Otherwhere

The Others #2

by Margaret Wander Bonanno

What if Columbus had stumbled upon a 21st-century civilization in the New World? Otherwhere, like its predecessor The Others, explores the inevitable conflict that arises from such a clash of cultures through the eyes of two women, each from either world, whose loves and courage transcend time and ideology.

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Margaret Wander Bonanno was an American science fiction writer, ghost writer and small press publisher. She was born in New York City. She wrote seven Star Trek novels, several science fiction novels set in her own worlds, including The Others, a collaborative novel with Nichelle Nichols, a biography, and other works.

Reviews

[Guy Venturi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where are the Others of OtherWhere?

It is so wonderful (Wanderful?) to have an intelligently created world containing all of the key components of political, governmental, social, educational, economic, military, family, and generational history blended into a microcosm that can be revealed in only a few well written books that reflect our past, present, and at least some forecast of our future. The use of carefully selected and precise words, many not often used in writing today, but much easier to follow with the current supplemental tools provided with e-books, and the easy access to internet referenced information, has made the target audience potentially greater than it would have been in the past. The series is a worthy candidate for a Nobel prize for its dynamite portraying of how the world can be shaped by a few people based on unpredictable, even with telepathy, as molded by their limited experience in a confusing environment that instills their manipulation of events based on their love/hate relationships with themselves and Others. Changes at the macro level are made by those at the lowest levels of society, either directly, or through seemingly innocuous events. The media mad world traveling at an accelerating pace does not allow time to review history as it is being made and shaped by the masses with limited knowledge and manipulated information. Only a few can attempt to control the public information and the public response. There is always someone opposed to anything proposed by another, and sometimes for valid reasons.

It is too bad that the U.S. Presidential Elections are such a great example of the counterproductive, counterintuitive, and counterfeit society that cannot produce a worthy candidate that is not owned by his/her backers and supporters. This country deserves better, but is destined for failure as long as money can buy votes and political and judicial decisions decide elections. Who did you buy?

[Jean-françois Virey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remembered liking this volume more than the first when I read it back in the nineteen-nineties, but I actually found it a slog to reread, in part because I find its simplistic, utopian leftwing liberalism much less attractive. Nothing really happens in the front story (a remnant of a few hundred Others sail to an isolated polar region where they set up camp) and all that does happen is to be found in the snippets of backstory told disjointedly as the narrator remembers this or that bit of her past. Some of those things that are said to have happened include an on-and-off sexual relationship between the narrator and a young, flamboyant stage singer, and the ineluctable making of an Adolf Hitler clone called Dzu, who is ultimately responsible for the extermination of the Others.
I find it ironical that the volume called "The Others" tell the story of the killing of virtually all the Others and that "Otherwhere" starts after the destruction of Otherwhere. This makes me fear I will not find much wisdom in "Otherwise".