Stray: The Shifters Book 1 Literary Elements

Urban Fantasy / Romance / Speculative fiction

Set in Texas and Southern United States.

First-person point of view from the perspective of Faythe

Naïve, Rebellious, Frank, Ecstatic, Tense

Protagonist: Faythe Antagonist: Strays

The female werecats are scarce therefore Faythe’s safety is in jeopardy though she seeks independence away from her overprotective Pride.

Faythe is confined in a cage by the Pride to protect and keep her from wandering off and get attacked by a vicious stray.

“Anyway, I was the one in real danger. I got cornered by a pack of wild sorority sisters in the food court. Apparently it’s mating season.”

This foreshadows the real danger that the female werecats are in for they are hunted by strays because they are fertile and rare.

“A stray tried to grab her on campus.”
“Yeah, but I kicked his trespassing ass!” I whirled around to face my father.

Faythe understates the confrontation with a stray taking into account the danger she was in at the time.

The novel alludes to the staple of mythical shape-shifting creatures that emulate both the elements of wild cats and humans.

“The sun slipped below the horizon as I approached the alley. In front of Curry Hall, an automatic streetlight flickered to life, buzzing softly. I stopped in the circle of soft yellow light cast on the sidewalk, gathering my nerve.”

The Pride is keen to protect Faythe from harm yet they put her though torments such as caging and hurting her.

The parallel between the human world and that of werecats is drawn through Faythe who fully engages with both societies.

“He subscribed to the Jackson Pollock theory of cooking, which had somehow led to the creation of an abstract masterpiece out of the formerly spotless, white-tiled kitchen.” – “Jackson Pollock” is used as a metonymy for the mess in the kitchen.

“Above my head and to my right, the doorknob squealed as it turned.”