Amy has always loved science fiction—books, movies, shows, and games. She was born in San Diego, California, and moved with her family to Vancouver, Washington, at the age of seven. After devouring some of the classics like Dune and Ender's Game in her tween years, she began writing science fiction and fantasy short stories.
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In the ensuing years, Amy attended the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, where she continued to study creative writing, visual art and played viola in the school orchestra. During this time, she began the very early sketches of what would eventually evolve into the Cadicle series.
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Amy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Portland State University, and also pursued minors in Professional Writing and Business Administration. After graduating, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and began working in business development for an energy efficiency consulting firm. Over the next several years, she primarily wrote proposals to prospective utility clients and managed the proposal development process. She then transitioned from energy efficiency into the architectural, engineering and planning industry. However, she eventually succumbed to the writing bug.
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Now a full-time author, Amy currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband. When she's not writing, she enjoys travel, wine tasting, binge-watching TV series, and playing epic strategy board games.
BIOGRAPHY
DARK STARS
BOOK 1: CRYSTALLINE SPACE
ABOUT THE BOOK
"Do-overs" are possible.
The crystalline network allows reality to be reset to past moments in time…
After a routine reset on her homeworld, Elle Hartmut instead awakens on a spaceship. Her body is different, she has new magical abilities, and she’s told that the fate of known civilization is in her hands.
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An alien Darkness is corrupting entire worlds.
Elle and a team of magically enhanced companions embark on an interstellar quest to seal the Master Archive—the only hope of restoring the infected planets.
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Ancient relics may hold the key to salvation.
With only vague clues to guide them, Elle and her new friends must gather legendary artifacts to protect the Archive. But if they can’t unravel the ancient secrets in time, their worlds and loved ones will be lost in shadow forever.
PLOT SYNOPSIS - Crystalline Space (Dark Stars Book 1)
The unique crystalline network spanning the Hegemony’s worlds records physical states at set moments in time, allowing reality to be reset.
Elle Hartmut was a regular teenager living on the backwater world of Erusan, getting ready to attend college in the coming months. She had dreams of going to Tactical School and becoming a Space Ranger for the Hegemony, but a childhood injury derailed those aspirations.
One afternoon, while enjoying her last summer break, Elle and her friends discover a dark cloud in one of the crystals outside their hometown. Before they can investigate, the mayor calls a town meeting and initiates what should be a routine planet-scale reset.
Instead of returning to the reset point, Elle awakens on a spaceship, the Evangiel. Her consciousness has been extracted and synced with a new, enhanced body. She also has new abilities, granting her amazing fighting skills and the ability to cast magic, though she’s not sure to what extent. Most crucially, she’s told that she holds the fate of known civilization in her hands.
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An alien Darkness is corrupting the crystalline network, threatening to destroy the Hegemony as it transforms the infected worlds into twisted wastelands. The only hope of saving the Hegemony’s worlds is to seal the Master Archive, the backup record for the reset points of all known worlds.
Elle joins a team with Kaiden (a magic caster) and Toran (a fighter built like a tank). They begin searching for ancient artifacts that will allow access to the Master Archive so they can seal it. After retrieving the Protection artifact for Toran (a set of gauntlets), the team get a new member, Maris—another magic caster specializing in haste, protective, and restorative magic. The quartet then retrieves the Spirit artifact (a magic circlet) for Kaiden, and then the Valor artifact (a sword with magical blue flames along its blade) for Elle. Finally, they are ready to take on the last trials to seal the Master Archive.
The team enters the Archive and defeats a series of foes, using the skills they have mastered in their respective disciplines. Elle discovers that she has capabilities in all three disciplines, including the ability to cast magic. In the process, they each receive visions related to the Darkness: an invasion force is coming.
Upon passing the tests, the team is greeted by an ethereal voice who confirms that their visions will guide them in the fight to come. The team is then given a small shard of a Master Crystal. With the Archive sealed, it will enable them to control a universal-scale reset. They now have a means to fight back against the Darkness.