Synopses & Reviews
In Catalyst, award-winning authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough introduced readers to the beguiling Barque Cats: spacefaring felines who serve aboard starships as full-fledgedmembers of the crew. Highly evolved, the cats share an almost telepathic bond with their minders, or Cat Persons--until, suddenly, there is no almost about it, and a particular Barque Cat, Chester, learns to exchange thoughts with his human friend, Jubal. Other cats soon gain the same ability.
Behind the seeming miracle is a mysterious cat named Pshaw-Ra, who possessesknowledge and technology far beyond anything the Barque Cats--or their humans--have ever seen. When fear of a virulent plague leads the government first to quarantine and then to kill all animalssuspected of infection, Pshaw-Ra--with the help of Chester, Jubal, and the crew of the starship Ranzo--activates a mousehole in space that carries the refugees toa place of safety: Pshaw-Ra's home planet of Mau, where godlike cats are worshiped by human slaves.
But Pshaw-Ra's actions are less noble than they appear. The schemingcat plans to mate the Barque Cats with his own feline stock, creating a hybrid race of superior cats--a race destined to conquer the universe. Yet right from the start, his plans go awry.
Forone thing, there's a new queen on Mau: Pshaw-Ra's daughter Nefure, a spoiled brat--er, cat--with a temper as short as her attention span. Pshaw-Ra's other daughter, therightful queen Renpet, is exiled, running for her life in the only direction available to her--down into the vast catacombs beneath the Mauan desert. Far from receiving the hero's welcome he expected, Pshaw-Ra must use every bit of his considerable cleverness just to survive.
Meanwhile, as usual, Chester and Jubal stumble right into the middle of things, in the process uncovering the lost secrets ofthe Mauan civilization. But that's not all they uncover. In the forgotten catacombs deep below the Mauan capital, something has awakened. Something as old as the universe. Something that hungers to devour alllight and life--and that bears an undying hatred for cats.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
From the team of McCaffrey (author of the Dragonriders of Pern series) and Nebula Award-winning author Scarborough comes the sequel to "Catalyst," featuring telepathic cats which are invaluable to the spacefarers who own them.
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Anne McCaffrey, the Hugo Award–winning author of the bestselling Dragonriders of Pern novels, is one of science fiction's most popular authors. She lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland.
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, winner of the Nebula Award for her novel The Healer's War, is the author of numerous fantasy novels. She has co-authored eleven other novels with Anne McCaffrey. She lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.