Space Opera Fans discussion

I am firmly of the opinion that science fiction fans are cat people, as opposed to dog people. Or, if not fans, then sci-fi authors favor cats.

I can't think of many sci-fi books that include pets, especially on a ship, but there are a few and they seem to nearly all be cats. It makes some sense. Cats are smaller and generally are more independent of their owners. They can also be useful, as in chasing vermin, though certain breeds of dogs are very good ratters I've been told.

Also, I would be willing to bet that more alien species in sci-fi literature are based on a feline model than any other single model, except maybe insectoid.

My favorite cats in the sci-fi universe are the treecats of the Honorverse, but they're special since they are sentient. But even in that series, Honor's friend Mike shares a normal cat with her steward aboard ship.

What do you think? Am I wrong? Can you think of any books where a pet was an important element?

I agree that there are more cats than dogs in SF books.

The Liaden Universe stories mention specific cats quite a few times, and several times norbears play crucial roles. Norbears are at least somewhat sapient.

I recall one short story (no clue of author) where a murder was committed by an alien, who also killed or tried to kill a cat who witnessed the murder.

Then there was a book or short story where there was a ship’s dog. Going by memory they had to go through an audit and couldn’t figure out what one entry referred to, so they marked it as destroyed by gravitational forces - and that was a misspelling of ship’s dog, so it caused enormous trouble.

Andre Norton's The Beast Master has animals, which are sort of but not really pets.

I also love the treecats!

And then there's Anne McCaffrey's dragons and fire lizards.

Leonie wrote: "And then there's Anne McCaffrey's dragons and fire lizards."

Ah, but I don't consider McCaffrey to be really science-fiction. It's really fantasy, with a side of sci-fi to gain credibility. But that's a whole nother argument. ;)

Leonie wrote: "Andre Norton's The Beast Master has animals, which are sort of but not really pets."

I was going to bring up Norton. She did multiple variations of that story of an outsider who has a psychic connection to animals, usually involving cats. I recently read Catseye, which has two psychic cats, a pair of foxes, and a kinkajou. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in a book before.

Celta series by Robin D. Owens - colonists and cats with psy there are also dogs, foxes, and more
Do short stories count?
Cats in space though as much working cats as pets:
Mercedes Lackey three stories of Shipscat aka SKitty
Cordwainer Smith The Game of Rat and Dragon
Andre Norton All Cats Are Gray

Captain Archer’s pet Beagle in Star Trek: Enterprise probably counts since he’s crossed over to novels and comics.

Similarly, Einstein the Corgi from Cowboy Bebop and Dog the Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler) from The Road Warrior.

As for books, we have:

The dog from I Am Legend, whose arc will break your heart.

Irontown Blues by the inestimable John Varley features a guy who acts as a gumshoe on the moon due to his obsession with film noir, and his companion is the genetically engineered super smart Bloodhound named Sherlock.

Dark is the Sun by Philip Jose Farmer features two super-intelligent pets who accompany the hero, a cougar and a wolf.

Of course, Ellison’s A Boy and His Dog features the brainy mutt, Blood.

Einstein the genetically engineered Golden Retriever in Dean Koontz’s Watchers.

There’s another series, maybe a trilogy, of books about an experimental cryogenic sleep study performed on soldiers who wake up hundreds of years later into a post-apocalyptic world. They were supposed to go under for a couple weeks or something, so they’re somewhat shocked upon waking. One of the first groups of people they encounter are a semi-nomadic group who utilize very large dogs. I can not remember the titles. Maybe something to do with “witch” maybe.

Gerald the hamster, ships mascot of the spaceship John Pym, from the "Space Captain Smith" series by Toby Frost.

In the Star Nomad series there are chickens !

My brain kicked out the title I was forgetting: Warrior, with sequels Wanderer and Witch.

Soldiers accidentally preserved in cryosleep wake up in a post-apocalyptic land.

Oh, and Kazak the Mastiff in Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan.

In The Myriad by R.M. Meluch, a character ends up with a creature called a "lizard plant" - which as the name implies is part lizard and part plant.

Boots the mongoose in J.A. Sutherland's Alexis Carew series (space opera).

Lots of good ones mentioned!

Then there are the Martian flat cats (which aren’t felines but did inspire Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles) from The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein.

My dog Wabash wants to be counted.

How can you refuse to give her a like?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwIqXYlfWg/

And the sequel: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt9Zmw0l56-/

One of my favorites was Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell wherein the ship's crew couldn't figure out what an 'offog' was on the inventory so they listed it as having come apart under gravitational stress. Come to find out out it was a typo and really was 'off. dog' or ship's official dog, soooooo...kinda awkward to explain. It's a fun story.

Veronica wrote: "One of my favorites was Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell wherein the ship's crew couldn't figure out what an 'offog' was on the inventory so they listed it as having come apart under gravitational..."

That story is available from Baen: https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133...

Edit: that was funny. 😂 I can see why it won the Hugo.

Veronica wrote: "One of my favorites was Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell wherein the ship's crew couldn't figure out what an 'offog' was on the inventory so they listed it as having come apart under gravitational..."
Yes! That’s the story I was referring to above. Thanks for the title and author.

A friend of mine and I have done an anthology of scifi romance Pets in Space pet stories for the past 3 years - each antho is only available for a limited time and this year's is no longer available so I promise I'm not being promo-y! Author participation is by invitation only and we've had dogs, cyborg dogs, cats, birds, a bearded lizard, a sentient plant, an undersea creature, a cross between a tribble and a red panda, more tribble-like beasts, an energy creature....and more. The story I wrote two years ago had a Special Forces soldier and an alien eagle and it was kind of my little nod to Hosteen Storm, Andre Norton's Beast Master. It's fun to see what different authors do with the prompt of "tell us a story with a pet and scifi adventure and romance between the humans" and we donate part of the royalties to Hero Dogs, Inc., which provides service dogs for veterans in need. It's a fun project. We had Lindsay Buroker last year, in fact, writing as Ruby Lionsdrake (someone mentioned her Star Nomad up above).

Oh, sorry I did miss that you'd already given the plot summary! Great minds think alike in loving that story, yes? I always enjoyed Mr. Russell's sense of humor in stories!.

Thanks for the Eric Frank Russell info. I remembered he did one but couldn't come up with it from memory.
Don't know if he/she appears in any of the books but Data's cat(s) Spot should be mentioned.

And Ripley's cat Jonesy, which I'm sure must be mentioned in some of the Alien movie novelizations :) !

Oh! The sea otters in The Demon Breed by James H. Schmitz! It’s sort of space opera. Almost all the action takes place on a planet, but they are in early stages of being invaded by aliens, and it’s a colony world. It’s one of the books I tend to reread every couple of years.

Teresa wrote: "Oh! The sea otters in The Demon Breed by James H. Schmitz! It’s sort of space opera. Almost all the action takes place on a planet, but they are in early stages of be..."

I loved the otters in Demon Breed. A very appropriate choice of animal.
I knew someone years ago who brought wild otters to his land as part of the state effort to re-establish the population. They are such fierce creature for their size and smart about a lot of things.

Anne McCaffrey wrote Catalyst, first book in Baroque Cats series. I believe that’s the one where the cat is kidnapped after witnessing a murder. She published the books under the name Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. Not sure reason for the pen name.

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough co-authored several books with Anne McCaffrey as well as writing books on her own, including ones with cats.

Would The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein count? SF but not really Space Opera because the action is all on Earth.

Trike wrote: "Veronica wrote: "One of my favorites was Allamagoosa by Eric Frank Russell wherein the ship's crew couldn't figure out what an 'offog' was on the inventory so they listed it as having come apart un..."

Just read it ... so fun ! Thanks

Joseph Lalllo has his Big Sigma series. The main character, Lex, is a ship pilot who has been kicked off the racing circuit and now is a delivery service. He meets up with a crazy engineer/mad scientist who has genetically engineered a "funk". Part fox, part skunk, cute, wraps itself around Lex's shoulders like a cat and wants attention like a dog. Squee is a very interesting and lovable character in subsequent books in the series after being delivered to Lex's door at the start of book 2.

In the Aeon14 universe, one of the subseries there is a cat that has been uplifted and has "attitude". He is very amusing. Then in a later book they add a cat that is not as intelligent. I have been awake suffering insomnia too many nights, so I can't remember which of series the cats are in and their names. The uplifted one is quite snarky. Makes me laugh.