Comments | bigcats: I write fiction about big cats

rathacat in bigcats

I write fiction about big cats - Ratha series

Jun 29, 2007 20:00

Hi Big Cats,

I'm the author of the Ratha series (Ratha's Creature, Clan Ground, Ratha and Thistle-chaser, Ratha's Challenge and a new title, Ratha's Courage. These books are about a clan of prehistoric big cats with intelligence, a society, laws and leaders. They are based on a blend of cheetah and puma, with some lion and leopard characteristics ( Read more... )

big cat fiction

Comments 7

soren_grey June 30 2007, 04:56:38 UTC

That sounds really interesting... ^_^

Ratha series rathacat June 30 2007, 21:14:40 UTC

It was great fun writing the books and I'm glad you're interested. I did a lot of research on pumas, cheetahs, lions, leopards, clouded leopards, tigers and others. Ratha is actually based on a fossil species called Dinaelurus crassus, which apparently had very cheetah-like characteristics. I call her and her people Dinaelurus illumina sapiens.

Re: Ratha series soren_grey July 1 2007, 00:28:18 UTC

I LOVE that kind of thing. Prehistoric cats have always been something fascinating to me. Oh! If you're looking to get a wider audience for that sort of book, you should try LiveJournal's furry communities! I'm sure they'd be all over that sort of thing.

october_rising June 30 2007, 05:40:29 UTC

Thank you for sharing and welcome to the community. Hope your re-issue goes well. :)

Hope books do as well as Warriors rathacat June 30 2007, 21:24:29 UTC

Warriors is a fantasy series about feral housecats and its author, Erin Hunter,
has done very well with it. People have compared Ratha favorably to Warriors.
If the Ratha series does do well, I'd like to be able to contribute to saving endangered big cats.

I love cheetahs and I actually met one once.

Sooo... if you know anyone who likes the Warriors series, turn them on to Ratha.

Re: Hope books do as well as Warriors poetigress July 4 2007, 23:05:23 UTC

Actually, IMHO the Ratha series is way, way better than Warriors, not in the least because I think you're a much better writer than Hunter. :)

I've loved your books for years, and I'm really excited about the new one. I first found Ratha's Creature in the library when I was... gosh, I don't know, probably ten or eleven, and absolutely adored it. I managed to scrounge used bookstores and eBay until I had the others -- needless to say, I'm really glad they're being re-released. (I love that Firebird has been re-releasing so many good children's/YA fantasy books -- first Meredith Ann Pierce's Firebringer trilogy, and now your books as well.)

And, as a writer myself (though not with your kind of track record -- yet!), I look forward to reading your LJ. I kind of need the reminder every now and then that writers are actually real people... gives me hope. ;)

Re: Hope books do as well as Warriors rathacat July 5 2007, 01:19:47 UTC

Hi Poetigress,

Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and love for Ratha! It was people such as you who influenced Firebird to contact me and ask me to write another book.

My hope is that kids who read Warriors will pick up Ratha when they are a little older (and can appreciate more depth and complexity).

I'd better get busy on my LJ, since I haven't got very much up there yet.

Again, thank you so much for your good wishes. I will see if I can put some helpful suggestions/experiences, etc. in my LJ