Fictions: Literature and Storytelling
Contact Fictions
A collection of contact fictions in multiple languages, opening up imaginaries of life beyond earth, and global interest in SETI and the extraterrestrial.
Lists and Anthologies
An Annotated Index of Good Science Fiction with SETI and Life in the Universe Themes Compiled by Andrew Fraknoi
- “This report provides annotated listings of science fiction stories and novels that concern the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence or the discovery of other life-forms in the universe. It can be used in courses on astronomy where students have an interest in science fiction or want to do a paper on astronomically reasonable fiction, as well as in courses on science fiction and its relationship to science.”
Note: “This brief list is excerpted from a web resource [Fraknoi’s topical list below] keeping track of science fiction stories or novels that are based on good science or reasonable extrapolation.” Michael Oman Reagan
Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics: A Topical Index Compiled by Andrew Fraknoi
- “This is a selective list of some short stories and novels that use more or less accurate science and can be used for teaching or reinforcing astronomy or physics concepts. I include both traditional “science-fiction” and (occasionally) more serious fiction that derives meaning or plot from astronomy or physics ideas. The titles of short stories are given in quotation marks; only short stories that have been published in book form or are available free on the Web are included. While one book source is given for each short story, note that some of the stories can be found in other collections as well.” Michael Oman Reagan
Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. Edited by Grace L. Dillon, 2012. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
- “In this first-ever anthology of Indigenous science fiction, Grace Dillon collects some of the finest examples of the craft with contributions by Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and New Zealand Maori authors… Dillon's engaging introduction situates the pieces in the larger context of science fiction and its conventions.” Michael Oman Reagan*
SETI and Science Fiction Scholarship
Baxter, S.
- Imagining the Alien: The Portrayal of Extraterrestrial Intelligence and SETI in Science Fiction*, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 62 pp131-138, 2009. Adapted for Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: SETI Past, Present and Future ed. HP Shuch, Springer, 2011.
- “Indigenous (Science) Fiction for the Anthropocene: Ancestral Dystopias and Fantasies of Climate Change Crises.”* Draft. Last accessed May 17, 2018.
2018 “Indigenous Media Futures: An Introduction.” Cultural Anthropology 33(2):173-179.
2018 “Generative Hope in the Postapocalyptic Present.” Cultural Anthropology 33(2):202-212. Republished in 2020 within a special issue on “Hope” in Open Anthropology 8(2).
2014 “Decolonizing Encounters of the Third Kind: Alternative Futuring in Native Science Fiction Film.” Visual Anthropology Review 30(2):164-176.
2012 “Telling Their Own Stories: Indigenous Film as Critical Identity Discourse.” The Applied Anthropologist 32(1):23-32.
Chinese Language (Mandarin)
| Year | Title | Author | Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 吞食者 "The Devourer" | 王晋康 (Wang Jinkang) | Novel | Humanity encounters an alien species that consumes planetary resources. | Translated to English by Ken Liu (2014) | Adversarial aliens, Ecological disaster, Survival | |
| 2008 | 《三体》"The Three-Body Problem" | 刘慈欣 (Liu Cixin) | Novel | Earth makes contact with an alien civilization (Trisolarans) that may pose a threat. | Translated to English by Ken Liu (2014); Translated to Spanish by Javier Altayó and Jianguo Li (2016); Translated to Japanese by Nozomi Ohmori (2010) | Adversarial alien visitation, Global geopolitical tensions | |
| 2013 | 重生巨人 "The Reincarnated Giant" | 王晋康 (Wang Jinkang) | Novel | Aliens offer gifts that could advance humanity, but their intentions are uncertain. | Translated to English by Li Zhiqing (in The Reincarnated Giant: An Anthology of Chinese Science Fiction, 2018) | Global power dynamics, Potentially friendly aliens, Trust issues | |
| 2015 | 三体X: 观想之宙 "The Three Body X: Aeon of Contention" | 宝树 (Baoshu) | Novel | Continuation of first contact with Trisolarans and new extraterrestrial challenges. | Translated to English by Ken Liu (unofficial, 2019); Translated to Spanish by Jorge Roberto Perez and Yinhe Wang (2018) | Adversarial aliens, Philosophical depth, Trust and conflict |
English Language
| Year | Title | Author | Publication Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | "The War of the Worlds" | H.G. Wells | Novel | Humanity's first contact with Martian invaders leads to a terrifying war. | Alien war, First contact, Human survival, Martian invasion | ||
| 1951 | "The Day of the Triffids" | John Wyndham | Novel | Humanity struggles against sentient, hostile plant species after a meteor shower. | First contact, Hostile plants, Human survival, Post-apocalyptic | ||
| 1953 | "Childhood's End" | Arthur C. Clarke | Novel | Peaceful alien invasion leads to humanity's evolution into a higher existence. | Existential dread, Human evolution, Peaceful invasion, Utopia | ||
| 1959 | "The Sirens of Titan" | Kurt Vonnegut | Novel | Aliens manipulate humanity for their own ends, exploring existentialism and free will. | Alien manipulation, Existentialism, Free will, Satire | ||
| 1961 | "Solaris" | Stanislaw Lem | Novel | Humans attempt to communicate with an alien intelligence manifesting as a living ocean. | Alien intelligence, Communication, Living ocean, Mystery | ||
| 1969 | "The Andromeda Strain" | Michael Crichton | Novel | A deadly extraterrestrial microorganism threatens humanity's survival. | Biological threat, Extraterrestrial microorganism, Scientific response, Thriller | ||
| 1969 | "The Left Hand of Darkness" | Ursula K. Le Guin | Novel | A human envoy interacts with an androgynous society on a distant planet. | Androgyny, Cultural exchange, First contact, Gender | ||
| 1972 | "The Gods Themselves" | Isaac Asimov | Novel | Humanity contacts beings from a parallel universe, causing scientific and existential crises. | Alien intelligence, Crisis, Parallel universe, Scientific discovery | ||
| 1973 | "Rendezvous with Rama" | Arthur C. Clarke | Novel | A giant alien spacecraft enters the solar system, and humans investigate. | Alien spacecraft, Exploration, Mystery | ||
| 1974 | "The Mote in God's Eye" | Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle | Novel | First contact with a highly intelligent, expansionist alien species. | Adversarial aliens, Expansionism, Intelligence | ||
| 1974 | "The Dispossessed" | Ursula K. Le Guin | Novel | Physicist from an anarchist society explores the paradoxical complexities of architecting societies for the better. | Originally in English for New York: HarperCollins; translations available in Spanish, French, German, and Japanese | Anarchism, Existential Philosophy, Interplanetary Relations, Political, Utopia | |
| 1980 | "Dragon's Egg" | Robert L. Forward | Novel | Humans contact intelligent life on a neutron star. | Alien life, Contact, Neutron star | ||
| 1982 | "The Minervan Experiment" | James P. Hogan | Novel | Scientists discover evidence of an ancient alien civilization on Minerva. | Ancient aliens, Archaeology, Discovery | ||
| 1985 | "Footfall" | Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle | Novel | Invasion of Earth by elephant-like aliens with advanced technology. | Adversarial aliens, Human survival, Invasion | ||
| 1985 | "Rocheworld" | Robert L. Forward | Novel | Exploration of a double planet and first contact with an alien species. | Double planet, Exploration, Friendly aliens | ||
| 1985 | "Ender's Game" | Orson Scott Card | Novel | A young genius is trained to combat an alien insectoid race. | Adversarial aliens, Insectoid, Military training | ||
| 1986 | "Stanislaw Lem's Fiasco" | Stanislaw Lem | Novel | Establishment of contact and communication with a mysterious alien planet. | Alien planet, Communication, Mysterious | ||
| 1986 | "Eifelheim" | Michael Flynn | Novel | Medieval villagers encounter stranded alien visitors and attempt communication. | Communication, Friendly aliens, Medieval | ||
| 1987 | "The Uplift Series" | David Brin | Novel | Humans uplift animals to sentience and encounter ancient galactic civilizations. | Friendly aliens, Galactic civilizations, Uplift | ||
| 1987 | "The Visitors" | Clifford D. Simak | Novel | Mysterious visitors arrive on Earth, sparking curiosity and fear. | Arrival, Curiosity, Mysterious aliens | ||
| 1987 | "The Forge of God" | Greg Bear | Novel | Humanity faces benevolent and malevolent aliens leading to Earth's destruction. | Benevolent aliens, Earth destruction, Human survival, Malevolent aliens | ||
| 1987-89 | "Xenogenesis" (Three books: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago. Published as Lilith's Brood in 2000.) | Octavia Butler | Novel Series | Humans must adapt to life with an alien species that seeks to merge with them. | Adaptation, Adversarial aliens, Genetic hybridization, Human survival | ||
| 1988 | "Contact" | Carl Sagan | Novel | Humanity receives a message from space and builds a machine to meet aliens. | Communication, First contact, Message from space | ||
| 1991 | "The White Queen" | Gwyneth Jones | Novel | Alien invasion that leads to a complex political and cultural exchange. | Alien invasion, Cultural exchange, Political | ||
| 1993 | "Parable of the Sower" | Octavia Butler | Novel | Dystopian future where a young woman leads a new religious movement. | Originally in English and published by New York: Four Walls Eight Windows; translations available in Spanish, French, and German | Collapse, Dystopian future, Human survival, Religion | |
| 1996 | "The Sparrow" | Mary Doria Russell | Novel | A Jesuit missionary leads an expedition to an alien planet, with tragic results. | Alien planet, Jesuit missionary, Tragedy | ||
| 2000 | "A Hymn Before Battle" | John Ringo | Novel | Invasion of Earth by the Posleen, a warlike alien species. | Adversarial aliens, Invasion, Military | ||
| 2000 | "Weyland's Principia" | David Garfinkle | Novel | A mathematician encounters an alien intelligence through abstract mathematical concepts. | Abstract, Alien intelligence, Mathematics | ||
| 2002-8 | "Y: The Last Man" | Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra | Graphic Novel | Post-apocalyptic world with last surviving man after a mysterious plague; includes first contact with extraterrestrial beings and their influence on Earth's population. | Originally in English; translations in multiple languages, including Spanish and French | Extraterrestrial influence, Gender, Human survival, Post-apocalyptic | |
| 2005 | "Agent to the Stars" | John Scalzi | Novel | A Hollywood agent is hired to introduce a friendly alien species to humanity. | Comic treatment, Friendly aliens, Introduction | ||
| 2006 | "Blindsight" | Peter Watts | Novel | A crew investigates an alien signal and encounters a non-sentient alien species. | Alien signal, Investigation, Non-sentient aliens | ||
| 2010 | "Gravity's Whispers" | Gregory Benford | Short Story | Nature 466 (July): 406. https://doi.org/10.1038/466406a | |||
| 2011 | "Anomaly" | Peter Cawdron | Novel | First contact with an alien species hidden on Earth, exploring human-alien interactions. | Alien interactions, Complexity, First contact | ||
| 2013 | "Fire with Fire" | Charles E. Gannon | Novel | First contact with an alien species leads to geopolitical intrigue and conflict. | Conflict, First contact, Geopolitical | ||
| 2015 | "Children of Time" | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Novel | Humans encounter a civilization of uplifted spiders on a distant planet. | Alien civilization, Distant planet, Uplifted species | ||
| 2018-2020 | "The Semiosis Trilogy" | Sue Burke | Novel | Multi-generational exploration of sentience, focusing on alien plant life. | Alien plants, Generational, Sentience | ||
| 2017 | "Luna" | Ian McDonald | Novel | Moon colonisation narrative with elements of first contact within a futuristic, multicultural society. | Lunar Colonisation, Multi-cultural Futures | ||
| 2021 | "A Desolation Called Peace" | Arkady Martine | Novel | Humans must negotiate with an incomprehensible alien species to avoid war. | Avoid war, Incomprehensible aliens, Negotiation | ||
| 2021 | "Project Hail Mary" | Andy Weir | Novel | A lone astronaut must cooperate with an alien to save their planets. | Astronaut, Cooperative aliens, Planetary crisis |
French Language
| Year | Title | Author | Publication Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1872 | "Lumen" | Camille Flammarion | Novella | Philosophical narrative with a female protagonist encountering extraterrestrial beings, exploring reincarnation and cosmic consciousness. | Translated into English and other languages. | Cosmic Mystery, First contact, Reincarnation | |
| 1888 | "Les Xipéhuz" | J.-H. Rosny aîné | Novella | French society battles intelligent non-organic life forms, the Xipéhuz, sentient crystals. | Translated into English and Spanish. | Adversarial aliens, Early Speculative Fiction, Human-Alien Conflict, Non-organic ET, Sentient Crystal | |
| 1908 | "La Mort de la Terre" | J.-H. Rosny aîné | Novel | The last remnants of humanity face extinction as they encounter the Ferromagnets, a new life form. | Translated into English. | Collapse, Dystopian future, Extinction, Non-organic ET | |
| 1957 | "Le Péril Bleu" | Maurice Renard | Novel | Humans encounter invisible alien beings living in the Earth's atmosphere. | Translated into English as "The Blue Peril." | Atmospheric Life, First contact, Invisible ET | |
| 1972 | "L'Enigme de l'Univers" | Jean-Pierre Andrevon | Novel | A scientist discovers a mysterious alien artifact that changes humanity's understanding of the universe. | Cosmic Mystery, Extraterrestrial Artefact, Science Fiction | ||
| 1974 | "Les Dents du Requin" | Henri Vernes | Bande Dessinée | Bob Morane faces an alien threat as strange phenomena plague the world. | Translated into multiple languages, including Dutch and Portuguese. | Alien invasion, Human-Alien Conflict | |
| 1975 | "Métal Hurlant" Magazine | Various Authors | Magazine | Humans encounter an ancient extraterrestrial artifact that holds the key to advanced technology. | Some stories translated into English. | First contact, Science Fiction | |
| 1978 | "Mutante" | Louise-Renée de L'Homme | Protagonist encounters alien life forms that challenge her identity and societal norms. | Alien life, Feminist, First contact, Gender | |||
| 1981 | "Le Garage Hermétique de Jerry Cornelius" | Moebius (Jean Giraud) | Bande Dessinée | Surreal universe where first contact with alien beings occurs amidst a series of strange and unpredictable events. | Published in French in Heavy Metal magazine over a period of four years from 1976 to 1980, and then bound in a book. | Mystery, Surreal | |
| 1992 | "La Nuit des Temps" | René Barjavel | Novel | A group of adventurers in a post-apocalyptic world seeks to discover the origin of mysterious alien winds. | Translated into English as "The Ice People." | First contact, Lost civilisation, Time Travel | |
| 1997 | "Carmen Mc Callum" | Fred Duval and Gess | Bande Dessinée | A futuristic bounty hunter encounters aliens and advanced technologies. | Translated into multiple languages. | Alien Technologies, Cyberpunk, Technological Advancement | |
| 2008 | "La Horde du Contrevent" | Alain Damasio | Novel | Scientists discover a lost civilization and make contact with a survivor from 900,000 years ago. | Translated into English as "The Windwalkers." | Post-apocalyptic | |
| 2011 | "Souviens-toi d'Hyères" | Bernard Werber | Novel | Anthology of science fiction stories, often involving first contact scenarios. | Extraterrestrial Artefact, Human evolution, Technological Advancement | ||
| 2012 | "La Verte" | Marie Desplechin | Novel | A young girl with magical abilities connects with beings from another dimension. | Feminist, First contact, Magic, Otherworldly Beings | ||
| 2015 | "Demain les chats" | Bernard Werber | Novel | More-than-human novel featuring a telepathic cat who communicates with extraterrestrial beings. | Alien intelligence, Animal Communication, More-than-Human |
Orcadian Scots Language
| Year | Title | Author | Publication Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | "Deep Wheel Orcadia" | Harry Josephine Giles | Novel in Verse | A visitor from Mars arrives on a space station. | Bilingual text in Orcadian and Scots | First Contact, Human survival |
Spanish Language
| Year | Title | Author | Publication Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957-1959 (serialized) | "El Eternauta" | Héctor Germán Oesterheld (Argentine) | Graphic Novel | A group of survivors in Buenos Aires confronts an alien invasion after making first contact with extraterrestrial beings. | The work has been translated into several languages, including English ("The Eternaut"). | Alien invasion, Buenos Aires, Dystopian future, First contact, Human survival | |
| 1998 | "Ánima Mundi" | Susana Vallejo | Novel | Struggle with an alien force that threatens human autonomy. | Alien manipulation, Feminism, First contact, Human survival | ||
| 2010 | "The Silence of the Chakras" | Carmen Naranjo | Novel | A first contact scenario with an alien race that communicates through energy fields. | Energy Communication, First contact, Mysticism | ||
| 2001 | "La Llamada de la Luna" | Elia Barceló | Novel | Female protagonist experiences contact with an alien entity that challenges her understanding of reality. | Feminism, First contact, Ontologies, Other Worldly Beings, Reality |
Wordless
| Year | Title | Author | Publication Type | Context | Translation Details | Meta Tags | Files & media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "Arzach" | Moebius (Jean Giraud) | Bande Dessinée | A silent narrative following a lone warrior encountering strange, alien creatures. Largely wordless. | Originally French publisher; Published in multiple languages. | ET encounter, Science Fiction, Surreal, Wordless |
Transcultural Science Fiction Scholarship
Conflicting Times. Multiple Temporalities in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction by Mo Welin, E. Erik. Ph. D. Dissertation, Uppsala Universitet, 2023.