Catalyst: A Tale of the Barque Cats

this is a great book moves fast and could not put it down. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out. these writers are 2 of the best and this series is very good on all levels.

Catalyst (2010) is the first SF novel in the Barque Cats series. It is set centuries in the future, when Earth has been depopulated and a Galactic Government has been instituted. A special breed of ship cats -- called Barque Cats -- has been developed for the spaceships. They not only kill vermin on the ships, but also detect leaks and other dangers for the crew. In this novel, Thomas's Duchess is a Barque Cat. Chessie is a descendant of Tuxedo Thomas, the original Barque Cat. She has produced and trained many litters for the crew of the Mollie Daise. Chester is a male kitten born to Chessie. Janina is an orphan and the Cat Person on the Mollie Daise. Kibble has been specially trained for her job, knowing much more than changing litter boxes and taking cats to the vet. Jared Vlast is the veterinarian on Sherwood Station. Chessie is one of his patients Carl Poindexter -- AKA Carlton Pontius -- is a spaceship man, con artist, and former soldier. Ponty has a wife and son on Sherwood. Jubal Poindexter is the son of Carl and Dorice Poindexter. He works on the family farm and does his father's chores when Ponty is away, as is often the case. Git is a barn cat on Sherwood. Life is not easy for cats on the planet. Many farmers look upon them as not much better than the vermin that they kill. In this story, Janina is taking Chessie to the vet. On the way, Ponty strikes up a conversation with her. His son Jubal wants a cat for company and to clear the barn of vermin. After they reach the vet's office space, Ponty goes his way and Kibble takes Chessie inside. Jared examines Chessie and pronounces her well and almost ready to deliver her kittens. Then he discusses a trip down to Sherwood with Janina. George Varley has spotted some broken-color stock in one of his fields. He wants Dr. Vlast to check their health and chip them if they are not already chipped. Jared wants Janina to help him in the task. Kibble calls back to her ship and gets permission for the excursion. Chessie is put into a comfortable cage with a camera, with which Janina can monitor her status. Then Vlast and Janina leave for the planet below. Chessie is comfortable and soon takes a nap. Her unborn kittens have been particularly tiring. Then Ponty steals her from the vet. Not only does he steal Chessie, Ponty also sets fire to the place. Fortunately he also releases the animals before setting the fire. He and Chessie barely get out of the area before the alarm sounds. While Ponty is on the station, Jubal has discovered that Git has moved into the barn. The cat is pregnant, but a good hunter. Jubal is happy that she has adopted their barn. Ponty takes Chessie down to Sherwood. When he arrives at the farm, Ponty discovers that Jubal already has a cat. So Ponty puts Chessie in the barn with Git. Soon Git has four kittens and then Chessie has hers the following day. Chessie has some problems giving birth, so only four kittens are born alive. Chessie

Great story as always from these two writes. It was so good I paced myself so as to prelong the enjoyment because I have to wait so long between stories. They just don't write fast enough for me.

I really enjoyed this book. It has strong, original characters in the cats. As a cat person myself, I found the cats' thoughts very believable. I think that my own cats have thought some of the same unflattering things about this particular human plenty of times, and they are definitely manipulators when it comes to food. The only thing that disappointed me about this book was that I thought it was going to be set in the same "universe" as the T & T novels by McCaffrey, which also has Barque Cats that are unusually intelligent as ships' cats, and which also have COB on their ships so that if there's trouble the cat will be rescued, too. I didn't expect a T & T novel per se, but I did expect mentions. Instead, the human galactic history in this book is completely different from the one in the T & T novels, with the sole exception of the Barque Cats! Still, it was good. I just wish that they had made it more obvious that the universe was going to be completely different. I guess I'll just think of it as an alternate universe and go from there.

The Barque Cats are extremely valuable because they keep vermin off space ships and are adept at finding oxygen leaks or other hazardous gases as well as just keeping people on board the vessel safe. Thomas's Duchess, known as Chessie and her human companion Janina, whose title on the ship is Cat Person, dock on Head Station, where a pregnant Chessie goes for a check-up. Janina and Dr. Jared Vlest fly down to the planet Sherwood to look at the animals that need care. A con artist Carlton Pontius aka Ponty steals Chessie and brings her to his farm on Sherwood as she is worth a fortune especially with a coming litter of Barque kittens. He gives Chessie to his son Jubal who takes care of her and her litter. Chessie loves all of her offspring, but the kitten Chester bonds with Jubal. Chessie needs to reunite with her Cat Person Janina. Unfortunately, they cannot, as a "supposed" plague has arrived leading to the impounding of all animals and those exposed (even the Barque cats). They will be executed. Janina and her allies try to free their companions, but an alien feline Pshaw-Ra with psionic power wants to take the cats to his planet so they can begin the universal domination of the known universe. This is the first tale of a duology that contains the usual strong outer space world building, a trademark of the authors who make a whole galaxy seem real. The Sparkles plague is caused by a harmless beetle but the GG scientists refused to accept a simple explanation. The point of view is told mostly by various feline characters, but it comes across as believable and as important not simplistic cute as the cats understand their troubles. The humans are for the most part empathetic especially Janina and cranky Ponty who has his own pet cat. Although the audience will need to wait for the second entry to see whether Chessie and Chester have more than one life each, fans will enjoy the opening Barque Cat caper. Harriet Klausner