Mark Danielewski says he wants to give words to animals, to plants, to the waves of the ocean. His vast serial novel The Familiar (Pantheon) begins with a young girl rescuing a cat. He reveals that connectivity is one of this ambitious project’s major themes. Much of its connectivity is centered on the tiny, fragile cat. Danielewsky believes that making unexpected connections can lead to revelations about our planet and our species. The first four volumes of the work’s planned 27 volumes have been published. The fifth volume comes out at the end of October.

Photo by Christopher Ho