Open Thread for Readers for October 2025
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post about it here!
Alright, this is a bizarre request but can anyone recommend any SF books set in space that feature cats?
ETA – I’m looking for something like Jody Wallace’s Cat Ship series where cats actually play a role in the book though something like “The Last Gifts of the Universe” would make me happy, too.
https://dearauthor.com/tag/cat-ship-book-series/
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-a-reviews/a-reviews/review-the-last-gifts-of-the-universe-by-riley-august/
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes includes cats. I didn’t get too far in the book though, so I can’t tell how large a role they played.
@Jayne: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair. M/F enemies to reluctant allies to lovers romance between a by the book cyborg and a former rebel captain. The FMC has at least one cat (called something else in the book) with psychic powers that plays a pivotal role in the plot.
Anyone read Alexandra Rowland? I just read my first book by them, Running Close to the Wind, and I’m wondering what, if anything, to read next.
The manically silly tone of Running Close to the Wind didn’t work for me, at least on this reading (think queer Terry Pratchet, with pirates, sex jokes and satirical jabs at capitalism and empires). But it looks like they’ve written a lot of books in this same world, in a range of moods. So can anyone recommend a less ridiculous book to try next?
And I guess I have more general question about tone and humor. The humor in Running Close to the Wind didn’t work for me this time, but I think it might another time. I find that humor in books is really hit or miss for me – and sometimes a book that I found screamingly funny on one read won’t strike me as funny at all on another read. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler is my go to example of this – I finally stopped re-reading it because it was too confusing how much it changed from reading to reading. I’m curious – how do you experience humor in books?
@Kareni: Hmmm, that sounds like it could be great or totally out of control.
@cleo: I’ve read ‘Downhome Zombie Blues’ and have always meant to read more by Sinclair.
@Jayne: Not the same thing, but Ursula Le Guin has a children’s book about flying cats, called Catwings, the first in a series. She was a skilled author so odds are high that the book is good.
https://www.ursulakleguin.com/catwings
I am still in search of good retellings, so if anyone has recommendations please do share them!
@Janine: My library has all four of the print books!
@cleo:
That is a really interesting question. The same thing you describe has happened to me. The book I noticed it most with was an older one that I think was by Deborah Simmons. The first time I read it, I thought it was one of the funniest books I’d ever read. The second time, in the early 2000s, I couldn’t figure out why I’d laughed so hard. I had a similar experience, in reverse, with Johanna Lindsey’s Gentle Rogue. I haven’t read the book in over a decade but I still remember a scene where the MMC and the FMC’s brothers are violently arguing and she gets them to stop by threatening to drop a priceless vase. I thought it was even funnier the second time I read it.
Different types of humor also register differently with different readers. I had a conversation once with a reader who focuses on humor in romance almost exclusively. We were both reading Ben Aarnovitch’s Rivers of London series and I asked him what he thought of the humor. His reply was more or less, “What humor?” So I shared a quote or two of the many hilarious (to me) metaphors in Aaronovitch’s books. Here’s an example of one:
He agreed it was that was funny, but then said he hadn’t noticed it. It boggled my mind because there are a fair number of them in each book. Then he said he paid attention to character interactions and events, but not to wording, and that made it make sense to me. I pay attention to all these things, including the wording, so the humor registered on me where it didn’t on him. So that’s one reason for differences in responses.
@jayne – my brain immediately told me that Anne McCaffrey had a space cat book, and googling tells me that there are two, written with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough – Catalyst and Catacombs, so bonus points for the ‘cat’ titles.
I remember nothing except a cover (not the one pictured, so I may be remembering a totally different book) so it’s not a recommendation, just a recollection.
Googled a bit more, and the Anne McCaffrey book I was remembering was ‘Decision at Doona’ where the Hrrubans look like cats!
Right now I am on a ‘Sentient House’ book rabbit hole.
I started out threading a very specific needle. I have been having great luck in lightly humorous paranormal/UF series.
It started out with Heather G. Harris’ Portlock Paranormal Detective series featuring a young vampire named Bunny who solves cases in a quirky Alaskan town.
That morphed over into K.M. Shea’s Court of Midnight and Deception trilogy about a human woman who discovers she is not only half Fae but has been chosen to be the Night Court’s new queen.
That kept me on a K.M. Shea kick where I moved into her Hall of Blood and Mercy trilogy. Featuring a young female mage whose ascension to the head of her House is usurped by her dastardly cousin. She needs to amass allies to take her House back. ‘House’ is capitalized because the house isn’t just the family/clan but also the physical house which is sentient
Which then sent me down the Sentient House route.
Naturally I re-read Illona Andrew’s Innkeeper series
And now I am up to reading K.F. Breene’s Leveling Up series about a new divorcee in her mid 40s who accepts a job as a caretaker of a gorgeous house. Unbeknownst to her the House chose her and the people in the town aren’t what they seem and, oh yeah, she gets powers herself once she accepts the job.
The Shea and Breen books especially, have a high humor quotient. Really laugh out loud in places.
Which brings me to : Humor in books.
What an interesting thought exercise! Not to give a wishy-washy answer, but for me it is different depending on where the humor sits in the story.
My favorite sub-set of Terry Prachett’s Discworld are the Night Watch books. I can read them over and over and over and find them delightful. It is the sort of humor that has me barking out a laugh, but also it is clever, sly wit that makes me hmmm in appreciation. I like the way he plays with words.
But I also like a bit of absurdist humor. Last year one of my very favorite books was ‘Dragon Heist’ which had some very LOL. moments. The author set the tone very early by making his heroine an unlikable washed up child star, so the humor was both biting and funny. Or he’d paint great visual picture — a big dragon wanting to wear jeans and belly up to the bar and yell “Roll Tide’ with the locals. Or a high speed chase on roller skates. And we’d get a character with a name like ‘Dottie Three Hands’ (she was a thief). It never felt try hard or eye roll worthy, but felt in character and in the right tone for the book.
And then there are books where the book itself would never be tagged as ‘humor’ but there is great dialogue or situations that are objectively funny. I think of the Kate Daniels books.
But I also have found books that are explicitly tagged comedy to not even cause me to crack a smile. It really does depend on how it hits for me.
@MMcA: I just looked at the blurbs and there definitely seem to be cats in them. Thanks!
@cleo: Sirius has read two Rowland books.
https://dearauthor.com/?s=alexandra+rowland
@TinaNoir ~ a couple of links that might give you some titles to investigate.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DOGLgdIwJHR/
https://www.reddit.com/r/CozyFantasy/comments/163w785/sentientliving_houses/
@TinaNoir: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske has a great sentient house. Sirius gave it an A when she reviewed it here.
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-a-reviews/review-a-marvellous-light-the-last-binding-1-by-freya-marske/
@TinaNoir: I saw this a few years ago but never tried it. Some reviewers call it silly and absurdist. There are six books in the series.
Curmudgeon Avenue #1: The Terraced House Diaries by Samantha Henthorn
@cleo: I have a strong memory of buying up a bunch of Linnea Sinclair paperbacks at the Borders going out of business sale (RIP) in 2011. Don’t remember much about the specific books, but I know I thought the FMCs were pretty badass.
Since Linnea Sinclair keeps coming up — I reviewed Games of Command here back in 2007 and gave it a B+.
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/games-of-command-by-linnea-sinclair/
@Janine: Thanks for the link Janine! Seeing Linnea Sinclair show up in the comments was an unexpected delight.
Thanks for the Sentient House links, everyone. I have a couple of them on my TBR but have discovered a few more!
@Janine: Ah, the furzels! Plus such gracious responses from the author. Is she still writing/publishing?
@cleo: It was a trip down memory lane, that’s for sure. 2007 was a long time ago.
@SusanS: It doesn’t appear to be the case. Per Goodreads, she came out with a couple of anthology contributions in 2013, but her last full length novel was published in 2010.
@Jayne – I have another cats in space book rec – Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan.
It’s a particularly good Star Trek novel, about a planet with cat like inhabitants. I haven’t read it in years but I really liked it at the time. And I think I remember that it was released as an ebook awhile ago.
@Cleo: Ooh, thank you. Thanks to everyone’s suggestions my wish list for SF cat books has grown by leaps and bounds.
For cats in space, you might try Carol van Natta. She writes “pets in space” books, though I don’t remember if any are cats. I’ve read and enjoyed at least one of her books.
There’s an old Andre Norton duology, The Zero Stone and Uncharted Stars, that has an alien cat. I enjoyed it, but have to be in the right mood to read her books.
@MaryK: Thank you. I also see an Andre Norton book called Catseye.
Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan is one of my favorite Star Trek novels. (Be aware that sad things happen in the book.)
@Jayne: Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that one. I did enjoy it. I’m not sure if it’s cat specific though. I recall foxes and a kinkajou.
If you haven’t read Norton before, you should know going in that she writes in an odd, old fashioned style. These are old books, though that doesn’t really explain it. I was having trouble coming up with a description and found one in a review. He says, “I also found it strangely uninvolving. She writes in an interestingly offhand style, and her world building is thorough and convincing, but I wanted to care about the inner lives of her human characters more than I did.”
That expresses it well, for me. I did enjoy these particular books, and at the same time wanted more from them. I’ve found others of hers unreadable. I think these might be considered her “juvenalia” novels.
@Kareni: Thanks for the warning.
@MaryK: Thank you for the follow up info on her writing style.
@TinaNoir: Oh, I have sentient house recommendation. Cinder House by Freya Marske just came out today and according to a couple GR reviews it has a sentient magical house. It’s retelling of Cinderella.
I haven’t read it but I have enjoyed other books by Freya Marske.
@Kareni: yay, another Janet Kagan fan!
@cleo: I read A Taste of Gold and really wanted to like it. But the characters all seemed flat and pretty one dimensional.