THE PREPOSTEROUS BOLLOX OF THE SITUATION

“When, at the end of Alien, Sigourney Weaver says, “This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off,” she’s not telling the whole truth. Because there’s another survivor, curled up with her in the hypersleep capsule. Jones (or Jonesey) the ginger tom.

“Jones serves multiple functions within the Alien storyline: 
1) CATGUFFIN, a pretext for characters to go wandering off on their own.
2) CATPANION, an excuse for Ripley to express herself out loud when she’s otherwise alone.
3) CATSHOCK, a cheap shock tactic in which the cat jumps out unexpectedly.
4) CATSCALLION, a wild card; at the end of the film, the cat might yet be harbouring an alien.

“In short, one cannot overestimate the importance of Jones to Alien. This is his story.”

“I do remember finding it hard to make the leap from the children’s section of my library, which was full of books about witches and magic, to the adult part, which seemed to me to be entirely devoid of them and consequently less exciting. Instead, like Priestley, I turned to science fiction and horror stories, which are full of a different sort of magic, and I’ve pretty much stayed with them ever since.”

Excellent article - on the Telegraph.co.uk website - from Anne Bilson, regarding children’s fiction through the years.