CSFF Blog Tour: Kathy Tyers

Well, better late than never, I guess....

To get the word out about Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy, the good folks at American Christian Fiction Writers have been conducting blog tours. This month's subject is a fantastic author named Kathy Tyers.

Ms. Tyers is the reason why I read Christian Sci-Fi. I converted to CSF in a sort of round about way. The thanks, believe it or not, goes to Star Wars.

See, I read the Star Wars novels obsessively. I've got one big shelf in my house filled with them. So naturally, I was aware of Tyers' two novels, The Truce at Bakura and Balance Point. I also found a copy of Shivering World. The hard science fiction of terraforming kept me engaged, but I was surprised by the Christian references in the book. By the time I was done reading it, I was wondering if Kathy Tyers was Christian.

Then one day, I was browsing the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy section at Christian Book Distributors, hoping to find something that piqued my interest. I came across a trilogy of books, the author of which had a familiar name. I just couldn't place it.

I kept repeating the name to myself over and over and over again, finally looking up at my massive collection of Star Wars novels. It was there that I say Ms. Tyers' name. I decided, "What the heck. I'll give this trilogy she's written a shot."

What was the trilogy in question? The Firebird Trilogy.

I know I haven't reviewed this on my blog yet. I won't post a review here yet. These books are on my list to re-read; once I'm done with Donita K. Paul's latest book, I'll re-read Firebird and review the books here.

At any rate, I absolutely loved Firebird. It was simply a great story. But here I'm getting ahead of myself again.

Anyway, there you go. As far as the blog tour is concerned, I've only had a chance to read Beth Goddard's two part interview with Kathy Tyers. But I'll be poking through the other blogs, and so should you. Here's a list of the participants:

Jim Black
John J. Boyer
Valerie Comer
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Pamela James
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith

Perhaps tomorrow I'll write about one of the "Trojan Horse" moments I had reading some of Kathy's secular stuff. We'll see.

EDIT: After poking through some of the other blog tour participants' posts, I realized I should clarify something. Apparently Kathy originally published the first two Firebird books and Shivering World as secular books. Since that time, Bethany House Publishing has reprinted them and allowed Kathy to pump up the Christian content.

The reason I thought I'd share this is because I think the copy of Shivering World I found in my local library was the original version. I haven't had a chance to read the re-release yet. That's why, at the time, I wondered if Kathy was a Christian.