Thematic collections are a rare phenomenon in our science fiction. And the collection of “cat fiction” is an incredibly daring project. But the collection “Man is a Cat to Man,” compiled by Moscow critic Andrei Sinitsyn, turned out to be successful. If I’m not mistaken, it is already in its fifth reprint. I also wrote a story for this collection. Some people believe that thematic stories somehow hinder the author, “fetter the imagination,” “force you to write the same way.” This is completely false. This is the same as suggesting that the theme “portrait of a woman” would force Rubens and Tropinin, Dali and Picasso to “draw the same way.” In the story “Buy a Cat,” the cat, of course, is not the main character. But without him, this story would have had a completely different ending .