Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts (Laksa Anthology Series: Speculative Fiction)

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)