SOLVED. Sci Fi book about ring shaped alien race [s]

[David]

I read this science fiction book in the mid 90s. The protagonist is a human who is able to telepathically inhabit the "bodies" of an alien race. The aliens are ring (or disk maybe) shaped beings. He develops a relationship with a female ring being. In the end he dies and as he is going to the afterlife he has to choose between the human afterlife or the ring creature afterlife. He chooses the ring creature afterlife and joins a gigantic collective ring. In an unrelated epilogue the author recounts a story of when he contracted a fever after being scratched by a cat.

[Michele]

I'm 99% positive this is Viscous Circle by Piers Anthony. It's part of a series built around this theme of the "aura" being able to transfer into beings on other planets. The first book in the series is Cluster.

[Rafi]

definitely piers anthony, I remember the authors note about the cat.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

Possibly solved?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Languishing in the purgatory of Possibly Solved since 2015.

Moving to Solved.