Why Dogs Like To Snuggle With People

You’ve probably never heard this, but it’s true – Adam and Eve had fur just like so many other animals in the Garden of Eden (and just like their cousins the Bigfeet have today).

As God was kicking them out of the Garden, the other animals watched and felt bad for then – but especially Mr. and Mrs. Dog. They were good friends. Adam always threw the stick for Mr. Dog, and Eve would comb Mrs. Dog’s fur.

As they walked through the gate, Adam side-mouthed to Eve: “We screwed up big time, but at least we’ll be warm,” and he tugged at the fur on his arm.

God heard that.

“I’ll show you, wise guy,” and he leaned down and grabbed both of them by the nape of the neck, and with one clean gesture yanked the fur coats right off them!

“You’ve left us naked and cold to the world,” wailed Eve.

“Too bad, so sad,” snarled The Big Guy. “Now git!”

Mr. Dog turned to Mrs. Dog.

“Oh my, they’ll freeze to death without any fur!”

“We need to do something help them,” said Mrs. Dog.

“Let’s go with them!” said Mr. Dog, “We can keep them warm,” and they both jumped up and ran after the humans.

They managed to slip through the gate just as it closed. Adam looked behind him as the Garden disappeared into the mist.

“Thanks for sticking with us, old chum,” he said as he rubbed Mr. Dog’s ears..

“Well, we have at least two friends in the world,” said Eve.

That night, Mr. Dog slept up against Adam, and Mrs. Dog cuddled with Eve, and kept them warm. The two dogs looked at each other and sighed.

So remember when a dog snuggles or cuddles or lays up against you, it’s not just because they love you. Of course they do, but they also feel sorry for all of us. When a dog curls up with you, he wants to keep you warm as he thinks:

“I’m sorry you lost your fur.”

Latest anthology sale

Bryan Thomas Schmidt says he is preparing to assemble and send edits and contracts out for his latest anthology, coming out in 2016 from WordFire Press, Decision Points, his "long planned, star-studded" young adult anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories wherein character choice plays a major role.

It will feature new stories from Jonathan Maberry, Nnedi Okorafor, Jody Lynn Nye, KD McEntire, Kate Corcino as well as myself.

It will also include a never before anthologized Ender story from Orson Scott Card, and more reprints from Robert J. Sawyer, Cory Doctorow, Kevin J. Anderson, Lois McMaster Bujold, Robert Silverberg, Steven Gould, Rebecca Moesta, Beth Davis Cato, Alethea Kontis, Eugene Myers, Mike Resnick and Jennifer Brozek.

Needless to say, I'm proud and honored to be included such a stellar line-up.

Latest short fiction sale

I'm proud to announce that the e-zine Aurora Wolf has bought my alternate history "Captain of the Clouds". This will be my first publication of 2016, and my 96th short story since I was first published in 2003.

This is an alternate history where the Germans hijack a dirigible to steal helium in the 1930s.

Lost in translation

My mother and father were both Italian immigrants who met and married in Boston in 1956. For their honeymoon they drove to Quebec. At some point they stopped at a local gas station.

Quebecers have a good second sense of whether to address a stranger in English or French. The gas station attendant walk out, looks at dad behind the wheel, assesses (correctly) that he is not an native English speaker, and speak to him in French.

My father was a more recent immigrant to America and his English was proportionately poorer. He turns to my mother, curses in Italian and adds, “I didn’t know there is another language in this country! I’m having a hard enough time learning English!”

My mother gently pointed out they were not in the U.S. and indeed, in Canada they also speak French – to his great relief.