Tails of Wonder and Imagination: Cat Stories

I only read "The Night of the Tiger" by Stephen King from this collection. It was okay, sort of weird and fantasy-based. Traveling carnival, the big cats, and a newbie roustabout. The end is a bit vague and, for me, unsatisfying. But, I'm a Stephen King fan, and I like to read as much of his works as I can! ( )

"Tails of Wonder and Imagination" is an anthology of previously published fantasy stories featuring various types of felines, ranging from 1977 to 2009, with a brief excerpt from Lewis Carroll’s "Through the Looking Glass" thrown in for good measure. Editor Ellen Datlow is well-known for her many anthologies in the realm of fantasy, dark fantasy and outright horror, and a few of her choices here (such as Edward Bryant’s “Bean Bag Cats” and Kaaron Warren’s “Tiger Kill”) are just too gruesome for me; the majority of stories, however, are quite delightful, touching and/or beautiful. Some of the older stories are by writers such as Stephen King and George R. R. Martin, but there are plenty of 21st Century tales as well, by the likes of Neil Gaiman, Susanna Clarke, Kelly Link and Sharyn McCrumb. As with any anthology of short stories, each individual reader will undoubtedly have his/her favourites; mine include Lucius Shepard’s “The Jaguar Hunter,” Lawrence Block’s “The Burglar Takes a Cat,” Catherynne M. Valente’s “The Manticore’s Tale” (an origin story) and the final story in the book, the novella “The Puma” by Theodora Goss. Not one of these stories is absolutely essential reading (well, except for maybe the Lewis Carroll excerpt), but most all of them are entertaining and well worth checking out. Recommended. ( )

Most of the stories were very boring or downright bizarre. If you love cats, maybe skip this anthology. There is a lot of abuse and killing of cats. I forced myself to finish this book. There were only 2 stories I actually liked in this. ( )

I finished it, but I didn't read every story. I couldn't. This is not a collection for cat-lovers, and I am an unabashed ailurophile. I appreciated the introductions, as the helped me avoid some stories, and I regret reading others—most particularly "Not Waving" by Michael Marshall Smith. It was a very well-written story, showing first-hand knowledge of bulimia and the way it can twist those who have it and those who love them. I was nauseated, though, and hated the twist even though I knew how it would end.I strongly recommend that people who seek out every cat-related collection avoid this tome. If, however, you simply enjoy good writing, go for it. Datlow has, as always, selected fine pieces, every one. I didn't find one piece that rang false. I would have chosen a darker title, as I found less of wonder than the macabre, but what do I know? ( )

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’. ( )