A Future for FeralsEdited by
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
(eSpec Books, October 2025, e-book, pb,170 pp.)
“Colony Cargo” by Carol Gyzander
“The Cat and the Dragon” by Grace Bridges (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Most Dead Bodies in a Confined Space” by Jean Marie Ward (reprint, not reviewed)
“Sheep Dog” by Mike McPhail (reprint, not reviewed)
“Ferocious Angel” by Rigel Ailur (reprint, not reviewed)
“Bodega Barry” by Marc L. Abbott
“DuckBob: Reunion” by Aaron Rosenberg
“A Harmless Necessary Cat” by Nancy Jane Moore
“Nine-Tenths Of The Law” by Christopher J Burke
“Hoarder” by Bernie Mojzes
“Sunday in the Park with Spot” by Keith R.A. DeCandido
“Mervat in the Maiden’s Tower” by Jeff Young
Reviewed by Axylus
This charity anthology benefiting feral cats includes informative articles from a personal perspective plus a dozen stories featuring cats. For the cat lover in all of us, it also features multiple photos of felines that are near and dear to the hearts of those involved in the book.
“Colony Cargo” by Carol Gyzander is a “captain’s log” sort of story in which a pair of aliens from Zagrosia, Cohrn and Bagg, pilot a human spaceship to a faraway writer’s colony. Strange noises and disturbing events disturb their journey, as the Zagrosians discover they are not at all alone—and their intruders have claws and fangs. And what is this strange substance the humans have left aboard that attracts the fierce interlopers so powerfully? Cohrn will solve the puzzle, assuming the fearsome stowaways grant him permission.
Demons walk among the people of Brooklyn, lurking inside anyone weak and malevolent enough to offer his or her body as a host. In this dire circumstance, only Barry the Bodega Cat stands between Brooklyn and a wave of brutal rapes and murders. The first of two relatively intense tales, “Bodega Barry” by Marc L. Abbott follows Barry as he goes on patrol, brandishing his fighting skills and relying on his protective instincts as he goes up against the demons.
For readers who think “wacky” and “off-the-wall” is right up their alley, the characters of “DuckBob: Reunion” by Aaron Rosenberg should be a real treat. The roll call of oddballs includes genetically altered Mary, with multiple abilities including advanced vision and a huge IQ; Tall the telepath, plus aliens who come to earth to pick up a few cats. Standing center stage on his own webbed feet is the cheerfully weird DuckBob, who was also abducted by aliens and transformed into a half-human, half-duck character. He now has the title of the Guardian of the Matrix. Did I mention aliens? Can DuckBob and his family and friends figure out why aliens have abducted their beloved cats? And how do the cats feel about all this? Read and learn the truth, because the truth is out there.
“A Harmless, Necessary Cat” by Nancy Jane Moore is a brief detective tale (tail?). Cancer-ridden Aunt Emily was found deceased in her bed, but not of natural causes. It’s murder, and police arrive to investigate. Who is guilty: the spiteful caretaker? The hunky Mark? Aunt Emily’s niece Jean, the protagonist? Or even the catnip-drunk feline named Sam? But the whodunit would never be solved if it weren’t for the bravery of an unlikely character.
The streets of Smallport City are safe under the watchful eye of Officer Squillon of the City Guard—assuming he is unable to avoid the trouble of working. In “Nine-Tenths of the Law” by Christopher J. Burke, Squillon’s beat is a city populated by kobolds, witches, and a host of magical characters. On this particular night, people are turning up naked and leaping about in the city’s darker alleys. Squillon has to corner one and haul him in to jail. When the naked prisoners disappear, Squillon has a theory that involves—cats?
The grim dystopia of “Hoarder” by Bernie Mojzes is the second rather grim tale that stands apart from the lighthearted fare of this anthology. The vagabond Machka survives in this world, but only barely, living by his wits as he travels, homeless and alone. In one farmhouse he sees a shotgun-toting man commit gruesome violence against a group of small captives. It’s not his problem, Machka thinks, but empathy wins out. He devises an elaborate, ingenious plan to help the captives escape the farmer and his ferocious dog. But Machka is so much smaller and weaker than the farmer and his gun. Will the daring plan succeed?
There’s a Chaos Wind blowing in “Sunday in the Park with Spot” by Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Mittens the Chaos Wrangler must study the sigils and warn others of the Folk of impending disaster. Important information must be passed to the good gray squirrel Drop-Tail, but under no circumstances can the evil black squirrel Fan-Tail, an agent of Chaos, discover it. But who can Mittens trust to deliver this dire news? Surely not the eager-to-please and definitely well-meaning (but rather muddle-headed) dog named Spot? Spot is guaranteed to muck things up! What can Mittens do? While Spot runs around Ewing Park with a stick in his mouth, the fate of all the Folk in the Bronx, as well as its perplexing population of humans, hangs in the balance.
“Mervat in the Maiden’s Tower” by Jeff Young is enjoyable for its richly-imagined vision of Constantinople in an alternate Ottoman Empire where Chinese dirigibles fill the sky and aeroflots serve as water taxis. The protagonist, Ms. Mervat, is a hospital administrator who recently began receiving portentous visions from an unknown source. The dirigibles overhead are filled with starving Chinese soldiers fleeing an outbreak of the Black Death in their homeland. The citizens of Constantinople are concerned that if they aid the Chinese, it will bring the plague into their city. All alone while climbing the winding stairs of a bastion known as the Maiden’s Tower, Mervat is surrounded by a huge host of cats. They fill the stairs below her so much that she cannot turn back, and so she presses on to the top. There she meets the Egyptian goddess Bast. Mervat wrangles diplomatically with the Chinese and skillfully uses the magic of Bast to counteract the plague, while hoping to avoid becoming a prophet for the once-forgotten god.