THE STRANGERS OF KINDNESS
Genre: Science Fiction
Author: Terry Hickman • Cover: Diana More
eBook (popular formats): fictionwise.com, $4.95

Whether you're lost on your own world in a hostile society, or on an alien world amid bizarre life forms, the strangers of kindness offer salvation. We are pleased to present two such stories, People Like Them, and The Wedding Present.

People Like Them: Theo Dahl, bookseller, and Jennifer Skoada, truck farmer, are cruelly thrown together by their near-future New USA's increasingly repressive fascist laws. Theo's destruction seems to be Jennifer's only hope, until another turn of the screw threatens to destroy them both. Aided by five orphans who Theo and Jennifer take under their wings, and two brave strangers, they seek a place that will welcome "People Like Them."

The Wedding Present: Pasha Sands, a sprightly blob of intelligent silicon, crash lands on Earth. Though it deplores the concept of slavery, the only way Pasha can rebuild its spacecraft is by purchasing a human to do the physical labor. Jared, the young man it buys, and Anna, "The Wedding Present" owned by Pasha's abusive neighbors, show Pasha how far a human will go for a loved one. There are many kinds of wedding presents, as Pasha learns to its surprise.