Sidewinder (A-Team zine)

Zine
Title:	Sidewinder
Publisher:	Donna Foster and TAT Appreciation Society, distributed by Domino Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Owen Pentecost
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	August 1986
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	The A-Team
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Sidewinder is a gen 58-page A-Team novel by Owen Pentecost.

It is a series of four interconnected stories where Decker and the Team get caught up in a plot involving the space shuttle.

Chapters

• Extreme Political Pressure
• Incident at DaNang
• Sidewinder
• Report to the General

Reactions and Reviews

Decker and the Team caught up in a plot involving the space shuttle. Good story with lots of background on Decker and Captain Crane.

This zine is divided into 4 stories, more like chapters of one long story, starting with Decker and Crane in Vietnam and the truth about what happened in the attack on the hospital Decker was blamed with and that gave him such a cut-throat reputation. We find out how the two military men became close associates, and the encounter in the officer's club between Decker and Hannibal that would spark the rivarly between the two that would come back into play when Decker came in charge of the hunt for the A-Team. This is certainly the most fascinating and unique section of the 'zine's story, presenting a very nice look at Decker and Crane and fleshing them out into characters of much more depth than they ever were on the TV show. After that, the story switches to the modern day, and a plot involving a foreign terrorist group trying to steal a disabled space shuttle (yes, space shuttle), and a series of circumstances that bring the Team and Crane together first to find Decker nd then to keep the Shuttle out of the bad guys' hands. It's a fast-moving tale, and the writer seems to have done a fair amount of research into the technical details of the weaponry used and the military, especially impressive as something coming from 'acorss the pond.' :-) While enjoyable, somehow this second half of the story doesn't quite hook the reader as much as the earlier section predominantly on Decker and Crane does. Perhaps because some of the action seems rushed, or fails to create the level of tension I would find more exciting. Nevertheless, overall it's a fairly solid piece of work and interesting as an unusual and very different type of A-Team story. The Team's dialogue is often quite good, especially Murdock and BA's bickering. The 'zine is also well proof-read (always a plus to this reader), although the "word density" per page is a little lower than I usually care for (ie, big margins and empty spaces...could probably trimmed the size down to about 45 pages easily and thereby lowering cover cost. Just a minor nit-pick).

I.M.O. exceptionally good stor[ies], at least compared to the other A-Team zine stories I've read. Definitely worth checking out if you can find it. Not that the other stuff is necessarily bad, but [these] I especially enjoyed. Your Mileage May Vary.