From legendary editor Ellen Datlow, Tails of Wonder collects the best of the last thirty years of science fiction and fantasy stories about cats from an all-star list of contributors. The Stephen King Story is UNCOLLECTED, and has not been in print since the Horrorstory III anthology.
Tails of Wonder
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Few things alarm the experienced reader more than the prospect of a science fiction, fantasy, or mystery book that involves—or worse, fetishizes—cats. This reprint anthology is the exception, an assortment of 40 stories by authors who are for the most part willing to take cats on their own ground. Datlow avoids the trap of a too-narrow premise: though there appears to be a slight bias toward horror, the stories are various within that field, from Jack Ketchum's ghost story Returns to Michaela Roessner's highly scientific Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality and Edward Bryant's brilliantly repellent Bean Bag Cat. Other tales are amusing, like Lawrence Block's The Burglar Takes a Cat, or gently sentimental, like Dennis Danvers's Healing Benjamin. This is that rarity of rarities: an anthology of cat stories worth reading. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Datlow’s anthology intentionally (i.e., thematically) full of cats manages to showcase quite a variety of stories by a very impressive list of authors—Stephen King, John Crowley, John Kessel, Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharyn McCrumb, to name just a few. Ordinary housecats are on view, of course, and so are lions and tigers and manticores and one thought experiment. Mary A. Turzillo’s “Pride” is the bittersweet story of a boy and his saber-toothed cat; Jeffrey Ford and Catherynne M. Valente both offer tales of manticores, though their respective examples of the species are very different creatures; and Michaela Roessner gives voice to a famous physics thought experiment in “Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality.” Datlow brings horror, sf, and fantasy all into the volume on equal footing, making it likely that even genre readers who aren’t cat people will find something very much worth their while in it. --Regina Schroeder
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a collection fantasy/horror stories that involve cats, some forty `tails', many by well known authors- Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, Charles de Lint, Stephen King, Kelly Link, and Susanna Clarke among others. But this is *not* an anthology for cat lovers, or at least not for those with soft hearts. These are dark stories all, not light-hearted fantasies where the noble young cat discovers he's a prince and goes on adventures. In a rather uneven collection, cats meet dire fates at times. They are thrown, throttled, starved, beaten, run over and consumed. Many of these stories I did not enjoy reading. Most are well crafted, though; it's my revulsion at the depiction of violence against felines that gave me such a problem with the stories.
Datlow has expanded the definition of `cat' to include other members of the feline family: lions, tigers and pumas; a couple of mythical ones, the sphinx and the manticore; and some made up for the occasion. To me, these were easier to read-the bigger cats hold their own against humans better.
Decent dark fantasy, but don't give this to someone whose cats are their `children'.
Datlow has expanded the definition of `cat' to include other members of the feline family: lions, tigers and pumas; a couple of mythical ones, the sphinx and the manticore; and some made up for the occasion. To me, these were easier to read-the bigger cats hold their own against humans better.
Decent dark fantasy, but don't give this to someone whose cats are their `children'.
29 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Table of Contents for anyone wondering just what's in this hefty tome
January 19, 2010
Format:Paperback
Table of Contents:
Through the Looking Glass (excerpt) - Lewis Carroll
No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be... - A. R. Morlan
The Price - Neil Gaiman
Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion - Charles de Lint
Not Waving - Michael Marshall Smith
Catch - Ray Vukcevich
The Manticore Spell - Jeffrey Ford
Catskin - Kelly Link
Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality - Michaela Roessner
Guardians - George R. R. Martin
Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats - Michael Bishop
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat - Peter S. Beagle
The Jaguar Hunter - Lucius Shepard
Arthur's Lion - Tanith Lee
Pride - Mary A. Turzillo
The Burglar Takes a Cat - Lawrence Block
The White Cat - Joyce Carol Oates
Returns - Jack Ketchum
Puss-Cat - Reggie Oliver
Cat in Glass - Nancy Etchemendy
Coyote Peyote - Carole Nelson Douglas
The Poet and the Inkmaker's Daughter - Elizabeth Hand
The Night of the Tiger - Stephen King
Every Angel is Terrifying - John Kessel
Candia - Graham Joyce
Mbo - Nicholas Royle
Bean Bag Cats(R) - Edward Bryant
Antiquities - John Crowley
The Manticore's Tale - Catherynne M. Valente
In Carnation - Nancy Springer
Old Foss is the Name of His Cat - David Sandner
A Safe Place to Be - Carol Emshwiller
Nine Lives to Live - Sharyn McCrumb
Tiger Kill - Kaaron Warren
Something Better than Death - Lucy Sussex
Dominion - Christine Lucas
Tiger in the Snow - Daniel Wynn Barber
The Dweller in High Places - Susanna Clarke
Healing - Benjamin Dennis Danvers
The Puma - Theodora Goss
Through the Looking Glass (excerpt) - Lewis Carroll
No Heaven Will Not Ever Heaven Be... - A. R. Morlan
The Price - Neil Gaiman
Dark Eyes, Faith, and Devotion - Charles de Lint
Not Waving - Michael Marshall Smith
Catch - Ray Vukcevich
The Manticore Spell - Jeffrey Ford
Catskin - Kelly Link
Mieze Corrects an Incomplete Representation of Reality - Michaela Roessner
Guardians - George R. R. Martin
Life Regarded as a Jigsaw Puzzle of Highly Lustrous Cats - Michael Bishop
Gordon, the Self-Made Cat - Peter S. Beagle
The Jaguar Hunter - Lucius Shepard
Arthur's Lion - Tanith Lee
Pride - Mary A. Turzillo
The Burglar Takes a Cat - Lawrence Block
The White Cat - Joyce Carol Oates
Returns - Jack Ketchum
Puss-Cat - Reggie Oliver
Cat in Glass - Nancy Etchemendy
Coyote Peyote - Carole Nelson Douglas
The Poet and the Inkmaker's Daughter - Elizabeth Hand
The Night of the Tiger - Stephen King
Every Angel is Terrifying - John Kessel
Candia - Graham Joyce
Mbo - Nicholas Royle
Bean Bag Cats(R) - Edward Bryant
Antiquities - John Crowley
The Manticore's Tale - Catherynne M. Valente
In Carnation - Nancy Springer
Old Foss is the Name of His Cat - David Sandner
A Safe Place to Be - Carol Emshwiller
Nine Lives to Live - Sharyn McCrumb
Tiger Kill - Kaaron Warren
Something Better than Death - Lucy Sussex
Dominion - Christine Lucas
Tiger in the Snow - Daniel Wynn Barber
The Dweller in High Places - Susanna Clarke
Healing - Benjamin Dennis Danvers
The Puma - Theodora Goss
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Janlynn
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A nice thick book for any cat lover to enjoy, also for the reader who can take or leave cats but just enjoys a good mystery or sci-fi story. Also some horror. As there are several series of books with cats as one of the main "characters", Lillian Jackson Braun comes to mind, or the authors who have talking cats solving mysteries, this volume of short stories should be enjoyed by many. Some stories are reprints, others brand new. Many well known writers are here including Neil Gaiman, Lawrence Block, Sharyn McCrumb and Joyce Carol Oates. Something for every cat lover. If you don't like cats, well, you might, nevertheless, find some of the stories enjoyable.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful collection
Wonderfully whimsical collection of pieces by excellent fantasy writers--Neil Giman, Susanna Collins, George R. R. Martin--as well as many lesser-known authors.
Published 3 months ago by Sophie Glazer
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very dark, and not for cat lovers at all; ignore the title.
I haven't finished this book, and I suspect that I never will. So far, each of the dozen stories I've read has been from the horror genre, and the cats have primarily been the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by R. Ault
1.0 out of 5 stars
A very bad book
This is not a book for cat lovers and Amazon should not recommend it to people who buy cat books. this book deserves 0 stars.
Published 22 months ago by Pat Sigg
4.0 out of 5 stars
fantasy books
This book was a real surprise for me, some of the stories were a little "dark" but all in all it was fun to read stories from authors that were new to me. Read more
Published on September 21, 2010 by Susi E. Laabs
1.0 out of 5 stars
"Tails of Nightmares and Torture" would have been a better title...
The only good thing about this book is the art on the cover, which is pretty cool. I realize with an anthology there's always going to be an author or two that aren't your cup of... Read more
Published on June 2, 2010 by Tovie
2.0 out of 5 stars
Force yourself past the sickening stories
I have followed Ellen Datlow's work and her anthologies for most of my adult life. I was excited to get this anthology. However.... Read more
Published on March 15, 2010 by Cat Momma
1.0 out of 5 stars
A warning to the curious
Prospective buyers be aware: this is NOT a book for cat lovers. The stories in this anthology include ones in which cats are killed and tortured in many and various unspeakable... Read more
Published on March 8, 2010 by phoebes_mum
5.0 out of 5 stars
Familiar Names and Rising Stars
Although many well-known authors like Charles De Lint, Neil Gaiman, and George R.R. Martin are featured, I particularly enjoyed the selections from rising stars in short fiction:... Read more
Published on February 28, 2010 by Ann
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