, commercial chain bookstore and saw an aisle—an aisle—named Supernatural Erotic Teen Fiction.

That did not prepare him for the following sign he and the Цесаревич found last night at a book store:

What, exactly, constitutes Cat Literature? Once we stopped laughing, we began to look at the books.

The Inspector Dulcy mysteries by Helen Brown are quite prominent. Dulcy is a veteran English small-town detective inspector who uses bits of string pulled across the carpet to solve crimes.

Gerri Cooper’s Every Cat’s Guide to Thermodynamics is a popular read, even if it is a bit short. However, despite simplification of the math therein, it was a pretty engaging read for a non-cat.

The SunnyPatch Cat Sitters Club is a bit too syrupy for our tastes, but the younger cats seem to like the crazy adventures the girls get into.

And a total shocker is Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. We might have thought it was just mis-stocked, but there were about eight copies there.

Cats are funny animals, to be sure.

[And Freddy Hayek is one cool cat, my babies. —ŒV]

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.