Katlanta

Book excerpt: ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A PLANET FAR, FAR AWAY... The planet was called Kateraan. All of its inhabitants were cats- incredibly smart, genius cats! Kateraan was a world of vast scientific achievement. Everyone on this planet was a genius at something. Everyon, except for El Gato, so they thought. And the big discovery in the life of the average Kateraanian was that of determining what he/she was brilliant at. To ease each Kateraanian along the path to discovery of his or her brilliance, huge institutions of higher learning had been established. They contained their computer data banks vast storehouses of all the accumulated knowledge of hundreds of years brilliant work by Kateraanian scientists, historians, mathematicians, sociologists, etc. And, these institutions were staffed by a faculty of the most brilliant minds available to the Kateraanian populace, at large. To be a teacher in Kateraan was an honor bestowed only upon the best and the brightest of an already stellar pool of talent. It was the highest position anybody could achieve in society short of being a world leader. There is no such thing as dance music on planet Kateraan. The Kateraanians believe that any kind of music other than drone sounds or classical music is the work of the Devil, because it promotes hatred, violence, discrimination and domination. Thus, at times, life can be a bit boring, hearing the same old drone sounds and/or classical music over and over again. In brief, El Gato's goal is to prove the Kateraanian's that not all music can be healing voice of the universe. El Gato further believes that non-toxic music promotes self-respect, as well as respect for others. Moreover, good music promotes fun, togetherness and a sense of hope when things aren't going well. The bottom line according to El Gato, "Life ain't fun until the music plays."