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.
Lefebure, Molly
| Scratch & Co.; the Great Cat Expedition Illus. by A. Wainwright Gollancz Sep 1968 158 p. |
Brigadier Sir Hywel Catterwaul, young Scratch Sharp, and 4 other cats constitute the Great Cat Expedition to climb the H.K.P. (Highest Known Peak) in the Kingdom of Catdom. A pastiche of Himalayan mountaineering expeditions with cat Pukka Sahib British explorers, rabbit lowland native bearers, terrier upland guides, fox hill bandits, and a mongoose Hindu servant. |
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
| Author who wrote under the pen-name of Cordwainer Smith |
Lucas, Paul
| Creatura Hard Shell Word Factory Jul 2005 244 p. |
300 years after all humans died in the Great Pandemic and were replaced by the bioengineered Creatura, Rakshana Feles,, Twilight Tabbey (both Felinoids), Roadkill (Faanr Chien, Lupinoid), Ulex Baker (Ursoid) & Griffon (GENI dog) try to escape Frostbite’s gang of killer Lupinoid mercs while searching for Project Mausoleum. |
Lynch, Lee
| Sue Slate, Private Eye Naiad Press Nov 1989 161 p. |
Sue Slate, a tough feline lesbian detective in San Francisco’s hidden gay funny-animal community, discovers that its ‘Case of the Kitnapped Kittens’ is tied in with a human murder and a homophobic conspiracy to suppress an AIDS cure. |
McCaffrey, Anne
| Decision at Doona Ballantine Books Apr 1969 246 p. |
Blurb: …Doona was inhabited. Now the colonists’ choice was limited. Leave Doona and return to the teeming hell of an overpopulated Terra. Or kill the catlike Hrrubans. Or learn, for the first time in history, how to coexist with an alien race… |
McCaffrey, Anne with Nye, Jody Lynn
| The Doona trilogy | |
| Crisis on Doona Ace Books March 1992 328 p. |
25 years ago, a treaty between Terrans and cat-like Hrrubans allowed the joint settlement of Doona. Todd Reeve and Hrriss, a Hrruban, are best friends. But extremists oppose the treaty renewal, which would force the humans to leave Doona. |
| Treaty Planet Orbit Books Feb 1994 441 p. |
A spaceship of an unknown species, the gigantically fanged but friendly bear-like Gringgs, comes to Doona to offer valuable trade. Todd and Hrriss watch their human & Hrruban friends split into factions between those who trust or fear the Gringgs. |
| Tresaty at Doona Ace Books Sep 1994 342 p. |
U. S. edition of Treaty Planet. |
| Doona Ace Books Feb 2004 585 p. |
Includes Crisis on Doona and Treaty at Doona. |
Morwood, Peter & Duane, Diane
| Keeper of the City Bantam Spectra Aug 1989 x + 309 p. |
(Vol. 2 of Bill Fawcell’s Guardians of the Three series) Reswen, police chief in the independent desert-outpost city of Niau, is suspicious when a deadly crime wave coincides with a diplomatic mission from the East offering peace and trade. The reader is aware that a liskash wizard is manipulating the Easterners in a plot to destroy all the catfolk. |
Murphy, Shirley Rousseau
| The Joe Grey Mystery series | |
| Cat on the Edge HarperPaperbacks/HarperPrism Jun 1996 274 p. |
When a leading businessman is murdered in a California resort town, two cats (Joe Grey and Dulcie) suddenly find themselves with human intelligence and speech, and Kate Osborne, a human housewife, is turned into a cat. The three must figure out what has happened to them, while eluding the murderer. |
| Cat Under Fire HarperPaperbacks/HarperPrism Jan 1997 244 p. |
After Joe Grey & Dulcie’s first case, Joe would rather ignore his human intelligence and return to a cat’s carefree life. But a human friend of Dulcie’s is murdered, and Dulcie insists that the two cats find the clues that no human detective could know about. |
| Cat Raise the Dead HarperPaperbacks/Harper Prism Jul 1997 288 p. |
Joe Grey & Dulcie get involved in two parallel cases: a ‘cat burglar’ is robbing Molena Point’s wealthy homes, and a senile (maybe) resident of the posh Casa Capri Retirement Villa starts claiming some the home’s patients have mysteriously vanished. |
| Cat in the Dark HarperCollins/HarperPrism Feb 1999 265 p. |
A new human burglar moves into Molena Point, with a talking cat like Joe Grey & Dulcie as his partner. The two are nonplussed over how to end the crimes without exposing their own secret. Azrael, the arrogant tom, boasts of voodoo powers and that he sees death coming -- a threat, a bluff, or a prediction of unavoidable fate? |
| Cat to the Dogs HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2000 243 p. |
A stranger dies in a sabotaged car crash; a Molena Point resident drowns and his widow is besieged by suspicious relatives; and two enormous stray puppies may link the cases. Joe Grey must tolerate the puppies (Dulcie likes them), despite their slobbery kisses. A new mysteriously intelligent kitten appears. |
| Cat Spitting Mad; A Joe Grey Mystery HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2001 228 p. |
Two women are murdered and Max Harper, Molena Point’s Chief of Police, is the target of anonymous accusations and faked evidence. Joe Grey, Dulcie, and their new companion Kit must investigate who is involved in the frame-up. Several previous characters reappear, including Kate Osborne who can turn into a cat. |
| Cat Laughing Last; A Joe Grey Mystery HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2002 273 p. |
Vandalism and murder surround five elderly women (including one who knows the secret of the talking cats) who shop at yard sales for antiques, and are involved in the premiere of a new play by a famous author and his unlikeable wife at the Molena Point Little Theater. Joe Grey, Dulcie, and little Kit investigate. |
| Cat Seeing Double; A Joe Grey Mystery Illus. by Beppe Giacobbe HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2003 292 p. |
The wedding of Police Chief Max Harper and Charlie Getz is bombed. Charlie’s friend, Ryan Flannery, niece of a detective, is framed for the murder of her husband. The three intelligent cats investigate both crimes. Does someone hate all Molena Point’s police, or is this a personal attack on Max or Charlie or Ryan and their friends? A dog with the same fur coloring as Joe Grey provides clues. |
| Cat Fear No Evil; a Joe Grey Mystery HarperCollinsPublishers Mar 2004 323 p. |
New thefts and murder coincide with the return of black cat Azrael, the self-proclaimed ‘Angel of Death’, with new human criminal partners. While the humans commit mundane crimes, Azrael targets Kate Osborn who may unknowingly have clues to a dimensional portal to a cat world. Joe Grey and Dulcie need to investigate both cases, while protecting little Kit from Azrael. |
| Cat Cross Their Graves; a Joe Grey Mystery HarperCollinsPublishers Jan 2005 305 p. |
Patty Rose, a retired movie star who is one of Molena Points most popular residents, is murdered by a man who may be involved with the mass murder of children years earlier and may be stalking Lori Reed, a 12-year-old runaway girl whom Dulcie is trying to protect. Joe Grey and Kit provide clues anonymously to the police. |
| Cat Breaking Free; a Joe Grey Mystery Illus. by Beppe Giacobbe HarperCollinsPublishers Dec 2005 335 p. |
While a gang plans to rob all Molena Point’s wealthiest stores in a one-night crime spree, the clowder of intelligent feral cats from which Kit came is caged by hoodlums. After Hernando is killed by savage cat leader Stone Eye, caged cats Cotton, Coyote and Willow must be rescued from his brother Luis by Joe, Dulcie & Kit. Kit must decide whether to stay in Molena Point or rejoin the clowder. |
| Cat Pay the Devil; a Joe Grey Mystery William Morrow March 2007 ??? p. |
Not yet published. |
Norman, Lisanne
| The Sholan Alliance series | |
| Turning Point DAW Books Dec 1993 267 p. |
Carrie Hamilton, a young human woman on a colony planet, nurses a wounded cat-like beast who turns out to be Kusac, a disguised alien. Carrie and Kusac develop a Beauty & the Beast romance as they help Terrans and Sholans become allies to fight the common Valtegan reptilian enemy. |
| Fortune’s Wheel DAW Books Aug 1995 646 p. |
Carrie goes with Kusac, now her mind-bonded lifemate, to Shola to help solidify the alliance. Besides getting involved in deadly internal politics, they are shocked when they begin turning into a new species, part human and part catlike Sholan. |
| Fire Margins Maps by Michael Gilbert DAW Books Nov 1996 758 p. |
This immediately continues Fortune’s Wheel. The history of the enigmatic Kaid is revealed, and he forms a Triad with Carrie & Kusac. Several feuds climax and are resolved. The mysteries of the Cataclysm and of how humans and Sholans can be interfertile are solved. |
| Razor’s Edge Maps by Michael Gilbert DAW Books Dec 1997 652 p. |
Blurb: Still adjusting to the revelations about its past, the Sholan race must now also face the increasing numbers and independence of the new human-Sholan telepathic pairs. Meanwhile, Carrie, Kusac, Kaid, and T’Chebbi are sent to the planet Jalna on a rescue mission […] |
| Dark Nadir Maps by Michael Gilbert DAW Books Mar 1999 597 p. |
Carrie, Kusac and the others are returning to Shola when their spaceship is captured by the Valtegans; then an unknown new space warship takes both the Valtegans and their captives prisoner. Meanwhile, political conservatives hinder Kusac’s father’s efforts to help integrate humans into the feline Sholan society. |
| Stronghold Rising Maps by Michael Gilbert DAW Books Jun 2000 722 p. |
Carrie, Kusac and the others have been rescued, but Kusac has lost his telepathy and is despondent to the point of suicide. The Sholans become involved in the politics of the Valtegan homeworld and a faction that wants peaceful relations, setting off controversy on Shola over whether any Valtegans can be trusted. |
| Between Darkness and Light Map & illustrations by Michael Gilbert DAW Books Jan 2003 752 p. |
Kusac, sent on a secret mission to help Gen. Kezule create a hidden offworld colony of peaceful Valtegans, is publicly denounced as a traitor. Politics among both feline Sholans and reptilian Valtegans threaten to destroy the fragile Valtegan peace movement. Carrie, Kaid, and others learn the truth and try to aid Kusac. |
Norton, Andre (pseudonym of Alice Mary Norton)
| Breed to Come Viking Press June 1972 285 p. |
Furtig is a cat warrior on a future Earth where all humans have gone psychotically mad and died, or fled into space. Cats, dogs, and rats have evolved, and seek the Demons’ secrets for their own warfare. Then a Demon spaceship returns to Earth… |
Norton, Alice Mary
| Author who writes under the pen-name of Andre Norton |
Payne, Michael H.
| The Blood Jaguar Map by Kandis Elliot Tom Doherty Associates/Tor Books Dec 1998 256 p. |
On an animal world, the Blood Jaguar is goddess of Death. She controls Cycles of plague that kill 50% of the population, unless she can be stopped by three heroes; a bobcat, a fisher and a skink. But this generation’s Bobcat is an illiterate ex-delinquent who is sure a mistake has been made in drafting him to lead the quest. |
Peak, Michael
| Cat House NAL/Signet Books Sep 1989 255 p. |
In a suburban community, cat Mistress Halina manages affairs so the scarred (fixed) girls will still be popular with the toms. When she bans a brutal tom, Coron, from the girls’ attentions, he stirs the cat-community’s resentment against her. |
| Catamount NAL/Roc Books Mar 1992 284 p. |
3 connected stories set in the San Diego desert suburb. Sarena the cougar looks for a mate, with Lanakila the eagle’s help. Eight dogs running wild try to live off the land. Laura Kay, a reporter, covers the animal-rights & anti-hunting movements. |
Pirinçci, Akif
| The Felidae series | |
| Felidae Trans. by Ralph Noble Villard Books Feb 1993 292 p. |
Francis, a housecat, moves into a residential neighborhood where cats are being gruesomely slaughtered by one of their own. This German award-winning murder mystery (Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, 1989) is unusually brutal and cynical, emphasizing realistic urban cat territorial behavior. |
| Felidae on the Road Trans. by Anthea Bell Fourth Estate, Ltd. Jul 1994 246 p. |
Francis goes feral, discovering a society of flagellant blind cats hiding in the sewers from the Black Knight, a ‘demon cat’ who is slaughtering all farm cats. Francis must find the psychotic cat, or learn who among the cats is posing as the monster. |
| Felidae II: Francis Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag 1992 |
The original published version of Felidae on the Road. |
| Cave Canem: ein Felidae-Roman Wilhelm Goldmann GmbH Aug 1999 |
Third Felidae novel; not yet published in English. |
| Das Duell. ein Felidae-Roman Eichborn Verlag Oct 2002 |
Fourth Felidae novel; not yet published in English. |
| Salve Roma! Eichborn Verlag March 2004 |
Fifth Felidae novel; not yet published in English. |
Pratchett, Terry
| The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents Illus. by David Wyatt. HarperCollinsPublishers Nov 2001 241 p. |
(Discworld #28) Cat Maurice persuades some rats and a boy, Keith, to start a scam, sending the rats to villages to start a ‘plague’ then following to pipe them away. Rats Peaches, Dangerous Beans & Darktan object to the dishonesty. They all fall into danger in a city already being preyed upon by greedy rat-catchers and an evil Rat-King. |
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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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