A Selective, Chronological, Thematic
Reading List on Aliens
- Leinster, Murray, "First Contact" (1945) -- humans meet aliens in neutral territory; try to figure each other out
- Aldiss, Brian. The Dark Light Years. (1964) -- aliens who live in/ worship their own feces
- Dickson, Gordon. The Alien Way (1965) * anthro expert on bears explains Ruml (marsupials)
- Clarke, Arthur C. Rendezvous with Rama. (1973) -- a huge ship bypasses Earth (BDO)
Niven, Larry and Jerry Pournelle. The Mote in God's Eye (1974) -- classic hard sf
- Kotzwinkle, William E.T. (1982) * Novelization of film
- Sagan, Carl. Contact (1985)
McIntyre, Vonda N. The Starfarers Series: Starfarers (1989), Transition (1990), Metaphase (1992), Nautilus (1994) -- Ship staffed by international crew goes out to contact alien life; eventually discovers dying squidmoth which leads them into further contacts.
- Wells, H.G. War of the Worlds (1891)
- Campbell, John. "Who Goes There?" (1938)
- Heinlein, Robert. The Puppet Masters(1951) -- alien parasites
- Clarke, Arthur C. Childhood's End (1953) -- benevolent? aliens
- Finney, Jack, The Body Snatchers (1954; movie 1956)
- Wyndham, John. The Day of the Triffids -- giant vegetables
- ---. Midwich Cuckoos (1957; movie Village of the Damned 1960)
- Hoyle, Fred. The Black Cloud (1957)
- Disch, Thomas. The Genocides (1965) -- no hope for man
- Laumer, Keith. A Plague of Demons (1965) -- Telepathic aliens induce wars on earth
- Zelazny, Roger. This Immortal (1966) -- Aliens living earth myths
- Delany, Samuel. The Einstein Intersection (1968) -- More aliens living out earth myths: Orpheus, Billy the Kid
- Brunner, John. Age of Miracles (1973) -- no help for humans
- Bedford, Greg and Gordon Eklund. If the Stars are Gods (1973; 1977) -- aliens arrive but want to communicate with sun, not us.
- Tiptree, James, "The Screwfly Solution" (1977)* -- human race treated like insects
- Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game (1985), Speaker for the Dead (1986), Xenocide -- Humans destroy insectoid form of alien life but Ender helps in restitution
- Niven and Pournelle. Footfall (1986) -- giant elephants invade earth
- Butler, Octavia, The Xenogenesis Trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988),Imago (1989) -- The Oankili aliens save earth but the price is constant genetic exchange which mutates humans
- Moffett, Judith. The Ragged World (1991) and Time Like an Ever-Rolling Stream (1992) -- The Hefn come to save the world from ecological destruction, at the possible cost of humanity's survival
- Anthony, Patricia. Cold Allies (1993) -- aliens appear during the next world war
- ---. Brother Termite (1993) -- aliens on the White House Staff
- McDonald, Ian. Evolution's Shore (1995) -- Alien infestation starts on Mt. Kilamanjaro
- Norton, Andre. The Stars are Ours (AAI) (1954)
- ---. Starborn (AAII) (1957) -- Colonizing a new world means dealing with natives
- McCaffrey, Anne. Decision at Doona (1969) *
- Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Darkover Landfall. (1972) *
- Le Guin, Ursula. The Word for World is Forest (1972) -- Viet Nam type deforestation
- Lake, David J. The Right Hand of Dextra ; The Wildings of Westron (1977) -- colonists trying to come to terms with incompatible life forms BET
- Finch, Shelia. Triad (1986)
- Moffett, Judith. Pennterra (1987)
- Griffith, Nicola. Ammonite (1992)
- Lindskold, Jane. Marks of Our Brothers (1995)
- Smith, E. Doc. Lensman Series (1934-50) -- 4-letter classification system
- Stapeldon, Olaf. Star Maker (1937) * -- encyclopedic source for many ideas
- VanVogt, A.E. Voyage of the Space Beagle (1939;1950) -- classic encounters with BEMs
- Van Vogt, "Discord in Scarlet" (1939) alien lays eggs in human hosts; out of court settlement for Alien)
- Weinbaum, Stanley. The Best of .... (1974) * -- some of first friendly aliens
- Clement, Hal. Mission of Gravity (1953) * centipedes/lobsters
- Norton, Andre (many are useful) ---. The Last Planet (1953) * bird man and others
- ---. The Beast Master (1959) * lizard men
- White, James. Hospital Station (1962), Star Surgeon (1963)*, Ambulance Ship (1979), Sector General (1983), Code Blue -- Emergency (1987)
- Simak, Clifford. Way Station (1963) * -- many different kinds
- Anthony, Piers, Omnivore (1968) -- fungal life forms
- Niven, Larry, Ringworld* (1970) and Ringworld Engineers* (1980)
- Anderson, Poul. The Byworlder (1971) -- metazoans, linked cilia, radial
- Stableford, Brian, Daedelus Series: The Florians (1976), Critical Threshold (1977), Wildeblood's Empire (1977), City of the Sun (1978), Balance of Power (1979), Paradox of the Sets (1979) -- Starship Daedelus re-contacts lost colonies wi biological mysteries
- Cherryh, C.J. The Faded Sun: Kesrith (1979) -- baggy skinned regul (Jabba?) BET
- Forward, Robert L. Dragon's Egg (1980) -- life on a neutron star
- Ellison, Harlan, ed. Medea: Harlan's World.(1985) Symposium on alien creation
- Tepper, Sheri, Grass (1979)* -- complex ecology of savannah world nets humans in parasitic parody of fox-hunting
- Harrison, Harry. Deathworld (1960)
- Lem, Stanislaw. Solaris (1961) **
- Boyd, John. Pollinators of Eden (1969) *
- Green Joseph. Conscience Interplanetary (1974) -- silicon-based plant intelligence BET
- Le Guin, Ursula, "Vaster than Empires" (1971) *
- Tepper, Sheri. Raising the Stones (1990); Sideshow (1992) -- Hobb's Land Gods
- Wells, H.G. First Men in the Moon (1901) *
- Blish, James. A Case of Conscience (1958) * -- does original sin exist among the Lithians?
- Silverberg, Robert. Downward to the Earth (1970) -- colonial administrator trying to do justice to alien culture
- Biggle, Lloyd. The Light That Never Was (1972)
- Holdstock, Robert. Eye Among the Blind (1976)* -- anthropologist becomes identified wi alien culture
- Bishop, Michael. Transfigurations (1979) * -- deeply weird life cycle of the Asadi
- Brin, David. Uplift Series: Star Diver (1980), Startide Rising (1983), The Uplift War (1987)- -- Earth takes its place in galactic politics
- ---. New Uplift Trilogy: Brightness Reef (1995), Infinity's Shore (1997) -- six species live in harmony on an illegal colony world
- Mary Gentle. Golden Witchbreed (1983); Ancient Light (1987) -- culture of feline aliens
- Ore, Rebecca. Becoming Alien (1988); Being Alien (1989) -- Adventures of first earth cadet in galactic space corps
- Cherryh, C.J. The Foreigner Universe: Foreigner (1994), Invader (1995), Inheritor (1996) -- traces our dealings with the proud Atevi from first contact, as the single ambassador they will allow on planet tries to prevent war
- Vance, Jack, "The Gift of Gab." 1955 intelligent cephlapods
- Piper, H. Beam, "Omnilingual" (1957) -- search for way of deciphering Martian
- Hoyle, Fred. A for Andromeda 1962.
- Herbert, Frank. Whipping Star 1970.
- Gunn, James. The Listeners (1972)
- Watson, Ian. The Embedding (1973)
- Mitchinson, Naomi, Memoirs of a Spacewoman 1979 -- attempts to contact various aliens through empathetic means; for example, radiates think with a five-based system of logic BET
- Bishop, Michael. Transfigurations (1979) * by changing colors
- Tepper, Sheri. After Long Silence (1987) -- gigantic crystals communicate through music
- Hightower, Lynn S. Alien Blues and Alien Eyes (1993)
- Smith, David Alexander. In the Cube (1993) -- Human policewoman and alien otter sidekick
- Van Vogt, "Discord in Scarlet" (1939) alien lays eggs in human hosts; out of court settlement for Alien)
- Tenn, William, "Venus and the Seven Sexes" 1949*
- Farmer, Philip Jose Strange Relations and The Lovers (1960, 1961) btw alien and human
- Tiptree, James. "Mama Come Home" * 1968 (TLY)--giant women aliens raping men
- Boyd, John Pollinators of Eden * (1969) btw human and alien
- Vance, Jack. The Dirdir (1969) male have 12 sex organs, females 14; finding the proper fit is complicated
- Tiptree, James. "And I Awoke and Found Me on the Cold Hillside" * 1971 (TLY) --sex with aliens gets addictive
- Asimov, Isaac The Gods Themselves * (1972) it takes 3 of these
- Tiptree, James, "Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death" * 1973 (WOW) alien form of reproduction.
- Bradley, Marion Zimmer, World Wreckers (1977) btw human and alien
- Barlow, Wayne Douglas and Ian Summers. Barlow's Guide to Extra-Terrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature. New York: Workman Publishing, 1979. --artists' renderings of aliens in classic SF texts
- Benford, Gregory. "Aliens and Knowability: A Scientist's Perspective." 53-63. In Bridges to Science Fiction, ed. George E. Slusser, George R. Guffet, and Mark Rose. Southern Illinois UP, 1980.
- Clement, Hal. "The Creation of Imaginary Beings." 259-77 in Science Fiction: Today and Tomorrow, ed. Reginald Bretnor. Penguin, 1974.
Classic, hard SF account of how to conceptualize believable aliens.
- Heldreth, Leonard G. "Close Encounters of the Carnal Kind: Sex with Aliens in Science
Fiction." In Erotic Universe: Sexuality and Fantastic Literature, ed. Donald Palumbro. NY: Greenwood Press, 1986.
- Huntington, John. "Discriminating Among Friends: The Social Dynmaics of the Friendly Aliens." In Aliens: The Anthropology of Science Fiction,." ed. Slusser and Rabkin. (1987): 68-77.
Includes discussion of Weinbaum's "Martian Odyssey."
- Meyers, Walter Earl. Aliens and linguists : language study and science fiction. Athens : University of Georgia Press, c1980.
On Reserve. Very useful and amusing survey of attempts to communicate with aliens. Discusses: Tolkein, Anderson, LeGuin, Vance, Asimov, Burroughs, Delany.
- Morris,-Christin. "Indians and Other Aliens: A Native American View of Science Fiction." Extrapolation 20 (1979), 301-07.
- Pierce, John J. Great Themes of Science Fiction. Chapter 1 "Aliens and Alien Worlds." 1-24. Greenwood Press, 1987.
- Pfitzer,-Gregory-M. "The Only Good Alien Is a Dead Alien: Science Fiction and the Metaphysics of Indian-Hating on the High Frontier." Journal of American Culture 1995 (Spring, 18:1), 51-67.
- Roberts, Robin, A new species : gender and science in science fiction . Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c1993.
On Reserve. Analyzes position of women as aliens in SF.
- Slusser , George E. and Eric S. Rabkin, eds. Aliens : the anthropology of science fiction. Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, c1987.
On Reserve: An excellent collection of essays; includes Larry Niven, Greg Benford, essays on dragons in SF, friendly aliens, supermen as aliens, telepaths as aliens, robots as aliens, a history of dolls as aliens, Wells's aliens, Neuromancer, Enemy Mine.
- Slusser , George E. "Metamorphoses of the Dragon." In Aliens: The Anthropology of Science Fiction,." ed. Slusser and Rabkin. (1987): 43-66.
Critiques LeGuin's ideas about dragons as fantasy creatures. Goes on to discuss dragon-like aliens in SF in Clarke's Childhood's End and Herbert's Dune and Dragon in the Sea series, bringing in contexts as wide-ranging as Beowulf, the work of Escher, subatomic physics, and Sagan's Dragons of Eden.
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