About the Book
Book: Crystal Witness
Author: Kathy Tyers
Genre: Christian fiction, science fiction, futuristic
Release Date: June 16, 2020
Her memories are blocked. Her freedom is gone. Her crime is a mystery.
When Ming Dalamani awakens from twenty years of suspended animation, she recalls only fragments of her former life: the life she led before she was arrested by the governing interplanetary corporation, Renasco, for a now unremembered crime.
Relocated to an alien world far from the only home she has ever known, Ming serves a powerful Renasco representative to repay her debt. But daily she lives with deadly threats from two men—the hideous mutant Zardir Huekk and the handsome, secretive musician Tieg Innig—who both want the same thing: information. Renasco-trained as a calligrapher in three dimensions, Ming begins to remember more: a clan, a mission, and interstellar piracy.
Ming must decide where her loyalties lie: with her powerful new employer, with a budding resistance movement… or elsewhere.
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My Thoughts:
I have always wanted to read an author Tyers book. I have a couple of her older ones, I just have not picked them up, partly because she awed me. Why? Because her stories sound so amazing, but they are science fiction, and well as much as I want to, sometimes I just don't get them.
Crystal Witness sets up an interesting premise. Ming has been asleep for twenty years, for a crime she is not able to remember. When she wakes up she is not her own master, she is company property. Understandably she is leery of everyone. And there is some really creepy human hybrid creatures. Who can she trust and what is the truth in the world she now lives in?
For the atmosphere of space and dimensions the author is very good in her detail. I would say that this is a deep space novel. Probably due to my limited imagination, I did have some trouble keeping characters apart and trying to process all the technical detail as well.
Reminding me a bit of such movies like Babylon 5 and Star Trek, I recommend this as a solid science fiction novel. Even though it is not my usual reading, the premise and character's journey to the truth captured my attention (even with my limited scope).
I was provided a copy of this novel by the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.
About the Author
Kathy Tyers is widely published in speculative fiction, including her award-winning Firebird series and two licensed Star Wars “Legends” novels, as well as a travel book, a writing reference book, and a memoir co-written for classical guitarist Christopher Parkening. Her messiah-in-space novel Daystar, fifth in the Firebird series, won a 2013 Carol Award, and her terraforming/genetic engineering science fiction novel Shivering World won the 2019 Christy Award for Visionary Fiction. At home in southwest Montana with her husband William Gillin, Kathy focuses on writing, teaching music, and freelance editing.
More from Kathy
In 1988, after the initial release of Firebird and Fusion Fire by Bantam Books of New York, my then-editor asked for a stand-alone novel, and my then-agent presented me with a contract to write that book in just over half the time that I actually needed. So my third novel, Crystal Witness, appeared in 1989—and while the plot had strong bones, I wished I’d had several more months to polish it. Much to my delight, Enclave Publishing is re-issuing Crystal Witness in June 2020 with the layers of polishing added. While I was adding those layers, I found myself wondering what would happen next. Maybe … oh, yes … hmmm … Aha!
Now that Crystal Witness is ready to stand up and sing, I am delighted to be working on a multi-book sequel series, The Sunstone Saga, also to be released by Enclave Publishing. Book 1 of the saga, The Long Silence, is well underway. It introduces a new cast of characters and asks a powerful question: Where has God been, while humankind went to the stars?
Crystal Witness is the story of young Ming Dalamani, who wakens from twenty years of suspended animation to find herself “company property” on a distant world, with no memory of the crime she must have committed. She only knows that a powerful corporate monopoly rules interstellar space, and she has been assigned to serve a company representative. Immediately, powerful (and opposing) individuals offer threats and bribes, trying to enlist her to spy for both sides of a deadly intrigue. How long can Ming play both sides of the plot against her urgent wish to find out who she is … and what was her crime?
My background in music and the arts always manages to show up in my books. I made Ming a calligrapher in three dimensions, wielding a set of injection pens to create elegant designs in clear slabs. Another character is a court musician with futuristic technology at his fingertips. My entire family was musical; my mother played in 20thCentury Fox’s prestigious sound stage orchestra in the 1950s, and my father grew up in a family band that toured the U.S. every summer. When I was widowed in 2004 and needed to make a fresh start, I discovered that Regent College in Vancouver BC had a program in which I could study toward a Master’s degree in Christianity and the Arts—and write a science fiction novel as part of my thesis project. That book, Wind and Shadow, picked up the Firebird series at Book 4 and led to its completion in Daystar, Book 5. That series is conclusively finished—as you know, if you have read Daystar!
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, June 30
Fiction Aficionado, July 1
Where Faith and Books Meet, July 1
Texas Book-aholic, July 2
Inklings and notions, July 3
deb’s Book Review, July 3
Worthy2Read, July 4
Blogging With Carol, July 5
For Him and My Family, July 6
Book of Ruth Ann, July 7
Mia Reads, July 7
Christian Chick’s Thoughts, July 8
Through the Fire Blogs, July 9
Emily Yager, July 10
Hallie Reads, July 10
Adventures of a Travelers Wife, July 11
Breny and Books, July 11
amandainpa, July 12
Pause for Tales, July 13
The Artist Librarian, July 13
Giveaway
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Sounds like a great book.
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