Novels or short stories are both fine. Age doesn’t matter. Can be something like a thought experiment or another kind of non-fiction-ish writing too. Or something like John E. Mack’s “Abductions,” which documents cases of alleged alien abductions from a psychiatrist’s POV and frames them in somewhat of a positive light without outright classifying them as true or untrue.
I don’t care if it’s fact or fiction, I just wanna indulge in a little escapism.
No culty new age stuff, pure woo, or mantis-aliens-are-gonna-enslave-us-all-stories please.
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by DrJotaroBigCockKujo
1 Comment
This is a topic I really love myself.
An indie gem is Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson. It’s about an alien syndicate coming for a cultural exchange and helping us unfuck the planet. The biggest focus of the book is about the protagonist reviewing alien games and figuring some things about their cultures. As a person who loves indie games and game reviews, this was a huge hit for me.
A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emris. It’s about aliens coming to rescue humans from their world, but the humans are trying to fix Esrth’s eco system and don’t wanna leave. Thete is some tension but it’s largely a book about communication, exchange and understanding. I loved parts of the book but the middle was a big drag, leaving me a bit lukewarm on the book.
Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh is my all-time favorite, but not sure if it’s what you want. It’s about humans crashlanding and rebuilding on an alien planet, forced to share the world with the local alien civilization. The story begins 200 years after their settling and follows an translator and intermediary, who is forced to understand the aliens more deeply than he expected and to involve himself in politics to ensure continued peace. A big highlight are the differences in social structures and emotional bonds that the author explored throughout the books.