A Seed Out of Time (Paperback)

A Seed out of Time is a story from the hidden heart of Africa, blending social realism with fantasy, crime and intrigue. It deals, essentially, with the apparently irreconcilable disparities between different cultures.

Elia of the Baktari, a central African tribe, is torn between her duty as the high chieftain’s daughter and queen designate of the tribe, and her career as a Western geologist, working at a mine not far from her village which contains a priceless meteoric mineral called borlanium. And in the borlanium grows an alien plant, the poisonous hitari, the seed of which makes the eater thereof immortal …

Elia’s crippled brother, ahead of her in line for the Baktari throne, as well as the chieftain who is seeking her hand, are rivals for the ownership of the deadly plant. Elia is also being pursued by Dick Smith, a fellow geologist. To complicate matters she has to deal with a criminal take-over of the borlanium mine and the murder of the mine’s foreman.

The life choice she finally makes will seal her destiny and that of her tribe …

About the author
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A former high school teacher of English who also has some experience in journalism, South African author Jill Morsbach writes fiction for children as well as adults. To date she has had ten novels published as well as several short stories and plays. She prefers the genres of science fiction and fantasy, basing her stories in real-life situations such as are found in the Africa of today. Recently she won the national Nova prize for short-story writing in these two genres.