Ratha's Creature

Clare Bell says: “Ratha actually originated as a sketch. I often work back and forth from words to images, and I was trying to visualize how a human-like alien might originate from a feline ancestor. Then I wondered what would happen if the original four-legged cat-ancestor developed human-equivalent intelligence and self-awareness. As humans domesticated food plants, would intelligent cats domesticate the prey they once hunted? What kind of society would they form and what traditions would they have? 

Ratha's literary ancestors include Olaf Stapledon's astoundings Sirius ( an Alsatian shepherd dog given human-equivalent intelligence) in Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord, the black panther, Bagheera in Kipling's Jungle Books, the cat Thomasina in Paul Galico's Thomasina, The Cat Who Thought She Was God, the great lion Aslan in C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, A.E. Van Vogt's 'Coerl in his story “Black Destroyer”, the lioness Elsa and the cheetah Pippa in Joy Adamson's Born Free and other works.

Reviews 

“... the setting is richly realized, characters have vitality and credibility

both as felines and as intelligent beings, and the theme of rebellion cum

advancement is brilliantly developed, making this a powerful, moving,

and memorable story that will draw readers right in and hold them to

the final page.”

—Booklist, March 15, 1983, Starred Review (Ratha’s Creature)

“Powerfully written, the reader is immediately enveloped in a vividly

recreated past world that could have easily be happening now or in the

future.... Despite the turbulence of life around her, Ratha is portrayed

with such sensitivity that her very fears, thoughts, frustrations and

anxieties are humanly comprehensible.”

—Language Arts, Vol. 60 No.7 Oct 1983 (Ratha’s Creature)

“At once a wonderful fantasy and an intricate allegory . . . The great

wild cats, themselves a mixture of human intelligence and animal

instinct, lend the story a visceral power that is impossible to

ignore. . . . A remarkable book.”

—Book Talks (Ratha’s Creature)

Put a paw on the Named trail and sample Chapter One.

If you like it, buy your own autographed copy.