Author Spotlight: Kathy Tyers, Christian Sci-Fi Writer

This is a corrected version of the article I submitted last week. Apparently I made a mistake pasting the text from my word processor to the AC template and the article repeated many times over, stretching it out to thirty pages, creating problems for some viewers trying to read it. This is the proper article.

Kathy Tyers is an author who has become widely respected in both the science fiction and Christian fiction markets. She is best know for her contributions to Del Rey Publications' Star Wars Expanded Universe, but she has also written several original novels and short stories as well as a travel book, and she also collaborated with guitarist Christopher Parkening on his autobiography Grace Like a River.

Tyers' love of writing began during her childhood. The first heroes she knew were Peter Pan, Robin Hood, Paul McCartney and J.R.R. Tolkien. Kathy took up writing as a hobby, first in the second and third grades, then again in junior high school and into high school. She loved to write adventure stories. But as school work and various interests began to demand more of her time, Kathy put her writing aside.

As a student at Montana State University, Kathy met her future husband Mark Tyers. She finished her first degree in microbiology. After she and Mark were married, Kathy returned to college and became certified to teach grades kindergarten through twelve. When her church opened a private school, she took over the lower grades.

Kathy Tyers retired from teaching in 1979 so that she and her husband could start a family. Their son Matthew was born in 1981. In 1983, Kathy began writing again. Her son would take long naps and liked to play alone. So she got out her typewriter and began to work on a book. The result was Firebird, her first novel, which she sold to Banta Spectra in 1986.