Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts

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By Kelley Armstrong & Julie E. Czerneda &

Publisher Description

Recommended by Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and School Library Journal.

There's a delicate balance between mental health and mental illness.

Who are the STRANGERS AMONG US?
We are your fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and lovers. We staff your stores, cross your streets, and study in your schools, invisible among you. We are your outcasts and underdogs, and often, your unsung heroes.

Nineteen science fiction and fantasy authors tackle the division between mental health and mental illness; how the interplay between our minds' quirks and the diverse societies and cultures we live in can set us apart, or must be concealed, or become unlikely strengths.

We find troubles with Irish fay, a North Korean cosmonaut's fear of flying, an aging maid dealing with politics of revenge, a mute boy and an army of darkness, a sister reaching out at the edge of a black hole, the dog and the sleepwalker, and many more.

After all, what harm can be done.

AUTHORS: Kelley Armstrong, Suzanne Church, A.M. Dellamonica, Gemma Files, James Alan Gardner, Bev Geddes, Erika Holt, Tyler Keevil, Rich Larson, Derwin Mak, Mahtab Narsimhan, Sherry Peters, Ursula Pflug, Robert Runté, Lorina Stephens, Amanda Sun, Hayden Trenholm, Edward Willett, A.C. Wise

Introduction by Julie E. Czerneda

Edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law

Praise for Strangers Among Us

"Strangers Among Us . . . is important, shining a much-needed spotlight on issues that get far too little attention. A wonderful anthology, one of the major SF&F books of the year. Bravo!" -- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Quantum Night

"Stories do a masterful job of knitting legitimate and painful mental illnesses to characters who still retain agency and power." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Mental illness is an exciting theme for an anthology, leaving plenty of room for variety." -- Library Journal

"These stories address such varied subjects as agoraphobia, depression, schizophrenia, autism, anxiety, and addiction . . . readers who have mental illnesses may find themselves somewhere in these pages and as a result may no longer feel so alone or isolated." -- School Library Journal

"A solid effort, a mixed SF/fantasy original anthology, with a number of entertaining stories to be found within its pages." -- Locus (Gardner Dozois)

"The stories in Strangers Among Us are as varied in tone and approach as their authors. The power of the collection derives from this variety; while each story can be read in isolation, the assemblage of outsiders feels, on a whole, exultant. There is, indeed, strength in numbers, when each individual is accorded space and respect." --Quill & Quire

Honorable Mentions

2017 Aurora (Canadian SF&F) Award Winner

2017 Alberta Book Publishers Award Winner (Speculative Fiction Book of the Year)

2016 Foreword INDIES Finalist (Anthologies)

One honorable mention in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 (ed. by John Joseph Adams and Charles Yu)

Six honorable mentions in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (ed. by Gardner Dozois)

One story selected for Wilde Stories 2017: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (ed. by Steve Berman)

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1 Review

3.0

Mariechen Puchert

Created about 8 years ago

“Because mental health is so important to me, both personally and professionally, it is impossible to give an unbiased review of this collection of shorts. Initially, I wrote mini-reviews for each story in my GoodReads updates. Around the tenth story I became irritated and deserted that endeavor. The first few stories were really enjoyable, while the latter half became increasingly absurd and/or technical. I like sci-fi, but I’m not a rabid fan. I think digesting so many different sci-fi worlds one after the other may have become a bit overwhelming. Of course, I tend to like to digest anthologies slowly, over many months, which is not always possible when a book needs to be reviewed. Some thoughts on my likes and dislikes: * I preferred the stories where the mental illness being focused on wasn’t spelled out. Sometimes it was easy to figure out (schizophrenia or other delusional disorders), others, like autism and grief, more subtle. * I feel like the point (one of the points) of this anthology was how pervasive mental health is. It doesn’t need a genre of its own; it needs to be PART OF all our genres. * Some of the stories made the sci-fi element of their story a result of their character’s mental illness. I did not like this (see paragraph above). I preferred the stories taking place in a sci-fi universe, WITH characters that have mental illness. Example: The Intersection by Lorina Stephens, where a brother on a space station uses technology to be “physically” present while his sister is having a panic attack. * My least favourite of all the stories are those that cast doubt on whether the delusional party is truly ill. I’m not talking about an unreliable narrator or a mind-bending story. I’m talking about those short stories where the author addresses the diagnoses as being incorrect, for example, in Troubles by Sherry Peters, where the protagonist does not take her treatment, and where the author treats the fay that her character sees as real, but only visible to her. This is a damaging narrative, and allows the romanticisation of mental illness, and ultimately disallows for effective treatment. How Objects Behave on the Edge of a Black Hole by A.C. Wise is at risk of this too; trying very hard to rationalise the sister's ghost, this time by means of science. (I'm not opposed to science explaining apparent paranormal appearances, but using it to attempt to deny a mental illness is risky.) * Some of my favourite parts were actually in the foreword and the author’s notes. In all, I found this to be an important anthology, and at the very least its faults can contribute to important debate. “We know what to do about gashed skin or a child’s fever. We can see for ourselves when a wound is healed or a child is over a flu. The mind though. It’s secretive, complex, powerful. When it’s sick, we flinch, not knowing what to do, unable to see. There’s nothing familiar to guide us.” Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book via NetGalley and Laksa Media Groups in exchange for an honest review.”

Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts

Publisher Description

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1 Review

About Kelley Armstrong

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Julie E. Czerneda

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Edward Willett

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Rich Larson

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James Alan Gardner

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A.M. Dellamonica

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Susan Forest

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Lucas K. Law

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Gemma Files

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Hayden Trenholm

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A.C. Wise

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Suzanne Church

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Ursula Pflug

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Amanda Sun

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Bev Geddes

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Erika Holt

Tyler Keevil

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Derwin Mak

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Mahtab Narsimhan

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Sherry Peters

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Lorina Stephens

Robert Runté

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