Im kinda bipolar on aliens. As an example in downbelow station, I was ambivalent about the downers, as they added a dimension to the story, but got in the way of humanity. I wanted the riots on the station, and how it ran, and so forth, and then the fleet and norway interactions.
Then there is David Weber with his version of the cats, and his character’s disgust that a russian would introduce the tabby to vodka, there by “corrupting” him. Had me in stitches.
So I guess it has to do with the authors universe, and does it work for me individually.
Yeah, me, too. I’ve read great sf with aliens, and I’ve read great sf without. I don’t particularly care one way or another. Good writing is good writing.
My favorite sf with aliens:
Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Mote in God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle Footfall, ditto Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane
One of the better stories with aliens was Card’s Speaker for the Dead, though I have to admit, it was kind of irritating that the characters were so slow to catch on to the situation. By halfway through the book, the reader is thinking, “come on, you can’t be that dense.”
I think HP Lovecraft wrote the most realistic mindset of aliens. Their motives are unclear, and they have a depraved indifference toward humans. Humans are no more than animals to them, to be experimented on and exploited.
The problem I have with aliens is that they are usually monocultural. Earth certainly is not, so why should people of an alien species all have the same beliefs, tastes, religious structure, etc? All Vulcans are logical. All Romulans are underhanded plotters and dress the same. All Klingons are warriors and care about honor. Aren’t there any slacker Klingons who eat Cheetoes and play video games all day?
Except, you have to bear in mind that the Star Trek humans are effectively monocultural as well. There really is almost no difference amongst Terrans, or even human colonists. And if you were able to slog through Season Three of Enterprise, the Xindi had five different sentient species trying to collaborate.
Substantively, though, traditional aliens tend to be pretty thinly-designed and one-dimensional.
I like aliens that are truly alien, much like the HP Lovecraft style just mentioned. A great example of this is Blindsightby Peter Watts.
If your aliens have wrinkly foreheads and stand in for stereotypes of violence and greed, please just save us all, and quite pretending that they’re aliens. Or if they’re human except for being logical or telepathic. Just make them an interesting human culture with whatever genetic tweaks you need, and I’ll be that much happier.
If you don’t care about happiness, sure. Jesus but that book is grim.
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson, works along similar lines. Communication with the aliens is impossible.
Leviathan Wakes, by James SA Corey, is yet another example.
Then there’s China Mieville’s Embassytown, in which humans can communicate with aliens, but there are vast instinctive differences between humans and aliens. Books like that derive part of their literary power by examining human nature through contrasting it with an alien nature.
I disagree that aliens would necessarily be psychologically unrecognizable to humans. A species that can figure out how to cooperate with one another will probably be able to accomplish more than a highly individualistic species, and so some form of language is likely to develop. A species that has complex desires is going to advance technologically more than one that doesn’t. A species that’s moderately aggressive is likely to outcompete an entirely pacifist species or an insanely aggressive species. Some form of pleasure-seeking behavior is a hugely adaptive trait, since it allow creatures to seek what’s good for them without having to know that it’s good for them. And so on.
I prefer my SF without aliens and taking place in a recognizable near-future on earth.
Many of my favorite books don’t fit that description.
I think my favorite aliens are in Frederik Pohl’s O Pioneer. I think there are 5 types of aliens sharing the planet with the humans, and they’re all nuts. It’s a silly book.
Well, there is that. I also like HP Lovecraft and Stephen R. Donaldson, so at least I’m consistent.
So, I shall clarify my preference, then. I like my aliens to be both alien and grim. The pathetic humans will die horribly and without hope, and not because the aliens don’t like us, but because they can hardly be bothered to even notice us.
You know, unlike those futures in which the Federation has eliminated everything bad about the human condition and everyone lives in a Utopian environment except for the stereotyped guys with the wrinkly foreheads who cause problems.
This came up once on the TV show Alien Nation. The human detective learns that his partner’s alien family practiced a certain religion. Then the human’s alien girlfriend mentioned her own, which was different. He told her that he’d already learned about the Newcomers’ religion. She gives him a look, and he acknowledges the stupidity of his remark.
Some other good sf with aliens, now that I think about it:
All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman
The short stories “Sandkings” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon” by George R.R. Martin, “Rescue Party” by Arthur C. Clarke, “Victory Unintentional” and “Hostess” by Isaac Asimov, “Seasons” by Joe Haldeman, “The Whisperer in Darkness” by H.P. Lovecraft, and “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler
I had some fun with the aliens examining earth’s culture for an assignment for a literature class recently.
It’s a pretty cool concept because you can go so many ways with it, from the aliens getting things horribly wrong, but still coming up with profound insight about humanity.
I was just coming here to mention those. I think those aliens are very well-drawn, complex, and detailed. The similarities that their civilization SEEMS to have with the humans who end up stranded there are just enough to throw off human preconceptions, and to cause the War of the Landing. Those differences basically (in my opinion) drive the story arc of the whole series, as Bren attempts to involve himself in what is fundamentally not as much of a human fight as he thinks (I’m only up to book 13 in the arc, so I could be wrong about the more recent books).
To the OP in general, I don’t think I have a preference for “aliens or not,” just for very good writing, very finely drawn characters, and well-crafted story arcs.
