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.
Reed, Christopher
| A Manx McCatty Adventure: The Big Scratch Illus. by Tom Newson Ballantine Books Nov 1988 117 p. |
A feline pastiche of hard-boiled P.I. novels. Manx McCatty, the streetwise San Francisco P.I., is hired by ‘respectable cream-lickers’ to break up Gato Nostro crimelord Tabby Tonelli’s racket of snatching gentle, comely female housecats to sell into prostitution abroad. |
| Der Fluch der Weißen Katze: Ein Katzenkrimi mit Manx McCatty Bastei Lübbe Verlag 1996 |
Sequel to The Big Scratch, thus far published only in Germany. |
Richardson, Bill
| Waiting for Gertrude: A Graveyard Gothic Illus. by Bill Pechet Douglas & McIntyre October 2001 [vi] + 184 p. |
Celebrities buried in Paris’ famous Père-Lachaise cemetary (Chopin, Bizet, Oscar Wilde, Proust, many others) are reborn as the feral cats in the cemetary. They continue their intellectual lives in cat bodies. Alice B. Toklas feeds the cats aphrodesiacs to increase the kittens so Gertrude Stein will be reincarnated. |
Rogers, Mark E.
| The Samurai Cat series | |
| The Adventures of Samurai Cat Illus. by the author Donald M. Grant, Publisher May 1984 1 vol. [128 p] |
Mighty Miaowara Tomokato quests throughout the world (with his bratty nephew Shiro) for vengeance against the slayers of his lord. His exploits are parodies of stereotypical adventure fantasy: Tolkien, Lovecraft, Howard, the Norse Ragnarok. |
| More Adventures of Samurai Cat Illus. by the author Tor Books Nov 1986 127 p. |
Tomokato’s continued quest leads him into parodies of Arthurian England (with an ‘Indiana Jones’), Burroughs’ Barsoom, and Star Wars. Tomokato’s brother Shimura, sister-in-law Hanako, and nephews Shiro, Huki, Duki, Luki, & Agamemnon briefly reappear. |
| Samurai Cat in the Real World Illus. by the author Tor Books Oct 1989 128 p. |
Tomokato and Shiro get involved in Prohibition-Chicago gangland wars; in helping Santa Claus lead a commando raid into Berlin, Xmas eve, 1944; and in the triple-cross werewolf killings of Stalin, Beria, & Hitler[!] in Moscow, 1953. |
| The Sword of Samurai Cat Illus. by the author Tor Books Apr 1991 307 p. |
Tomokato and Shiro’s trail of vengeance leads them to movie parodies: carnivorous zombie-mob flicks, Stephen King adaptations, Indiana Jones, sci-fi evil vegetables (pods & triffids), and generic sleazy Tinseltown mega-studio production practices. |
| Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies Illus. by the author Tor Books Oct 1994 286 p. |
Tomokato and Shiro segue into ultra-violent combo-parodies: The Wizard of Oz + Mad Max; ‘The Magnificent Seven Samurai Cats’ + spaghetti Westerns; Alien + third-season Star Trek; It’s a Wonderful Life + Terminator-style killer-robot sci-fi. |
| Samurai Cat Goes to Hell Illus. by the author Tor Books Jun 1998 317 p. |
Tomokato and Shiro and Genghis Khan’s horde mutually slaughter each other and end up on different levels of Dante’s Inferno. Tomokato seeks to slay Satan, while Shiro just wants to escape. Among the characters they meet in their pun-filled adventures are Ubersaurus Rex’s Nazi tyrannosaur troops, and Shiro’s family. |
Said, S. F.
| Varjak Paw Illus. by Dave McKean David Fickling Books Jan 2003 256 p. |
Varjak Paw is a pedigreed Mesapotamian Blue cat living with his family in the home of the Contessa. When an ominous Gentleman takes over the house, Varjak must journey into the city and learn to live and fight among the feral alley cats while seeking a dog powerful enough to defeat the Gentleman and his deadly cats. |
| The Outlaw Varjak Paw Illus. by Dave McKean David Fickling Books Nov 2005 266 p. |
Varjak Paw and his alley cat friends Holly & Tam are content to live free by themselves. But brutal Sally Bones forces all the feral cats in the city to join her gang, and proclaims Varjak Paw an outlaw for refusing to accept her rule. Varjak finds himself the inadvertent leader of all the rebel free cats. |
Sarrantonio, Al
| The Haydn of Mars trilogy | |
Haydn of Mars Ace Books Dec 2004 262 p. |
Mars is inhabited by evolved cats millions of years in the future. Haydn, daughter of the last king, is threatened when the F’rar clan proclaims their leader Frane the new queen. During Haydn’s flight to her supporters, she learns that Mars’ terraforming is breaking down and the planet may soon become lifeless. |
| Sebastian of Mars Ace Books Oct 2005 214 p. |
A generation later, Haydn’s son Sebastian is crowned; but Frane leads a new rebellion. Sebastian, a sickly youth, flees in disguise. Among the new friends he finds are the Downers, who live in caverns under Olympus Mons and look like feline Morlocks. The Science Guild supports him when he promises to help them restore Mars’ atmosphere. |
| Queen of Mars Ace Books Jun 2006 232 p. |
Clara, granddaughter of Haydn, is ready to assume Mars’ throne, but Frane strikes again. Clara must rebuild her loyalist forces while disguised as a farmer, with some old supporters and Copernicus, the protégé of the Science Guild. Frane has a doomsday weapon and threatens to destroy Mars if she cannot rule it. |
Schaeffer, Susan Fromberg
| The Autobiography of Foudini M. Cat Alfred A. Knopf Sep 1997 166 p. |
The autobiography of a normal suburban housecat. Foudini reports conversations and some planning with the other family pets, Sam the dog and Grace the Cat. He has dream conversations with Snow White’s cat and Freud’s cat. |
Shetterly, Will
| Chimera Tom Doherty Associates/Tor Books Jun 2000 285 p. |
Human P.I. Chase Maxwell is hired by bioengineered Jaguar girl Zoe Domingo to find who murdered Zoe’s owner, a Machine Intelligence expert involved in the chimera (artificial animal people) rights movement. A hard-boiled thriller set in an explosive 21st-century America facing a human-chimera-AI civil war. |
Smith, Agnes
| An Edge of the Forest
Decorations by Roberta Moynihan Viking Press Apr 1959 192 p. |
A lyrical, rather Kiplingesque story of a young leopardess who adopts an orphaned lamb for reasons of her own, with the aid of an exasperated owl and a frightened doe, and how this comes to affect the lives of all the animals in an ancient forest. |
Smith, Cordwainer (pseudonym of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger)
| The Planet Buyer Pyramid Books Oct 1964 156 p. |
Rod McBan the 151st, the richest boy in the galaxy, must flee from Norstrilia to Old Old Earth to escape a deadly enemy. He is disguised as a cat-man, one of the bioengineered animal Underpeople who are the new enslaved working classes. |
| The Underpeople Pyramid Books Nov 1968 159 p. |
Rod McBan is disguised as the mate of C’Mell, the most beautiful girlygirl serving the human Lords. Rod learns that she is really an agent for an illegal civil rights movement for the Underpeople. Various bear-men, dog-men, and others are met. |
| Norstrilia Ballantine/del Rey Books Feb 1975 277 p. |
The original 1960 version of the novel first published in two parts as The Planet Buyer and The Underpeople. |
Smith, Nick
| Milk Treading Luath Press Ltd. May 2002 196 p. |
Julius Kyle, reporter & mystery novelist in the feline city of Bast, is asked by Moira Marti to save her brother from the Wildcat street gang. Julius discovers a conspiracy to create a crime wave and blame it on dogs. When he exposes the plot despite a coverup by the city’s leaders, Bast explodes into violence. |
| The Kitty Killer Cult Luath Press Ltd. Oct 2004 192 p. |
In Julius Kyle’s novel, someone is killing cats all over Nub City. Washed-up P.I. Tiger Straight is asked by Connie Hant to catch her brothers’ killers. Two rival sleuths confuse the scene; dilettante amateur detective Cole Tiddle, and Inspector Bix Mortis, the token mouse on Nub City’s feline police force. |
Stevenson, Florence
| Ophelia New American Library Apr 1968 179 p. |
Rich Miss Margaret Brewster leaves everything to her cat Ophelia. Lawyer Daniel Dillon kills the cat, who is transformed into a beautiful woman. Feigning amnesia, Ophelia becomes a femme fatale playing off Daniel against Miss Margaret’s next heir, innocent nephew Julian Brewster, to regain possession of her home. |
Stewart, Linda
| The Sam the Cat Mysteries series | |
| Sam the Cat: Detective Scholastic, Inc. Feb 1993 130 p. |
Skillful pastiche of Chandleresque P.I. style. When three flats in a New York apartment house are robbed, housecat Sugary hires Sam, resident cat of a mystery-theme bookshop, to find the real human burglar to keep Max, the custodian (and friend of all the local cats) from being framed. An MWA Edgar Award nominee. |
| The Big Catnap: A Sam the Cat Mystery Cheshire House Books Aug 2000 136 p. |
Sandy, a star of TV catfood commercials, disappears. There are two human suspects; one demands a ransom while the other wants to replace Sandy with his own cat actor. Sam must find which is the actual kidnapper, and enlist the help of the neighborhood cats to rescue Sandy before the villain can dispose of him. |
| The Maltese Kitten Cheshire House Books Dec 2002 135 p. |
Sexy, slinkly Miss Wonderful asks Sam to retrieve her beloved kitten whom her human companion gave away for adoption. Sam guesses the truth is more complex when the trail leads to burglarized houses, unconscious humans lying next to empty cat carriers, and a tough cat gang orders Sam to drop the case. |
Swann, S. Andrew (pseudonym of Steven Swiniarski)
| The Moreau series | |
| Forests of the Night DAW Books Jul 1993 284 p. |
In the mid-21st century, ‘moreaus’ (bioengineered animal people) are the new lower classes. Nohar Rajasthan, a cynical tiger private detective in Cleveland’s moreau ghetto, gets involved in a deadly murder mystery and romance with a human. |
| Fearful Symmetries; The Return of Nohar Rajasthan DAW Books Apr 1999 280 p. |
Rajasthan, the long-retired tiger P.I., is asked to find a missing felinoid teen. He refuses, but his home is firebombed. Rajasthan must find Manuel to learn who wants him and all associated with him dead, and is willing to commit genocide on the whole ’morph population of Los Angeles to get them. |
Swiniarski, Steven
| Author who writes under the pen-name of S. Andrew Swann |
Taiz, Lincoln, & Taiz, Lee
| Libra, the Cat Who Saved Silicon Valley Illus. by Lee Taiz Music CD featuring Amanda Shelby & the AmSea Group AmSea Group Publishing Dec 2002 x + 326 p. + music CD |
Commander Libra Shimagrimica of the planet of cats, Gatos, and her intelligent spaceship Voca come to Earth on a scouting mission. Voca is damaged, and Libra has to educate two Earth cats, Hank & Pinny, and save their human companions Adele & Cathy Cameron of Cameron Computers from a deadly takeover by Dogma Computer Co., to repair Voca to return home. |
Westall, Robert
| The Cats of Seroster Macmillan Children’s Books Oct 1984 288 p. |
A sullen medieval European city is inhabited by men and Miw, telepathic golden cats who worship an Egyptian god. When a sadistic, cat-hating usurper seizes the city, the Miw (led by Sehtek, Smerdis, and Amon) must turn a young human, Cam, into a hero to overthrow him. |
Williams, Tad
| Tailchaser’s Song Map by the author DAW Books Nov 1985 333 p. |
Cats are disappearing or being hideously slain. Fritti Tailchaser and Pounce-quick, a young tom and a kitten, venture forth to find Tailchaser’s missing friend. They and a mad cat, Eatbugs, find and battle demon cats from feline mythology. |
Willits, Malcolm
| Shakespeare’s Cat: A Play in Three Acts Illus. by Bonnie Callahan Hypostyle Hall Sep 2004, [vi] + 117 + [i] p. |
A play in Shakespearean blank verse. When old Amelia Carson dies and leaves her fortune to her pet cats, greedy humans attack. Cat Collette escapes to Twilight Town, a slum home of abandoned cats and dogs, and persuades brave Tomcat to join her surrealistic quest to find Shakespeare’s Cat who can save the Carson cats. |
Wilson, A. N.
| Stray Walker Books Ltd. Apr 1987, 176 p. |
Pufftail (but he rejects any human-assigned name), an old British urban cat, tells his grandkit his life story, from pampered kitten to castout, to dominated member of an alley pack, then a test subject in a brutal animal experimental lab, finally an independent stray. |
Yermakov, Nikolai
| Author who writes under the pen-name of Simon Hawke |
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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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