Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

non-evil aliens book suggestions

For anyone who might want to have a side conversation...you're welcome here!
non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by Northstar   » Fri May 23, 2014 1:53 pm

Northstar
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1126
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:50 pm
Location: Wisconsin, USA

from a thread diversion on HH forum. Any suggestions for good adult books involving non-evil aliens gratefully solicited. Yours truly is sick and tired of Be Afraid, All aliens are psychopaths out to get us and we can stop them with shootem up silly season. :? :D :roll:

From moi

John Scalzi, Agent to the Stars. Delightfully absurd sand intentionally so, but no evil alien psychos here.

Also James White's Sector General books
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by MaxxQ   » Fri May 23, 2014 2:31 pm

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

Northstar wrote:from a thread diversion on HH forum. Any suggestions for good adult books involving non-evil aliens gratefully solicited. Yours truly is sick and tired of Be Afraid, All aliens are psychopaths out to get us and we can stop them with shootem up silly season. :? :D :roll:

From moi

John Scalzi, Agent to the Stars. Delightfully absurd sand intentionally so, but no evil alien psychos here.

Also James White's Sector General books


Didn't notice the bit about setting up a thread here until after I had posted in the other thread, so this is just a repost of what I put there.

Titan - John Varley (I've only read the first book in what I think is a trilogy, and then it was probably 30+ years ago, but I don't recall any fighting with, for, or against aliens.

Rendezvous With Rama, Childhood's End, The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke (admittedly, the aliens are conspicously absent in the first and third of those, and again, I've only read the first Rama book...)

The Abyss - Orson Scott Card (Yeah, the novelization of the movie, but it's got aliens, and there's no fighting with them, except for Coffey, but that can be blamed on HPNS)

Starman - Alan Dean Foster (another novelization)

Inherit the Stars, The Gentle Giants of Ganymede, Giants' Star, Entoverse - James P. Hogan (I think there's a fifth book in this series, but I haven't read it)

Contact - Carl Sagan

All the Little Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper (plus a couple of "sequels" written by other authors)

That's all I got glancing over at my bookshelves.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by Lord Skimper   » Fri May 23, 2014 6:59 pm

Lord Skimper
Vice Admiral

Posts: 1736
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 12:49 am
Location: Calgary, Nova, Gryphon.

ET and Close Encounters come to mind if you like movies?

The problem with books is that as soon as humans are introduced, well we are the evil ones. The aggressive warlike colonizing creatures.

Humans don't like to share.

We move into an area of space setup a government and tell someone else who is there that they have to do things our way or we move them out. Unless they are really powerful. It is the human way. Heck we don't even like each other on our home planet.

Humans hard to get along with.
________________________________________
Just don't ask what is in the protein bars.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by biochem   » Sat May 24, 2014 12:00 am

biochem
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1372
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:06 pm
Location: USA

Alan Dean Foster - Humanx series, Mixed bag on the aliens. Friendly aliens allied with the humans competing with aggressive aliens.

Ann McCaffrey - Acorna series. Same mix of both friendly aliens and not so friendly aliens.

Sherrilyn Kenyon - League series. Humanoid aliens are a mixed bag, some good some evil. Even within the same species. Same is true of the humans. More individual variation within species than is typical.

Actually that seems true for a lot of serieses that I've read that have multiple alien races. Some races are friendly, some are not.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by namelessfly   » Sat May 24, 2014 8:51 am

namelessfly

The Mote in Gods Eye,

By Niven and Pournelle.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by Northstar   » Sat May 24, 2014 9:15 pm

Northstar
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1126
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:50 pm
Location: Wisconsin, USA

namelessfly wrote:The Mote in Gods Eye,

By Niven and Pournelle.



Thank you all. Really. :D

Some of those I've got others I haven't. Mote is one I have, and it's less good sequel whose title I cannot dredge up.

I don't so much mind conflicts set where we're all generally tech equivalent. It is the we are as we are now and psycho aliens show up and play shoot 'em up with us or deceptive charades ... and ... why would they bother? It's like Columbus and his lovely friends vs the Caribe Indians. Tne Indians weren't gonna win and neither would we in a similarly lopsided tech scenario. I guess those sorts of stories lack credibility for me so they lose me instantly due to being stupid. :D Them, or moi, take your pick. :lol:

Anyway thank you all for taking the time to offer suggestions. Which I will write down and follow up with.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by MaxxQ   » Sun May 25, 2014 12:49 am

MaxxQ
BuNine

Posts: 1553
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:08 pm
Location: Greer, South Carolina USA

Just a note on Foster's Humanx series - it's a little like the Honorverse books, where you have a "core" series, and several spinoffs, some of which are single books (Voyage to the City of the Dead, Cachalot), and some are multiple books (Icerigger, Mission to Moulokin, The Deluge Drivers).

It also helps to realize that while all the books take place in the same universe, some may not have anything to do at all with others. Some take place hundreds of years prior to what I consider the "core" series (the Flinx and Pip books), and there's even occasionally a bit of crossover.

Anyway, here's a link to all the Commonwealth (humanx) books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dean_ ... h_Universe

I also recommend Quozl by Foster as well. I forgot it initially. The aliens fight amongst themselves, sort of, but the reasoning is pretty good.

Also good is The Man Who Used the Universe, and Glory Lane is almost an homage to Douglas Adams (it's kind of a silly novel).
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by namelessfly   » Sun May 25, 2014 5:03 pm

namelessfly

Actually, if European diseases had not decimated the Indian populations, the early, small expeditions of Europueans would have gotten their asses kicked. In fact African diseases kept the Eurpeans off most of the continent until the late 1800s. The Europeans had iron and steel weapons, but they relied more upon their swords than their single shot, muzzle loading rifles and cannon. They could and often were overwhelmed by superior numbers. Remember how Captain Cook got killed in Hawaii?

The European ships were inarguably bigger and more sophisticated than the natives canoes. However; the Polynesians had a sail design that could tack against the wind. Polynesian voyaging canoes were sailing the Pacific 3,000 years ago while Europeans were paddling around the Mediterranean pond.

Depending on the level of Alien technology, humans might have a chance. An Alien ship that had been compelled to sacrifice accelleration for specific impulse and delta vee might be far from omnipotent. This is especially true if humans had time to build Orion type ships powerredby nuclear explosives. An alien ship propelled by a light sail could devastate Earth if given time, but it would be very fragile, unmanauverable and vulnerable. My biggest fear would be an alien ship that was a precursor, scout and target designator for following KE projectiles.


Northstar wrote:
namelessfly wrote:The Mote in Gods Eye,

By Niven and Pournelle.



Thank you all. Really. :D

Some of those I've got others I haven't. Mote is one I have, and it's less good sequel whose title I cannot dredge up.

I don't so much mind conflicts set where we're all generally tech equivalent. It is the we are as we are now and psycho aliens show up and play shoot 'em up with us or deceptive charades ... and ... why would they bother? It's like Columbus and his lovely friends vs the Caribe Indians. Tne Indians weren't gonna win and neither would we in a similarly lopsided tech scenario. I guess those sorts of stories lack credibility for me so they lose me instantly due to being stupid. :D Them, or moi, take your pick. :lol:

Anyway thank you all for taking the time to offer suggestions. Which I will write down and follow up with.
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by Emo Otaku   » Mon May 26, 2014 8:41 pm

Emo Otaku
Captain of the List

Posts: 687
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:52 am
Location: Nottingham, England, UK

namelessfly wrote:<SNIP>
Depending on the level of Alien technology, humans might have a chance. An Alien ship that had been compelled to sacrifice accelleration for specific impulse and delta vee might be far from omnipotent. This is especially true if humans had time to build Orion type ships powerredby nuclear explosives. An alien ship propelled by a light sail could devastate Earth if given time, but it would be very fragile, unmanauverable and vulnerable. My biggest fear would be an alien ship that was a precursor, scout and target designator for following KE projectiles.



Isn't that almost the plot of Footfall (also) By Niven and Pournelle?


For a fiendly alien species (Ok not truly alien as its an alternate earth story) what about the Destoyermen series?

And the inferior sequel to the "Mote in Gods Eye" , was "The Moat Around Murchesons Eye"
~~~~~~

Sanity is merely the consensus of the Insane
Top
Re: non-evil aliens book suggestions
Post by Grashtel   » Mon May 26, 2014 10:41 pm

Grashtel
Captain of the List

Posts: 449
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:59 am

I'd recommend the "Zones of Thought" series by Vernor Vinge: "[ul=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep]A Fire Upon The Deep[/url]", "A Deepness in the Sky", and "The Children of the Sky"

The series features a number of different alien species (particularly the first book) which are generally presented as being individuals rather than stereotypes so aren't just one thing other than a couple of specific examples. The books are generally very good and have deservedly won various awards.
Top

Return to Free-Range Topics...