Steph Cha is a serious writer of Korean-American feminist noir. She’s the author of three published novels, a regular food-and-book-review writer for the Los Angeles Times, and an impressively prolific Yelp contributor. She is also a crazy basset lady.
Duke is a basset hound. He isn’t a serious writer of anything, but he is the first basset hound owned by a writer of Korean-American feminist noir to be featured on this blog. (I’m pretty sure. I’ll have to check.)
Here they are. Isn’t Duke adorable! (And Steph too, of course.)
Steph and her husband (then fiancé) rescued Duke through Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California (http://www.bassethoundrescuesocal.com/) and, in doing so, fell completely, utterly, floppily in basset love.
He likes to eat, sleep, and play. He chews cardboard to shreds and has a slobber flinging radius of several yards. He suffers from a rather vicious strain of separation anxiety, which we are working on taming. Otherwise, he is just the sweetest animal – friendly, loyal, and very playful.
You can read more about Duke on Steph’s blog where, as proof of her devotion, there are more photos of Duke than anything else.
The real gravy-laced treat, however, is the recent essay Steph wrote for Pacific Standard called: “Floppy, Wiggly, Spectacular: The Cult of the Basset Hound“. It’s a love letter to basset hounds; the true story of one woman’s descent ascent into a life of belly rubbing and ear stroking. Go and read it, it’s brilliant.
And after you’ve read that, you should totally read Follow Her Home, Steph’s debut novel and first in the Juniper Song mystery series. I’m about halfway through and really enjoying it. Hey, look, I’ll even provide links to all her books so you can buy them and raise money for BRNGB at the same time! (And remember, sales of Steph’s books also help Duke live a more comfortable life.)
I asked Steph if she had any plans to include basset hounds in her novels, to which she replied:
There is a basset hound cameo in Beware Beware, but no major basset characters so far…
So far….? Sounds promising!
Thank you Steph Cha, for services to the advancement of basset hounds. And thank you Duke, for being cute.
*****
Buy more for Bassets!
You can get the full Steph Cha look by buying these “as seen on screen, as worn by the author” basset hound owner essentials:
Big basset hound head t-shirt by The Mountain:
Stylish latex basset head costume (for blending in at basset waddles):
Follow Steph Cha on Twitter: @stephycha
The Basset Hound Lowdown 
