A Selective, Chronological, Thematic
Reading List 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.

The frankly weird facial
icons come from
Jeffrey Zeldman's Pardon My
Icons Page


Website designed and
maintained by Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks
sparks@hubcap.clemson.edu
Last update: 2/17/97