What do you consider to be the most interesting alien race?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on various alien races from science fiction literature, highlighting the Moties from "The Mote in God's Eye" and the Kzin as notable examples. Participants express admiration for the unique biological and societal traits of these races, particularly the Moties' reproductive compulsions leading to societal collapse. Other mentioned races include the xenomorphs from "Alien," the Puppeteers from "Ringworld," and the Q continuum from "Star Trek." The conversation also touches on the complexities of creating believable alien species in storytelling.

PREREQUISITES
  • Familiarity with science fiction literature, particularly works by Larry Niven and John Varley.
  • Understanding of biological and societal concepts as they relate to fictional alien races.
  • Knowledge of key science fiction themes such as existentialism and societal collapse.
  • Awareness of popular science fiction franchises like "Star Trek" and "Alien."
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the societal structures of the Moties in "The Mote in God's Eye."
  • Research the characteristics and lore of the Kzin from the "Known Space" universe.
  • Investigate the portrayal of xenomorphs in the "Alien" franchise and their biological traits.
  • Analyze the philosophical implications of the Q continuum in "Star Trek."
USEFUL FOR

Science fiction enthusiasts, writers crafting alien species, and fans of speculative literature seeking to deepen their understanding of alien cultures and their narrative significance.

  • #31
I'm favoring the Markovians and the Krell (who inspired the Markovians, I believe). They both conquered almost the entire universe, in a sense, except for one thing, themselves.
 
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  • #32
Noisy Rhysling said:
No love for Coeurl? Immortal-ish, powerful, so intelligent he could cobble together a spaceship without ever having left the planet, and so very, very lethal.

I tried, but I couldn't read through it. Not enough romance there. Where are the good sexually explicit science fiction books? I get bored easily. I want to read the over-the-knee kind of DD! What sorts of science fiction does your wife like?
 
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  • #33
Fervent Freyja said:
I want to read the over-the-knee kind of DD!

I'll take this under advisement.
 
  • #34
Fervent Freyja said:
I tried, but I couldn't read through it. Not enough romance there. Where are the good sexually explicit science fiction books? I get bored easily. I want to read the over-the-knee kind of DD! What sorts of science fiction does your wife like?
Ian Banks, Peter Hamilton, Jack Chalker, Heinlein*, anything really. She has 1,500+ books on the shelves right now that she's already read.
*She had never read Podkayne!
 
  • #36
Janus said:
In Doc E. E. Smith's Lensman series there was an alien race that existed in 4 spatial dimensions. Humans only interacted with that part of them that intersected our 3 spatial dimensions.

That's a fascinating idea, but I can't read E. E. Smith. His writing style gets on my nerves almost immediately.
 
  • #37
Chocky was a rather interesting alien.
 
  • #38
Khatti said:
That's a fascinating idea, but I can't read E. E. Smith. His writing style gets on my nerves almost immediately.
Typical of '30s/'40s pulp fiction. Formulaic writers were the norm then. Burroughs, whomever wrote this month's "Doc. Savage", etc., were getting paid, and that's what made them happy. Today we see Gatsby and his kin, but seldom see what people were reading for everyday entertainment.
 
  • #39
Noisy Rhysling said:
Typical of '30s/'40s pulp fiction. Formulaic writers were the norm then. Burroughs, whomever wrote this month's "Doc. Savage", etc., were getting paid, and that's what made them happy. Today we see Gatsby and his kin, but seldom see what people were reading for everyday entertainment.

Yeah, but I can read Howard and Hamilton and still be engrossed despite the fact that it was written in the Thirties for the pulp market. H. P. Lovecraft still has a huge following despite the fact that his writing style was more than a bit baroque and he was a racist to boot. Heinlein claimed Smith as an influence, and you can see it in his writing, but he avoided Smith's problems. Smith just doesn't do it for me.
 
  • #40
Wasn't promoting Smith, just explaining why he sucks so bad. It's kind of fun to watch that train wreck happen.

One thing I did like was his suggestion that the oh so perfect Kit Kinnison had four potential mates in the whole Universe.
 
  • #41
Noisy Rhysling said:
One thing I did like was his suggestion that the oh so perfect Kit Kinnison had four potential mates in the whole Universe.

I didn't know that you could have gene-porn as a sub-genre until I read Smith.
 
  • #42
Khatti said:
I didn't know that you could have gene-porn as a sub-genre until I read Smith.
I was fifteen when I read that the first time, a small town boy in Indiana, 1966. It was ... surprising.
 
  • #43
Noisy Rhysling said:
Ian Banks, Peter Hamilton, Jack Chalker, Heinlein*, anything really. She has 1,500+ books on the shelves right now that she's already read.

*She had never read Podkayne!

Okay, I will try Heinlein. :smile: Will start with: Time for the Stars and Time Enough for Love

You are such a great husband Mr. Rhysling, I hope your bibliophile shows her appreciation often!

:heart:
 
  • #44
Fervent Freyja said:
Okay, I will try Heinlein. :smile: Will start with: Time for the Stars and Time Enough for Love

I love Time Enough For Love, but it's probably not a good novel to start with. I would advise The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress as a better starting point.
 
  • #45
Khatti said:
I love Time Enough For Love, but it's probably not a good novel to start with. I would advise The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress as a better starting point.
You might also want to read Mesthuselah's Children before Time Enough For Love, since it sets the stage for the latter.
 
  • #46
Khatti said:
I love Time Enough For Love, but it's probably not a good novel to start with. I would advise The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress as a better starting point.

Janus said:
You might also want to read Mesthuselah's Children before Time Enough For Love, since it sets the stage for the latter.

Thanks you guys! I'm on the waiting list for The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress at openlibrary.org, so I'm reading Mesthuselah's Children first. So far, Lazarus has a thing for Mary, I think he will make a real proposal later on.
 
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  • #47
Janus said:
You might also want to read Mesthuselah's Children before Time Enough For Love, since it sets the stage for the latter.

Yeah, good idea.
 
  • #48
Khatti said:
Yeah, good idea.

This is actually good. Getaway submarines? A vacation spot on the moon? Stellar expeditions?

This Lazarus, what is with his kilt? I really like him, he seems rugged and natural. You can tell a man authored this, writing about a 3,000 calorie breakfast... I hope him & Mary have sex though, tell me now if they don't!

What is a vibroblade?
 
  • #49
Fervent Freyja said:
What is a vibroblade?

Basically it is a knife where the blade vibrates at a very high speed. This allows it to penetrate with less force applied by the wielder.
 
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  • #50
Fervent Freyja said:
This Lazarus, what is with his kilt? I really like him, he seems rugged and natural. You can tell a man authored this, writing about a 3,000 calorie breakfast... I hope him & Mary have sex though, tell me now if they don't!

The assumption is that the kilt simply came back into fashion. Fashion was different three hundred years ago, why will it not be different three hundred years hence? Like Heinlein, Lazarus Long is a Missouri boy who was born in the last half of the Nineteenth Century; basic pioneer stock. He's going to be rugged and self-reliant. The Methuselahs are different from the rest of humanity, they may just need more calories as a matter of course. Also, if you're really working, 3000 calories at a sitting may not be bad. I'm a Minnesota farm boy, and I know from stories handed down that people routinely ate that during the horse-drawn days of agriculture and didn't gain an ounce. Methuselah's Children was written for Astounding Stories during the 1940s, you're not going to see a lot of sex in it. Sorry.
 
  • #51
@Fervent Freyja: If you have a Kindle or a Kindle app on whatever device you use, may I suggest you check out the short works of Kiev Dal. They may be to your liking.
 
  • #52
Khatti said:
The assumption is that the kilt simply came back into fashion. Fashion was different three hundred years ago, why will it not be different three hundred years hence? Like Heinlein, Lazarus Long is a Missouri boy who was born in the last half of the Nineteenth Century; basic pioneer stock. He's going to be rugged and self-reliant. The Methuselahs are different from the rest of humanity, they may just need more calories as a matter of course. Also, if you're really working, 3000 calories at a sitting may not be bad. I'm a Minnesota farm boy, and I know from stories handed down that people routinely ate that during the horse-drawn days of agriculture and didn't gain an ounce. Methuselah's Children was written for Astounding Stories during the 1940s, you're not going to see a lot of sex in it. Sorry.
The Deadliest Catch crewmen eat up to 10,000 calories a day to keep working and stay warm. (Caveat: They lie about all kinds of things, including food intake. But if you watch their meals they do wolf it down.)
 
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  • #53
Khatti said:
I didn't know that you could have gene-porn as a sub-genre until I read Smith.
Do you see a difference between sci-fi as a shell for porn, and porn as an element of serious sci-fi? Which do you mean by "gene-porn"? Which one is Smith?
 
  • #54
EnumaElish said:
Do you see a difference between sci-fi as a shell for porn, and porn as an element of serious sci-fi? Which do you mean by "gene-porn"? Which one is Smith?
E. E. "Doc" Smith, in Children of the Lens implied that the only appropriate mates for his genetically perfect Third Stage Lensman, Kit Kinnison, was his four sisters.

Given that they are all five genetically "perfect" there's no medical reason for this not to be an appropriate match. New species is new! But in the 1940s this was either shocking or just plain invisible to the readers, I think.
 
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  • #55
Khatti said:
The assumption is that the kilt simply came back into fashion. Fashion was different three hundred years ago, why will it not be different three hundred years hence?
This was something Heinlein was good at, dealing with the idea that mores, fashion etc. can swing like a pendulum and don't follow a straight line. Too many times you see the future portrayed as being just like today, just more so. It is tricky writing about the future, you have to consider what changes to society might occur, but you still have to have the readership of today be able to relate to it. To be honest, would a reader from 1850 be able to relate to a character from story set in 2016 who was panicking because they misplaced their cell phone? They might be able to get the idea that this device was important, but not to the idea that not being "connected" 24/7 could cause someone distress.
I'm a Minnesota farm boy, and I know from stories handed down that people routinely ate that during the horse-drawn days of agriculture and didn't gain an ounce. .
Out of curiosity, what part of Minn.? I was born and lived the first 11 yrs of my life on a farm up in the Iron Range.
 
  • #56
Janus said:
I was born and lived the first 11 yrs of my life on a farm up in the Iron Range.

I was born and raised in Brown County MN. The southwestern part of the state. I'm about eighty miles from the South Dakota line and about forty from the Iowa line. New Ulm is the county seat if that helps. Now I have a question for you Iron Ranger: any Finnish blood? Finno-Ugrics figure in a space opera I'm writing. The Finns were renowned as sorcerers back in their pagan days.
 
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  • #57
EnumaElish said:
Do you see a difference between sci-fi as a shell for porn, and porn as an element of serious sci-fi? Which do you mean by "gene-porn"? Which one is Smith?

Pardon me while I pry my tongue out of my cheek. Smith was something of a eugenicist, and was fascinated by the idea of creating the perfect genetic specimen. I read part of a story ( I never finished it) by Smith where the Hero and Heroine go around and around about what a perfect, genetic match they are before they get to the boffing part of the part of the arrangement. It was both funny and annoying.
 
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  • #58
Khatti said:
I was born and raised in Brown County MN. The southwestern part of the state. I'm about eighty miles from the South Dakota line and about forty from the Iowa line. New Ulm is the county seat if that helps. Now I have a question for you Iron Ranger: any Finnish blood?
Every bit of it. My grandparents all immigrated from Finland.
Finno-Ugrics figure in a space opera I'm writing. The Finns were renowned as sorcerers back in their pagan days.
 
  • #59
Q
 
  • #60
GW150914 said:
Q
Interesting PITAs.