Book description
On the planet Shanji, a ruthless Emperor rules a subjugated people.
Kati, raised by the lower caste Tumatsin, is taken captive by the
Emperor's troops, but saved by The Searchers, who see her as the
promised Empress of Light, who can control the hot light of creation.
But Kati's psychic powers can destroy a planet or star, and could be
beyond everyone's control. She must decide how to use her powers when
there is a planetary invasion from afar, led by a powerful Empress Kati
thought was her friend and teacher. The barbarian girl must take charge
of her own destiny, not only for herself but for Shanji and its
neighboring worlds. Born with the heritage of two races, she must rule
both of them. Jim read and wrote science fiction as a kid and
published a fanzine while in high school, but then came college, a
degree in physics and starting a family while working on ion and arc-jet
engines at Rocketdyne. Graduate school followed, and a thirty five year
career as a professor of physics, department head and dean at North
Dakota State University and Eastern Washington University. The writing
during this time was seventy five technical papers on his research in
molecular biophysics and superconductivity. But the fiction writing bug
bit hard again when Jim was well into his forties. His first published
story was in Aboriginal S. F. and soon after he won the 1990 grand prize
in the Writers of the Future Contest. He retired from his academic job
in 1999 and now writes full time.
