In my series Chronicle of the 12th Realm, one of the main characters — Aaron Abraham — has a cat. His name is Prince and he’s a Siamese. Now, anyone who knows cats will tell you they all have their own personalities, especially Siamese.
I based Prince on our own Siamese, Baxter, who we inherited from one of our daughters. Baxter has had an interesting life: he has lived in Victoria with our daughter, New South Wales with us when she couldn’t have him at her accommodation, back to our daughter, when she first moved to Queensland, then over to Western Australia and now back to us, where hopefully he will see out his retirement years.
He is well travelled and very personable. He communicates ‘humanlike’ and is a real joy to live with. But there is something I only recently discovered; his breeder named him Prince. Even as a kitten, he exuded a regal air. I had published four books of the series before I found this out!
As with all my characters, Prince is grounded in reality. His reactions and his nature are reflections of his real-life model, Baxter. I looked inwardly when writing the scenes where he and Aaron, his human companion, interacted and pondered:
- What would Baxter do?
- What would his reaction be in a given situation?
Those who know Baxter and have read my books, see similar interactions between our “Prince” and the one in the series. Great feedback for any author!
Why have a pet in a space story? For thousands of years, humans have needed the companionship of animals and cats have featured greatly in much of our history. In Australia, I have met many people who travel around the country constantly and their animal companions travel with them. Would travelling in space make any real difference? I don’t believe it would.
If you want to meet Baxter/Prince, check out “Chronicle of the 12th Realm”.