As a reader, I’m a HUGE fan of books with talking animals. After all, I cut my teeth so to speak on Valdemar with talking horses and swords. I love Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams and The Ghatti Tales by Gayle Greeno. If it’s a piece of speculative fiction involving cats or horses, I’ve probably got it on my bookshelves. That’s not limited to the realms of sci-fi or fantasy either. Books like Pet Semetary by Stephen King and Bunnicula by James (& Deborah) Howe are also favorites. When I’m not reading speculative fiction, I love a good mystery. I’m even a fan of cozy mysteries, especially those involving cats.
In the mystery world, the P.I. or bookstore owner turned crime-solver often has a cat, either as a pet or a cat that has adopted them by force or by death of some character elsewhere in town, but the cats are little more than environmental characters meant to endear us to read more cozy mysteries…
Or worse, you get books like Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy Mysteries, where the cat and other animals talk, but only to each other and in overly-cutesy voices that infantilize these animals in ways that rubs me the wrong way. But I love books with animals so much that I’ve read just about every cozy mystery book out there even tangentially involving cats (or horses if I’m honest).
I’m happy to see that at least in the world of urban fantasy, talking cats are present, especially if the story involves witches. We even see this a bit in sci-fi with Anne McCaffrey’s The Tower & the Hive series. It makes sense that in the future, we could perhaps either a) find a way to communicate with other animals or b) encounter alien species that are similar to some Earth animal that we learn to communicate with.
I truly believe that every story can be made better with cats. Especially talking cats. Or fly. Or have opposable thumbs. Louder for the folks in the back…
Every story can be made better with talking cats.
The snarkier, the better. This is where Neil Clarke and I disagree. If you haven’t had the pleasure, he’s the editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, and while he’s an awesome guy, he hates stories involving talking cats.
I get it–it’s been done from here to the sun and if it’s not done well, you get stories like Brown’s series mentioned previously, but to not even given a story a chance because it’s a cat story? I mean, that’s just wrong.
In honor of Neil’s disdain for cat stories, I endeavor to write a few more.
(Note: No, I didn’t send him a cat story. I know how to read submission guidelines. I just think he’s absolutely wrong, and I am entitled to my opinion.)
P.S. I have no idea why the first two paragraphs are indented so oddly. Sorry about that!
