A Selective, Chronological, Thematic
Reading List on Aliens

First Contact

Alien Invasions and Wars

Colonization

Alien Biologies/ Environments

Whole Planet As An Alien Entity

Alien Anthropology -- Cultures

Communication with Aliens

Allien Buddies/ Police

Sex With Or Among Aliens

Criticism on Aliens

FIRST CONTACT

Campbell, "Who Goes There?"

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.

ALIEN INVASIONS/ WARS

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 Children of tthe Mind-- 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

COLONIZATION

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)

ALIEN BIOLOGIES/ ENVIRONMENTS

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

WHOLE PLANET AS AN ALIEN ENTITY

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

ALIEN ANTHROPOLOGY--CULTURES

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

COMMUNICATION WITH ALIENS

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

ALIEN BUDDIES/POLICE DETECTIVES

Hightower, Lynn S. Alien Blues and Alien Eyes (1993)
Smith, David Alexander. In the Cube (1993) -- Human policewoman and alien otter sidekick

SEX WITH ALIENS OR AMONG ALIENS

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

CRITICAL SOURCES ON ALIENS

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.