Kelvoo's Testimonial by Phil Bailey

Kelvoo's Testimonial by Phil Bailey

LISTED AS A BEST INDIE BOOK OF 2022 BY KIRKUS REVIEWS

Kelvoo's Testimonial is a gripping, masterful adventure from the extraterrestrial's perspective.

Kelvoo watches with fascination as the cube-shaped creature descends toward the village.

This momentous event leads to first contact between a human expedition and the indigenous kloormari species, bringing knowledge and delight to beings who had never conceived of anything existing beyond their cloud-shrouded sky. The humans' kindness and generosity inspires the kloormari to trust and respect all humans.

After the first-contact mission departs, a new human visitor convinces Kelvoo and eight other kloormari to join him on a goodwill mission. Enslaved and forced to participate in an interstellar crime spree, the worst aspects of human nature are brought into sickening focus as the abducted kloormari witness the brutal punishment inflicted on a disobedient crew member. Kelvoo's revulsion deepens with each mission, whether it's to supply narcotics to addicted colonists, sell weapons to murderous armies, or traffic human females to their new owners. As peaceful, genderless beings, Kelvoo's team is subject to mental and physical abuse, including condemnation as homosexuals and heretics by the ship's holy man as he demands their termination.

Kelvoo's team concocts a plan to take control of the vessel and escape, but to succeed, they must produce a kloormar small enough to navigate the ship's ventilation ducts. Kelvoo's body is used to incubate a baby, created from genetic material contributed by each member of the team. The kloormari must train the child to execute their perilous plan while keeping the existence of the precious infant secret, but the peril and terror build and time grows harrowingly short as the team learns that the mission is destined to end with their murder.

Kelvoo's Testimonial is Kelvoo's epic personal account of first contact and its lingering effects. Written as Kelvoo's autobiography, Kelvoo's Testimonial is an in-depth exploration of the best and worst of humanity from a true outsider's perspective. Kelvoo's tale is a parable that addresses a myriad of societal issues as relevant today as they may be centuries from now.

As first-person xenofiction, Kelvoo's Testimonial will appeal to readers who enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun, or Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries series.

A simple but profound futuristic story of the painful effects of colonization. - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)