Shadows of Light

Zine
Title:	Shadows of Light
Publisher:	Datazine Publications
Editor:
Author(s):	Sheryl Tribble
Cover Artist(s):	Lynne Gutshall
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	1988
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Beauty and the Beast (TV)/Adderly
Language:	English
External Links:
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front cover by Lynne Gutshall

back cover, photograph of Adderly

sample text

Shadows of Light is a Beauty and the Beast and Adderly 136-page crossover novella by Sheryl Tribble.

Summaries

From a publisher's ad: "Vincent has been kidnapped, and Catherine, haunted by terrifying dreams about him, tracks him down to Canada. She and Father race out to rescue him, but ind themselves forced to accept help from V.H. Adderly, an operative for ISI. Adderly's attempts to help are hampered by the fact that Catherine and Father want to keep Vincent's identity a secret."

From The Beauty and the Beast Buyer's Guide to Fanzines: "Vincent is captured by unscrupulous scientists, taken to Canada and tortured. With Adderly's help, Catherine rushes to his rescue."

Reactions and Reviews

Crossover with Adderly. Will someone please tell reviewers who Adderly is? More characters than a Russian novel. Similar crisis scenario to "Nor Iron Bars a Cage."

Print Quality - 3.0

Proofreading - 4.5

Sexual Content - 0.0

Plot - 3.8

Character Integrity - N/A

Believability - N/A

1988 Crossover fanzine Beauty and the Beast with Adderly (Adderly was a Canadian show, where an intelligent agent used his skills to aid citizens in trouble. It masqueraded as happening in the USA, but it was Canadian, this fanzine puts the action in Toronto). Zine has violence and scenes with the torture of Vincent, attempted rape of Catherine, not for the squeamish I guess. Front cover is a nice piece of art of Vincent, back cover is a reproduction of a photo from Adderly.

I had just read this prior to being asked to review it. When I saw it for the first time, I just had to have it because of the wonderful cover artwork by Lynne Gutshall. It's extraordinarily hard to capture Vincent so well, and most times covers lose the grey-tones. Her artwork makes you feel that he is going to jump off the cover and (hopefully) into your arms. Throughout, the book is beautifully decorated with graphics from Dover Books' Pictorial Archive collection. It is a "novella", a short novel. The format is designated as "crossover", between" Adderly" and "Beauty and the Beast". Given that any format utilizing the "hook" of a crossover is a difficult and delicate piece to achieve whole, Ms. Tribble has made a noteworthy effort, and it is entertaining on the whole. Perhaps as an Adderly effort, it succeeds brilliantly. As a "Beauty and the Beast" effort, it left me lukewarm. There are a number of reasons for this. First, I must describe what a collation of B&B fans have come up with as the perfect story: Vincent and Catherine together through most of the story, some incredibly romantic interludes throughout (with or without explicit scenes) detailing the tender interplay between the two, and more of the Tunnel World. "Shadows of Light" fails at all three of these criteria. Vincent is tortured throughout most of the book, kept prisoner away from Catherine, and, Father unrealistically leaves the Tunnel World 'to b.ecome just another face Above, reassuming his name Jacob Wells at the drop of a hat. They take the young tunnel boy Eric with them for unknown reasons. A photograph of the men he is supposed to identify could have been faxed to New York in a trice, and not risk a child... [missing text]... characterizations of at least the B&B characters are uneven. Also, there is occasional gratuitous violence, raw human body parts, another try-to-rape-Catherine scene, etc. The story is confusing at times. There are subplots about the KGB and rho-waves which leave us just short of insensible. And, the story is almost non-stop action place-to-place, like ... a television spy/cop show ... not like the fantasy between two incredibly appealing characters which the fans write (and write!) they want to see. In all, despite its flaws, for an entertaining romp, I can recommend this book, for it is fairly well written. But, for a B&B purist expecting out- standing characterizations and fantasy, it leaves at least me wanting more.