This past Saturday—June 3—my novel Stray Cats turned one year old. The idea behind this long-awaited follow-up to Lost Dogs is that cats really do have nine lives, but instead of living them one after they other (as we tend to think), they live them all at once, on different worlds. Inspired by our cat, the book is nine short stories with a central narrative, detailing the exploits of “Pimmi” in her lives across many realities.
The book has sold well, particularly at sci-fi/fantasy/comic conventions. Currently, about two out of three Amazon reviewers rate it positively, but some folks say that they struggled with the complex story structure, or that they wanted it to be more like Lost Dogs.
Both are understandable. While the individual stories that make up Stray Cats weren’t difficult for me to write, meshing them together was. As for Stray Cats not being more like Lost Dogs, I always intended it as its own thing, not a retread, and for it to be considerably lighter in tone.
I also wanted it to be a showcase for various story ideas I’ve had for a while. There are a wide variety of worlds and characters in Stray Cats, and two characters are going to be the basis for my next novel.
The Scorpion & the Wolf
In the section of Stray Cats called “An Ancient World,” I introduce the readers to a pair of young fortune seekers sailing across a magical lake in an old-school “swords-and-sorcery” yarn. Known only by their nicknames, “the Scorpion” is a fugitive assassin/wizard from a faraway, desert pharaohdom, while “the Wolf” is a hulking warrior/shaman from the wilderness beyond the seas.
“You should have killed that fellow back there,” the smaller youth said, nimbly stepping into the canoe, inadvertently rousing Pimmi where she slept in the bow.
“For this boat?” the larger youth asked, placing his spear and a long bundle inside. He settled himself in, not nearly so gracefully as the other, the rear of the canoe dipping dangerously low in the water under his enormous bulk.
“No, because he’ll tell the others which way we went,” the first replied, casting off the rope tying the canoe to the dock.
“They won’t catch us,” the other said, taking a paddle from the bottom of the boat and setting to work with long, powerful strokes, first one side, then the other.
What is happening? the cat wondered. She peeked out from behind the bound-up net that the owner of the boat used to make his living. The youth closer to her was slim, swarthy, dark of hair, the sparse whiskers on his lip and chin betraying him as being a few years short of full manhood. He wore loose clothes of pale linen, far too light for a chilly late afternoon on the lake.
Behind him was the largest person Pimmi had ever seen, almost twice the size of the other. His skin, a warm light brown; his hair, black as Pimmi’s fur, and worn in a single braid longer than the cat herself. His pants and shirt were buckskin, adorned with pelts of various animals.
She frowned. Who are these two? What are they doing in my boat?
“I appreciate your help in getting away,” the smaller lad said, setting aside his paddle. “The lake men don’t care for foreigners, I think.”
“As a foreigner, I felt kinship with you and your situation. And seven on one was over much.”
“When you stepped in, it quickly became seventeen on two. Much ‘over much.’”
“Much!” The larger youth grinned broadly. “My grandmother named me Saunooke, but my people call me ‘Wolf.’ You should, too.”
“By your size, I would think that ‘Bear’ would be a better appellation for you.”
“My brother was called ‘Bear,’ but then, he was much bigger than me.”
What? Pimmi squeaked, but neither heard her.
“Regardless, I can’t give you my name,” said the other, “because I’m of a habit of not trusting anyone.”
“No one?”
“When you trust no one, no one can betray you. In my country, there’s a story about a frog who trusts a scorpion that asks to carry him across a river.”
“I suppose it ends badly for both of them. A good thing, then, that I’m a wolf, and not a frog. But does that make you a scorpion?”
“Coincidentally, yes, it does.”
“Then ‘Scorpion’ is what I’ll call you, in place of a proper name.” The Wolf pointed a massive finger past the other youth. “What’s that, there?”
The Scorpion looked over his shoulder. Pimmi hunkered down, ears back. Oh, no!
The two disparate travelers quickly become friends, and battle against the cosmic menace of the reptilian Kurindans, the villains of Stray Cats. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying that their first appearance ends with them setting off on another adventure, which my next book will chronicle.
I want to write the story of the Scorpion and the Wolf for a couple of reasons. The first is that of my four published young adult sci-fi/fantasy novels, none of them are explicitly for boys. Dragontamer’s Daughters (my first book) and This Wasted Land (my favorite) have girls as the protagonists; Stray Cats’ main character is also female.
Yes, the hero of Lost Dogs is Buddy, a male German Shepherd, but it’s past time that I write something featuring boys as the main characters. The Scorpion and the Wolf are young men of 17, at the beginning of their adventuring careers.
The second reason is that I want to pay homage to two fantasy series—the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books, and the Elric saga—that I devoured as a teenager, but seem to have been overlooked by younger readers.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are a pair of swordsmen always searching for their next payday. Matching blades and wits against thieves, assassins, wizards, and the occasional monster (or god!), Fafhrd and the Mouser find, lose, and find again fortunes and loves as they make their way among the twisting, grimy, dangerous streets of the city of Lankhmar, and across the wide world of Nehwon.
A physically weak albino, Elric is the sorcerer-king of the decadent island nation of Melniboné. To defeat the schemes of his usurping cousin, Elric is forced to take up Stormbringer, an evil sentient sword that devours the souls of those it slays, and passes that vitality to Elric. His dependence on Stormbringer brings ruin to himself and those he loves as he struggles against the impending doom of his world.
I’m developing ideas for the first novel-length adventure of the Scorpion and the Wolf, and though I don’t know where it’s going to go, I know it will involve a mysterious group of powerful individuals called the Collectors—and it will involve the trinket that the two acquired during their adventure in Stray Cats. The new book is going to be a quick, fun read, and I can’t wait to bring it to you.
Before then, however, I’m going to release Stray Cats and Lost Dogs as a digital boxed set. More about that some other time. If you haven’t read Stray Cats yet, check it out!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to work….
Kenton Kilgore writes killer sci-fi and fantasy for young adults, and adults who are still young. He also dabbles in children’s books. Follow Kenton on Facebook for frequent posts on sci-fi, fantasy, and other speculative fiction. You can also catch him on Instagram.
