Re: Kzinti Miniatures

On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, John C wrote:

> During my dinner break, I stopped by the local Allied Hobbies, and 
> discovered a rather odd pack of figures.  The pack was called 
> "Seductress" (Ral Partha, 02-808), and had three figures:
> 
> A catwoman with her tail wrapped around her in what could be
considered 
> a "seductive" fashion--assuming that you are attracted to women with 
> tails.  Not a bad figure, but not particularly useful, either.
> 
> Clearly, these are meant to be Kzinti.  They are part of the "LARRY 
> ELMORE'S COLLECTOR SERIES", so I assume that they are based on a book 
> cover--anyone know which one?

the rapid-acting anderson sf brain springs into action! i recall a niven
story, i think a short, possibly in the "neutron star" collection. i
will
now describe the plot to jog memories. i will make huge, embarrassing
mistakes (sorry - niven is not my strong point).

modern kzin females are essentially non-sentient: the dominant males
have
bred them over millenia to reduce the threat to their power base (i know
what you're thinking - stop now!). this is relevant.

our human hero winds up on some sort of museum planet, where there are
zones like each of the major worlds - earth, kzinti, etc. there are
natives in some sort of suspended animation stored in tubes. he may have
had a kzin with him for some reason, or one turns up a bit later.
anyway,
he reanimates a couple of kzin females, for some reason, or something.

since these are ancient kzin, the females are intelligent. thus, the
modern male kzin is tricked and trapped by a cunning female because he
assumed she wasn't a threat. the female kzin are on the human's side
here
(i think they were political criminals before being collected for the
museum). the story then goes on to a happy ending.

anyway, the only female kzin who actually does anything in a niven book,
and so is worth drawing on a cover and modelling, is the cunning one
from
this story. ergo, that's the bunny.

i hope this helps,
Tom