![]() Set in the near future and proceeding forward in time, The Listeners grapples with questions of science, faith, and technology. But soon, she finds herself in contact with a group of dangerous aliens, a precarious situation with a solution that hearkens back to Binti’s time on earth and some long-buried history. As the book opens, the title character is about to leave Earth to study at a university far from her (and our) planet. The future depicted in Nnedi Okorafor’s award-winning novella Binti is one in which humanity has made contact with a host of alien civilizations. Faber doesn’t shy away from the larger implications of this inquiry and keeps his aliens fundamentally alien, paving the way for a thought-provoking novel of ideas. ![]() The philosophical aspects of alien contact take on a heightened dimension in The Book of Strange New Things, as its protagonist is a missionary sent to a distant planet to talk with a group of aliens who have expressed abundant curiosity about Christianity. The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber Is it information from a distant civilization, a communication that’s metaphysical in nature, or something utterly beyond human comprehension? Intense theory meets bold philosophical speculation in this narrative, leaving the reader with a series of haunting ambiguities.Ĥ. In this heady volume from Solaris author Stanisław Lem, narrator Peter Hogarth is one of a group of scientists living in a remote complex and attempting to determine the origin and nature of a message beamed across the universe. The implications of this discovery, and the planet’s effects on the humans who call it home, make for a book that both deals with humanity’s evolution and the conflicts that evolution can cause. ![]() Protagonist Marghe Taishan journeys to Grenchstom’s Planet, where a virus apparently wiped out the last attempt at a colony, only to find that a civilization has developed there. In Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite, humanity has begun to colonize distant planets. Butler examines grand questions in this work and explores both the societal and the personal effects of this encounter and the changes that it promises. Butler’s Lilith’s Brood (first published as the Xenogenesis trilogy), humanity encounters an alien race known as the Oankali, who offer the prospect of peace and improvements to the Earth–but also hope to reproduce with humans in order to create a new species. All of them grapple with grand ideas: what makes us human? What makes us intelligent? And to what extent must we change in order to interact with a different form of life? Most fall into the category of first contact stories, while a few offer interesting variations on the concept. The works on this list offer a diverse array of takes on these fascinating interactions. In other words, the headiness of high concepts blended with the inherent tension that comes when humans encounter a civilization that is, in some fundamental way, alien to them. (Or maybe both.) And you might be clamoring for more stories that push similar buttons, narratively and thematically speaking. Let’s say you’ve seen the film Arrival–or you’re a fan of Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life,” from which it’s adapted. It’s December - are you in the mood for some mind-expanding sci-fi? Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.
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