Strangers Among Us
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You may be looking for the Star Trek: TOS novel Stranger Among Us.
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Strangers Among Us |
| Publisher: | Horizon |
| Editor: | |
| Author(s): | Ann Harding and Patricia A. Thomas |
| Cover Artist(s): | Kay Wallace and Heather Lulham |
| Illustrator(s): | Tim Pieraccini |
| Date(s): | 1979, reprinted spring 1987 |
| Medium: | |
| Size: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Blake’s 7/Star Trek: TOS |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Strangers Among Us is a gen Star Trek: TOS/Blake's 7 crossover 71-page novel by Ann Harding and Patricia A. Thomas. It was printed in England in 1979 and is digest-sized. Interior art is by Tim Pieraccini.
It is unknown if the 1979 and 1987 editions were identical or printed in a different form.
another cover, probably the 1979 edition
front cover of the 1987 edition, Kay Wallace (Avon, Spock, Liberator) & Heather Lulham (Blake, Kirk)
Sample Interior Gallery
Reactions and Reviews
Not terribly bad, but not terribly good either. I found they all got on with each other a bit too quickly.[1]
STRANGERS AMONG US, a novel by Anne Harding and Patricia Thomas, is an engaging B7/ST crossover story in which two crippled shuttlecraft are rescued by the LIBERATOR after their emergence from a black hole (while functions as a passage between parallel universes). One shuttle contains a Romulan spy; the other contains Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Uhura. The natural suspicion toward the Federation bodes ill for the ENTERPRISE party, while the Romulan is welcomed with open arms. Much of the novel revolves around the attempt by Kirk's people to win over Blake and his crew. I found this to be a good twist, and was pleased to find a genuine plot. It is a great temptation for a crossover story simply to throw the characters together and derive the story just from their reactions to one another. STRANGERS avoids this pitfall by giving both sides something to do. I found it uneven, but the high points are high indeed. The mechanics of the plot were sometimes creaky; it was never really explained to my satisfaction what was so dreadfully wrong with the LIBERATOR that Avon spends the entire novel fixing Zen. There is a lot of technological mumbo-jumbo that didn't rally bother me; you'd have to ask a real hacker if the computerese was for real. I would like to have seen the long and somewhat tiresome explanation of the Romulan situation handled more smoothly than in one lump sum in the Captain's Log at the beginning. I realize, however, that this is a convenient and traditional manner of exposition in TREK stories. I consider these to be only minor drawbacks. The technical aspects of the plot aside, the novel features good writing and interesting ideas. One theme of the novel is the essential similarity between Blake and Kirk, shown both in their dealings with each other and in their interactions with their crews. Also, Spock and Avon are paired off to repair a badly damaged Zen; not surprisingly, they get along rather well. The writers take this examination a step further and contrast Blake's relationship with Avon to Kirk's relationship with Spock. The points are not belabored, but worked into the plot neatly. Some of the other characters do not fare as well. Cally's famous intuition appears to have deserted her, and Gan is conveniently injured and kept out of the way. Uhura has a few promising lines but frankly comes off as less competent than, say, the Ubura who adjusted. so well in "Mirror, Mirror." I also felt that there were relationships that were ignorecI or underdeveloped. For instance, the fact that Cally and Spock are both limited telepaths is never even mentioned! The scenes between McCoy and Vila are tantalizingly brief; for the most part they are TOLD, not SHOWN. Since the dialogue is often snappy and clever in other situations (Jenna's brushoff of Kirk is a classic!), I felt cheated of what could have been done. The cover by Kay Wallace and Heather Lulham ties in nicely with the story, showing the pairs of things to be contrasted (Spock and Avon, Enterprise and Liberator, Kirk and Blake) and the interior art by Tim Pieraccini is in a style I like a lot but can't really describe: realistic but sort of rough-hewn looking. Since my chief criticism is a backhanded compliment (if it weren't so well done, I would hardly want more!) I recommend this novel; its good points outweigh its flaws. [2]