 Paperback cover | |
| Author | Alan Dean Foster |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Michael Whelan |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
Publication date | August 12, 1982 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 231 |
| ISBN | 0-345-29141-7 |
| OCLC | 8495122 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3556.O756 N6 1982 |
Nor Crystal Tears is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster, first published on 12 August 1982. Foster's ninth book set in the Humanx Commonwealth, it is a first-contact story about the meeting of the insectoid Thranx and Man. This sets in motion the creation of the Humanx Commonwealth; the political body that is the union of human and thranx society which forms the foundation for many of Foster's science-fiction novels.
Nor Crystal Tears is written from the perspective of the Thranx and the cultural lens through which they encounter the monstrous, fleshy alien mammals known as humans. A primary theme is the paranoia and fear the two vastly different races naturally have for each other upon first contact, but also how individuals are able to overcome these innate fears and prejudices and set in motion the foundation for what would become Foster's Humanx Commonwealth.
Foster would further expand on this theme with another alien race, the furry Quozl, in their eponymous novel.[1]