People of the Sky

Overview

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Editorial Reviews

Bell has written several YA novels, including Ratha's Creature , an ALA Best Book. This futuristic novel is an intriguing blend of adult material and YA tone. Kesbe Temiya grew up on 23rd-century Earth, 220 years after most of her Pueblo Indian ancestors left Earth in order to preserve their traditions. While flying an old C-47, dubbed Gooney Bird , to its new owner on the planet Oneway, Kesbe goes down in a storm, and is rescued by Imiya, who says he is a member of a tribe called the People of the Sky, and who flies on an insect-like creature called an aronan. Kesbe realizes that Imiya is a descendant of her own long-lost tribe, who secretly settled here and abandoned their technology. What she learns about their symbiotic relationship to the aronans, and her own mixed heritage, is interwoven with Imiya's fears of his coming-of-age ritual. Bell creates a believable cultural blend of Indian and alien.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Author Information

Bio of Clare Bell

Born in England in 1952, Clare Bell moved to the US in 1957. She worked in oceanography, electrical engineering, test equipment design and mechanical engineering before she wrote her first book, Ratha's Creature (Atheneum-Argo Margaret K .McElderry 1983), the story of a prehistoric wildcat who learns to tame fire. Since then she has continued to write fantasy and science fiction for children and adults. She says, "I am still fascinated by prehistoric animals and big cats, as showcased in the five Ratha series novels. I consider my two little cats, Danny and Athena, to be research assistants as well as companions and have learned a lot from them." "My stories show sociological themes as well, exploring the changes that are brought about in culture through technology, even one as crude as fire. I also enjoy creating plausible and workable prehistoric animal and alien characters. The central theme of my fiction is evolution, a result of my being influenced early by the works of C.S. Lewis, Olaf Stapledon , and Arthur C. Clarke. Bell has degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, biology and chemistry and she works in technical areas in addition to writing fiction. She built and designed electric vehicles and spent a year in Norway working on the Ford Think EV. She raced EVs in the Arizona Public Service Company-sponsored Solar and Electrics competitions, held from 1991 to 1998. Her electric Porsche 914, known by her racing number, #13, was a well-known top-placing competitor in these races. She was also involved with the Women's Electric Racing and Educational Team (WE'RE-IT), racing the Porsche and a converted race-Rabbit, #6 Hop-along. After moving to a remote site in California's coastal mountains, Bell and her partner put together theirr own solar and wind systems and experimented with a power-generating waterwheel. A naturalized citizen of the US, she now lives with her partner-become-husband, Chuck Piper, in the hills west of Patterson, California. Please visit her website at rathascourage.com.

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Additional Info

Imprint

ereads.com

Filesize

468.51 KB

Number of Pages

N/A

eBook ISBN

075929447X