Stories of extraterrestrial first contact are a classic of science fiction, and they are all the more fascinating because they can seem like predictions of a possible future. Real scientists around the world are searching for extraterrestrial life. But until they find it, we’ll have to make do with stories of imaginary beings from other worlds.
Many of us Scientific American I have been reading extraterrestrial stories for work and pleasure for many years. Some of us were inspired, as children, to pursue our scientific studies by such tales; others have used epic alien series to escape our regular lives.
Here are 24 new and old genre favorites that have kept us curious about extraterrestrial life and the encounters with it that could change us as humans.
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(Alphabetical by title)
Auxiliary justice
by Ann Leckie
Orbit
(Tags: Space Opera, Science Fiction)
This groundbreaking novel makes us reimagine gender and identity through the eyes of an on-board AI consciousness forced to reside in a human body. —Clara Moskowitz, head of journalists
Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
4th power
(Tags: Eco-Horror, Mystery)
Annihilation (and the rest of the Southern Reach book series) have an ethereal and mysterious vibe. An anonymous team of scientists, including our protagonist, “the Biologist”, enters an area controlled by a secret government agency and encounters a strange, strangely beautiful yet horrifying inversion of nature. The “alien” the team encounters functions more like a changing sentient ecosystem than an invading little green man (or the haunting doppelganger from the film adaptation). If you thrive on ambiguity and are looking for literary images and ideas that will keep you up at night, this book should be right for you. —Ari Sen, data editor
Contact
by Carl Sagan
Books Gallery
(Tags: First Contact, Science Fiction)
It’s still one of my favorite science fiction books of all time, even though it’s more based in reality than most books in the genre. Sagan harnesses his cosmic knowledge and enthusiasm for the search for extraterrestrial life and draws him into a very human story. —Andrea Gawrylewski, newsletter editor
I watched the movie version in high school and that led me to the book, which got me interested in science and ultimately made me want to become a science journalist. I appreciated how its depiction of first contact is unique and ultimately more hopeful than many others. —Andrea Thompson, Senior Editor/Life Sciences
This is the book that made me fall in love with science fiction. It’s as much about fathers and daughters as it is about aliens. Fascinating and beautiful. —Clara Moskowitz, head of journalists
The dark forest
by Liu Cixin
Tor Books
(Tags: First Contact, Epic)
The three body problem is the first and best book in Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, but its sequel, The Dark Forest, is the most scientifically fascinating. The concept of a “dark forest,” a proposed resolution of the Fermi Paradox (the lack of communication of intelligent life despite the apparently high probability of its existence) based on a game theory-style argument, has become a mainstay of the SETI lexicon since the book’s publication in 2008. —Joseph Howlett, journalist
The day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
Modern library
(Tags: Postapocalyptic, Science Fiction)
A 50s classic with carnivorous plants from another planet, a meteor and a plague that people should talk about a lot more – and it’s really well written. —Josh Fischman, Editor-in-Chief/Special Projects
The dispossessed
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harper
(Tags: Science Fiction, Dystopia)
The dispossessed This is first contact from the aliens’ point of view. Le Guin depicts an alternative society similar to humanity, but with a notable utopian contingent. A failed anarchist revolution led to a society on the moon based on free love, mutual aid, and the absence of private property. A physicist from this society has unlocked powerful secrets about time and space just as the planet makes its first contact with two other alien races, including Earthlings. Le Guin uses this outsider’s perspective to think about how we as Earthlings choose to learn about the universe and the destruction we often cause to our own world. —Joseph Howlett, journalist
Embassy city
by China Miéville
Del Rey
(Tags: Space Opera, Semiopunk)
China Miéville is known for mastering new genres with each book, but this one is criminally underrated. The story takes place in a post-Earth colonial outpost, where humans have long coexisted with (and conducted strange trade with) “the Hosts”. These are some of the truest stranger the aliens I’ve seen in fiction, and the humans who live alongside them, seem content to view them as fundamentally bizarre and unknowable. But when human hubris introduces a linguistic plague upon the creatures, the settlers must work to finally truly understand the native population. Embassytown made a literal impression on my sister and I: we have tattoos referencing a pivotal moment in the book’s dialogue (“this is love/this is love”, for all you existing fans). It’s perfect for people who enjoyed Arrival! —Rachel Feltman, podcast host
Ender’s Game
by Orson Scott Card
Tor Books
(Keywords: Military Academy, Young adult)
This was the first book about aliens that I loved. The world building and political intrigue blew me away, but main character Ender’s experience at the space military academy is what really stood out to me. Basically, Ender’s Game is the heartbreaking story of a young boy who just wants to be loved and live a fulfilled life, but is taken advantage of by almost everyone around him; it’s violent and sad in a way that kids can relate to, even if adults wish they couldn’t. The twist ending had me screaming and I always recommend this book to young readers looking to expand their reading horizons. —Brianne Kane, Associate Editor/Books and Rights Manager
A half-built garden
by Ruthanna Emrys
Tor Books
(Tags: Fiction, Solar Punk)
First contact made on a future Earth trying to recover from a climate apocalypse. Great characters and a really thoughtful exploration of whether to stay and save Earth or start fresh somewhere else. —Clara Moskowitz, head of journalists
The High Crusade
by Poul Anderson
Make books
(Tags: Swords and Spaceships, Alternate History)
An over-the-top classical-era science fantasy that reimagines a band of 1300s English crusaders as conquistadors overthrowing an ill-fated alien empire, suspiciously reflective of our modern world run by mediocrity. A fun, hopelessly nostalgic adventure in the English longbow in the style of the Society for Creative Anachronism, it’s a good, rousing read. —Dan Vergano, Editor-in-Chief/Washington, DC
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams
Stove
(Tags: Science Fiction, Comedy)
The iconic “five-part trilogy” is as absurd as it sounds and 42 times more brilliant: a funny, strange and surprisingly heartfelt adventure through life, the universe and everything. Adams is both witty and wise, and the series is full of real insights about the human condition that will stay with the reader long after the books are finished. It also features an alien bestiary that is perhaps the strangest and most memorable in all of modern literature, from the Vogons (a race of callous galactic bureaucrats whose poetry is a form of physical torture to those who hear it) to the voracious beast Bugblatter of Traal (a creature so stupid that it “assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you”). —David M. Ewalt, editor-in-chief
Hole in the sky
by Daniel H. Wilson
Double day
(Keywords: Thriller, Indigenous Nations)
I’m not always a thriller reader, but I couldn’t put this one down. Wilson interweaves Cherokee folklore with modern alien tropes in a way I’ve never seen before. I loved the mysterious man in the basement, the way the characters wonder if they are experiencing aliens or advanced artificial intelligence, and the ultimate message of love and heritage that brings us together. A favorite for sure that I can’t stop thinking about. —Brianne Kane, Associate Editor/Books and Rights Manager
Hyperion
by Dan Simmons
Del Rey
(Tags: Science Fiction, Adventure)
My favorite alien in science fiction is the cruciform. The Hugo Award-Winning Classic Hyperion is a collection of finely framed short stories and the first entry in a series on the title planet. The entire series is great, but it never reaches the bar set by one of the stories in the first novel, “The Priest’s Story: The Man Who Cried to God,” a cosmic horror tale about abandonment to the unknown. —Joseph Howlett, journalist
I was abducted by aliens and now I’m trapped in a romantic comedy
by Kimberly Lemming
Berkley
(Keywords: Erotic, Science Fiction)
There are few authors I trust with a premise this stupid, but Lemming hasn’t let me down yet. This light-hearted adventure pokes fun at many of the tropes expected of any alien story, and anyone with a college education will appreciate the jokes about getting the lab funded. The sex scenes may surprise traditional sci-fi readers, but the title and cover communicate the overall vibe well: we’re just here to have a good time and make out with some surprisingly hot aliens. —Brianne Kane, Associate Editor/Books and Rights Manager
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Penguin Classics
(Tags: Science fiction, First contact)
This story of a lone human on a hike with an ambisexual alien to escape a frozen world is a classic of feminist science fiction and is more relevant than ever. The adventure interweaves Le Guin’s iconic sociological observations of our own culture with discoveries of an alien world in a way that still resonates today. —Dan Vergano, Editor-in-Chief/Washington, DC
Lilith’s Brood Series
by Octavia E. Butler
Grand Central Editions
(Tags: First Contact, Series)
I read the first book in this series, Dawnfor my book club but I quickly bought the rest to read on my own! The plot is a brilliant mix of incredibly gruesome actions and terrifying reactions: it explores not only how humans will experience first contact, but also how aliens will experience contact with humans. I recommend this series to anyone looking to explore more stories with aliens, especially those without a white heterosexual male protagonist. —Brianne Kane, Associate Editor/Books and Rights Manager
The long road to an angry little planet
by Becky Chambers
Traveler Harper
(Keywords: Space Opera, LGBTQ+)
This is the multi-species future. I want to live there. An adorable team of diverse aliens and humans work together to understand each other and the universe. —Clara Moskowitz, head of journalists
Hail Mary Project
by Andy Weir
Ballantine books
(Tags: First Contact, Adventure)
A charming and funny adventure to save the world. The first contact in this book is on a smaller scale but it is comforting and pure pleasure. —Andrea Gawrylewski, newsletter editor
The Road to Roswell
by Connie Willis
Del Rey
(Tags: Humor, Romance)
I read this in 2023 and loved it! I put it on our staff favorites list! —Meghan Bartels, senior reporter
The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut
Dial Press Trade Paperback
(Tags: Science Fiction, Satire)
Vonnegut’s novel is a gem from a simpler era of possible space exploration, with the silliest Martian invasion in literature, kite-like beings who subsist on the vibrations of Mercury, and, of course, Vonnegut’s eternal alien characters, the Tralfamadorians. There is also “the Church of God the Completely Indifferent” and a revelation of the meaning of life. It’s the perfect balance of crazy and heartbreaking – a book I’ll continue to reread every decade or so. —Joseph Howlett, journalist
The sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
Ballantine books
(Tags: Science Fiction, Philosophical)
A poignant yet beautiful story about how misunderstandings between species can go wrong. —Clara Moskowitz, head of journalists
Spread me
by Sarah Gailey
Night fire
(Keywords: Body horror, Erotic horror)
What if the creature by John Carpenter The thing had a prurient interest in one of the researchers? What if this researcher was… surprisingly interested? This book puts a unique erotic spin on the tropes we’ve come to expect from first encounter fiction. Whether the book’s most sensual scenes give you tingles or give you goosebumps (or, in all likelihood, a combination of both), it will be unlike anything you’ve read before. —Rachel Feltman, podcast host
My teacher is an alien
by Bruce Coville
Aladdin
(Keywords: Science fiction, Young adult)
I read this in elementary school, and the rest of the four-part series that this book belongs to really stuck with me. The alien is initially thought to be a villain, but his motivations are gradually revealed to be morally gray. I don’t remember many books with this kind of complexity aimed at young children. —Adam Kovac, breaking news reporter
The problem with Gran
by Babette Cole
Putnam Publishing Group
(Tags: Picture book, Adventure)
I read this book when I was little and rediscovering it with my own child was such a joy. The story is told from the point of view of a young child going on a rainy school trip to the seaside, accompanied by his grandmother. She spices things up with her secret alien abilities, and when they miss the bus home, she even takes the whole class to her home planet. It’s a fun and silly book, with amazing illustrations that any young child will definitely enjoy reading. —Claire Cameron, Head of Breaking News
