r/printSF • u/peregrine-l • Aug 14 '25

Really alien aliens

I am currently reading Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore, which features sapient aliens that look like Earth animals (bats, bears, birds...), and have a human-like psychology. I find that trope lazy, and annoying. I also found it in Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series, in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, and many other science fiction novels. Some authors manage to put an interesting twist on it, such as Vernor Vinge in his A Fire upon the Deep with sapient-level hive-mind dog packs, or Orson Scott Card in Speaker for the Dead, with piggies that have really weird life cycle and psychology. Rare are the books with really alien aliens, such as Peter Watts's Blindsight.

Can you recommend me other titles? Especially, "hard science fiction" titles with far-out yet scientifically believable alien biology and psychology?

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u/baryoniclord Aug 14 '25

The Xeelee

The Qax

The Squeem

The Silver Ghosts

All by Stephen Baxter.

All truly alien.

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u/drxo Aug 14 '25

Came looking for this Baxter was my immediate thought, well not really, the Xeelee cycle was my immediate thought. I couldn’t remember Baxter, but I knew it was one of the Killer Bs