Hi all, Lou Sylvre here on Love Bytes, which generously put up with my rambling on the seventh of every month.
Today I want to talk about cats and dogs as characters, and give you a chance to comment for a prize—details at the end.
Dogs first.
In my Vasquez and James series, the boys had no pets until a big, furry love of a dog named Bear adopted Luki Vasquez, who had absolutely no clue how to relate. Now mind you Luki had little skill with any personal relationship at the time. This is where they met, from Delsyn’s Blues.
***
[Luki] thought he better get in the car or Sonny might just drive away without him. He opened the door to do that, but a large, shaggy, red animal jumped in. It had been three decades or so since Luki had spent any time around dogs, and if that’s what this was, it looked rather… unusual. Fuzzy face and round ears like a bear. He looked to Sonny for information and advice. 
“Is this a dog?” Brilliant, Vasquez.
“What do you mean, ‘Is this a dog?’ Of course it’s a dog.”
“Just… odd, that’s all.” He felt it was time to regain his footing. He’d address the problem directly.
Or he’d wait for Sonny to do something.
“It’s probably Mack’s dog,” Sonny said. “I don’t know why he keeps dogs, but he’s always nicer to them than he is to his kids. And I think sometimes the dogs are the ones taking care of the kids.”
Take the bull by the horns, Luki. That was his dad speaking, but it had been good advice in the past. “C’mon, girl,” he said, and then when nothing happened, he said it again, trying to sound more coaxing. How the hell do I convince a dog to cooperate? A couple more hand gestures and a stern look failed miserably. “Sonny. Take care of this.”
“Boy,” Sonny said, somehow finding the ability to laugh.
Which Luki sort of admired, but wondered about. “Boy, what?”
“He’s male, Luki. Shit, you can see his junk right there! He isn’t going to cooperate if you can’t even get his gender right! Come on, now, let’s go!”
“Fine! Here, boy!” Luki tried to whistle but gave that up when he saw Sonny’s championship eye roll. “Well, you get him out then.”
“Luki, we’re wasting time. Just let him ride along.”
***
But while Sonny James schooled Luki in Loving 101, and the two men had their romantic ups and downs, Bear stuck to Luki like glue, even kicking bad guy ass on occasion. That’s the way dogs are, right? They know what they want and they do what’s necessary to keep it.
I can name a number of dogs who…. What’s that? Pronouns? Oh yes, I use pronouns other than ‘it’ for animals. Every animal I’ve ever known had a distinct personality—each one a different who.
Now, as I was saying, I can name a number of dogs who play important roles in fiction. For instance, I love Tristan’s dog Boris in Rhys Ford’s Hellsinger series, and Buck, Stephen’s dog in Josh Lanyon’s I Spy stories. If you haven’t read or listened to those series, think strongly of adding them. They’re fantastic, and you get to meet the dogs, too. 😉
In my upcoming release, A Shot of J&B, main character Brian Harrison also acquires a dog, though in a completely different way, and this dog, Soldier makes an important contribution to events. I can’t show you their meeting without spoilers, but Brian has a cat too.
Nice segue to the part two, cats, don’t you think?
Brian’s cat’s name is Marley. Here’s a little tidbit that show’s Marley’s style.
***
When [Brian] got home, he found his door slightly ajar. Examining it, he realized that in his haste that morning, he’d locked the door, but hadn’t pulled it quite all the way shut, and the latch hadn’t caught. Just to be sure, he laid his things aside and carefully worked his way through his four rooms checking for any sign of an intruder. He didn’t find any, nor did he find any sign of the big orange tabby he shared his home with.
“Shit! Marley,” he said and then left to hunt for him. He could only hope the unsophisticated cat hadn’t gone far or wandered into the street.
An hour later he came in dripping from searching the streets in a downpour to find Marley sitting inside, staring at the door, perfectly safe and dry and clearly impatient for dinner.
“Damn cat,” Brian muttered, but he was so happy to see him he felt tears threaten.
***
Yes, Marley is a cat through and through.
There are many great cats in books of all kinds, but my favorite is Mister, from Jim Butcher’ Dresden Files. If we can include television series, I love Data’s cat in Star Trek, TNG. Neither one of them really do anything other than behave like a cat, but that’s what makes them so perfect as characters. Angel Martinez, in Boots, features a cat that turns out to be much more than that, as does Anne Barwell in her Magic’s Muse series. Those are a couple more good reads, by the way.
You know what I would love? I’d love to hear from you readers: Who wrote your favorite cat and/or dog character? Comment here on this post and February 10th, I’ll draw a random name for a winner. Prize? $10 Gift Certificate for Dreamspinner Press.
Thanks for stopping by to read this rather silly post, and I hope you’ll comment to get a chance at the prize. A little heads up, on 2/17 my cover for A Shot of J&B will be revealed, and I think you might like it. By Reese Dante of course, and absolutely beautiful. On the same day, the book goes up for preorder at Dreamspinner!
When I was young, I didn’t like show/movies were real animals were supposed to talk.
But I remember I Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, I loved that show and I loved tha cat even more! 😀
I don’t remember a particular dog… I can only mention Deefur Dog by R.J. Scott, which was my first mm book with a sort of furry main characters (who wasn’t a shifter). 😛
Thanks for the giveaway and the post! This brings back so many memories…
I like Bob int he Stephanie Plum books
Trixie the cat in “Fangs and Lullabies” and the other Lullabies books by Kallysten.
Mack, an older dog in Lane Hayes’ The Wrong Man.
The story that comes to mind with the most memorable pets is Warrior’s Cross by Madeline Urban and Abigail Roux. There are four Westie puppies and two Maine coons that add a lot to the relationship and story. The two cats also show up later in the Cut & Run series.
I love how Rhys Ford writes about dogs (and sometimes cats, too). Thanks for the great post! I look forward to your cover reveal – Reese Dante is a great cover artist.
Bear the protective dog from J.D. Ruskin’s Finding Matt
Does a robotic cat count? I love Astrid the Robo-kitty from Jennifer Rardin’s amazing urban fantasy Jaz Parks series. She looked like a normal kitty, but shoots grenades out of her butt. I so badly want a robo-kitty.
Rhys Ford has had a few cats in her books, I like Neko in her Cole McGinnis Mystery books. Then there’s John Tompkins, the cat, in Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English books. Also, Adrien and Jake got a German Shepherd puppy, Scout, in the last book. Scout was adorable. 🙂
Hairy Harry’s Car Seat, Bob the Destroyer of Leads, Hazel Takes Over,
Stormin’ Norman by Sue Brown. All of them dogs, but she does a story with them so well. They are a big part of the story but don’t take over the story.
definitely Smith and Wesson (ginormous cats) from Abigail Roux’s books
My favorite is from Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak mystery series. She has a half-wolf, half-husky named Mutt who has such an awesome personality, and has also saved Kate’s ass a few times. She’s a great character, even though she never says a word.
My fave book with a dog is Deefur dog by RJ Scott..lovely book:-)) Thank for this post and giveaway :-))
NR Walker’s Blind Faith featured Brady the guide dog, I also just finished Lane Haye’s The Wrong Man and loved Mack the lab.
Love Smith & Wesson from Abi Roux’s books!
Brady the dog in Blind Faith by NR Walker:) Thank you for the giveaway
My favorite cats have to be Smith and Wesson, Julian Cross’s Maine Coons from Warrior’s Cross and a later Cut & Run book. There are so many great dogs in books. I love Dude from Sinner’s Gin and the ghost dog from Fish and Ghosts whose name has slipped my mind (Jack?) Thanks for the giveaway!
I do like Smith and Wesson (cats) from Abigail Roux’s books (Cut & Run and Warrior’s Cross). Great names.
Also, Medea from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. In that world, animals don’t like shifters. They noticed that the shifters are higher on the food chain than they are. However, Medea likes everyone, vampires, shifters, she doesn’t care. She just wants attention.
I loved the pictures!! I cried reading about Hairy Harry (dog) in Hairy Harry’s Car Seat by Sue Brown <3
I haven’t read an M/M romance with a cat or a dog playing a role but I would love to, being a dog lover and current caretaker of 4 chihuahuas (Sugar, Candy, Oreo, & Mallow). 🙂 I do remember enjoying reading about the family cats (Bastet, Anubis, Horus, Sekhmet, Seshat, & The Great Cat of Re) in the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters.
My favorite animal is the Mercy’s cat from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs!
I think my favourite is Sully from Doranna Durgin’s Dale Kinsall Mysteries. He’s an adorable Beagle with a nose for trouble 😀
So many great ones already mentioned. I have an affinity with Smith & Wesson as I own two large Maine Coon cats myself. I adore Alexa Land books – they are so funny and so I’ll choose Blue’s cat Draco and the Royal Rodent 🙂
I’ve a soft spot for the incontinent Chihuahua in Shy by John Inman. Thank you for the sweet post and pictures
I love Dude from Rhys Ford’s Sinners series. He was kind of responsible for getting Miki and Kane together. 🙂
Lou, I’m a big fan of your Vasquez and James series (read them all), so I am really excited about A Shot of J&B. Can’t wait to read it! Thanks for the giveaway. 🙂
I don’t know if it counts, since he’s technically a witch’s familiar (but you don’t find out he’s actually a shifter and not just a cat until the fourth book), but I love Aloysius/Alain from Tara Lain’s The Aloysius Tales series!
I’m in love with Mack the dog in The Wrong Man by Lane H.
Thanks everybody for all the responses. All those dogs and cats are wonderful, though some I haven’t read yet. I’m contacting the winner today by email.