Ellen M Laura author portrait

Lantern author

Ellen M Laura

Stories of love, mystery, magic, and becoming someone new after a holy disruption.

Feline FantasyRomanceFuturistic Sci-FiSpeculative Fiction

Behind the byline

About the author

I write across genres—feline fantasy, romance, fantasy, science fiction, and stories that wander between the ordinary and the unseen. Again and again, I’m drawn to characters changed by love, loss, mystery, and those moments when life cracks open and asks us to become someone new. Expect wisdom, wonder, and a little irreverent humor along the way.

Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, NV USA

Visit the author’s website
Bella and Django: A Vegas, Velvet Caper cover

Author marginalia

The fun stuff.

The little things readers always want to know after the last page.

01

Forever shelf

Favorite books

  • Letters to a Young Poet
  • The Little Prince
  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • A Year with Hafiz
02

In the headphones

Writing soundtrack

  • Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman
  • Tibetan chanting
  • Songs by Cher
03

Tiny author lore

Things to know

  • Cats routinely steal my best lines.
  • Minou, my AI muse, tries to keep the peace.
  • I’ve been writing for more than thirty years.
  • The mystical and mischievous belong in the same room.

On Lantern

Stories by Ellen M Laura

Bella and Django: A Vegas, Velvet Caper by Ellen M Laura

Mystery, Cozy Feline Fantasy

Bella and Django: A Vegas, Velvet Caper

From island hush to neon thunder—two cats are about to become each other’s fate. Bella’s first world was Lānaʻi: salt air, warm stones, plumeria on the wind, and the gentle chaos of a sanctuary where humans move softly and love loudly. She learned the rules of paradise early—share sun patches, guard your dignity, and never admit you’re afraid. Then a wrong turn in the human world drops her into Las Vegas. The desert smells of heat, pavement, perfume, and electrical hunger. Everything flashes. Everything moves. And tucked inside the glare is The Gamblers Bookstore—a velvet-quiet refuge where Bella might finally catch her breath. Except the bookstore already has a king. Django Whiskerblades is watchful, disciplined, and unimpressed by feline theatrics. Bella is audacity in fur. They should avoid each other. Naturally, they don’t. Soon, the two cats are drawn into a Vegas caper involving secrets, risk, and considerably more trouble than either intended. A cozy feline adventure filled with wit, slow-burn chemistry, Las Vegas mischief, and two cats discovering that fate occasionally has whiskers.

Read Chapter One: The Door That Yielded

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