A Bibliography of Feline Fantasy & SF Novels for Adults
Compiled by Fred Patten
Note: This is a fraction of the entire listing. If you’re on broadband, try the high speed version instead.
A Bibliography of Feline Fantasy & SF Novels for Adults
Compiled by Fred Patten
Note: This is a fraction of the entire listing. If you’re on broadband, try the high speed version instead.
This is a list of adult novels, and those Young Adult novels that are mature enough that adults will enjoy reading them, which feature intelligent/talking cats. They range from fantasies with talking ‘natural’ cats to science-fiction novels about felinoid aliens and bioengineered intelligent cats.
Not included are novels in which intelligent cats are only minor background characters, or SF novels with alien cats that are not anthropomorphized such as Alan Dean Foster’s Cat-A-Lyst and Jack Lovejoy’s Outworld Cats, or “cat lovers’ mystery” novels in which the cats are normal cats which do not detect. (Koko, in Lilian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who… series, may be an abnormal cat, but he is not an anthropomorphized cat.) Also omitted are the many anthologies of cat fantasy or mystery short stories, since usually less than 50% of those stories feature intelligent cats.
These listings are of first editions; many of the titles are out-of-print. When a book is currently available, its title is an Amazon.com link via which that current edition may be purchased, if desired.
Gadallah, Leslie
| Cat’s Pawn Ballantine/del Rey Books Mar 1987 263 p. |
Bill Anderson is stranded on the world of the felinoid Oriani. He is uncomfortable with them, but the only humans are spaceport scum. Anderson must finally choose between supporting the human crime lord, Steven Black, or the cat-diplomat, Talan. |
| Cat’s Gambit Ballantine/del Rey Books Mar 1990 247 p. |
The insectile Kazi conquer all planets, exterminating all the Oriani they can find. Ayyah, daughter of Talan, forces MacDonald, a human rebel, & Delladar Oll of the alien Lleveci to join her in a search for a hidden world that knows the Kazis’ weakness. |
Gallico, Paul
| The Abandoned Knopf Sep 1950 viii + 307 p. |
The Abandoned are those cats who do not live with humans and must survive as alley strays. When Peter Brown, a London boy, is transformed into a cat, motherly Jennie teaches him how to become a self-reliant cat in soul as well as in body. |
| Jennie Michael Joseph Ltd. October 1950 268 p. |
U. K. edition of The Abandoned. |
Gotlieb, Phyllis
| The Big Red Cats/Prandra & Khreng series | |
| A Judgment of Dragons Berkley Books Apr 1980 263 p. |
Four stories of Prandra & Khreng, two mated red cougarlike telepaths from the planet Ungruwarkh who are sent as their species’ ambassadors to GalFed on Solthree. They get caught up in political murder mysteries which they must solve. |
| Emperor, Swords, Pentacles Ace Books Apr 1982 299 p. |
GalFed investigator Duncan Kinnear learns that data about Qsaprinel, inhabited by intelligent crustacean-oids, are being suppressed. He calls two Big Red Cats, Emerald (daughter of Prandra & Khreng) and her mate Raanung, to help investigate. |
| The Kindgom of the Cats Ace Books Jul 1985 284 p. |
Some Big Red Cats settle on Solthree, in the Grand Canyon area which is similar to Ungruwarkh’s ecology. Someone begins to murder them. Prandra’s granddaughter, Bren, & her mate Etrem investigate suspects ranging from Pueblo Indians to aliens. |
Hahn, Harriet
| James the Connoisseur Cat St. Martin’s Press Oct 1991 169 p. |
James, resident cat at London’s elegant Baron’s Chambers apartments, does not talk but is adept at pantomime. He offers his services to the residents as a detective, an actor in a TV production of Puss in Boots, and in other intellectual capacities, but he is almost undone when kidnapped by a cultist who believes him a reincarnation of Bastet. |
| James, Fabulous Feline; Further Adventures of a Connoisseur Cat St. Martin’s Press Jun 1993 199 p. |
James becomes involved in a croquet tournament and learns about sportsmanship, exposes and testifies in court against an art forger, unmasks a fortune-hunter, is tricked into sponsoring a detestable catfood, becomes a benefactor to the feral cats of London, and officiates at a wedding of his human friends. |
Harness, Charles L.
| Firebird Pocket Books Jan 1981 207 p. |
Control, the computer-god, sets into motion the extermination of all organic life. A cabal among the Phelix Sapiens (felinoid) galactic civilization instigates Project Firebird, a plot to launch the leonine lovers Dermaq and Gerain on a 45 billion-year mission to restore the universe’s cycle of expansion and contraction. |
Hawke, Simon (pseudonym of Nikolai Yermakov)
| The Nine Lives of Catseye Gomez Warner Books/Questar Oct 1992 216 p. |
After a fad for magically intelligent pets passes, many people dump them out on the streets. When a reporter investigating an animal civil rights movement is murdered, Catseye Gomez, a tough alley cat who is a Mike Hammer fan, takes the case which involves both human and animal suspects. |
Hilgartner, Beth
| Cats in Cyberspace Meisha Merlin Publishing Sept 2001 210 p. |
Fluffy and PKP (Princess Killer Pinknose) try to help their humans Dana and Colin win financial independence so they can quit their jobs, using their home computer. The cats’ first attempts to get rich over the Internet are naïve. They must quickly become computer-literate enough to avoid getting Dana and Colin blamed for illegal financial transactions, or being seen by their humans using their PC. |
Huff, Tanya
| The Keeper’s Chronicles series | |
Summon the Keeper DAW Books May 1998 331 p. |
Claire Hansen is a Keeper, a magical guardian Summoned to maintain the barrier between Good & Evil. She and Austin, her sardonic talking cat companion, are drawn to a Canadian rundown hotel with a portal to Hell in its basement. They & handyman Dean McIssac must seal the hole permanently. Austin has a major role. |
| The Second Summoning DAW Books Mar 2001 416 p. |
When Claire and Dean get it on, their passion connected to Claire’s metalink to cosmic power draws an angel and a demon to Ontario. They plus Claire’s teenaged sister Diana must track them down before Armageddon breaks loose. Austin offers supercilious feline advice. Diana also gets a talking cat companion, Sam. |
| Long Hot Summoning DAW Books May 2003 413 p. |
Diana Hanson gets her first Summons as an active Keeper, to close a portal to Hell at a shopping mall. Claire, Austin and Dean are needed as backup. Austin and Sam, the talking cats, have major supporting roles. Egyptian gods cat-headed Bast and jackal-headed Anubis briefly appear, interacting ‘like Ruff and Reddy’. |
Hunter, Erin (pseudonym of Kate Cary & Cherith Baldry)
| The Warriors series | |
| Warriors: Into the Wild Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2003 [ix] + 272 p. |
(Book 1) Four rival feral cat Clans live in a wood near a twoleg town. Rusty, a kittypet, leaves his soft home to join the ThunderClan as Firepaw, an apprentice warrior. Firepaw helps to defend the ThunderClan against the ShadowClan’s aggression, but he discovers treachery among his own Clan’s leaders. |
| Warriors: Fire and Ice Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Jun 2003 [xi] + 317 p. |
(Book 2) Firepaw, now the adult warrior Fireheart, and his friend Graystripe are sent to bring the exiled WindClan back. The ShadowClan and RiverClan cats resent having to return WindClan’s hunting grounds. As alliances among the four Clans shift, Fireheart tries to do what is best for ThunderClan despite his doubts. |
| Warriors: Forest of Secrets Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Oct 2003 [ix] + 312 p. |
(Book 3) Fireheart struggles to prove Tigerclaw’s villainy. A flood threatens all the Clans and forces new alliances. Fireheart’s loyalties are stretched when his friend Graystripe forms a forbidden romance with the RiverClan she-cat, Silverstream, and a challenge arises over which Clan their kits should belong to. |
| Warriors: Rising Storm Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2004 [ix] + 315 p. |
(Book 4) Tigerclaw is exiled. Fireheart must master his responsibilities as ThunderClan’s new deputy despite the dubious loyalty of Tigerclaw’s old supporters, the disrespect of his own nephew/apprentice, Cloudpaw, and the mental decline of leader Bluestar. Then Tigerclaw returns as the new leader of ShadowClan. |
| Warriors: A Dangerous Path Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollins Publishers Jun 2004 [xiii] + 313 p. |
(Book 5) Fireheart’s role of ThunderClan’s deputy grows more difficult as he must cope with Bluestar’s growing paranoia, and maintain his Clan’s loyalty and strength despite Tigerstar’s plotting revenge and subversion of all the rival Clans. Tigerstar secretly builds up a pack of feral dogs to destroy ThunderClan. |
| Warriors: The Darkest Hour Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinPublishers Oct 2004 [ix] + 315 p. |
(Book 6) Bluestar’s death elevates Fireheart to Firestar, leader of ThunderClan. When Tigerstar forces ShadowClan and RiverClan to unite as TigerClan, the two other Clans must also unite to oppose them. But a new menace, the deadly BloodClan led by Scourge, threatens to conquer them all. |
| The Warriors: The New Prophecy series | |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Midnight Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers May 2005 [ix] + 303 p. |
(Book 1) A new menace threatens all four forest Clans. StarClan sends four young warriors & apprentices, one from each Clan (Brambleclaw, Tawnypelt, Feathertail & Crowpaw), on a dangerous quest to the seacoast to learn from Midnight what the menace is. Two more cats, Stormfur & Squirrelpaw, insist on accompanying them. |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Moonrise Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Aug 2005 [ix] + 287 p. |
(Book 2) In alternating chapters, the questing Clan cats try to return home over an icy mountain range, but they are captured by a tribe of mountain cats who demand that Stormfur save them from a giant lion-cat. Meanwhile, the four forest Clans are threatened with extinction as Twolegs tear down the forest to build a new highway. |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Dawn Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2006 [x] + 335 + [1] p. |
(Book 3) The surviving questors return to the Clans as they prepare to leave as their home forest is destroyed. After rescuing several cats trapped by the Twolegs, during which Graystripe is captured, the questors lead the united Clans back over the mountains in search of the new home promised by StarClan. |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Starlight Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Apr 2006 [viii] + 321 + [1] p. |
(Book 4) The cats settle uneasily into their new mountain valley lakeside home. The unity developed during their trek is shattered as they reestablish the four rival Clans, despite the efforts of several to maintain a spirit of cooperation. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight start a troubled romance. |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Twilight Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps HarperCollinsPublishers Sep 2006 ??? p. |
(Book 5) Not yet published. |
| Warriors: The New Prophecy: Sunset Illus. by Wayne McLoughlin. Maps. HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2007 ??? p. |
(Book 6) Not yet published. |
Johnson, Jane and Harrison, M. John
| Authors who collaborate under the pen-name of Gabriel King |
Kagan, Janet
| Uhura’s Song Pocket Books Jan 1985 373 p. |
(Star Trek Novel #21) A deadly plague, ADF syndrome, spreads from the feline Eeiauoans to human space. Capt. James Kirk, Mr. Spock, Lieut. Uhura and the crew of the Enterprise must find Sivao, the lost world of the Eeiauoans’ ancestors, and work with its catlike natives to rediscover the cure for the forgotten disease. |
Kelly, James P.
| Planet of Whispers Bluejay Books Jul 1984 234 p. |
Complex politics between galactic Messengers and felinoid natives of Aseneshesh cause massive starvation. Curinakesay, a scholar, is sent on a mission of betrayal which reveals secrets about galactic need for his species’ unique physiology. |
King, Gabriel (pseudonym of Jane Johnson & M. John Harrison)
| The Wild Roads series | |
| The Wild Road Century Nov 1997 463 p. |
Tag, a London kitten, is bidden by the cat wizard Majicou to find the King and Queen of cats and bring them to Tintagel before the spring equinox. Tag gains companions on his quest (the cats Cy, Sealink and Mousebreath, plus Majicou’s aides, a fox and a magpie) to save the royal cats from the evil human Alchemist. |
| The Golden Cat Century Nov 1998 350 p. |
The royal cats, Ragnar Gustaffson and Pertelot, sire three kittens, one of whom will be the legendary Golden Cat. When two of the kittens are sorcerously stolen, Tag and the third kitten, Leonora Whitstand Merril, search for them in England. Sealink, who has gone home to New Orleans, finds the spreading evil already there. |
| The Knot Garden Random House/Century Nov 2000 342 p. |
The village of Ashmore is the locale of two intermixed dramas; that of the cats Hawkweed and Orlando who patrol the Wild Roads against dreams which would destroy the Roads and the world, and the humans Anna Prescott, Stella Herringe and John Dawe, locked in a conflict dominated by reincarnation & immortality. |
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This listing was compiled for the Are There Too Many Cats in Science Fiction? panel
at L.A.con IV, the 2006 World Science Fiction Convention
Anaheim, CA, 23–27 August 2006
Please send recommendations for additions to this bibliography to Fred Patten
Please send review copies of books to: Fred Patten, c/o Golden State Colonial Convalescent Hospital
10830 Oxnard Street, North Hollywood, California 91606
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