Nor Crystal Tears (1982) is a first-contact novel written by Alan Dean Foster 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.