ANNE MCCAFFREY WROTE A WHOLE BOOK ABOUT THE BARQUE CATS

[snarp]

SHE DID

IT'S CALLED "CATALYST"

OH NO WAIT IT'S A SERIES oh god

Barque cats - for those who didn't spend middle-school reading horrible science fiction novels about the love lives of space psychics - are large, intelligent telepathic cats who enjoy being in zero gravity and can warn you when there's a problem with your spaceship. I totally wanted one when I was twelve, though I unfortunately didn't have any zero gravity to keep it in.

This sentence is in the synopsis:

When corrupt government officials declare a plague and plan to destroy animals across the galaxy, including the Barque Cats, two young people (a veterinarian and a cat person), a clever Barque kitten and the boy who is its special person, an ancient Egyptian cat with mysterious powers and a hidden agenda, and a con man join forces to try to prevent the tragedy.

You know, I don't think that's a sufficiently rag-tag band of rebels. We still need, like, a disillusioned ex-cop with a drinking problem, a quick-witted halfling thief, a robot who wants to learn to love, and the Doctor. Get with the program, McCaffrey.

Actually, sorry - Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's name's on there as co-writer. Given McCaffrey's recent health problems, Scarborough may be the actual author of this excellent work. Especially considering the whole "an ancient Egyptian cat with mysterious powers and a hidden agenda" business. That is a very Scarborough kind of idea. Also, this is the sequel (which is called Catacombs):

The barque cats, mistaken for a public health hazard, flee Earth for the feline-dominated planet, Mau, with the help of Pshaw-Ra, a mysterious cat with his own spaceship. Oddly, no one--including the humans--is bothered that he plans to take over the universe on behalf of felinekind.

Yeah, I see the invisible hand of the Scarborough in that storyline. It sounds like it might actually attempt humor, a property which McCaffrey has always scorned.

...I admit at this point that I'm kind of thinking about reading these.

Comments

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I've not read those yet, though they're lurking on my get-round-tuit List of Doom. But my recollection from dropping in on EB's journal when it was being written is that it was indeed intended as more of a deliberate deconstruction of all the telepathically-bonded-animal-companion-wish-fulfillment stuff in Lackey, McCaffrey etc. -- so while I find the idea very interesting, I'm still curiously looking for examples where it's played straight, just with dogs instead of cats/horses/cats/dragons/cats/hawks/cats/etc....

[estara]

I sort of think I must have read a straight dog companion story at some point, but can't for the life of me remember the title - so maybe it really is just my imagination. I do remember lots of normal dogs as important pets in my ya, romance and in some sf&f vaguely, but not the bonded animal, no.