(Found) Short story search

[dmoransee]

Short story.
Plot:a human crew come in contact with intelligent bipedal feline aliens.

They live/work together amicably but the protagonist describes the felines as deceptive and “always trying to get one over on you”.

In one scene the protagonist slips and nearly breaks his neck on a gangway/ramp that one of the cat aliens had oiled up as a practical joke.

A possible prologue/epilogue to the story:
The protagonist has crash landed in a snowy mountain range (probably on Earth) and narrates his tale into a recording device before he succumbs to the cold.

(Unsure if this is a completely different story but feels like it was one and the same because both stories were narrated by the protagonist in past-tense).

note: I listened to all of this as an audio book. the narrator had a soft southern British-English accent.

 

[PaulMmn]

The Chanur novels are a series of five science fiction novels, forming three separate stories, written by American author C. J. Cherryh and published by DAW Books between 1981 and 1992. The first novel in the series is The Pride of Chanur (1981), which was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1983.[1] The Pride of Chanur, originally a stand-alone story, was followed by the Chanur's Venture trilogy (also referred to as "Chanur's Revenge"), Chanur's Venture (1984), which was shortlisted for a Locus Award in 1985;[2] The Kif Strike Back (1985) and Chanur's Homecoming (1986). These were followed by a later sequel, Chanur's Legacy (1992). The five novels were also published in two omnibus editions: the first three in The Chanur Saga in 2000 and the next two in Chanur's Endgame in 2007.

 

[dmoransee]

The Chanur novels are a series of five science fiction novels, forming three separate stories, written by American author C. J. Cherryh and published by DAW Books between 1981 and 1992. The first novel in the series is The Pride of Chanur (1981), which was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1983.[1] The Pride of Chanur, originally a stand-alone story, was followed by the Chanur's Venture trilogy (also referred to as "Chanur's Revenge"), Chanur's Venture (1984), which was shortlisted for a Locus Award in 1985;[2] The Kif Strike Back (1985) and Chanur's Homecoming (1986). These were followed by a later sequel, Chanur's Legacy (1992). The five novels were also published in two omnibus editions: the first three in The Chanur Saga in 2000 and the next two in Chanur's Endgame in 2007.

Thank you for this but I do not believe this is where the story was from.
The story I'd read was, if I remember, very much a standalone tale, not part of a series and were very very short.
The aliens themselves were not actually cats, but cat-like if I remember correctly. Appreciate the response though.

 

[KiraAnn]

There are too many authors with cat-like aliens to mention. Like A. E. Van Vogt, H.P. Lovecraft, Cordwainer Smith, Andre Norton, A Bertram Chandler, Larry Niven, and many more.

Can you remember more about the story, like when it may have been written?

 

[dmoransee]

There are too many authors with cat-like aliens to mention. Like A. E. Van Vogt, H.P. Lovecraft, Cordwainer Smith, Andre Norton, A Bertram Chandler, Larry Niven, and many more.

Can you remember more about the story, like when it may have been written?

Regarding it's age, I downloaded and listened to it as part of a collection of short stories, (Librivox Recordings) around 2005-2015. All I can say with certainty is that it would have been written in the 20th century.

I've begun searching the transcripts of all librivox short-scifi collections for terms I believe were in the story. I am surprised just how many cat-aliens there are but I'm blown away by just how many scifi short-stories are in existence.

PS: MY GOD, FOUND IT!

Accidental Death by Peter Baily, first published 1 jan 1959:

Accidental Death

The most dangerous of weapons is the one you don't know…

www.goodreads.com

Publication: Astounding Science Fiction, February 1959

www.isfdb.org

full story:

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Accidental Death, by Peter Baily

Thank you for your response, prompted me to continue the search.

found it by searching youtube for "librivox scifi short stories" and it was inside librivox short science fiction collection 085.

Searched the transcript for "neck" - in regards to the scene I remembered where the protagonist slipped:
it found: "...i nearly broke my neck on the butter slide he fixed up in the metal alleyway..."

even found a recording with the same narrator I'd listened to:

 

[KiraAnn]

Great - glad you fiund it. And you're welcome, I guess

 

[Ravensquawk]

Yay for you finding it!

"Catlike Alien Stories" were dogging me on to many searches, even though I'd never read of any, only the Underpeople of Future Earth.

(Imagine a cartoon character buried under pieces of paper saying, "So.... many.....")

Thank you for the Project Gutenberg link -- bookmarked it to read. And -- read. Thanks!