Title: Swashbuckling Cats
Editor: Rhonda Parrish
Publisher: Tyche Books
Source: NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
If you think cats and water don’t mix, think again.
Plunge into worlds of piratical cats: some selfish, some mischievous, all fond of hitting the catnip stash. From ships on the deep blue sea, to ships flying through the depths of space, and even visiting from beyond the veil, these cats are determined and on a mission.
Featuring fourteen “tails” of adventure-loving cats, puns, and fun by: Megan Fennell; S.G. Wong; Rebecca Brae; Grace Bridges; Lizz Donnelly; Blake Liddell; Frances Pauli; JB Riley; Joseph Halden; Leslie Van Zwol; Krista D. Ball; Chadwick Ginther; Rose Strickman; and Beth Cato.
May 26th was the virtual release party for this book of short stories. I’m a friend and fan of Rhonda’s. I’m not a fan of cats (a barn cat peed on me when I was 10) but I can appreciate them and I figured I’d get around to reading it at some point. Lo, and behold, a few days after the release party when I was looking through available books on NetGalley I saw it was available. So I asked for it and was approved!
Overall, this short story collection is a good one. I always love to see the diversity achieved with the same prompt. These swashbuckling cats aren’t confined to nautical vessels. And the cats include ghost cats, pirate cats, shape-shifting cats, and kittens. Definitely not a one size fits all anthology.
My favorite story was “Buccaneer’s Revenge” by JB Riley. It tackles the pirate cat angle completely differently from the others. No, I won’t spoil it! There are puns for names which some might find childish or silly. I found them quite clever and they made me smile.
My second favorite story was “All Cats Go to Valhalla” by Chadwick Ginther. From the title it’s easy to guess this is a viking themed story. From the opening line you know it’s bad but you don’t know just how bad this journey is for another paragraph or so. Does Odin allow cats into Valhalla or do they go to Folkvangr with Freyja? You’ll have to read it to find out.