Hello, Merannda.  I too am new to this board and, like you, I "found" Tad through Tailchaser's Song.  I picked it up when it first came out because I loved fantasy books *and* cats, so of course this book looked like the jackpot to me!  All these years later I still have it, although I admit I haven't reread it in probably ten years or more.  Anyway, appreciating Tad's prose style led me to snap up each of the MS&T books as they were released -- waiting with tremendous impatience for each one and then devouring them.  It has remained one of my all-time favorite series.  I've since gone on to read Shadowmarch and Shadowplay, but have yet to read the Otherland books.  My library has War of the Flowers and since it is a stand-alone novel, I think I'll be picking it up soon....

I did notice that there is a cat in every one of the Tad books that I have read....coincidence or a sly tip of the hat to the feline who gave him his "in"???  :D

Crumpet- you should definently start reading War of the Flowers.. I think it's my favorite of Tad's books.

Otherland is also great but you should give yourself a couple of months as there are four books and rather lengthy... also a warning, the beginning of the first has a lot of background work and set up for the real adventure- just keep thinking there are three more books FULL of crazy stuff to look forward to!

Sahi- Ghatti's tale made me so jealous!!! I want a cat that can read my mind!!! haha

Thanks for starting this thread, I was beginning to think it was just me who'd heard of Tad Williams and Tailchaser's song!

This is my favourite book ever, I fell in love with the character of eatbugs, and the revalation about him at the end blew me away like nothing has done since.

I'm just reading Shadowmarch and have recently read War of the flowers. Tad Williams is a genius and my favourite author.

This was my first book by Tad as well. I was really forced to read it by my mother and when I read it was about cats, I just sinked. This is sometimes lovely (Pouncequick ^^) and sometimes terryfing book (like huge cats as enemies, they are really scary!) and it made me think about reading more Tad in the future.

In Poland they translated Tailchaser into Hunter, kinda funny but I think more funny would be translation of Tailchaser - Ten, Który Goni Własny Ogon lub Ganiacz Ogona (in polish it sounds rediculous).

Thank you, Tad, for wonderful book about kitties!

I bet they could come up with something similiar, Hunter is too far from original meaning :) But glorious and all :)
I wonder how in other countries they translated Tailchaser. How in Netherlands?

It's "Traumjäger" (Dreamchaser) in German. I'm don't usually like name changes, but I understand this one, since "Schwanz" (tail) also means a certain part of the male anatomy. ;)

----MINOR SPOILERS ALERT----


I started this book with one thing in mind, I HATE CATS!

I've heard a lot about Tad Williams, but never got to read any of his books. So, when one day I found TAILCHASER'S SONG at a used books store, I decided to try it and see if I liked it. And the surprise is, I did, it was a very good read, even if some parts of it are a bit too vague or loose--think Dewtreader, if that's what he was called--and some others weren't as surprising as they should have been. But then what? I loved the book as it was, and that's about the highest praise most books can get from me.

The fact that the story was all about cats didn't put me off, rather raised my enjoyment of the story, but one thing stands. I STILL HATE CATS!

Last edited by HellCold (2009-08-07 04:17:34)

Sahi wrote:

Welcome aboard HellCold!

Glad to hear you liked the book. There's plenty more written by Tad.

I already bought a new copy of Shadowmarch last year, but so far the second book hasn't been released where I live, which is why I'm putting off reading it until I have bought all three, which could take a couple more years! I can't beat that habit however hard I tried, gotta read a series as one book straight...

I'm re-reading TS right now for the first time in years and years... I loved that book so much that I would take it places as kind of a security blanket (something to hang on to if I got homesick, haha).

CSDaley, your blog post brought a big silly smile to my face. :) I would love to track Tad down at an event in the Bay Area sometime and ask him to sign my weathered old paperback. I'm a full-time programmer now, and the first website I ever built was a Geocities site dedicated to TS. I think the best day of my entire childhood was when Tad found the site and signed the guestbook... lol!

Anyway, one thing that's kind of surprising about TS on reading it again is how dark it is. I'm not even to the scary underground kitty hell part yet, and I keep getting all choked up over poor little Pouncequick, lol. It could be because I have a 2-year-old gray tabby cat, and just adopted a 4-month-old to keep him company. She is so pitiful sometimes that it's very easy to picture a cold, sick, lonely little kitten hanging out with a sometimes insensitive but well-meaning young cat. She's only just starting to grow out of this odd habit where she tries to suckle on anything she can get near her face... it's a little annoying, but more SAD than anything else!

Has anybody read the Warriors series by the Erin Hunter authors? In recent Tailchaser googling I kept seeing a lot of vague references comparing the two from tweenage readers. It sounds like a total ripoff, but it's hard for me to diss anything that gets kids into reading books. ;)

By the way, this November Fritti Tailchaser will have his silver anniversary. He'll be 25!

that is exactly how I discovered Tad. It is still one of my favorite books -- in fact I want to know from Tad if he would be willing to allow me to mail him a copy to be signed.  If not, that's cool, but he needs to know we are out here, still loving his first book.  Hey, if you have read the Shadowmarch series too, have you noticed the reiterated theme between the two?  In the panoply of Gods three brothers known as the Firstborn, ring a bell?