anthropomorphic cat heroine space opera

[TheHound]

I read a juvenile sci-fi book in the 80's that featured an anthropomorphic cat creature as a main character. The viewpoint was from someone who worked for/with the cat. They were involved in protecting or working for an insect like alien. I can't remember the bad guy or much else about the plot except that it was one of the first space opera type books I read. Every so often I try to find some combination of search terms that will find the book but I've never succeeded. I do seem to remember that the cover might have had the cat kneeling to present something to someone or something. I can remember almost every book I've ever read but this one has slipped from my mind and it really bothers me.

Thanks

 

[Ektenia]

I'm judging a book by it's cover (plus some help from Wikipedia), but could this be Albedo Anthropomorphics (Erma Felna)? I remember seeing the cover of the corresponding role playing game in the 80s and was doing web searches for that and found your post along the way.

 

[Toby Frost]

I've not read either, but Larry Niven and Cordwainer Smith both included humanoid cat-type creatures in their books.

 

[Vince W]

Sounds like Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann, the first book in his moreau series.

 

[Mirannan]

I've not read either, but Larry Niven and Cordwainer Smith both included humanoid cat-type creatures in their books.

I recently found out that A. Bertram Chandler included cat people in some of his works, too. (And people derived from kangaroos - an interesting idea!) And so did Fritz Leiber, in "The Wanderer."

 

[dwndrgn]

Don't know the specific book you're thinking of but C. J. Cherryh also has cat like people in her Chanur books.

 

[clovis-man]

Don't know the specific book you're thinking of but C. J. Cherryh also has cat like people in her Chanur books.

I am thinking the same thing. Chanur is a female character, captain of a space ship. She deals with several widely divergent types of life forms. She has a human on board her ship. An uncommon cover for the first novel, The Pride of Chanur:

http://bookotron.com/agony/images/2003/03-columns/01-16-03/cherryh-pride_of_chanur.jpg

I don't think the picture portrays any particular event, but there is the "kneeling" factor.

 

[tinkerdan]

You could hunt here:
ANTHRO's Feline Bibliography (complete)

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

I agree that it is probably the Chanur books, but it might also be the In Her Name novels by Michael Hicks.