At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog he tagged twenty-five of the best cats in sci-fi & fantasy, including:Behemoth in The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail BulgakovRead about the other entries on the list.
Aggressive, hilarious, and profane, Behemoth—as his name might suggest—is less a cat than a demon, one of Woland’s entourage in the classic novel. Able to take the form of a man at times, Behemoth is largely a jester in Woland’s court, and over the course of the novel isn’t given much respect, even by the humans. Smart and even somewhat sophisticated, being a fan of chess and endless, rapid-fire jokes, Behemoth is serving Satan to pay off his debts, which makes sense; for many people the idea of living your days as an enormous cat would, in fact, be hell.
The Master and Margarita is among Gabriel Weston's five best books by doctors, Joel Cunningham's nine favorite talking animals in fiction, Josh Ritter's six favorite books that invoke the supernatural, Cornelius Medvei's's top ten talking animals in literature, Joseph Fiennes' six best books, and Daniel Johnson's five best books about Cold War culture. It's also a book that English actor and writer Stephen Fry tries to read as often as he can.
--Marshal Zeringue
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