🐈 Why should humans have all the fun?
Talking animals taught me everything.
Everything I know, I learned from talking animal stories.
Dramatic, right? But ask my circle, and they’ll nod vigorously. Many of my literary models of heroism and virtue were beings who ran on four legs, not two. Even now, I can’t get away from writing talking animals (case in point: DAUGMENT, BOILING POINT, and SEEKER).
Looking critically at which childhood stories have stuck with me, I’ve found several other reasons why a talking animal makes an incredibly powerful storytelling tool.
Talking animals allow the reader to practice empathy for radically different perspectives. I often re-read Watership Down because of how deftly Adams makes me care about the very rabbit-centric plight of his rabbit characters. And yet—it’s a very humanizing story, every reading of which reveals more layered nuance about our stewardship of the Earth, our treatment of marginalized people, and our own personal heroic journeys.
Complex concepts can become subconsciously absorbed, thanks to the inherent simplification of animal characters. Author Clare Bell (of The Named series) used prehistoric cats and primates to consider the implications of civilization and technology. The fierce, impulsive hunter nature of cats and the meeker disposition of monkeys allowed her to pare away the complexity of social explorations and address them in a bare, simple way that I could understand even as a young reader.
Traits worth emulating are easier to identify and understand through animals. A non-human character is automatically “other,” and so to portray them as being defined by some positive or negative trait still feels honest (I was and am very sensitive to disingenuous prose). Talking animal characters, like Martin the Warrior of Brian Jacques’s Redwall series, can be nuanced but still defined by their leadership, compassion, selflessness, sacrifice, perseverance… I saw the behaviors in these characters that added up to those traits, and found it simple to understand what those traits were, what it meant to embody them, and how I could emulate them.
Animals free you up to write with less risk. I can choose an animal for its stereotypical characteristics and assign it traits of a friend or family member—and process what I needed to process without fear they would identify themselves in an opossum or a dragon. By transforming the people in my life into creatures, I hold them at a slight distance in my stories, and am able to gain perspective on both my own feelings and the other person’s behavior.
Amazing illustration of my alien Shihari by Leandro.
Today, I still find ways to feature (or sneak) talking animals into my stories. DAUGMENT is all about a man-turned-dog, and I decided Pitney would become a beagle-basset because I wanted him to face the inherent indignity in becoming a “bagel hound.” BOILING POINT uses the alien nature of my animal-headed protagonists to explore something highly taboo in human society: a romantic relationship with more than two souls intertwined. And in SEEKER, Opie’s canine side is a stand-in for other kinds of prejudice and discrimination that many human beings face.
I may not watch The Lion King with the same innocence as I did in 1994, but still, those talking lions really left an impression on me.
What are your favorite animal and other non-human characters in literature or other media? Reply with your thoughts!
(This post was revived from the archives of my old blog.)
P.S. If you’ve gotten a chance to read SEEKER, and you’re on Goodreads, would you mind leaving a rating and maybe a few notes about what you thought? 🥺🙏
The “Break a Spell” contest, so generously co-hosted by Lori Alden Holuta, is over—and our winner is Matthew Christian with his short piece “Cursed”! I narrated this story over the holiday weekend here in the U.S., which was a nice break from all of the chores I put off until the final day of the long weekend. 😬 All participants received a copy of my short story collection, SPELLBREAKERS, as well.
🎊 Congratulations to Matthew and to all of our wonderful contestants for all the creativity this contest sparked! 🎊
👉 You can read all of the entries, including the winner, on Lori’s website. 👈 (And pick up a copy of Lori’s summer cookbook release, Shredding It! 🥬)
Two outcasts. One goal. Stop Earth. Keith Stevenson’s novel, Traitor’s Run, the first book of “The Lenticular” series, is available to you if you’ll review. Request your review copy and give Keith your honest opinion of Traitor’s Run!
Everything about this book screams ✨ space opera ✨ in the best way… 🚀💥
Maybe you’re more of an audiobook person, and you need to pass a couple of hours. No, really, two hours. That’s all you need to consume Merick N.H. Ulrik’s short fantasy audiobook, Brothers of Chaos…
Face the corrupt Melborians and the will of the Blood Queen with Vandryn and his friends Zan and Zylla in this epic sword and sorcery short!
The Free-zer
It’s another installment of THE FREE-ZER—the section where you’ll find something that will cost you zero monies. (That’s no dollars, cents, pounds, pesos, Republic credits, Monopoly money, latinum, or dubloons.)
What are you waiting for? Snag a few new free favorites from the SPRING INTO SUMMER FREE FANTASY AND SCI-FI BOOKS collection!
The synopsis seems to imply there’s tragedy and darkness, but… the cover of Ghost of an Opportunity tugs at my robot-loving heartstrings! 🤖💖
And, it’s not too late to grab some titles from the STARS COLLIDE giveaway of indie sci-fi or the FREE FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION FOR MAY 2024 collection!
How about a dragon-centric Pacific Northwest adventure in Tailspin: The Awakening?! 🐉🌲
An epic fantasy short story about a dyslexic wizard called Between a Rock and a Fireball?! 🪨☄️
Or some dinosaur time travel fiction with The Forest of Time?! 🦕⏳
You will not be short on beach reads this year, my friends.
Later, gators! 🐊
August