The Witches' Stones Book 1 - Igniting The Blaze

Witches’ Stones Book 1 – Igniting the Blaze

Sarah Mckenzie trained long and hard to become a space ship mechanic, so that she could leave Earth, and explore the galaxy. She is, now, an excellent mechanic, good enough to obtain her dream assignment, and join the crew of an Explorer ship, the Beth.

The Beth is bound for a planet at the edge of the galaxy, where the Explorers are searching for a cache of the Witches’ Stones. These mysterious crystals, also known as amartos, are used by the Witches of Kordea, the haughty and powerful psychics of a strange world, to channel and augment their energies. Sarah is unaware that she, herself, is stone-sensitive, even as the Witches are. That fact is about to unsettle not just her personal existence, but upset the very balance of power of the galaxy.

Unwittingly she keys the Stones before they can be safely transported to the Witches’ stronghold on Kordea, igniting a psychic blaze that attracts the attention of both the Witches and The Organization, which is the implacable human foe of the Terra Confederation, the centuries-old benign star-spanning government of most of the human race, as well as allied alien races. The Organization has developed technology that can detect amarto-fire and channel its energies, but they need the mind of an amarto-sensitive individual to make full use of their device; they need Sarah. For the Organization will do what the Kordean Witches, for all their pride, will never do: use amarto-power to dominate and control the galaxy.

To forestall galactic war, the Terra Confederation sends a rescue party from its counter-intelligence group, known as The Agency, which has long had the task of keeping tabs on Organization activity. A fast scoutship, the Camin, manned only by an Agent and a Pilot, must try to fetch Sarah and the amartos, and bring them to the safety of the Kordean stronghold before the forces of The Organization can get to them.

Sarah finds herself in the middle of two conflicts. In the psychic realm she must to choose between the mind powers of The Organization and the Witches, all the while trying to retain mastery of her own identity. In the physical realm, she becomes the prize of a desperate running space battle between the Agent and the Pilot in their ship, and a military task force sent by The Organization to fight them. Her determination to retain the mastery of her own self sends her into unexplored mental realities, while exciting but deadly physical events swirl around her and the crew of the Camin.

The novel is about 100,000 words, or 250 pages. It is the first book in the Witches' Stones series, which will explore the intricate relationships between the Witches of Kordea and human civilization, as well as the mysteries of amartos and omega-space.