Cloud Culture Spotlight: Keeper, a science fiction novel by Kristine Williams

The internet has given the lovers of many art forms a lot of reasons to be excited. Be it in music, painting, or comics, the gates are now open for any and all artists willing to put their stuff out for the rest of us to enjoy. My own passion has always been writing; and I've lately regretted the fact that I haven't taken much time to get to work finding and customizing the filters that exist to help me find some good fiction.

So I got to work and I wanted to share a truly excellent piece of writing that I discovered along the way: Keeper, by Kristine Williams.

Keeper is set in the distant future, in a time when human slaves are engineered with special abilities, tailored to be unyieldingly loyal and obedient. Explorer Alex Marcase believed such slaves to be a fanciful myth until he inherited one himself. The revelation begins a series of events that turn his world upside down and back again.

The plot itself is enjoyable and subtle in its development; I have to say that towards the end Williams kept me guessing every step of the way, and I didn't see the ending coming at all. Whether that's a tribute to her great writing or my stupidity, I'll let you decide.

Plot aside, the work is primarily a character piece about Alex as well as Evan, the man Alex inherited from his father. Individual chapters tend to focus on either Alex's or Evan's point of view, so that the story ends up being told almost entirely through their eyes. Watching the two get thrown together, unsure of how to deal with one another, and develop a firm respect for one another is an enjoyable read in itself. Evan's peculiar abilities and circumstances and Alex's eccentric personality kept me interested, and they played off of one another well. It helped that Williams made them both easy to like, as well.

If you like science fiction or simply appreciate good writing, I really recommend Keeper. If you like it enough, you can make a donation from the book's main page, or buy a print version of the book on Lulu.

I was happy to discover that not only has Kristine Williams written other books, but that Keeper is part of a series with three more books in it. So if you haven't already, get started on Keeper--I'll be busy working my way through Madness.