# Is there a SF alien invasion story told from the aliens' point of view? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575 "2024-12-12T23:30:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/1 "2024-12-12T23:30:53Z")
What I am talking about is an alien invasion of Earth in the mold of _War of the Worlds_ or _Independence Day_ only the story is told from the perspective of the alien invaders. I’m especially interested in the sort where the aliens have a sympathetic story – that they have a good, or at least a relatable reason, to be doing what they are doing. I’m not talking about stories like _Avatar_, where humans are the alien invaders. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/2 "2024-12-12T23:37:55Z")
One of my favorites: # The Road Not Taken (short story) > **[The Road Not Taken (short story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story))** > > "The Road Not Taken" is a science fiction short story by American writer Harry Turtledove, in which he presents a fictitious account of a first encounter between humanity and an alien race, the Roxolani. It is a prequel to another Turtledove short story entitled "Herbig-Haro". > The story is told through limited third person point of view, with most of the story concerning a single Roxolani captain, Togram. During a routine journey of conquest, they happen upon Earth. The Roxolani anticipate a sim... It does not go well for the invaders ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/3 "2024-12-12T23:57:28Z")
> **[The Things (short story)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Things_(short_story))** > > "The Things" is a science fiction short story by Peter Watts, revisiting the universe of John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing (derived itself from John W. Campbell's story "Who Goes There?") from the viewpoint of the titular alien. It was first published on Clarkesworld, in January 2010. > The events of The Thing as well as other happenings are told from the perspective of the alien, a shape-shifting sentient biomass that can absorb and imitate other lifeforms. The alien thinks of itself as an "ex... ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/4 "2024-12-12T23:59:31Z")
There’s one, but I can’t recall the title. Maybe 1960s. It involves tiny ladybug-sized aliens who land on Earth and are armed with highly painful laser like weapons. The aliens are scared of creatures like dogs. They end up killing a cat (a human investigates the cat’s death by inserting a thin wire into one hole in the cat’s head and it comes out another hole, showing a clean laser-beam-like penetration path), and causing pain to two humans. The story ends in undignified fashion when one of the stung humans just pulls out a can of insecticide and sprays the aliens dead. Most of the story is written from one of the alien’s journal standpoint, keeping a diary about the scary and big things found on this strange planet. The last words of the story are the human who sprayed the aliens remarking, “Nasty little bastards. I wonder what they were?” ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/5 "2024-12-13T00:05:30Z")
It’s a bit tricky, depending on your definition of “alien invasion of Earth”. I recently mentioned [The World’s End](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_End_(film)) (movie) in a different thread. I think it would qualify, but since it’s a comedy (in part or in whole) I’m not sure it’s about the sympathetic angle, it’s about humanity’s tremendous flaws (in a funny way). Another is the series of novels [The Damned Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Damned_Trilogy) by Alan Dean Foster. Simplifying, one group of aliens comes to Earth to recruit help in an ongoing war, and later another group comes to Earth to stop them. The first group has various points of view, and are largely (but not entirely) sympathetic. The second group isn’t sympathetic, and their methods are atrocious, but their greater goal isn’t absolutely unreasonable. And when one of them gets a deep, good look at what humanity is… well, I also agree and sympathize. For the record, only the first book qualifies for the OP. The second two are following onto the results of the human interactions with the conflict. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/6 "2024-12-13T00:07:37Z")
_[Green Patches?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Patches)_ ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/7 "2024-12-13T00:09:05Z")
Some early parts of the Martian Chronicles were told from the point of view of the Martians being invaded by earthlings. Not sure if that fits as the OP stated invasion of earth. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/8 "2024-12-13T00:13:47Z")
A great deal of Pournelle and Niven’s _Footfall_ is told from the perspective of the invading aliens. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/9 "2024-12-13T00:17:43Z")
Oh, SMH, although entirely different types of “invasions” there’s always the grand old man of such things: Arthur C. Clarke’s [“Childhoods End”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood%27s_End) Or the more complicated (good and bad) [Galactic Milieu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Milieu_Series) novels by Julian May. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/10 "2024-12-13T01:08:20Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Green Patches? I was going to mention that one, along with another Asimov, about an unsuccessful alien invasion: _[The Gentle Vultures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gentle_Vultures)_ ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/11 "2024-12-13T05:47:12Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > A great deal of Pournelle and Niven’s _Footfall_ is told from the perspective of the invading aliens. This is the one that came to mind for me (even though it’s not one of my favourites). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/12 "2024-12-13T06:27:30Z")
Christopher Anvil wrote a number of novels and stories like that. _Pandora’s Planet_ is a novel whose protagonist is the alien commander in which aliens conquer Earth, but have increasing difficulty holding it because it turns out humans are more intelligent than they are. The short story _The Gentle Earth_ is also from the viewpoint of the alien commander, and in it the alien invaders are largely defeated by Earth’s climate (to be fair, humans did about as badly on their world). _The Apocalypse Troll_ by David Weber contained large portions from the viewpoint of the “Troll” of the title, an alien-created psychotic cyborg with the goal of conquering humanity and using it to destroy his creators. I don’t recall the title, but Jame White wrote a short story from their viewpoint about aliens invading Earth and kidnapping nearly the entire population, even nuking cities after the population was taken so nobody would move back in. In the ending twist the commander watches as the fleet leaves the Solar system…_just_ as the Sun explodes. And he contemplates how successful the mission was compared to trying to _talk_ to the locals when you don’t have the sci-fi standard magic universal translator and almost no time before everything dies. In _The Game of Blood and Dust_ by Roger Zelazny a pair of godlike aliens play a time travel based game with Earth, taking turns making a small change in history. If Blood wins, the result is a thriving human civilization; if Dust wins, the result is a world destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. “Best two out of three? This time I’ll be Blood, and you can be Dust.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/13 "2024-12-13T06:58:37Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > One of my favorites: > > # The Road Not Taken (short story) > > [The Road Not Taken (short story) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story)) > > It does not go well for the invaders Wow!! I _immediately_ thought of this nearly 40-year old short story (that I first read in _Analog_ magazine back in high school) upon reading the thread title, and find that not only was I beaten to the punch, but it was the first reply. Nice job! Great minds think alike and all that. 😉 Anyway, I second that it is a great story. It’s one of my favorites as well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/14 "2024-12-13T09:12:32Z")
Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar, tho the perspective regularly flips from the alien lizards to the humans. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/15 "2024-12-13T09:17:23Z")
Twilight Zone season 2, episode 15 – “The Invaders.” In this story an old woman is attacked in her home by little invaders, and it’s told from her point of view. And the reveal at the end is that the little invaders are the humans! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/16 "2024-12-13T13:21:43Z")
Jack Chalker’s **Web of the Chozen** gives you an alien invasion story told from the point of view of the aliens (who are really very biologically altered humans) > **[The Web of the Chozen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Web_of_the_Chozen)** > > The Web of the Chozen is a novel by Jack L. Chalker published in 1978. > The Web of the Chozen is a novel about Bar Holliday on a lost colony, as his body has been altered by a mutant virus into a quadruped. > Howard Thompson reviewed The Web of the Chozen in The Space Gamer No. 15. Thompson commented that "The redeeming feature of The Web of the Chozen is that some of the ideas are interesting and, in selected spots, are handled with moderate style. It would be far more interesting if the charac... I see from the Internet Speculative Fiction Database that it has only been republished once since its initial paperback run in 1978-1987. That was by Orion in 2012. Orion, it seems, would reprint practically _anything._ ---
**Author:** ![Jaydubba77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Jaydubba77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaydubba77)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/17 "2024-12-13T13:43:28Z")
I’m sorry that I can’t remember the name of this short story but I think it fits the bill. Aliens arrive on earth to find virtualy no animal life left. They explore abandoned cities in an effort to determine what happened to the inhabitants and find only skeletons. The invaders want to take over the planet but not until they find out what happened. They have tech that lets them revive the dead but are hesitant to use it on the human remains. They recieve quite the surprise when they finally do bring one person back. Probably written in the 1950’s from the style I remember. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/18 "2024-12-13T13:51:50Z")
Was it [this one?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monster_(short_story)) ---
**Author:** ![Jaydubba77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Jaydubba77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaydubba77)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/19 "2024-12-13T13:59:42Z")
That’s the one! I haven’t read it in decades but I should have remembered it was Van Vogt. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575/20 "2024-12-13T14:13:57Z")
Going back to the 1960’s, _Sleeping Planet_ by William R. Burkett Jr., talks about an alien invasion of Earth (by putting the entire population to sleep) from several viewpoints, one of which is the alien commander, who explains their reasons for doing so during the novel. Mild spoiler, there are a few humans that are not put to sleep and things therefore happen. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-sf-alien-invasion-story-told-from-the-aliens-point-of-view/1011575.md?page=2)