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Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.
― Garrison Keillor
Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.
― Christopher Hitchens
“Meow” means “woof” in cat.
― George Carlin |
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From wizards' familiars to anthropomorphic cat-people, cats can be found throughout Fantasy.
As most of us are familiar with the common domestic cat (felis catus), fantasy felines often share traits with our whiskered household companions, though of course larger cats such as lions and tigers are often represented as well.
What is it about cats that make them so suited for Fantasy writing? Well, anyone who serves as staff to a cat could probably tell you: they're by turns inscrutable and communicative, mysterious and playful, relaxed and hyperactive. In short, there's plenty of opportunity to make them interesting, multi-leveled characters, and that's not even counting the ones that, in Fantasy stories, speak or act human-like.
While their canine counterparts have been companions to humans since before civilization, it's thought that the rise of civilization contributed to the partnership between human and feline. From a purely utilitarian perspective, they provided effective pest control: civilization required grain stores, rodents really liked stored grain, cats really liked eating rodents.
But not everything has to have a utilitarian purpose. What, after all, is the purpose of La Gioconda? Of Michelangelo's David? Of poetry? No, cats are more than just mouse-murderers (mine aren't particularly good at that, for example); living with cats is like living with art.
For most of history, people understood cats' connection to the mystical. Sure, from time to time, some cultures turned them into demons (and, to be fair, sometimes they sure act like them), but there's far more evidence of cat appreciation than of ailurophobia.
Any story can be improved by the addition of a cat, but they're especially suited to fantasy.
But if you're looking for an editorial about dogs, someone else will have to write that one. |
Some fantasy, with or without cats:
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Last time, in "Weather" , I discussed the weather.
Beholden  : Thanks very much for including my short story, Talking Heads, in your Editor's Picks.
You're most welcome!
And that's it for me for September! See you next month. Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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Fantasy: September 22, 2021 Issue [#10989]
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