Strangers [Paperback]

Gardner R Dozois (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1978

The return of a classic science fiction novel by Hugo and Nebula award-winning author and editor Gardner Dozois! Hundreds of years in the future, Earthmen have moved out into the galaxy of inhabited worlds, but only through the gift of advanced technology from alien interstellar traders. Earthmen do not dominate among inhabited worlds, as many races are older and wiser - in fact, space travellers from Earth are second-class citizens or worse on most of the planets they visit. Joseph Farber, an artist, is part of the uncomfortable and decadent Earth colony among the alien Cian on the planet Weinunnach. As with many earthling spacefarers, Farber suffers a decline in spirits when faced with the utter difference of aline cultures, yet he is deeply moved by the rituals of the Cian - and by Liraun, a humanoid Cian, with whom he falls in love. And though love between races is forbidden, he allows himself to be genetically altered so that he and Liraun may marry and interbreed. But the couple soon discovers that the fundamental differences between their races and cultures prevent adequate communication between them. This lack of communication leads to a powerful climax of tragedy and revelation.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gardner Dozois is one of only a couple of people to have won a Hugo award thirteen times. He is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine and the Year's Best Science Fiction collections, and two-time Nebula Award-winning author. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; paperback / softback edition (1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425039242
• ISBN-13: 978-0425039243
• ASIN: 0399120955
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,276,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant, beautiful novel., April 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Strangers (Paperback)

Many people today, sadly, have no idea that Gardner Dozois was an author before editorship took over his career; mainly a short story writer, he wrote a single solo novel (STRANGERS) and a novel in collaboration with George Alec Effinger (NIGHTMARE BLUE) and has had three or four interrelated short story collections published (the latest of which being STRANGE DAYS: FABULOUS JOURNEYS WITH GARDNER DOZOIS). STRANGERS, sadly his only solo novel, is a masterpiece. It has beautiful, effective prose coupled with believable, likable characters with complete depth. The narrative is surprisingly immersive--once I began reading, I could not stop myself from continuing on, and ended up finishing the entire novel in the space of a single afternoon. This novel is highly recommended; rather, think of it in terms of me pushing you towards this page, saying, "You HAVE to buy this book!"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For Those Exchange Students or Peace Core Workers in an Affair Overseas, March 7, 2006

By 

Antinomian (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strangers (Paperback)

Quick plot summary: a human has an affair with a alien on an alien planet.

Although Dozois does attempt to portray the alien and her planet as truly alien, it comes off more as an American male who has fallen in love with someone in Russia or Japan. There are many subtle differences between cultures of different countries and for someone foreign to a country for an extended time, those differences can be astonishing, bewildering, and frustrating. Add to that an emotional experience of an relationship then those differences can become more pronounced.

The downside of this novel is that it's deeply sad. Published in 1978, it can be considered a novel of it's time, such as Gregory Benford's The Stars in Shroud also published in 1978, that has this deep fatalistic tone throughout. It's a few years after the loss of the Vietnam War, there's a simultaneous economic hyperinflation and recession at the same time, one of the first's in US history, with no precedent on how to react to it, there's an oil shortage, it's during the time of ecological shambles with such events as the Cleveland River catching fire, and is a few years before the optimism of Reagan. So the hopelessness of the times permeates throughout the novel. The upside is if the theme interests you, it can be read quickly as it's a short novel at 166 pages.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, August 1, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangers (Paperback)

Humans have peaceful, if ineffectual trade relations with the alien humanoid race on Lisle. They know next to nothing about their biology, a closely guarded secret.

This all changes when a human falls in love with one of their women, and finds out that their evolution and reproduction has a great cost.

A reasonable, short, and dark toned book.