Tabat

Now available from Wordfire Press, Volume I of The Tabat Quartet: Beasts of Tabat! Book 2, Hearts of Tabat, appears in April, 2018.

If you're coming to Emerald City Comic Con, stop by the Wordfire Press to pick up the book!

If you’re coming to Emerald City Comic Con, stop by the Wordfire Press to pick up the book!

Buy on Kobo.
Buy on Smashwords.
Buy the Kindle version on Amazon.
Buy the hardcopy version on Amazon.

Documents of Tabat (related flash pieces)

Reviews

I can honestly say that Cat Rambo’s Beasts of Tabat is one of the best and most interesting fantasy novels I’ve had the pleasure to read during recent years. -Risingshadow.net

This was a fantastic introduction to Rambo’s writing, and I can say without a shred of doubt that her worldbuilding is outstanding, wrought with care and full of fine detail that makes it all pop on the pages and come alive for the reader. – Bibliotropic

This is not a simple tale of good versus evil. This is a tale of shades of grey—of multiple perspectives—of overlapping areas of right and wrong. Rambo has created a society where you cannot characterize anyone simply based on whether they are human, shifter, beast, or something else entirely. – Chris Pavesic

This book is just tremendously written. It’s evocative, and intense, and uncomfortable, and utterly unlike most of the fantasy being produced today. – Amazon review

Complex fantasy steampunk for adults – Amazon review

Big love for the exacting, rich, and detailed worldbuilding of Tabat. – Amazon review

It’s got everything you could want in a novel: addictively satisfying prose, unforgettably compelling characters facing frustrating dilemmas, political intrigues, romance and combat, magical creatures, and moral ambiguities–all set in a world that’s so skillfully realized that you’ll think you’ve been there and you’ll dream about it for the rest of your life (I do). Oh… and best of all… there’s a sequel coming later this year! – Huw Evans

Other Information

I’m currently working on Volume III of the Tabat Quartet, Exiles of Tabat, which will be followed by Gods of Tabat.

Tabat exists in a steampunk magical world where intelligent beasts such as unicorns and dragons exist but have no legal rights. Their status is in part a reaction to the depredations of the sorcerers who created many of them in the Shadow Wars, which destroyed an entire continent, but over time, humans have come to depend economically on the exploitation of their labor and sometimes even their physical bodies.

Tabat started as a proposal for an area for an online game my friend James was creating in the mid-nineties. I wanted to do a seaport, and I was inspired by the building system that James had created, which allowed one to add conditional descriptions to a room, ones that would only appear if certain conditions were met, such as it being high tide, or spring, or some combination of similar factors. I loved that, and created things like a street whose tiles underfoot changed according to the lunar cycle.

The game never came to pass, but several years later I returned to Tabat. At the time Armageddon was closed to players every Saturday in order to allow the staff to coordinate and conduct maintenance. I suggested that a MUD set in a very small area would allow the players to socialize and roleplay, and set about recreating the city, mapping it out and beginning to figure out some of its history. That project also never was completed, but finally in 2004 I began writing stories set in Tabat and the surrounding world, because I knew it so well.

As I’ve written in it, it’s continued to grow in clarity and new landmarks have appeared, such as the Piskie Wood, the Great Tram, and the waterfall in the Duke’s Plaza. Its growth has been shaped by my interest in and reading of early American history. I’m very fond of Tabat, and I’d like to see it reach the heights of other fantasy fiction cities, such as Ambergris and Lankhmar.

Here is an updated version of the chronology of Tabat according to existing stories/novels.

The Shadow Wars

  • Love, Resurrected (appeared in BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES)
  • A Twine of Flame (available in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)

Early Tabat

Modern-day

  • The Bear* (appeared in AIOFE’S KISS)
  • The Bumblety’s Marble (appeared in PAPER CITIES and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • DOCUMENTS OF TABAT, forthcoming.
  • Dryad’s Kiss* (appeared in GRYPHONWOOD)
  • Events at Fort Plentitude (appeared in WEIRD TALES and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • The Ghost-Eater (available in XIII)
  • Hoofsore and Weary (available in Shattered Shields)
  • I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said (appeared in CLARKESWORLD and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • In the Lesser Southern Isles (appeared in BLACK SAILS and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • BEASTS OF TABAT (novel)
  • Narrative of a Beast’s Life (appeared in REALMS OF FANTASY and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • Primaflora’s Journey, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 2015.
  • A Souvenir of Tabat (available on Quarterreads and forthcoming in DOCUMENTS OF TABAT)
  • Sugar (appeared in FANTASY and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)

Legends and Fairytales

  • The Dead Girl’s Wedding March (appeared in FANTASY MAGAZINE and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)
  • A Key Decides Its Destiny (appeared in SAY… and EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT)

*Not currently available in-print. Email Cat if not having them makes you too sad.