For me a story with richly developed non-humanoid aliens is mind-stretching. Much of modern Western culture starts with the ingrained concept that humans are at the top, whether by divine right or as the peak of evolution or whatever. Well-developed non-humanoid aliens—especially if they’re not super advanced or charmingly primitive—challenge this assertion. When that assertion topples, so do a lot of other preconceived notions. An abiding fascination in my work is for the “other,” from the wolves and Wise Beasts of my Firekeeper Saga (first book, Through Wolf’s Eyes) to expanding and exploring treecat culture with David Weber in the Star Kingdom book, and a lot in between.
The aliens in Ringworldare amazing because they’re alien, not only in their physical appearance, but in how they act. Niven provides hints as to how each type of alien evolved to be the way they are. Fan favorites tend to be the sort-of-tigerish bipedal Kzinti, but my absolute favorite are the Puppeteers. They’re cowards. They have two heads, neither of which holds their brains. One of the most amazing moments in the book is when the human, Louis Wu, realizes just why Puppeteers turn away from danger. I won’t spoil that moment, but it’s terrific.
Ringworldtells a good story, too, full of action, adventure, and self-discovery. More of Niven’s cool aliens can be found in his various “Known Space” works.
Pierson's puppeteers, strange, three-legged, two-headed aliens, have discovered an immense structure in a hitherto unexplored part of the universe. Frightened of meeting the builders of such a structure, the puppeteers set about assembling a team consisting of two humans, a puppeteer and a kzin, an alien not unlike an eight-foot-tall, red-furred cat, to explore it. The artefact is a vast circular ribbon of matter, some 180 million miles across, with a sun at its centre - the Ringworld. But the expedition goes disastrously wrong when the ship crashlands and its motley crew faces a trek across thousands of miles of…
Vernor Vinge is so associated with popularizing the concept of the singularity that it’s often overlooked that his novels contain some of the best aliens out there. The Tines, who are introduced in A Fire Upon the Deep, are marvelous. A single Tine has about the intelligence of a very smart dog. However, as a group, the Tines’ intelligence increases hugely. Lacking hands, they cooperatively use their mouths—and eyes, and other senses—to achieve tasks a similar-sized group of humans would find difficult, if not impossible.
But Vinge’s books are full of “heart” as well as cool ideas, especially the challenges of settling worlds that already have their own people. Vinge has a gift for taking a fresh look at our human preconceptions that makes for the best Science Fiction.
Fleeing a menace of galactic proportions, a spaceship crashes on an unfamiliar world, leaving the survivors - a pair of children - to the not-so-tender mercies of a medieval, lupine race. Responding to the ship's distress signal, a rescue mission races against time to retrieve the children.
A human, a robot, and an alien who has proudly adopted the name “Carnivore,” find themselves stranded on a planet that may have its own agenda—certainly, something must be behind the phenomenon dubbed “The God Hour.” Add in the journal of a possibly insane man who is known only as “Shakespeare,” and you have not only a wonderful adventure story, you have the foundation for examining what makes a person a person.
A human space traveler trapped on a remote planet must somehow unravel a confounding alien technology—or else surrender himself to a host of incomprehensible horrors
For thousands of years, Carter Horton has been traveling across the galaxy toward a distant world capable of supporting human life. At journey’s end, awakened from his millennia-long sleep by a curiously adaptive android, he is informed that his crewmates have all perished due to a system malfunction. But worse is yet to come: Horton’s sentient ship is refusing to return him to Earth, and a strangely cordial predator is waiting for him on the…
The crew of the spaceship Wayfarermingles humans and aliens of various types. Several of the aliens are very creatively designed, not only physically, but culturally. My personal favorite is Dr. Chef, but there are other interesting ones, including Ohan, who handles navigation in a very interesting fashion. Although there is ostensibly a mission, this book is really all about “the long way”—that is, the characters and their interactions.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
'A quietly profound, humane tour de force' Guardian
The beloved debut novel that will restore your faith in humanity
#SmallAngryPlanet
When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The ship, which has seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past.
But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer. The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix,…
This was the first book published in the now very long Dragonriders of Pern series, and introduced the human/dragon pairings that remain key to the series. David Weber, who developed the treecats that are at the heart of our own series, lists the relationship between the dragons and humans as a key influence on the treecats. I read the early books in the series when I was still in my teens, and always wanted more about dragons and their culture. I’m glad that, in my novels with Weber, we can do this for the treecats.
Volume I of The Dragonriders of Pern®, the groundbreaking series by master storyteller Anne McCaffrey
On a beautiful world called Pern, an ancient way of life is about to come under attack from a myth that is all too real. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges, Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon with whom she shares a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and…
A New Clanmay be the fourth book in the Star Kingdom series, but it’s definitely its own fresh story. For the first time, Stephanie faces a challenge that takes her out of her comfort zone as an expert in the Sphinxian wild, when she and her friends need to prove there’s something dangerous behind the rash of “accidents” happening to the young people of Sphinx.
The alien “treecats” remain crucial to the story, as Cordelia, the newest adoptee, learns how to live with her new bondmate, Athos. Danger faces the treecats from a whole new direction as a well-meaning reporter spearheads a campaign to make sure that the ’cats aren’t kept as pets.
When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable.
When she helps her drug-addicted father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they are…
When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable. And when she helps her drug-addict father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they…
