Be it Goose in Captain Marvel, Spot in Star Trek: The Next Generation, or Jones from Alien, science fiction is lousy with cats. And now it’s getting even lousier (and louder) thanks to Edward Willet’s new sci-fi space opera novel The Tangled Stars (Kindle, audiobook). In the following email interview, Willett not only explains what inspired this adventure story, but why he chose to include a cat and not a dog or fish or octopus.