An Unexpected Reading Delight

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I'm no sci-fi buff, but I've always had hints of interest in the genre. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much of it in the CBA market. That's soon to change thanks to Marcher Lord Press and Splashdown Books.

Kathy Tyers is one of the founding mothers of it in the CBA. I didn't know this when I picked up Shivering World, one of her stand-alone novels. I started reading the novel in a hotel room about a year ago but never got past the first few chapters. It wasn't because the story wasn't good, but I was trying to read a sci-fi novel with the same speed I read a thriller. I ended up glossing over much-needed information.

So after meeting Kathy Tyers at the Christian Writers Guild's Writing for the Soul conference this past February, I picked the novel up again. This time I read it differently. I made myself slow down and read every single word carefully. And suddenly I found myself on Goddard, a planet far far away. I had no trouble immersing myself in Tyers' world this time around. True, some of the scientific aspects still went over my head (as they would in real life too), but it didn't diminish my enjoyment. There's suspense, romance (not overdone), and humor. I loved how this isn't just a clean sci-fi novel. It's also refreshingly honest about God and faith. Even on another planet, we need a Savior.

Unfortunately, Shivering World is out of print, but it's still available used. I highly recommend you pick up a copy if you have any inclination for sci-fi. I've been told Kathy's Firebird Trilogy is fantastic too, so I'm planning to pick up those soon!

Here's a summary I found of Shivering World on Kathy's website:

When Gaea Consortium offers Graysha Brady-Phillips a tour of hazard duty on a raw pioneer planet she leaps at the chance, even though her predecessor died -- a victim of either the savage weather outside the domes or the fanatic population within. But Graysha isn't on Goddard just to collect triple pay. She’s trying to save her life. The colonists' radical -- and illegal -- science just might offer Graysha a cure for the genetic disease that's slowly starving her at the cellular level. But Goddard's terraforming pioneers, pursued by the Eugenics Board for gene tampering and battling Gaea Consortium for their very survival, are naturally suspicious of outsiders -- especially someone connected to the two organizations that are trying hardest to destroy them. The settlers think Graysha's a spy. Graysha thinks the settlers are trying to kill her. They're both right. And the fate of their planet hangs in the balance.