Alien First-Contact...

"Judge me by my size, do you?" -Yoda

One of the most unique sub-genres of Sci-Fi (and some Fantasy), aliens are something you just can't get anywhere else. The integration of human and alien cultures offers authors a tried-and-true way to reflect on human social customs and biology. And the plot never quite wears thin because every new species an author creates contains all new possibilities for conflict and compromise.

• Anne McCaffrey
  • Damia's Children (Four siblings join a friendly race to battle insectoid aliens)
• C. J. Cherryh
  • "Foreigner" series (Humans land of the planet of the Atevi, who have most of our emotions except friendship)
  • 40,000 in Gehenna (Humans discover a nonverbal society into which they are forced to integrate)
• David Brin
  • Brightness Reef (et al) (A mixed group of alien races settles on an interdicted planet and learns to survive together)
• Steven Popkes
  • Slow Lightening (Humanity is to be tested by an alien with a past connected to young Ira Bloom's only family member)
• Jerome Beatty, Jr.
  • Maria Looney and the Red Planet (Kid's book- Maria meets the inhabitants of Mars in order to save the Moon from starvation)
• Julie E. Czerneda
  • Beholder's Eye (Stars a shapeshifter intent on recording alien cultures, until she is tempted to interfere with them)
• L. Sprague de Camp
  • The Hand of Zei (A humerous account of a weak mysogenist's adventures on an alien planet that has been a source of power for women)
• Octavia Butler
  • "Xenogenesis" trilogy (After humanity destroys itself, the Oankali pick up the pieces- and want to mingle their genes with humans)
  • Clay's Ark (An alien virus creates changes in a pocket of isolated humans who would do anything to prevent spreading the disease)
• Robert Heinlein
  • Stranger in a Strange Land (The quintessential alien-adaptation novel about a human raised on Mars who has now become the ambassador to Earth- the home he never knew)
  • Have Spacesuit- Will Travel (A teenage boy and a six-year-old girl team up to save humanity from aliens who think humans are too dangerous)
  • Between Planets (A boy who was raised on Venus returns there after years to find Venusians and humans alike preparing for war against the Earth)
  • The Puppet Masters (A race of slug-like aliens begins taking over the bodies of humans.)
• Sheri S. Tepper
  • Grass (Alien intelligences are locked in a battle with humans as pawns between them)
  • Six Moon Dance (Humans settle a planet supposedly devoid of alien life....)
• Ursula K. LeGuin
  • The Left Hand of Darkness (Genly Ai is a human sent to make first contact with the Gethenians- alone. This book is the essence of this genre)
  • The Word for World Is Forest (Human beings take over a planet from the pacifist "creechies" and teach them war by example)
• Larry Niven
  • Man-Kzin Wars VII (Pacified humanity meets the violent Kzin and must adapt itself once again)
  • The Best of All Possible Wars (Short stories about the Man-Kzin wars)

This page owned by: Raven
Questions? Comments? Smart Remarks?
Email me at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 7, 1999

(Main Page) (Categories) (Awards)
(Authors) (Titles) (Top 100) (Rewrites)

Background image created by Queen's Free World.