About the Book
Book: The Search for the Shadow Cat: Book 3 of the Jaguar Oracle Series
Author: Kurt Mähler
Genre: Magical Realism Fantasy
Release Date: October 26, 2025
Venture into a lush, mystically supercharged natural world where the fate of an entire animal kingdom hangs in the balance in The Search for the Shadow Cat, the captivating third installment of the Jaguar Oracle series.
After a long absence from the Rio Grande Valley, the majestic jaguar named Oracle returns for a perilous quest to restore the three feline tribes—bobcat, ocelot, and long-lost jaguarundi: the “shadow cat.”
With Patch the raccoon, Plod the horse, Bog the toad, and the child named Miracle, Oracle navigates a richly-drawn landscape, pressing through pain and perplexity to rediscover ancient wisdom that will awaken creation, from a jabber of green jays to secretive turtles to trees holding on to treasured knowledge. Along the way, Oracle finds an unexpected ally in a conflicted young entrepreneur, while a hermit holds the key to unlocking the jaguar’s destiny.
Blending magical realism, mythology, and environmental advocacy, this pulse-pounding adventure will captivate readers with its tale of courage, honor, and the power of reclaiming our forgotten roots.
Click here to get your copy!
Author Interview
A: I use a Google sheet called “Timetable of the Tale” to track the days and the nightly astronomical
patterns as shown by an app called Starry Night Enthusiast 8.
I use an internally hyperlinked Google doc called “Faithfulness to the Tale” to remind myself of how
the story may unfold. Along with this are the documents “Characters,” “Animal Library,” and “Plant
Library,” which help me refine the accuracy and beauty of the tale.
Q: What is your writing space like?
A: I sit at a solid wood desk with no drawers facing southeast. Two Gothic-arch windows are above it,
one of which has a perch for birds who feed on seeds near a birdbath below. Under a brass reading
lamp is an icon of the Holy Family.
A cat tower is to the right of my desk, where the cats Apache, Sioux, and Cheyenne take turns napping
or keeping watch at the window. And there is a desk fan, for it can get quite hot where I live in Arabia.
Behind me on a shelf, a toy raccoon “reminds” me to take courage and write. (The Jaguar Oracle series
features a raccoon named Patch.) A map of the tale—which appears in the book—is also nearby, along
with silhouettes of the four main cats: jaguar, ocelot, bobcat, and jaguarundi.
Q: Where do you get your ideas for your books?
A: The idea for The Search for the Shadow Cat and the whole Jaguar Oracle series came from a black-
and-white photo and a question.
The photo, dated January 1946, is of farmers and ranchers displaying what they believed to be the last
jaguar in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, which they had hunted down and killed. I saw it in a book
called El Valle: The Rio Grande River Delta by Seth Patterson.
A few hours after seeing this photo, during a time of prayer about some troublesome matter I no
longer remember, the question dropped into me: “What if a jaguar returned to the Rio Grande
Valley?”
In Book 2, The Way Back to Eden, in the chapter called “The Photo,” a main human character sees the
photo in that book, and, as a result, is inspired in a dream that night.
Q: Kurt, Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?
A: Sometimes, yes. The main character in the Jaguar Oracle is a jaguar who, apparently, has spent time
with a lion a lot like Aslan. There is a hermit based on a dear and long lost relative of mine, and there is
a cartel operative who is based on Cesar Romero, a Hollywood actor known for his role in the original
Batman TV series.
A leading human character in my animal tale is the ambitious entrepreneur Travis Menefee III. He is
named after a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. I learned of this name from a friend of
mine who bears it as his middle name.
In the audiobook, narrator Zach Lazar Hoffman bases the voice of the jaguar on that of Liam Neeson,
and he bases the voice of Patch raccoon on that of his favorite actor, Tom Hanks.
Q: What is your work schedule/routine when you write?
A: My wife Karen and I have two modes of daily life, one being seasons of travel and another being
seasons at home.
As a life coach and keynote speaker, I am often living out of a suitcase and travelling internationally.
This routine involves a half hour before our Lord, often with the psalms, and often involving prayers
from the Eastern Orthodox prayer traditions. The rest of the day often involves serving believers from
a wide variety of Christian traditions and the nations they live among.
As a person who, along with Karen, cultivates a home of solitude, the routine at home involves prayer,
writing, cultivating greenery, hosting weary travelers, and encouraging the people from the many
nations we live among in the United Arab Emirates.
Insofar as love and wisdom allow, mornings are devoted to writing. Afternoons and evenings tend to
be devoted to everything else, i.e., matters that do not require the generating of creative content and
the solitude that lends itself to that endeavor.
I use a timer app called Flow by Yugen and an exercise app by Mark Lauren.
About the Author
Kurt helps those who built someone else’s dream finally build their own.
As a speaker, advisor, and award-winning poet, he draws from twenty years of lived experience in forty nations.
He is a sought-after voice on five continents, advising expats in places as challenging as Cuba, Persia, and North Korea. He has published multiple books , hundreds of articles, and well-respected poetry.
Kurt and his wife Karen have been married since 1993 and raised their family in Afghanistan, where they founded a community development agency. They are Americans living in the Emirates with ties to the Gulf Coast, the Rio Grande Valley, Central Texas, Louisiana, and New England.
He writes in the poetic tradition, inspired by the wonder of creation, the mysteries of the Ancient Faith, and the drama of the nations. Guiding sources for his work include the Hebrew prophets, the Desert Fathers, Dante, Milton, George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien.
Why? Because thought leaders go back to the beginning to find the way forward.
The key to the future begins with a memory. Our calling comes from the original self the Creator had in mind when He said, “Let there be you.”
More from Kurt
How do you begin again? How do you take the first step alone?
Sometimes we don’t need a how-to manual to answer these questions. We need an encounter. We need a story.
That’s why I wrote this epic tale.
Saturated with poetry, proverbs, parables, and prayers, this book is in the tradition of the Christian poets and the Hebrew prophets. It is an immersion in a mystically supercharged natural world alongside a very real human drama.
Why? Because poetic storytelling, when done well, gives prophetic insight for the decisions we face. Then we can begin again. Then we can take the first step alone. Then we can do the thing that is in our heart to do. The thing the Creator placed there. Your calling: the original self He had in mind before the Fall when He said, “Let there be you.”
That’s what this story is about.
An epic quest for redemption and self-discovery
Venture into a lush, mystically supercharged natural world where the fate of an entire animal kingdom hangs in the balance in The Search for the Shadow Cat, the captivating third installment of the Jaguar Oracle series.
A long, mysterious absence and the fulfillment of a legacy
The majestic jaguar named Oracle has returned to the Rio Grande Valley to pick up the trail left by the last guardian of this endangered realm, Kahoo the Grave. Awakening a dormant legend, Oracle embarks on a perilous quest to restore the three feline tribes—bobcat, ocelot, and long-lost jaguarundi: the “shadow cat”—to their rightful place as stewards of the animal kingdom.
With Patch the raccoon, Plod the horse, Bog the toad, and the child named Miracle, the jaguar navigates a richly-drawn landscape where created things have a voice. Oracle must press through pain and wrestle perplexity to rediscover the wisdom of the Days of First Things and restore the fragmented animal realm. As he does, creation awakens, from a jabber of green jays to secretive turtles to trees holding on to ancient knowledge.
Reclaiming lost wisdom and honoring our connection to nature
But Oracle is not alone in his quest. He finds an unexpected ally in Tripp Menefee, the ambitious and conflicted young entrepreneur who runs the Eden’s Bend preserve and high-tech ranch, where a rhino, zebras, and other exotic beasts dwell alongside native ones.
Tripp and Oracle forge an invisible partnership as both seek to restore the animal kingdom while Tripp grapples with his own motivations—and the growing affection he has for the woman confronting him on the toll his development plans are taking on the delicate ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the hermit Brazos Ben, who had once nursed Oracle back to health, holds the key to unlocking the jaguar’s past and the secrets of the Lonely Tree at the heart of this landscape. As Ben is forced to confront his own painful history, he must decide whether to help Oracle complete his legacy or remain trapped in the shadows of the past.
Blog Stops
Simple Harvest Reads, December 17 (Author Interview)
Artistic Nobody, December 18 (Author Interview)
Guild Master, December 19 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, December 20
Fiction Book Lover, December 21 (Author Interview)
Blogging With Carol, December 22
Vicky Sluiter, December 23 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, December 24
For the Love of Literature, December 25 (Author Interview)
Tell Tale Book Reviews, December 26 (Author Interview)
Blossoms and Blessings, December 27 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 27
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 28
Stories By Gina, December 29 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, December 29
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, December 30 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, Kurt is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card; a high-resolution digital map of the entire series, a high-resolution cover, and the audiobook version featuring Nashville actor Zach Lazar Hoffman when it is released!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/JLkld/the-search-for-the-shadow-cat-celebration-tour-giveaway
1 comment:
I liked the interview.
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