Cats have beguiled writers for as long as fiction has existed. Our second anthology of cat stories includes feline fantasies, science fiction, mysteries, mythology, westerns, romances, memoirs, horror, and some pieces that just defy description—27 stories, 2 poems, and a play!Included are:INTRODUCTION: ALL CATS ARE GRAY…, by Robert ReginaldTHE CATS OF ULTHAR, by H. P. LovecraftTHE CAT WITH THE TULIP FACE, by A. R. MorlanTHE STORY OF THE FAITHFUL CAT, by Lord RedesdaleZUT, by Guy Wetmore CarrylTHE MOUNTAIN CAGE, by Pamela SargentMADAME JOLICŒUR'S CAT, by Thomas A. JanvierTHE CAT THAT WALKED BY HIMSELF, by Rudyard KiplingTHE WOMAN WHO HATED CATS, by Margaret St. John BatheGIPSY, by Booth TarkingtonTHE CAT WHO CHANGED INTO A WOMAN, by Eugène Scribe, Translated by Frank J. Morlock (play)A CARGO OF CAT, by Ambrose BierceTHE HUNTER CATS OF CONNORLOA, by Helen Hunt JacksonWHITE COMMA, by A. R. Morlan (poem)NINE LIVES, by E. NesbitTHE BLACK CAT OF THE OLD MANOR HOUSE, by Elliott O’DonnellMONCRIF’S CATS: FIRST LETTER, by François-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif, Translated by Reginald BretnorCAT, by Reginald BretnorEPITAPH OF A CAT, by Joachim du Bellay, Translated by R. N. Curry (poem)TRAPS, by Jack Dann and George ZebrowskiTHE BLACK CAT’S EYES, by Benjamin F. FerrillTO A CAT, by Algernon Charles Swinburne (poem)SHIREEN AND HER FRIENDS: PAGES FROM THE LIFE OF A PERSIAN CAT, by Gordon StablesCAT ON A HOT TAR ROOF, by Gary LovisiCATS AND CANDY, by Mark TwainCRY FROM A FAR PLANET, by Tom GodwinCAT THIEF, by Ernest DudleyLEGEND OF THE CAT, by Mary Rocker-Gramlich and Charles Allen GramlichCAT BURGLAR, by Robert ReginaldCALVIN, by Charles Dudley Warner

Sargent published the first novel in her ʺVenusʺ trilogy, Venus of Dreams, in 1986; it was followed by Venus of Shadows (1988) and Child of Venus (2001). For the first time, Dream of Venus collects the short fiction set against the backdrop of the author's Venus novels, comprising four stories written after the trilogy had been completed. As Sargent writes in her Introduction: ʺCharacters and stories existing in the interfaces of the novels began to speak to me.ʺ These are tales that can be enjoyed both for themselves and by longtime fans of the Venus trilogy.

Pamela Sargent's latest collection assembles 10 of her recent stories, including "Puss in D.C.," "Strawberry Birdies," and "A Smaller Government," showing why she's one of the most popular authors currently writing science fiction today.From the introduction by Eleanor Arnason: "Sargent has a quality usually associated with hard SF: a certain kind of intellectual rigor. With her, it carries through all of her work. She thinks things through. ... Notice, when you read this collection, how many different kinds of stories are here and notice the range of moods: the stories go from really funny to really dark, with a lot in between. ... I also want to mention Sargent's persistence. Writing is a hard life. Many good woman writers I admired in the 1970s, '80s and '90s have vanished. They stopped writing or stopped trying to sell their fiction or changed their names and moved to writing romance, gay romance, generic fantasy — whatever they could sell. In one way or another,...

When a mysterious stranger appears in Sarah and Gerard's rural town, the two young lovers fighting a fervent battle to overcome America's depression and despair, are suddenly faced with a new realm of possibilities. But they find themselves questioning whether this handsome being was an angel sent to rescue them or a dark being bearing terrible dangers.

Anra is a solitary. She was born without the power to mindspeak and cannot, like all of her fellows can, communicate in unspoken thoughts. In the past, she would have been killed at birth but the arrival of the Wanderer, the comet controlled by the cybernetic intelligence known as the Homesmind has changed everything. The people of the comet, the skydwellers, now supply solitaries with implants that allow artificial mindspeaking. The solitaries are sequestered in a single village willing to care for such children.   Anra and her new brethren were thought to be the possible bridge between the people of Earth and the skydwellers but the gap may be too great since the people of Earth consider solitaries an abomination and the skydwellers as soulless. The solitaries are, instead, outcasts in two worlds, part of each but fully accepted in neither.   Another comet enters the system, refusing to communicate with Homesmind and speaking to the people of Earth with the voices of their own dead, seducing them into a submission of their individual wills and trying to lure them to oblivion. Anra and he fellow solitaries have the power to resist their call but can they unite in time to save everyone else?