The human-animal connection stretches back millennia. The earliest domesticated animal, the dog, probably evolved from wild canines around 15,000 years ago. The horse came much later, around 5,500 years ago. As for the cat–wait–is a cat ever domesticated? Or does the relationship go the other way around? There’s some evidence of human-feline companionship going back 9,500 years, but cat domestication (ha!) may not go back that far–maybe only 2,000 years.
There are other domesticated animals–goats, cows, chickens, and the like. But a few animals have become the close companions of humans. This post is about that near-symbiotic, sometimes near-mystical relationship. It may be a defining trait of humanity, a recognition we’re not alone on this planet.
Speculative fiction has a long history of exploring that trait. Here are a few novels with intense human-animal connections, and there are many, many more I don’t have time to mention in this and the next post. Sorry if I have neglected one of your favorite books–or one of your favorite animals!
CATS and cat-like creatures
If there’s one animal that populates plenty of SF and fantasy, it’s the cat, or some cat-like creature. Why cats? They’re mysterious, and if a cat–a notoriously independent creature– has befriended you, that bond is amazing. As much as I deplore him, Robert Heinlein knew about that. The Door Into Summer, with its amazing cat character, was one of my favorites as a teen. But there are plenty of others. Two recent novels I’ve loved that explore the human-cat bond (both are funny, not sure why, because all who call a cat their master know very well that you don’t laugh at a cat):
Starter Villain, John Scalzi (2023)
Nominated for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Scalzi’s novel of a hapless young man whose uncle dies, leaving him the family business, is a delight–especially as we–and he–discover the uncle was a mob boss. What will that mean for his life going forward? Finding out is maybe the most fun you’ll have between two covers, ever. The main character bumbles ahead, fending off would-be assassins, trying to learn his new trade, while knowing nothing about being a mob kingpin. Luckily, the power behind the throne is a cat. Find my review HERE.
Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman (2020)
Dinniman’s fall-down-laughing LitRPG series features Carl, an ordinary guy who goes out in the middle of the night clad only in his heart boxers (see cover, above) to rescue his ex-girlfriend’s treed, pampered show cat, Princess Donut. Disaster strikes. A galactic empire has chosen Earth for the site of its reality-show entertainment. Carl and Donut are cast into an ever-increasing series of fiendishly difficult gamer dungeons. It’s prevail to the next level (winning gear, points, merch, and the love of the gawking alien influencers and audience members)–or die. Carl tries his mightiest to level up, though he is woefully undergeared (those boxers!). Donut rides his shoulder, insulting him, sassing him, saving the day. The series has now reached its 8th volume, plus two graphic novels. Although I’m not a consumer of audiobooks, I hear from audiophile friends that the audio versions are just great. Find my review HERE.
DOGS and other canines
Our oldest animal companions, “man’s best friend,” play their part in many, many SF and fantasy novels. Here are three, one more than a bit troubling, one that explores that often deep, often mysterious human-canine link, and one very recent book that blurs the line between animal and human:
“A Boy and His Dog,” Harlan Ellison (1969-ish)
Around 1969, the famed Harlan Ellison, like many other SF writers of his own and earlier times, created a “fix-up” to cook several previously written short stories into a novella. The novella exists in several versions, so it’s hard to assign an exact date, but it was made into a really charming proto-Mad Max movie starring the young Don Johnson in 1975. How charming is it, really? I should probably go back and watch it, because–reading Ellison’s story now–I cringe at the raw misogyny of it all. In a post-nuclear, alternate America of the far future (2024 lol), the “boy” (young man) of the title and his telepathic dog Blood go on the hunt for women, with unexpected results. Blood is his boy’s best friend, if that means Blood channels and enables his boy’s deepest and creepiest desires. Now that I think about it, the boy’s (and Blood’s) attitudes may be sadly prophetic. Well, Ellison was a famously controversial, complicated man who enjoyed the role of rabble-rouser. I think I’ll leave it at that.
Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb (1995)
Hobb’s book is a great, absorbing coming-of-age fantasy novel. It’s the first in the Farseer Trilogy, which then spawned many other related books loosely called the Realm of the Elderlings novels. The main character, Fitz, is a young man of mysterious parentage. He has the unfortunate capacity through ancient, now despised magic known as The Wit, to bond with animals. One of the best parts of the novel is the way Fitz is able to connect with the dogs Nosy and Smithy. Fitz learns he himself can inhabit the body of a dog–a capacity that is both a danger and a weapon as he navigates a frightening world. In book two of the trilogy, Fitz binds with a wolf. See my quick review of the series HERE.
Outlaw Planet, M. R. Carey (2025)
Carey’s novel, which just won the 2026 Philip K. Dick Award, is set on a Wild West planet full of sentient dogs (among other talking animals), including the fearsome gun-toting Dog-Bitch Bess. No, I don’t know why the cover features a kind of gun-toting human figure, either. Did the marketers worry that a gun-toting dog on the cover might send the wrong message, maybe communicate that the book is cute, or a children’s book? It is neither. There are humans in this book too, though, and they have a fascinating connection to the dogs. Die-hard Carey fans will recognize what this is right away. But I, a novice Carey reader, had more trouble fathoming it. See my review HERE. If you too are a Carey novice, don’t make the mistake of thinking this talking-animal novel is in any way twee. If you are a committed Carey fan, you’ll already know better.
THE HORSE
The connection between human being and horse is also strong, and often explored by SF and fantasy. Here are two, both classics of their type:
Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey (1987)
In Lackey’s hugely popular Valdemar series, the bond between horse and rider is magical. Arrow of the Queen, the first book, reveals how and why the human-horse bond works. In the novel, Talia, a girl from the grim Holderlands, seems destined for domestic slavery as a wife of some domineering man. Until–one day–she meets Rolan, one of the marvelous white horses of the queen’s Heralds. These Companion Horses choose their own riders, and they are never wrong. The novel is all about the love of a girl for her horse, the horse’s love for her–reeling in an entire class of readers–and also about magic, and the iconic Magic Academy trope that thrills so many fantasy readers. For all her self-doubts, Talia is maybe too “good” a character to ring true (a type of character known derisively as the “Mary Sue“), but the legions of fans of these books don’t care.
The Horse and His Boy, C. S. Lewis (1954)
Part of the author’s acclaimed Narnia series, this book only tangentially refers to the beloved characters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but is set in the same fantasy world. By publication date, The Horse and His Boy comes fifth in the series, but chronologically, it is the third. Reading order is the subject of some controversy. Go HERE to find out more. In The Horse and His Boy, two refugees–a boy and a young woman–join forces to escape their pursuers into Narnia, each one aided by a talking horse. The series is uneven, but I liked this novel. For more about Lewis and the whole series, go HERE. For my own take on the Narnia books, go HERE.
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